“When I Grow Up” – a subplot! (by Jaznotabi)

This is my tongue-in-cheek interpretation of a subplot within the “When I Grow Up” stage show at the Pantages Hollywood Theater. :p

After watching the show from the front row of the theatre, I discovered something else was going on!…

Title:  THE BIG ANGRY BIRD

The show opened with Elmo and Big Bird and at this point it was still too early to tell that something was wrong…

Everyone had smiles on their faces but Big Bird had furrowed eyebrows. Hmm…

Was it my imagination or did Big Bird look especially grumpy?

I’m not sure what words were exchanged but check out what happened next…

Something snapped in Big Bird! How apt that the animation on the TV screens were showing flames to depict the heat of the moment!!

Even Cookie Monster was confused and unnerved by what was happening on stage!

Abby:  “Elmo, you’d better watch your back!”

Oh dear…look what happened next when no one was looking! RAWR!!

It was the finale and the “Angry Bird” made eye contact – I think I could be his next target! Yikes!! Time for me to run!!

I guess Big Bird woke up on the wrong side of his nest today!

THE END

**DISCLAIMER**
The above has nothing to do with the actual storyline of the show. It just happened that I was sorting through the numerous photos that my hubby and I took of the show and found these ones that looked like there was a story behind them when you pieced them together and it was too funny not to share! ^_^

Do check out my “When I Grow Up” moves into the Pantages Hollywood Theater at Universal Studios Singapore! post for the actual show, which in fact I did enjoy watching.

The best seats to be able to photograph the entire stage would probably be at the front section of the theatre, about 4-5 rows from the back. Then again, it depends on whether your camera has a wide angle and how sharp its focus is, especially in dim lighting. Of course, if you want a different (and more “intimidating” or should I say overwhelming) experience, try sitting at the front row! LOL…

Sesame Street “When I Grow Up” moves into the Pantages Hollywood Theater at Universal Studios Singapore!

Many of Universal Studios Singapore’s fans didn’t expect that “Monster Rock” would have its final curtain call on 31st August and Sesame Street’s “When I Grow Up” show would move into the Pantages Hollywood Theater on 20th September 2014.

I went to check out the show on its official opening day at the theatre as I was curious to see if there were any changes to this show which was previously performed in front of the Library at New York.

The audience is greeted with this sight upon entering the theatre.

The familiar iconic Sesame Street lamppost can be found on one side of the stage.

I was surprised to see peddlers selling Sesame Street merchandise in the theatre!

It was time for the show to begin and this lady host appeared on stage and kept asking the audience various questions (targetted at kids) on what they wanted to be when they grow up!

The curtain finally opened to reveal a colourful Sesame Street set and even Mr Hooper’s Store is represented! TV screens were later lowered and various animated clips were shown as an add-on to the scenes being performed.

A cute Elmo animation was displayed when Elmo went for a quick costume change…

…and came back to do his cowboy scene.

I thought it was a clever idea to add a police car to the set when Grover revealed that he wanted to be a police officer.

As you can see, the displays on the TV screens change according to the different scenes.

Even Cookie Monster had a fire engine appear on the set when it was his turn to sing!

The part where Bert and Ernie wanted to be paleontologists was briefly mentioned in the old show but in this theatre version, two new songs had been added to their segment! This is how the set looks when they did “Bones, bones, bones…”

We then were asked to stand up and “do the dino groove” as Bert wanted to teach the audience how to dance like a dinosaur. I didn’t really photograph this part but you can watch it in the video at the bottom of this post. It was nice to see some of the characters offstage trying to get the audience to do the dance.

Alas, it was time for the finale…

Soap bubbles were released at the end of the show…

…and many in the audience (both young and old!) were later found waving their hands about, trying to catch or pop the bubbles!

Here’s my video of the show:

Overall, the storyline is basically the same with some revised dialogue, additional songs and audience participation. It should better for staff welfare as this theatre is air-conditioned and should be cooler for the costumed cast members – I couldn’t imagine how they survived dancing around outdoors in those costumes in Singapore’s hot and humid weather, when they performed the old 12min show outdoors!

I must say that I prefer this indoor version of the show, with its new colourful set, the animation on the TV screens and of course the soap bubbles! ^_^

(Check out the previous show at the Library in New York if you want to do a comparison)

Christmas at Universal Studios Singapore (2013)

The entrance archway this Christmas is quite eye-catching (especially the roof). I think I prefer it over last year’s.

This is how it looks at night:

This was how it looked last year:

A closer look at the Christmas decorations in Hollywood…

This year the Minions from Despicable Me were introduced to the park starting from 1st December. I must say that they are extremely popular with the crowds! They will be around permanently for meet-and-greet sessions, so check with the crew members at Hollywood on the day of your visit for the exact timings. However, they will only appear in Santa hats for the month of December.

   

If you don’t manage to meet the minions, you can also have your picture taken with this “photo frame border” (Note: it wobbles and is a little heavy!):

Walking on…at the end of Hollywood we can find the stage for the New Year Eve’s “Bubblegum Pop Countdown!”:

This year’s stage comprises of many steps!

These are the decorations at New York:

A closer look at the Christmas tree and the stage at The Library…

 

Last year’s tree and stage (I think I like this year’s better):

Santa’s sleigh is parked outside Loui’s NY Pizza Parlour during the day. This is a prop used in the Sesame Street Saves Christmas show.

  

The sleigh is moved and placed next to the stage just before the start of the show, but it will still be parked outside Loui’s between showtimes.

SESAME STREET SAVES CHRISTMAS
This is a new show introduced for the Christmas period and is quite entertaining as it features many familiar commercially popular Christmas tunes, with lyrics slightly tweaked Sesame-style!

List of Songs:

• It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas
• Rocking Around The Christmas Tree
• Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
• We Are Santa’s Elves
• Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer
• All I Want For Christmas Is You
• Let it Snow!
• Winter Wonderland
• We Wish You A Merry Christmas

Showtimes: 6:30pm, 8:00pm, 9:30pm (schedule varies)

Here’s a video of the full show – if you listen carefully, Santa even makes a special mention of Ang Mo Kio and Orchard Road!:

There is also a brief photo opportunity after the show with Santa and his elves.

CHRISTMAS DANCING LIGHT SHOW
Showtimes: 7:00pm, 7:30pm, 8:30pm, 9:50pm

I think I prefer the Sesame Street performance over the light show. The lights are choreographed to different pieces of music. Depending on which show you catch, the tunes may be different.

 

The ones in my video below feature the following pieces:

• Trans-Siberian Orchestra – Nutrocker
• Trans-Siberian Orchestra – Christmas Eve (Sarajevo 12-24)    [2:59]
  
• DJ Schwede – Music Box Dancer    [6:11]
  

There was another one (Trans-Siberian Orchestra – Wizards of Winter) which I didn’t manage to record as there were three clueless people who stood directly in front of my camera (I was seated) and ignored my requests for them to sit down! How annoying!!

Overall, I felt that the Christmas theme and performances seemed to be more enjoyable this year as compared to previous years.

Sesame Street Spaghetti Space Chase ride at USS

HELP!! Someone is stealing all the spaghetti in the world and Elmo and Super Grover need YOUR assistance to stop Macaroni the Merciless from succeeding in his plot!

I went for a preview of the “Sesame Street Spaghetti Space Chase” ride for Annual Pass holders and was surprised that it wasn’t as crowded as some of the other previews I had attended in the past.

Some of the crew members were seen welcoming park guests with Elmo and Cookie Monster hand puppets.

Here’s a look at the ride’s safety information board. It’s a family-friendly ride so thrillseekers may be disappointed but the colourful scenes and cute characters make up for it!

As you walk through the entrance, you’ll see a Sesame Street News Network advert featuring Super Grover.

It’s a short walk to the queue area which is just around the corner.

The walls are plastered with news headlines from various publications.

 

Do ensure that you pay attention to the TV monitors in the queue area as the characters on the screen will provide you with information which will enable you to better appreciate the ride (including the storyline).

 

The ride vehicle looks cute and seats four people, two at the front and two behind. I thought it was a little small and bigger-sized people will probably need a slightly longer time to side-step into the vehicle. Mind your head if you are tall and seated in the front row as you might accidentally bump your head against the front of the vehicle when you disembark.

Here’s a picture of the ride vehicle (taken from one of RWS’ brochures):

These are some of the picture teasers which I took when they blocked up the area prior to revealing the hugh statue of Elmo and the plate of spaghetti and meatballs at the top of the entrance to the ride. They gave a bit of background to the ride.

     

     

At the beginning of the ride (and also the queue area), there are posters of Macaroni the Merciless and his two associates Shredder and Zester. Both his partners in crime can be seen at various points during the ride (i.e. if you are observant enough to notice!).

Our journey started off at Sesame Street and I was overwhelmed by everything I saw and heard! There’s a lot to take in with all the dialogue going on so it was a bit difficult to appreciate everything that was happening. I took the ride 4 times to fully observe and listen to all the conversations but still haven’t managed to take in every single detail.

In the first scene, there were many Sesame Street characters wishing us “Good Luck” as superhero sidekicks and giving us a send-off. Make sure you listen to Elmo on the TV screen in the ride vehicle besides looking at what’s happening around you. You’ll get a better view if you sit on the right side of the vehicle as most of the animatronics seem to be located on the right for some unknown reason.

As this is a suspended ride, you can see part of the track which is overhead.

I did notice that one of the posters on the wall mentioned that lasagne was missing too! – Hmm… spaghetti and lasagne are different foods although they are both pasta based. So… should it be “save the spaghetti” or “save the pasta” then?  I guess pasta doesn’t quite have a ring to its name…

Once you see Super Grover, get ready to fly off to space to save the spaghetti!

The space scene was quite impressive but I thought they could have done more in one of the flying scenes where you can see stars below you. It reminded me of the “E.T. Adventure” ride found at other Universal theme parks and “Peter Pan’s Flight” at Disneyland but I personally felt that it didn’t quite have that “wow” factor as those two rides. Perhaps if they had added some planets below us, it would have been more impressive and it would feel like we’re really out there.

This was one of my favourite scenes of the ride where Abby waves her wand to help us on our journey. The sparkly effects made the scene very magical. We get transported to Macaroni’s lair at this point…

 

The scenes which followed show Super Grover being captured by Macaroni and tortured (don’t worry, there’s nothing gory in the scenes) but at the end of the day the good guys win! ^_^

 

Here’s a look the other end of the queue area from the exit of the ride.

**TIP**  To ensure that you’ve taken in every detail of the ride, do look out for Macaroni’s “Employee of the Month” notice board! 😉

Verdict:  A fun and entertaining ride for the kids. You’ll have to visit the park and ride it to experience the full visual effects (especially the space scene and the tractor beam).

At the end of it all, I haven’t quite figured out if the ride had some mysterious effect on me or perhaps it was due to the magical swish from Abby Cadabby’s wand, but I headed off for lunch with a sudden craving for pasta! LOL…

Sesame Street “When I Grow Up” at Universal Studios Singapore (USS)

This show features Big Bird, Elmo, Grover, Cookie Monster, Ernie, Bert and Abby Cadabby and is performed at top of the steps of the New York Public Library. It’s the longest performance out of the 3 different Sesame Street skits being performed at the park and my favourite!

The characters will appear from the door which is hidden behind this makeshift tentage…

   

Elmo started off wanting to be a cowboy…

 

Grover wants to be a police officer.

  

Cookie Monster wants to be a firefighter.

 

Big Bird was toying with the idea of becoming either a pilot or a singer.

Abby Cadabby wants to be a fairy godmother.

  

Bert & Ernie want to be paleontologists.

   

By the end of the show, Elmo wanted to be everything after he heard about the choices made by the rest of the characters!

“♫ …When I grow up I wanna be
Part of this great family ♪
Across the land, across the sea
When I grow up… ♫“

  

Here’s my video of the show. Enjoy! ^_^

Other Sesame Street performances at USS:

• “Our Favourite Things” – featuring Bert, Cookie Monster and Oscar the Grouch
• Dance with Elmo, Grover, Ernie & Bert

Sesame Street Dance with Elmo, Grover, Ernie & Bert at Universal Studios Singapore (USS)

This show is performed at the foot of the steps of the New York Public Library, just next to Loui’s NY Pizza Parlor.
It was performed at the first show of the day when I visited but the show times vary on different days of the week, so do check the park schedule on the day of your visit for the latest show timings.

Elmo did the Hokey Pokey.

Grover led a dance about the Eensy Weensy Spider…

This was followed on by Ernie who then led a dance where you have to do a series of actions -> clap your hands, stomp your feet, pat your head, hide your eyes, wave your arms, honk your nose…
Saw many young children having fun by imitating what the characters were doing. (^o^)

Here’s the video that I shot… ^_^

You’ll need to wait about 5min after the performance if you wish to take pictures with the characters.

Here are some my my pics taken with the characters.
I’ll need to re-take the one with Elmo cos the USS staff who helped me take the picture doesn’t seem to be good at photography as part of Elmo’s limbs were chopped off.

Other Sesame Street performances at USS:

• “When I Grow Up” – featuring Big Bird, Elmo, Grover, Cookie Monster, Ernie, Bert and Abby Cadabby
• “Our Favourite Things” – featuring Bert, Cookie Monster and Oscar the Grouch

Sesame Street “Our Favourite Things” at Universal Studios Singapore (USS)

The first of the Sesame Street performances started today and I caught the shows at 2:15pm and 4pm, which were identical and featured Bert, Cookie Monster and Oscar the Grouch dancing and singing about their favourite things. Some of the favourite things mentioned were pigeons, cookies and trash – if you are a Sesame Street fan, you’ll know which ones are each character’s favourite.

The Sesame Street performances are on daily at the New York area – either at the steps of the public library or the area just outside Loui’s NY Pizza Parlor. For the exact location of the performing venue, just watch the staff as they will cordon off the area about 5min before the start of each performance. Performance timings varies – on weekdays they are at 11am, 2:15pm and 4pm but on weekends there are extra shows and the timings are at 11:30am, 2:15pm, 4:30pm and 5:15pm. Best to check the park schedule for the latest show timings on the day of your visit!

When the song and dance routine is over, the characters will return backstage for a break and will reappear about 5-10min later at the public library, for park guests wanting a photo op with the characters.

Bert posed for me! LOL…

…and here are some of the pics which I took with the characters… ^_^

** TIP **: Oscar has an old sneaker attached to the inside of his trashcan. See if you can find it when you take a pic with him!

Managed to get a pic with that “smelly old sneaker”… (^o^)

Cookie and moi…

If you can’t wait to get to see the characters performing “live” at the park, here’s the video that I shot…

Other Sesame Street performances at USS:

• “When I Grow Up” – featuring Big Bird, Elmo, Grover, Cookie Monster, Ernie, Bert and Abby Cadabby
• Sesame Street Dance with Elmo, Grover, Ernie & Bert