By Kevin Hylton
September 23, 2003
Meat Me on Avenue Q: A Review of AVENUE Q
Okay, so, I’m going to do something a little off-topic now. I’m going to write a little bit about music. And yes, you may say to yourself, this is not a music column. Why on earth are we talking about music in what has typically been noted as a theatre column? My response is no matter what type of art you’re talking about, we’re all doing the same damn thing. Everyone is trying to make something that has some resonance that makes you jump up when you hear it or see it and feel totally inspired or pained or just overall moved. It’s that one album that you want to replicate in some art form or another. For me, it’s the original WEEZER album or the latest from THE DANDY WARHOLS. I think if I could produce something that approaches the level of emotion in any of these pieces, I would lay down the pen or throw the laptop to the floor and give it up feeling satisfied.
Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx’s musical AVENUE Q is a musical that approaches this level. It’s a puppet show. It’s a Broadway musical. It’s also a giant dirty joke. And it’s just brilliant. I have to say I really don’t much dig musicals. I normally abhor puppet shows as well. So the prospect of checking out a two-plus-hour musical starring a couple of Muppets really did not thrill me, despite the rave reviews that my friends at Playbill gave the show. What I realized after seeing AVENUE Q is that I have no problem with musicals or puppet shows. Bad musicals can be really painful. Bad puppet shows are about as cool as having your back hair waxed (though I never had my back hair waxed and thus the pain reference comes from second hand reports from my buddy Jason Erb). AVENUE Q is nothing but fun from the moment the curtain raises to the second it drops. It is not politically correct. It is dirty. It is sexually explicit. Most importantly, it is hysterical.
|
Trying to say what makes something funny has a pitfall. It’s the same trap that one falls into when you try and tell someone what a show is about. When you attempt to describe the plot of a show you usually give away too much of the story. It’s the same thing with describing funny. It’s a next to impossible task because how do you describe what’s funny without ruining the joke? What I can tell you is that this show makes fun of everyone and everything. No one is safe. Nothing is safe. Sex, relationships, racism, political correctness are all taken out, put in the spot light and then beaten to a pulp with a big, fat stick until they bleed funny. I don’t know how you make jokes about racism in a city as diverse as New York without raising some eyebrows. Then again, it’s hard to get angry at a Republican conservative gay puppet singing to former child acting star Gary Coleman and an East Asian woman “Everyone’s a little bit racist” and not laugh. Christ. I just fell into the pitfall.
The biggest criticism I’ve heard of this show is that it is not a Broadway musical. People say they feel cheated. One friend commented, and I quote, “I don’t know. For free, it was cool. I mean it was funny and the songs and music were good but who wants to pay one hundred bucks a seat to watch a puppet show?” What’s the problem again? This damn show is funnier than anything I’ve seen on Broadway. Period. And I’m including everything I’ve seen on Broadway ever. I think it is right up there with every comedy I’ve seen in New York. Without a doubt it never pulls a punch and somehow is able to be the most intelligent, raw thing out there. It’s about and for intelligent people who laugh at Mel Brooks but laugh equally loudly at J.D. Salinger. And the music? True, it’s not Bach (or even Bachrach). But good God, what is so good musically now on Broadway anyways? Even the “big boys” bomb with their efforts. And Andy Boy Webber’s last few plays aren’t anywhere near New York.
|
I’ll admit one thing: this show is fairly devoid of dancing. If you want to see high kicking and slick steps you aren’t going to encounter them anywhere near Avenue Q. Run down the road and check out 42nd STREET. But while it doesn’t have choreography like other shows what it does have is a spectacular cast. The actors and actors/puppeteers (some characters are actually human while others are just puppeteers) are superb. You’d think that in a show where you have puppets of multiple loud colors you’d find that they are the focal point of your attention. Not so with AVENUE Q. I think I watched the puppeteers more than the puppets they were holding. Both John Tartaglia and Stephanie D’Abruzzo are masterful in their puppeteering skills and acting skills. I was mesmerized by the facial expressions of Tartaglia as he manipulated both puppets (Rod and Princeton).
AVENUE Q is not high art. It does not purport to be that. It doesn’t take itself seriously for one second. That is precisely the reason that it is so endearing and enjoyable. If you look at anything really worthwhile what makes it pop and bang is the way it looks at life. If it feels contrived it isn’t going to win anyone over. If it is real it’s gonna grab you from moment one. I don’t know why I like Weezer’s first album. All I know is when I hear it, I think “Fuck, I gotta make something like that.” I hate puppets and musicals make me worried but I’m gonna see AVENUE Q again next week. And this time I’m paying 100 bucks.
Tickets to AVENUE Q can be obtained through Telecharge at (212) 239-6200/(800) 432-7250. All photos courtesy of www.avenueq.com.
E-MAIL THE AUTHOR |
ARCHIVES
