Just saw that Avenue Q will be going on tour and is doing a stint in the DC metro area in late November… right in time for Typo Knig’s birthday.
Is it worth the ticket price? It looks like fun, from the snippets I’ve seen. Not sure how we’ll explain to the kids that yes, Mommy and Daddy are going to a puppet show… and no, they can’t go too!
It’s a good musical, witty, a little naughty, mainly for the young, single, angsty, urban poor, or those who can identify with them. You’ll have a good time, if you like musicals. I hate them personally, but I saw it when some out of town friends wanted desperately to see it, offered me free tickets (that I wound up paying for, because they found it too complicated to use their credit cards correctly) and I had a good time, considering.
Definitely worth it. I don’t really like musicals, but I do like muppets, and I loved Avenue Q. Enough to see it three times with different people (quite different types, and they all liked it). The songs are actually quite good and it doesn’t really drag anywhere like so many broadway productions I’ve seen. Plus the casts I saw were incredibly talented (most provide several voices and some manage to do one character’s voice while puppeteering another).
Bring folding money. There is a scene right before the end where they’re trying to collect money from other characters to fulfill someone’s dream, and as the song they sing continues, they fan out into the audience and collect money from them. I believe the money collected is donated to a charity, but I don’t know which one.
Edited: Yes, it is worth the admission. AND the charity money.
Eh, we were hugely disappointed. It’s not a show I’d ever see again, let alone recommend. Obviously mileage varies on this.
That being said, I walked out with that slightly let-down feeling of “That was pretty good, but with what they had, it could have been so great.” I know it’s silly to ask for a carefully crafted plot in a musical with puppets, but it did seem a bit like a bunch of skits thrown together, at least to me.
But “de gustibus non est disputandum” and all that. The individual performers are great and the puppet concept works. The show just seems a bit incoherent.
I thought it was brilliant and I’m really not a great fan of musicals at all. The actors were amazing (the lead female singer was incredible) and the humour is superb. It’s something I’d happily go and see again an I have a colleague who’s done just that, and he thought it was just as good the second time around.
Go see it!
It’s worth it just for the internet song, the Bad Idea Bears, and to see Sesame Street-style puppets getting it on. (Yes, I’m puerile, but puppet sex is hilarious.)
Then, as others have said, it works on a whole different level when you start reflecting on how amazing the performers are - constantly swapping puppets and voices in an intricate dance that is truly breathtaking.
(Actually, the one thing I didn’t like is the relentless, uncalled-for cruelty to Gary Coleman. But even with that, I still liked it on the whole.)
It won the Tony for best musical, beating out Wicked.
Definitely worth seeing.
ETA: The producers had fears the show wouldn’t “translate” to other countries, but AQ is a smash hit in London, and other productions are being planned.
The cruelty to Gary Coleman is because it’s a tribute to Sesame Street, and he’s the special guest star.
I loved it, I bought the cast album, and I keep singing ‘Shadenfreude’.
This is deliberate, and part of the whole Sesame Street feel.
I saw the touring production a few months ago, and it’s fantastic. Great songs, great puppetry, tons of laughs and a few moments where I later realized I was getting choked up over puppets.
I’m squarely in its target market, just the right age to have been weaned on Sesame Street during its pre-Elmo-takeover heyday and to have appreciated Gary Coleman before he was a joke. So take my gushing as you will.
I thought it was terrific. Definitely worth splashing out on.
I loved the Bad Idea Bears! I swear they’ve visited me more than once.
Totally worth it.
My brother bought tickets as a present for his daughter to celebrate her getting the lead in her high school musical (“Lucky Stiff”). He called a friend who had “connections”, and she delivered the tickets on the day of the show. My brother and his girlfriend, his daughter and me got there, gave the tickets to the usher and she lead us to the 16th row. We thought this was pretty good. But the usher said “Here are two seats - the other two are elsewhere.” We debated a bit who was going to be in the other seats, but my brother insisted that he wanted to sit with his girlfriend and that I should sit with my niece. The usher led us to the other seats.
Front row, dead center.
We had a great time, and we laughed our heads off. So much so that the members of the pit orchestra thanked us during the intermission. Apparently, the front row is usually occupied by rich executive and “society” types, and they’re not much on laughing at raunchy humor. One of the cast members was selling signed posters in the lobby for the charity (a fund to help Broadway performers with AIDS) and we bought a poster. On the way home from the play, we did a duet of “The Internet Is For Porn”.
Ah, thank you! Apparently the charity they collect for during the “Money Song” is Broadway Cares: Equity Fights AIDS.
Broadway Cares was the first organization created for fighting AIDS. They hold a marvelous Flea Market in Shubert Alley every year. Look for it on September 21, 2008 this year. It’s great time for a great cause.
It is worth it, in my opinion. This is not a show you’re likely to see made into a movie-musical like “Sweeney Todd” or “Chicago,” and even if it ever is, it wouldn’t be the same. It would lose a lot of charm if you couldn’t see the actors manipulating the puppets, and some of the humor is mildly topical. Definitely see it on stage if you’re so inclined; I suspect it will not age well.
The target market is people who grew up on Sesame Street, and have a somewhat high tolerance for inappropriate humor, so that may help you decide. Cervaise took me to see the show for my (early) birthday present, and it was the kind of musical where we laughed ourselves sick.
It’s not quite to the line of Meet the Feebles but it’s definitely not for kids: the puppets drink, have pre-marital sex, and swear; one of them is gay; one of them spends his time downloading porn off the Internet. It’s raunchy but not scatalogical.
Is it a perfect show? Well, Cervaise and I were greatly entertained, and the performances were spot-on, though we could see where the script needed a bit more focus. I would definitely have a birthday again.
I know it was in DC last November-December (when I missed it, unfortunately). If you know in which theater and when it’s going to be in DC this November, please let me know so I can catch it.
Never mind…found it. It doesn’t look like it’ll be in DC in November, but it’ll be in DC at the Warner Theater from Feb. 10th-15th.
Sings
Sucks to be YOU!
There are clips on YouTube, such as “Everyone’s a little bit racist”:
