SESAMIE STREET LIVE SHOW IS FAMILIARLY ENTERTAINING

Familiarity, not originality, is what 3- and 4-year-olds want in a show. The Sesame Street Live binoculars and flashlights for sale out front would be needed to find a plot, but "Big Bird's Sunny Day Camp Out" had children dancing in the aisles and talking back to Big Bird and his very familiar friends Friday night.

More than 1,700 children, parents and grandparents filled the Show Me Center parking lot with minivans. The show will be presented again at 10:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. today and Sunday.

Big Bird and Snuffy don't really want to go camping in the woods, of course. They know they're not old enough to cross the street. They just want to go pretend camping, but even that is difficult when you've got sheep, fish, bats and even a couple of dads in wigs from the audience dancing everywhere you go.

In their brightly colored costumes, the characters from the TV show paraded across the stage before beautifully painted sets depicting Ernie's World and other vistas. There are bubbles and bangs, countdowns and Count von Count.

The production is slickly orchestrated and marketed. Sesame Street Live products are on sale before and after the show, and balloon sellers magically appear when the lights go on at intermission.

The dancing by the various characters is simply wonderful, especially in a Caribbean number visually perked up with black lights.

Sesame Street Live is known for teaching while entertaining, and this show continues the tradition. Bert teaches the kids how to wash themselves, and The Count does his numbers number.

The songs borrow heavily from familiar melodies, including "The Twelve Days of Christmas" and "Singing in the Rain." But there are inventive moments. A drip provokes a "STOMP"-like percussion number, and at the end Big Bird sings a song that sweetly captures the sadness children feel that a good day is ending and their excitement about tomorrow.

If "Big Bird's Sunny Day Camp Out" is as sweet and sticky as cotton candy, find a little kid who doesn't like cotton candy.