Hanging Out at Avenue Q

Like any child from the seventies, I grew up on Sesame Street. Even up to now I can still sing "Sunny day, sweeping the clouds away" and recite Wanda the Witch by heart.  I have always loved Jim Henson's Muppets and admired how puppeteers bring these muppets to life. 

Avenue Q is a tribute to Sesame Street. It's definitely for that Sesame Street fan who grew up.  I learned about the Broadway musical Avenue Q when, in a rare experience, the 2004 Tony Awards was broadcast on Philippine Television.  One of the shows highlights was the original cast of Avenue Q performing "It Sucks To Be Me".  Avenue Q won Best Musical that night.  Right there and then, I wanted to watch the entire musical. However, what are the odds of a middle income Filipina hopping on a plane to New York and watching a Tony Award winning Broadway play?  Zilch.

Then  early this year my obsession with Avenue Q began.  It all started when I searched for Avenue Q videos on YouTube.  It's a blessing that someone uploaded the Royal Variety performance of the Avenue Q London Cast . I especially love Julie Atherton's performance as Kate Monster and Lucy The Slut.  I must have played that video more than ten times.

Then I started reading up on lots of articles about the show. The Avenue Q Wikipedia entry gave the perfect backdrop for the musical. I downloaded the songs and listened to them over and over.  The obsession grew and grew to the point of distraction. And in a  stroke of luck, I found a torrent link of the entire show featuring the original Broadway cast and downloaded it. (I do not promote piracy but one has to understand my odds of catching it on Broadway.  Simply put, I CANNOT  afford it.)  The video was poor, filmed with a hidden video camera presumably, but the audio was good.  I loaded it on my iPod and for almost two hours, I reveled in Avenue Q. I laughed, cried and felt oneness with the show.  I totally related to it: the quarter-life crisis, love and relationships and the need to find one's purpose.

The performance of Stephanie D'Abruzzo, (Kate Monster/Lucy the Slut), John Tartaglia (Princeton/Rod)  and Rick Lyon (Trekkie Monster, Nicky, Bear) were magical. Notably, D'Abruzzo, Tartaglia and Lyon were puppeteers on Sesame Street with Lyon designing all of the puppet characters of Avenue Q. That's why their control of the puppets gave each character personality and life.  Perfect animation of puppets right before your eyes.   The songs of Avenue Q are so fascinating with just the right tinge of Sesame Street flavor that one can't help but sing along. My favorites include "It Sucks to be Me", "The Internet is For Porn" and the poignant "There's a Fine Fine Line".  

Fast track to August this year. I discovered that Atlantis Productions will be bringing Avenue Q to Manila.  I was excited but at the same time skeptical.  The cast led by Rachel Alejandro, Felix Rivera and Joel Trinidad are great singers and actors but they're not known to be puppeteers. The ability to control and  animate  puppets and then act and sing at the same time is a tall order.  But I had faith in the Filipino talent so I can't wait to watch Avenue Q, live! 

My sister and I got tickets for the September 23, 2007 matinee.   It was a challenge going to RCBC Plaza and after two traffic violations (my sister made two illegal U-turns as traffic rules in Makati sucks!), we finally made it just in time.   In that small, and almost Siberia-freezing theater (I was suffering  from a bad cold that time), I  visited Avenue Q in Manila. 

I must say that Atlantis' production of Avenue Q is up to par.  Of the performances, it was Joel Trinidad's version of Trekkie Monster and Nicky and Felix Rivera as Princeton and Rod that stood out. I loved Trinidad as Trekkie! His control of Trekkie together with Teenee Chan is quite remarkable with all the shaking and lewd gestures typical of the pervert Trekkie. It actually reminded me of Lyon's version.      

Felix Rivera was also great as Princeton but I love him better as Rod.  His rendition of "My Girlfriend Who Lives In Canada" is pristine. He shifts from Princeton to Rod with ease.  I also enjoyed Trinidad and Rivera when they sang "The Money Song". Watch out for Nicky's gestures here.  It's a riot.

Rachel Alejandro as Kate Monster and Lucy The Slut was quite all right. She was remarkable in the song "Mix Tape" and totally captured Kate's shyness and giddiness over her feelings for Princeton.  Her rendition of my favorite "There's a Fine Fine Line" is heart wrenching you could actually feel Kate's pain(Actually, the sadness is reminiscent of her rendition of her song "Forever and a Day"). One thing I noticed though is that her puppets lack a tinge of animation (just a tinge). It may be because of her lack of experience or the puppet may be too big for her slight frame. And I was slightly disappointed with Lucy's "Special" not because of Rachel's acting or singing( which is perfect!) but the lack of movement of the puppet.   

Noticeably, the puppets in this version are larger than the ones in the Broadway play (Or perhaps the actors have smaller bodies than their Caucasian counterparts). This factor and the actors' lack of puppeteer experience may contribute to the slight lack of animation.  This is the key point that the Manila cast should improve on: giving the puppets more life.  Nevertheless, their present puppet performances. though not quite Sesame Street -quality, were quite good. 

In a stroke of brilliant casting, Frenchie Dy as Christmas Eve and Aiza Seguerra as Gary Coleman are two thumbs up: Perfect. Rycharde Everley and Teenee Chan provide apt performances as Bryan and one of the Bad Idea Bears respectively. 

In fine, my visit to Manila's Avenue Q was an enriching and engaging experience. I feel honored that I was able  to catch this great show. I admire Atlantis Productions for bringing the show here in order for Filipinos like me who do not have the funds to go to Broadway can watch it. My sister and I had a grand time we even asked Director Bobby Garcia and the rest of the cast to sign our souvenir program.  We took pictures with them too. (Talk about fangirling). Felix Rivera and Joel Trinidad were especially friendly.  Joel Trinidad was even thoughtful enough to ask someone to take a picture so that my sister and I can have a photo with him. He also told us that Avenue Q will have a second run in December.  We're going to watch it again for sure.  

Once you've hang out in Avenue Q, you can't help but go back again.