Grab your dick and double-click!
FINALLY A REASON TO USE THIS ICON.
So a while back when I reviewed Sweeny Todd I promised that Avenue Q was up next. At the time I had planned to see it that summer, but work knocked me off that horse and it wasn't until today, just over two years later, that the show finally came back around to my neck of the woods to let me make good on that promise. So it's about time to get that last depressing entry off the top of my journal and break down the wondrous spectacle of AVENUE Q: THE BROADWAY MUSICAL, under the cut.
One of my earliest thoughts about the show was that I couldn't really decide who I should be paying more attention to: the puppets, or the actors carrying them around. The physical acting was all in the puppets, except for a couple of notable exceptions. Particularly: facial expressions, which are obviously limited with puppets and thus fall to the actors to convey; and when the puppets would change actors, because the cast was so small, some people played multiple roles at once, even when their second character was a puppet on the other end of the room being operated by a member of the ensemble. It was when those things really mattered that the line between actor and puppet was extremely blurred and I am not quite sure if that was a good or bad thing.
What was definitely a good thing, though, was that the show kept me laughing pretty much start to finish. Even knowing almost all the songs by heart, there was never a dull moment. Always something to laugh at, always some cute little thing to notice and be amused by, even if it was simple technical things like noting how the actors' microphones were mounted not around their cheek or the front of their collar, but right in the middle of their foreheads like some giant zit.
If you have little ones and are not sure whether it's okay to take them to see this show, it's really not something you can put a concrete line on. Depending on the kid's maturity level you could set the line at any point between 13 and 18 and not be particularly right or wrong. (myself personally, I would be comfortable letting my kids see it by age 14 or 15, but I'm not sure I'd want it to be while I'm sitting right next to them. XD) Having said that, though, it does need to be understood that were this a film, it would absolutely be rated R for plenty of foul and suggestive language and a rather elaborate musical number about loud, wild, semi-drunken intercourse including full-on puppet sex. So take from that what you will.
Speaking of the musical numbers, they are wonderfully clever and modern, if a bit raunchy or touchy in subject matter, though it's fairly apparent that the first act is quite a bit stronger than the second. Both are about the same length, but a lot of the second act is the standard romantic comedy "downer" portion where things have gone wrong for the protagonists somehow and for a good part of the show/film the humor dries up. Which isn't inherently bad, but it takes up a bit too much of this particular show for my tastes. Even the songs are overall a bit more subdued than their first-half counterparts. Despite that, though, the music remains catchy and enjoyable beginning to end, and you'll feel like the second half is quite a bit 'fresher' if you're really familiar with the soundtrack, as there seems to be a lot more going on outside the song numbers.
At the bottom line, if you have a good sense of humor and don't get easily offended by jokes about everything from race to suicide to gay sex and everything in-between, then don't pass up a chance to see this show if it comes your way, you will absolutely not be disappointed.
Arbitrary grading portion of this review: A-.
Next up: The Lion King, June 26th. SO EXCITED FOR THIS. Tempted to go in blind this time rather than familiarize myself with the soundtrack first.
So a while back when I reviewed Sweeny Todd I promised that Avenue Q was up next. At the time I had planned to see it that summer, but work knocked me off that horse and it wasn't until today, just over two years later, that the show finally came back around to my neck of the woods to let me make good on that promise. So it's about time to get that last depressing entry off the top of my journal and break down the wondrous spectacle of AVENUE Q: THE BROADWAY MUSICAL, under the cut.
One of my earliest thoughts about the show was that I couldn't really decide who I should be paying more attention to: the puppets, or the actors carrying them around. The physical acting was all in the puppets, except for a couple of notable exceptions. Particularly: facial expressions, which are obviously limited with puppets and thus fall to the actors to convey; and when the puppets would change actors, because the cast was so small, some people played multiple roles at once, even when their second character was a puppet on the other end of the room being operated by a member of the ensemble. It was when those things really mattered that the line between actor and puppet was extremely blurred and I am not quite sure if that was a good or bad thing.
What was definitely a good thing, though, was that the show kept me laughing pretty much start to finish. Even knowing almost all the songs by heart, there was never a dull moment. Always something to laugh at, always some cute little thing to notice and be amused by, even if it was simple technical things like noting how the actors' microphones were mounted not around their cheek or the front of their collar, but right in the middle of their foreheads like some giant zit.
If you have little ones and are not sure whether it's okay to take them to see this show, it's really not something you can put a concrete line on. Depending on the kid's maturity level you could set the line at any point between 13 and 18 and not be particularly right or wrong. (myself personally, I would be comfortable letting my kids see it by age 14 or 15, but I'm not sure I'd want it to be while I'm sitting right next to them. XD) Having said that, though, it does need to be understood that were this a film, it would absolutely be rated R for plenty of foul and suggestive language and a rather elaborate musical number about loud, wild, semi-drunken intercourse including full-on puppet sex. So take from that what you will.
Speaking of the musical numbers, they are wonderfully clever and modern, if a bit raunchy or touchy in subject matter, though it's fairly apparent that the first act is quite a bit stronger than the second. Both are about the same length, but a lot of the second act is the standard romantic comedy "downer" portion where things have gone wrong for the protagonists somehow and for a good part of the show/film the humor dries up. Which isn't inherently bad, but it takes up a bit too much of this particular show for my tastes. Even the songs are overall a bit more subdued than their first-half counterparts. Despite that, though, the music remains catchy and enjoyable beginning to end, and you'll feel like the second half is quite a bit 'fresher' if you're really familiar with the soundtrack, as there seems to be a lot more going on outside the song numbers.
At the bottom line, if you have a good sense of humor and don't get easily offended by jokes about everything from race to suicide to gay sex and everything in-between, then don't pass up a chance to see this show if it comes your way, you will absolutely not be disappointed.
Arbitrary grading portion of this review: A-.
Next up: The Lion King, June 26th. SO EXCITED FOR THIS. Tempted to go in blind this time rather than familiarize myself with the soundtrack first.