Avenue Q? Avenue Q!
Guys. Oh guys. I know you've all heard so much raving from other places about how awesome Avenue Q is, but seriously, it is awesome. If you live in Ontario I really, really suggest that you get tickets to go see it before it leaves.
There was just such a fantastic mix of humour and sorrow, absurdity and reality. Everyone keeps saying that this is the musical to see if you're not really into musicals, and I think that's probably true. The songs are whimsical and inspired, and there's enough hilarity and vulgarity in everything that even the most jaded anti-showtunes person will probably want to buy the soundtrack and listen to it again and again. But you probably already know that if you've ever heard any of the soundtrack.
What made it fantastic was the actual performance. The actors were phenomenal, particularly the ones who were the puppeteers. They made the puppets extensions of themselves, so that you paid attention to both of them. The expressions on the faces of the actors lent life to the words that you still attributed to the puppets, simply because of the way they were used. And the ones who were doing two or sometimes three puppets at a time? SO GOOD. When the actor who was portraying both Princeton and Rod was singing the main tune with Princeton on one hand but still using his other hand to make Rod look as though he was singing the background chorus... that takes skill. (Plus he was fucking hot. Ask thephoenixweeps. We both want him, but he belongs to Jon.)
There were some deviations from the original, some of which rocked so much, others which were a bit disappointing, but the show as a whole was just brilliant. I laughed so hard so much of the time, and I even cried a bit here and there (not from laughing). I really haven't had such an awesome experience at a musical since I saw Hairspray in Toronto, which was about 4 years ago. The cast is really small and incredibly tight - you can tell that they have really bonded. It's nice seeing a small cast in a musical like this. I also really enjoyed their use of multimedia, which is cool in a big Broadway production. I like the mixing of media in theatre and I think it's getting more mainstream as we go along.
But anyway, what's not to love in Avenue Q? You've got Gary Coleman played by a woman, crazy Japanese lady, porn, puppet sex, a giant Kate-Zilla puppet that threatens to crush us all, underwear on a clothesline, adorable teddy bears that urge you to drink, born again Christian sluts, song and dance and just oodles of goodtimes. Why are you still sitting and reading this? GO SEE AVENUE Q. RIGHT NOW.
There was just such a fantastic mix of humour and sorrow, absurdity and reality. Everyone keeps saying that this is the musical to see if you're not really into musicals, and I think that's probably true. The songs are whimsical and inspired, and there's enough hilarity and vulgarity in everything that even the most jaded anti-showtunes person will probably want to buy the soundtrack and listen to it again and again. But you probably already know that if you've ever heard any of the soundtrack.
What made it fantastic was the actual performance. The actors were phenomenal, particularly the ones who were the puppeteers. They made the puppets extensions of themselves, so that you paid attention to both of them. The expressions on the faces of the actors lent life to the words that you still attributed to the puppets, simply because of the way they were used. And the ones who were doing two or sometimes three puppets at a time? SO GOOD. When the actor who was portraying both Princeton and Rod was singing the main tune with Princeton on one hand but still using his other hand to make Rod look as though he was singing the background chorus... that takes skill. (Plus he was fucking hot. Ask thephoenixweeps. We both want him, but he belongs to Jon.)
There were some deviations from the original, some of which rocked so much, others which were a bit disappointing, but the show as a whole was just brilliant. I laughed so hard so much of the time, and I even cried a bit here and there (not from laughing). I really haven't had such an awesome experience at a musical since I saw Hairspray in Toronto, which was about 4 years ago. The cast is really small and incredibly tight - you can tell that they have really bonded. It's nice seeing a small cast in a musical like this. I also really enjoyed their use of multimedia, which is cool in a big Broadway production. I like the mixing of media in theatre and I think it's getting more mainstream as we go along.
But anyway, what's not to love in Avenue Q? You've got Gary Coleman played by a woman, crazy Japanese lady, porn, puppet sex, a giant Kate-Zilla puppet that threatens to crush us all, underwear on a clothesline, adorable teddy bears that urge you to drink, born again Christian sluts, song and dance and just oodles of goodtimes. Why are you still sitting and reading this? GO SEE AVENUE Q. RIGHT NOW.