"Sesame Street: The Musical" stars Elmo, Cookie Monster, Grover and other characters loved by generations
NEW YORK -- An off-Broadway show stars Elmo, Cookie Monster, Grover and other "Sesame Street" favorites loved by generations of viewers.
CBS2's Dave Carlin went behind the scenes of "Sesame Street: The Musical" for this week's edition of Broadway and Beyond.
Director and producer Jonathan Rockefeller created last season's "Disney's Winnie the Pooh: The New Musical Stage Adaptation" before he moved on to Muppets.
"When you're sitting in the audience you get to hear 'Rubber Ducky' and 'C is for Cookie' and see Cookie Monster up there and see Elmo up there doing his thing, Rosita strumming a guitar. It's really magical," said Rockefeller.
Earlier this year, Sesame Workshop celebrated the fifth anniversary of its "Sesame Street and Autism: See Amazing in All Children" initiative.
The musical is hosting sensory-friendly performances on Oct. 19 and Nov. 16, both at 11 a.m.
"We have the lights at the right levels. We have the sound levels correct so nothing is overwhelming from a sensory perspective," said Rockefeller. "They're really special performances. You can see that people are really overjoyed that they're able to bring the whole family along and it's for everybody."
"We see 2-year-olds, we see 4-year-olds, we see 8-year-olds who're dragged along with their younger brother. But they really end up enjoying it, even though that they might resist it first. But they are dancing and singing along equally as much as everybody else," said Rockefeller. "We call Saturdays sort of our unofficial nostalgia night, where most adults tend not to bring their kids because they're just out there for date night or a bit of fun with their friends."
"Sesame Street: The Musical" is playing at Theater Row on West 42nd Street through Nov. 27. Runtime is one hour.