Strengthening The Community One Child At A Time Orchards Children's Services is a leader among Michigan's child welfare agencies, providing specialized care in addition to recreational and educational services for children in Oakland, Wayne and Macomb counties. Orchards provides the highest quality services designed to strengthen family stability, build supportive communities and address current and emerging family needs. Orchards offers the most appropriate and prompt permanency plan for those children separated from their families, as well as support for reunification or acceptance into a new family. • Foster Care Services • At-Home Respite Services • Adoption Services • Managed Care Services • Outpatient Clinical Services • Community Services Elmo, the red Muppet sitting on the fence, will entertain his fans along with the rest of his Sesame Street Live cohorts in Let's Play School. Orchards Children's Services Oakland County 30215 Southfield Rd. Southfield, MI 48076 (810) 433-8600 Wayne County Macomb County 7700 Second Avenue 42140 Van Dyke Road Detroit, MI 48202 Sterling Heights, MI 48134 (313) 874-9506 (810) 997-3886 Spine Tingling Ghost Story "Guaranteed to chill the blood!" 7-Year Hit in London's West End! "A real thrill of horror" London Sunday Times THE WOMAN THE DETRO IT JEWISH NEWS So you couldn't locate a Tickle Me Elmo for the kids. The giggling red Muppet will be here in person in a Sesame Street Live production. LESLIE JOSEPH SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS London Evening Standard BLACK by Stephen Mallatratt For tickets call Meadow Brook Box Office (810) 377-3300 Ticketmaster (810) 645-6666 Hudson's Harmony House and Blockbuster Music Heeere's Elmo ! Meadow Brook Theatre Oakland University's Professional Theatre Supported by the mc' aca miclugan council for a r and cultural affairs I f standing out in the sleet and snow for your chance at a giggling red Muppet wasn't your bag, take heart. He's back. Tickle Me Elmo, this season's undisputed hottest-selling toy, turned even the kindhearted and genteel into crazed lunatics in their quest for the perfect hol- iday gift. With lines at some stores wrapping around the street cor- ner and an "each man for him- self' attitude in the toy aisle that _ made running with the bulls in Pamplona look like a Sunday stroll, the folks at Tyco, the mak- er of the popular Sesame Street character doll, are chuckling all the way to the bank. "I think the adults rather than the kids made Elmo the big item that it was," said an assis- tant manager at Kmart in Bloomfield Hills. "The novelty of having something from Sesame Street that laughs and is a little bit active was very appealing." The moppy red-haired doll that laughs when you squeeze its belly and comes up with pithy one-liners such as, "Oh boy, that tickles," retails for around $25. But for many people, money was not the problem. At the height of the Elmo ma- nia, radio and television stations around the country took to auc- tioning off the toy for charity, with bids reaching as high as $3,000 in Minneapolis. Online scalpers offered Elmo dolls for as much as $200 on the Inter- net. And enterprising consumers who had shopped early ran ad- vertisements in local newspa- pers seeking the highest bid. The media had a lot to do with Elmo's climb to celebrity status, said Michelle Hagen at Target Northland in Southfield. "They really revved up the hype," she "Oh boy, that tickles!" said. "Right before Thanksgiving, I'd never heard of it," she said. But after everyone from Rosie O'Donnell to Peter Jennings gave it a plug, Elmo became a mega superstar. "Elmo is just so cute," said Kelli Lewis, 15, of Bloomfield Hills, an ardent Elmo fan. "A lot of people like Elmo," she said. "He's the cutest character on the TV show. When other people saw how much people wanted [Elmo], they wanted one too." Lewis, who works at FAO Schwarz in Troy, said they start- ed turning people away at the end of November when it was clear the demand for Elmo was far-outpacing the supply. With names on some waiting lists still running into the hun- dreds at the holidays, many par- ents -had to forgo their dreams of seeing their little ones shout with glee at the sight of their fa- vorite TV Muppet. But the folks at Olympia En- tertainment and Sesame Street Live, either seizing a golden op- portunity or profiting from in- credibly good timing, are bringing Elmo and his cohorts to town. The Fox Theatre will host Elmo and the rest of the Sesame Street gang, live, in the 90-minute musical stage pro- duction of Let's Play School. Elmo fans everywhere are sure to be tickled. LI t perform e ePe--d3 ea re J' Tickets are av a tteuis Lo htthes sAre Fona x bo aatre and Joe e Tidtetmasth x° fficas and all Tick- r 1°cati°18 ' 15 et pii.ces for es:from , Ttin (821 o)e fonxiarl mat ab:th Theatre oilnas g 'Per7 m venill c ontact . ter °I.- at (313