REVIEW: Avenue Q - Gielgud Theatre, London
Mar. 9th, 2010 09:52 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
angelofmusicMusical: Avenue Q
Production: Live
Theatre: Gielgud Theatre, London, England.
Date: 11/06/2008
All I knew about this show before going in was that it involved puppets and the song "The Internet is for Porn" comes from it, and I had heard rumours of puppet-sex. Really, this is Sesame Street gone naughty, as is the intention, complete with lessons to be learned with songs to emphasise the details.
Sadly, since I was in the middle of an extremely rushed 3 days in London, I was rather broke and didn't have a chance to get merchandise, so I didn't even get a programme, which is a first for me. This, of course, means I don't remember all the members of the cast, which I really regret now.
But, to the show, I'm afraid I probably missed something on account of not really knowing who Gary Coleman is or why he was funny, even with the explanations about him, but that wasn't really an issue because on the whole, the show was just so funny in itself.
The puppetwork was brilliantly well done. I don't know how many more people were hiding behind the scenes (especially in the beginning of "The Internet is for Porn", when Trekkie Monster kept popping up everywhere) but we had 7 main cast members and 4 of them were puppeteers. Some of the puppet action with one puppet and two puppeteers was absolutely fantastic, especially Nicky doing his kick-dance routine about it being all right to be gay (but he's not gay) (and also, hee! Bert and Ernie completely spoofed in Rod and Nicky. So fun).
It actually gets to the point that you don't even notice the puppeteers anymore, because they have the characters managed so well. This is specially the case during "You Can Be as Loud as the Hell You Want (When You're Makin' Love)".
Not only do the puppets have sex, they have stamina and multi-position puppet sex, cheered on by the adorable Bad Idea Bears (who later show up and offer a character a noose, just in case he wants to kill himself and when he doesn't, they pout at him). I was surrounded by professional business types and they were shrieking with laughter at that point.
But digressing from the puppet-sex.
Vocal-wise, I absolutely adored Rebecca Lock as Kate Monster/Lucy the Slut. Playing two puppet characters is a big enough thing for a girl I last saw in Cats. Playing two characters with two completely different voices, personas and ways of moving gives her double the fun and I loved the way she moved for each one. Her voice is likewise amazing. And what made me smile was the fact that she had people around me sitting and sniffling at the end of act 1 with "There's a Fine, Fine Line".
Daniel Boys was fun. I knew I recognised him but for the whole show, I couldn't place him. Yep, another refugee from Joseph, who is actually really, really good. I didn't like him in the show, because he was so up himself, but in this, he actually won me over completely. That's me seen 4 of the 12 would-be Josephs live. Is this a bad thing? Plus, I loved the way he played Rod. Princeton - not entirely interesting, but Rod. Oh Rod. The republican puppet with an unrequited crush on his roommate. LOVE him.
And I absolutely adore Christmas Eve. She is really just far to adorable as one of the three human types in the show.
On the whole, it's a fun show and the cast when I saw it was brilliant. Wish I'd had enough on me to actually get merchandise. They have such nifty stuff.
It's definitely a show I would recommend to go and see with a group of friends, particular if you were raised on Sesame Street as a child. I have never laughed so much as a musical in my life.
Production: Live
Theatre: Gielgud Theatre, London, England.
Date: 11/06/2008
All I knew about this show before going in was that it involved puppets and the song "The Internet is for Porn" comes from it, and I had heard rumours of puppet-sex. Really, this is Sesame Street gone naughty, as is the intention, complete with lessons to be learned with songs to emphasise the details.
Sadly, since I was in the middle of an extremely rushed 3 days in London, I was rather broke and didn't have a chance to get merchandise, so I didn't even get a programme, which is a first for me. This, of course, means I don't remember all the members of the cast, which I really regret now.
But, to the show, I'm afraid I probably missed something on account of not really knowing who Gary Coleman is or why he was funny, even with the explanations about him, but that wasn't really an issue because on the whole, the show was just so funny in itself.
The puppetwork was brilliantly well done. I don't know how many more people were hiding behind the scenes (especially in the beginning of "The Internet is for Porn", when Trekkie Monster kept popping up everywhere) but we had 7 main cast members and 4 of them were puppeteers. Some of the puppet action with one puppet and two puppeteers was absolutely fantastic, especially Nicky doing his kick-dance routine about it being all right to be gay (but he's not gay) (and also, hee! Bert and Ernie completely spoofed in Rod and Nicky. So fun).
It actually gets to the point that you don't even notice the puppeteers anymore, because they have the characters managed so well. This is specially the case during "You Can Be as Loud as the Hell You Want (When You're Makin' Love)".
Not only do the puppets have sex, they have stamina and multi-position puppet sex, cheered on by the adorable Bad Idea Bears (who later show up and offer a character a noose, just in case he wants to kill himself and when he doesn't, they pout at him). I was surrounded by professional business types and they were shrieking with laughter at that point.
But digressing from the puppet-sex.
Vocal-wise, I absolutely adored Rebecca Lock as Kate Monster/Lucy the Slut. Playing two puppet characters is a big enough thing for a girl I last saw in Cats. Playing two characters with two completely different voices, personas and ways of moving gives her double the fun and I loved the way she moved for each one. Her voice is likewise amazing. And what made me smile was the fact that she had people around me sitting and sniffling at the end of act 1 with "There's a Fine, Fine Line".
Daniel Boys was fun. I knew I recognised him but for the whole show, I couldn't place him. Yep, another refugee from Joseph, who is actually really, really good. I didn't like him in the show, because he was so up himself, but in this, he actually won me over completely. That's me seen 4 of the 12 would-be Josephs live. Is this a bad thing? Plus, I loved the way he played Rod. Princeton - not entirely interesting, but Rod. Oh Rod. The republican puppet with an unrequited crush on his roommate. LOVE him.
And I absolutely adore Christmas Eve. She is really just far to adorable as one of the three human types in the show.
On the whole, it's a fun show and the cast when I saw it was brilliant. Wish I'd had enough on me to actually get merchandise. They have such nifty stuff.
It's definitely a show I would recommend to go and see with a group of friends, particular if you were raised on Sesame Street as a child. I have never laughed so much as a musical in my life.
