Elmo and friends delight audiences of all ages

  • Published
  • By Pacifica Chehy
  • 316th Wing Public Affairs
AIR FORCE DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON --  Elmo and his friends, Zoe, Rosita, Cookie Monster and Grover, rocked the house, otherwise known as the Andrews Air Force Base theater, Oct.16 and 17 and treated audience members to three memorable performances designed just for military families.

Both the young -- and the young-at-heart -- danced and wiggled in the aisles, sang along with Elmo and enjoyed the live Muppet show sponsored by Sesame Workshop and the USO. "The Sesame Street Experience for Military Families Tour" is one part of Sesame Workshop's larger "Talk, Listen, Connect" series, which covers deployments and changes within the family when the active-duty member returns home "changed" after a combat-related injury. The Sesame Workshop-USO initiative also offers support and resources for military families with young children in addition to the live shows and the "Talk, Listen, Connect" DVDs.

When the show opens, Elmo is sad about his father, Louie, deploying. Soon, Elmo's friends come to his rescue and describe different things they can do during his father's deployment, like dance and sing. Elmo and his friends then dance and sing Sesame Street favorites like, "Somebody Come and Play," and the "Sesame Street" theme song. Cookie Monster even sang his renown "C is for Cookie" as he struggled to get a cookie out from his cookie jar.

More than 1,000 free tickets were given out to the Andrews community for each show. Andrews was one of 43 military installations who hosted the Muppet performance. For more information on the "Talk, Listen, Connect" series, visit www.sesamestreet.org/tlc.