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Elmo and his buddies from Sesame Street learn about careers they might enjoy when they’re grown up in ‘Sesame Street Live: When Elmo Grows Up.’
When Cookie Monster grows up, he wants to be a firefighter.
Grover wants to be a police officer.
As for Elmo? Well, he can’t decide.
But that’s OK, says Laura Gillespie, the performer who portrays Elmo’s friend Abby Cadabby in “Sesame Street Live: When Elmo Grows Up.”
The show will be at the Mohegan Sun Arena from March 11-14, bringing plenty of music and dancing, colorful characters and, of course, a positive message for little ones.
“The moral of the story is, you can try new things and explore and working together you can accomplish a lot,” said Gillespie, whose character helps Elmo and the others put on a pageant about career possibilities.
Abby Cadabby, whose name, appropriately, sounds like a magical incantation, is a fairy-in-training. She knows just what she wants to be when she grows up.
“She uses what she calls her training wand,” Gillespie said. “I don’t know if it’s the wand or her technique, but she keeps turning things into pumpkins.”
A Levittown native, Gillespie herself dreamed as a child of becoming an astronaut. “I thought I’d be up on the moon,” she said with a laugh. “But I’m a little too scared to do that now.”
Instead, the actress is studying anthropology and communications at Temple University in Philadelphia. She’s taken some time off to travel with “Sesame Street Live,” where she gets to portray Abby, complete with wand, daisies and pink-and-purple pigtails.
“She’s girly but spunky,” Gillespie said, describing the character. “Like all Elmo’s friends, she’s interested in learning new things.”
The best part about being in the show, Gillespie said, is seeing and hearing the reaction of children in the audience.
“It’s an interactive show, and when they make noises or stomp or clap their hands, when you hear them giving you that feedback, it’s very enjoyable for me.”
IF YOU GO
What: “Sesame Street Live: When Elmo Grows Up”
When: 7 p.m. March 11; 10:30 a.m. and 7 p.m. March 12; 10:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. March 13; 1 and 4:30 p.m. March 14.
Where: Mohegan Sun Arena, 255 Highland Park Blvd., Wilkes-Barre Township
Tickets: $22, $17, $13
More info: 970-7600 or 800-745-3000.