You might say that Casey Daigle and Dani Cohen’s jobs depend on whether they’re big enough – or small enough – to handle them.
The 5-feet-11-inch Daigle earns his living by being the “tall understudy” for the Sesame Street Live show “Elmo’s Coloring Book.” At 5 feet 2 inches, Cohen is, of course, the “small understudy.”
“They base the characters that we understudy on our height,” Daigle, 24, said. “I play Big Bird, Cookie Monster, Count Von Count (and) Telly Monster. I also understudy the live performer in our show.”
Cohen, 23, plays Prairie Dawn and understudies the characters Elmo, Ernie, Zoe and Rosita.
“Elmo’s Coloring Book” opens an eight-performance, four-day run at the Denver Coliseum today. Expect a parade of beloved furry and feathered characters, plus some pint-sized life lessons to boot.
But who knew they cast the show with actors of such stature?
“We do have another understudy who is the medium understudy. She is around 5-foot-6,” Daigle said, referring to Valerie Whitehead.
Character heights range from 8-foot-2-inch Big Bird to 5-foot Elmo.
“When they cast the show, lots of time all the smalls are pretty much around the same height,” Cohen said. “But they can adjust the costumes.”
For learning multiple roles, understudies receive more pay than other cast members.
“Everyone has their own lines, their own choreography and their own blocking,” Daigle said. “Mostly, everybody is in the same production numbers. So it’s pretty much the same choreography.”
While all the dialogue is recorded, the actors still must learn lines so they can move their characters’ mouth at the right time.
“That is controlled with a hand meck – hand mechanism,” Daigle said. “It is connected to our hand and has a cord that goes up to the head. It is kind of like a bike brake.”
It demands, Cohen said, “a lot of coordination to be able make the mouth move at the same time you’re dancing.”
The understudies are given ample time to learn the various roles.
“We have production for about a month when we start off a new show,” Cohen said. “They give us a CD of the show before we even get out on the tour.”
They also are given videotapes of various performances to study while on tour, she said. They also see the show live hundreds of times during the 11-month tour, which ends June 26.
In the show, Elmo and his friends join new characters Professor Art and helpers the Palettes on trips to ancient Egypt, dinosaur lands and a musical junkyard.
Daigle and Cohen are on their third tour with Sesame Street Live and plan to continue.
And they want to stay understudies.
“I enjoy being an understudy,” Daigle said. “It kind of adds that little variety in the show where you are not doing the same role all the time and you get to do a lot of different characters. Having a chance to be all those different characters is really fun.”
Staff writer Ed Will can be reached at 303-820-1694 or ewill@denverpost.com.
“Elmo’s Coloring Book”
SESAME STREET LIVE|Denver Coliseum, 4600 Humboldt St.; 7 tonight; 10:30 a.m. and 7 p.m. Friday; 10:30 a.m. and 2 and 5:30 p.m. Saturday; 1 and 4:30 p.m. Sunday|$13-$27 except $12 opening night and $10 Friday matinee|303-830-8497 or www.ticketmaster.com
