O.C. CHILDREN’S THEATER REVIEW : ‘School’ Gives Lesson in Fun

There’s trouble with truants on Sesame Street.

When a couple of monsters play hooky from their imaginary school, audience members are invited to take their place in “Let’s Play School,” a musical extravaganza for the sandbox set featuring a larger-than-life lineup of Big Bird, Bert and Ernie and all the “Sesame Street” gang. The 90-minute stage show continues through Sunday at the Anaheim Convention Center.

“Let’s Play School,” a production of VEE Corp., is one of four “Sesame Street Live” road shows currently on tour. Like its kin, “Silly Dancing,” which played to more than 40,000 people when it stopped in Anaheim last year, “Let’s Play School” is a rowdy, high-volume concoction of bouncy characters and sing-along pop tunes set off with a few simple but splashy special effects. Think of it as “Mr. Hooper Goes to Vegas.” And the kids--at least the ones in Thursday’s opening night performance--love it.

Led by Professor Grover (the most gregarious academic ever to sport a mortarboard), audiences are invited to sing, dance, clap and stomp along as the characters play their way through a day at school. The first order of the day is roll call, tunefully carried out in one of the show’s catchiest songs, “Whatta Whatta Name Game,” an upbeat rap tune that introduces all the characters, and a few audience members, by name. Choreography here, and in most numbers, is surprisingly tight, given the bulkiness of the costumes (Big Bird’s saffron turkey-feather suit, for example, weighs in at nearly 60 pounds).

Show-and-tell’s up next, and, wouldn’t you know it, everybody has something in their cubbyhole to share except Big Bird, who deftly (for him) persuades the prof to put it off until he can come up with something. For the remainder of the show, Bird has his feathers in a ruffle as he tries to decide what precious thing he wants to share with his pals.

In the reading lesson, Bert acquires facial hair and a twang as Old MacDonald in a lively rendition of “Old MacDonald Had a Farm.” Costumes are the most imaginative here, with a couple of high-stepping ears of corn and brightly colored dancing haystacks among Mac’s possessions.

After recess (otherwise known as intermission, a handy time to stock up on those “Sesame Street” flashlights, pennants, buttons and T-shirts for kids, or maybe a beer for mom and dad), it’s time for a lesson in safety led by crossing guards Bert and Ernie to the tune of Johnny Otis’ “Willie and the Hand Jive.” Not surprisingly, Count Von Count follows up with a math lesson extolling the virtues of numbers 1 through 10 with some of the show’s best technical tricks. Ernie, Bert and the Count, decked out in Blues Brothers shades and fedoras, wrap it all up with a bilingual counting exercise.

After much ado, and some gentle advice from the divine Miss Dawn, Big Bird finally decides what treasure to share at show-and-tell, and the class moves on to that and the show’s finale.

“Let’s Play School,” a “Sesame Street Live” production by the VEE Corp., plays todayand Sunday at 1:30 and 5 p.m. at the Anaheim Convention Center, 800 W. Katella Ave., Anaheim. Tickets: $8 to $10.50. Information: (714) 740-2000. The run continues Thursday to May 12 at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena and May 16 to 19 at the Long Beach Arena.