Who would have thought that hay fever could power a Martian spaceship?

This was the case in Sesame Street’s “Out of This World,” the latest live stage show to hit the NIU Convocation Center, 1525 W. Lincoln Highway..

Terry, the Sesame Street emcee, hit the stage the second the lights went out. She was soon joined by a yellow, 14-foot-tall, tie-wearing, winged beast — Big Bird.

Big Bird stuck his feathery head out from behind the curtain as children pointed and yelled in glee. Big Bird led the rest of the cast onstage in a rousing rendition of the “Sesame Street” theme.

–

But when the Cookie Monster took the stage, the crowd’s focus shifted from the enigmatic Elmo, who had just arrived, to the portly Cookie Monster.

Kids loved Cookie Monster. He practically had the crowd in his blue paws, but one youth felt intimidated by the monster’s unwholesome appetite.

“Cookie Monster just might bite!” said 3-year-old Jakeob Folowell, before spinning in circles.

After the Sesame Street gang gathered on the stage, Elmo announced “Y” as the letter of the day. The Cookie Monster threatened to eat “Y” but was interrupted by the The Count.

The Count announced that “2” was the number of the day, and proceeded to lead the Sesame Streeters — and all willing child participants — in the two-step dance.

Seconds after completing the dance, martians crash-landed their spaceship — a cylindrical metallic capsule with flashing lights — onto the stage. The martians crawled out of the ship under heavy fog. When the fog cleared, they resembled two neon mops with feet.

“How do you say … lost?” asked a martian, in apparent confusion.

The martians also spoke jumbled English, often pronouncing the words in a monosyllabic delivery. Terry promised the martians she would fix their ship, but in the meantime, the Sesame Street gang would speak about several foreign Sesame Streets, such as the Spanish Plaza Sesamo.

To better understand foreign cultures, the gang explained the different types of cultural dances.

Senor Bert, as designed by Ernie, came onstage with a sombrero and danced the tango. But the real money was with Elmo and the hokey-pokey.

“That’s what it is all about,” Elmo added.

A disco suit-wearing Bert came onstage once more, this time with six disco dancers. He danced to the song “Disco Dust” and pointed with one finger, similar to John Travolta in “Saturday Night Fever.”

–

Terry attempted once again to start the martian spaceship, but the contraption wouldn’t start. After intermission, Terry tried for a third time to start the ship, but it was to no avail.

Elmo took the stage early in the second act as part of “Elmo’s World.” Elmo taught the stranded martians the “Yup Yup” song and re-introduced the letter of the day. Not to be foiled again, the Cookie Monster grabbed the “Y” and asked the crowd whether he should devour it.

“How many people think me should no eat letter of day?” asked the Cookie Monster. Despite a majority of nays, he ate the “Y” and ran off stage.

Finally, Terry admitted she couldn’t fix the spaceship, so she decided to get on a computer and check online. A two-legged computer came running in wearing a blue jogging suit.

Once Elmo found the instructions for fixing the ship, they just so happened to be written in the unreadable martian language.

Terry and the crew were stumped for ideas and looked to the not-so-friendly trash can for advice. Luckily, Oscar the Grouch knew the secret to blasting the ship back into space.

Only the power of Snuffleupagus’ sneeze could propel the ship out of our atmosphere.

Unfortunately, “Snuffy,” as Oscar referred to him, was “visiting his landlord in Hawaii.”

So the Sesame Street gang decided if the crowd aided them in sneezing, they could blow the martians back into space.

One Convocation Center-sized “achoo” later, the martians were back in orbit and the Sesame Street gang had once again swept the clouds away.