Avenue Q

Before I really go in on this, I have to say that this is only my second Broadway Series show ever and my first one, Guys and Dolls, turned out to be so bad, my expectations for this were pretty low. That being said, I was excited to see it. Ever since I first heard the show, I knew I needed to see it.

On Avenue Q everyone is having a rough time. Brian (Cullen R. Titmas) cannot find a job, his wife, Christmas Eve (Sala Iwamatsu) cannot keep clients as a therapist. Kate Monster (Anika Larsen) is adorable, smart and sweet but does not have a boyfriend. Then, Rod (Robert McClure) and Nicky (David Benoit) are roommates and best friends, but they are constantly fighting. Then Princeton (Robert McClure) moves in and joins in the misery as a recent college grad without a job. Oh and Gary Coleman (Danielle K. Thomas), yes that Gary Coleman, is the Super at the apartment complex where all of these crazy people live. Soon, Kate likes Princeton and Princeton likes Kate, but his purpose gets in the way. Rod might be gay, but he is hiding in the closet and it causes problems with Nicky. It would probably be wise to tell you that a few of these characters are puppets and some of those puppets are considered monsters. Also, Trekkie Monster lives upstairs and only cares about porn.

First, I have to talk about the things that bugged me. First off, I am sure this is how it is supposed to go, but having Rod and Princeton voiced by the same person was horribly annoying. It works until they are both on stage and the guy voicing Rod is on the other side of the stage from the Rod puppet. I know the character is the point, not the puppeteer, but I found the whole thing to be far too distracting. McClure does an excellent job at both parts, but the constant switching of puppets and hearing the voice elsewhere was almost too much for me to handle. Secondly, Titmas' Brian was so dull and laid back, he did not belong on the stage. I get that Brian is this slacker, easy going guy, but I still need energy in order to care one bit. Brian does not have to have a super strong voice, which this guy did not have, but he has to have life. Thomas, as Coleman, had breasts that were just too big for this person to even possible be considered a guy. They were not hidden well in the overalls. Thomas did fine, if a bit grating, but the big bouncy breasts certainly made it clear that Coleman was being played by a woman. Finally, the music was over powering in spots, especially when Thomas was singing as Coleman.

Everything else is all gravy. First off, McClure does a phenomenal job portraying two very different personalities. His Princeton is lovable, interesting and a bit pathetic and his vocals match the personality. His Rod is picture perfect. He plays him more buttoned down than I would have imagined and just enough of a lisp to hint at being gay and then when he finally lets loose, wow, it is hilarious. I like that each character gets a very distinct singing voice, with the Rod character coming off a bit more impressive. Larsen's Kate is very funny and touching. "There's a fine line" is a great song and great moment, only ruined by the dumb girl behind me giggling through the whole song. Iwamatsu's Christmas Eve nearly stole the show. I was worried I would not be able to understand anything out of her mouth, but she was clear enough to make it super funny and when she sang "The More you Ruv Someone" I was totally with it. Beonoit, doing triple duty as Nicky, Trekkie and a bad idea bear, is probably the most impressive, in terms of voice work because all 3 of his characters are vastly different and he does very well with all three.

The bad Idea Bears were a big treat for me. I had no idea what they were and they really added a nice element to the Sesame Street vibe. Also, the use of a television like a word of the day added a nice comic touch. I like that almost every first act song ends in a big cheesy pose, especially during numbers like "Every one's a little bit Racist." Every single song worked in this production and the choreography was perfectly simple, which was good because a few of the actors could not dance a lick. The stationary set was impressive looking, and offered a few nice surprises, like the rocket ship beds during Rod's very touching and kind of silly dream song.

The idea of using a kid's show as the framing device for the show, of course, mines greater laughs out of songs like "The Internet is for Porn" or "You can be as loud as the Hell you Want," but what makes the show great to me is the idea of the show being squarely aimed at people in the mid to late 20s. I love that they use puppets, a memory of childhood, to work through their 20s issues. Songs like "I wish I could go back to College" or "What do you do with a B.A. in English" offer a nice insight into the writers and offer a great perspective to so many people going through that at that age. The puppets seem like merely a gimmick and they do offer plenty of gimmickry (The puppet sex is freaking hilarious and amazing beyond belief), but they are more than a gimmick, they will remind anyone watching of a time when life was easy.

This production of Avenue Q sparkles when it is supposed to and made me think at moments too. The voices were all very good, except for 1 and I do not think they let the material get the best of them. I like that they used so many different aspects of the Sesame Street formula, but never did it seem overly childish. The swearing never feels like it was put there just to hear puppets swear, but each swear serves a purpose, usually to cover up embarrassment. Yes, the puppet sex is crazy and over the top, but so is the song that accompanies it and that is what makes it so much fun. I did not speak much about the puppetry because I know nothing about it. I did not have any complaints about the puppet movement, just the the idea of doubling up on voices for puppets, which I know was written that way. I do not back off of my thought that it was super annoying though.

Final Grade: B+

On the Razzle @ Ashland Shakespeare Festival

Every year this festival seems to put on one wacky, high energy, smart comedy. In terms of wacky, high energy, smart comedies, Tom Stoppard reigns supreme. He is better known for Arcadia or Rosencrantz and Guilenstern are dead or even the screen play for SHakespeare in love, but Rough Crossing is one of those pure comic masterpieces and On the Razzle is very much in that vein.


I could never do the premise justice so I am going to just copy the basic premise out of the playbill: Herr Zangler(Tony DeBruno, purveyor of high class provisions, is about to go to Vienna to strut in a parade and celebrate the birthday of his fiancee. Before he departs he arranges to hide his niece from a fortune hunter and leaves his shop in the hands of Weinberl(Rex Young) and Christopher(Tasso Feldman). Unsupervised and in charge, Weinberl and Christopher close up the shop and head of to Vienna for "adventure and hijinks." They are not the only ones, it turns out, with a longing to go "on the razzle"


This farce is ridiculously hilarious and ridiculously smart. The jokes come with every line and if you are not paying attention you will miss all kinds of amazing word play. Stoppard some how makes puns seem about as hilarious as the best joke ever and each of the actors are on top fo their game. I can't imagine this show had an easy rehearsal process with how important timing is to each and every joke. Because it is a farce we get mistaken identity, chases, people hiding in the same room as other people and just a mad cap sense of insanity but it never feels forced and even when we know exactly what is coming next we find ourselves laughing and not even caring because Stoppard finds a way to take a simple overused genre and flip it on its head. The Weinberl and Christopher characters are seeminely based on Cornelious and Banraby from The Matchmaker and Ferris Bueller may have taken his cues from these two characters as they pretend to be high class business men and escpaing without paying the bill. Weinberl even pretends to be married to a woman and when that woman shows up in the same store he lucks out that she seems interested in where he may be taking this whole wedding thing.


Weinberl and Christopher have exceptional comic timing and chesmistry. They manage to play off of each other with such grace and ease that it is impossible not to like them. The scene in the resturant gives them both a chance to stretch their comic muscles and each thing works. Inf act, in this entire play I cannot think of a single bit, side gag, pratfall, joke or set up that was not executed perfectly and even the small roles get a perfect chance to shine. Whether it is the annoyed french waiter, the carriage driver into big butts or the sexy red headed maid who realizes she enjoys being whipped, they all work. I wish I had some criticism but I do not. I laughed from the opening moments and laughed until five minutes after this thing was over and really wish everyone I knew who loved comedy on the live stage could this thing!

Romeo and Juliet @ Ashland Shakespeare festival

As much as I love Shakespeare, I do not believe I could be classified as a traditionalist. I think Baz Luhrman's updated version is borderline brilliant and when I saw an all Black cast of Othello (with the exception of Othello) I thought it was incredible, so I am perfectly fine with changes being made to the plays. Hell, I even find some of the modern movies playing on the Shakespeare plays (The Lion King/Hamlet, Ten things I hate about you/Taming of the shrew) are usually pretty good. It is a testament to William Shakespeare's brilliant writing and incredible storytelling. So, when I heard that the festival's Romeo and Juliet would be modernized a bit I was not inherently worried about it.


If you don't know the basic premise of this play, you really have no business living so I won't be spending time rehashing the plot of this show and inside dive right in to reviewing it. First off I have to talk about the modernization of this show. The elder characters appear in traditional period costumes and the young appear in modern day clothing. There are modern day cops and a few modern day props like caution tape, a body bag and things like that. The young kids first appear in catholic private school uniforms and throughout are usually shown in pretty basic outfits- the guys in jeans and a button down white shirt and Juliet in a little dress and some kick ass boots. Those things did not bother me whatsoever. What bothered me was how the director seemed to be totally oblivious to how an audience would react or what would get the focus of the audience. For example, At the party where Romeo and Juliet meet, the elders start the party by dancing the way people would have back then before a d.j takes over and the young people start freak dancing and whatnot. It is a genuinely funny moment but there is a problem with it. In order to give focus to Romeo and Juliet meeting, everyone on stage fades back and starts dancing in slow motion, but when you see people in the background freak dancing in slow motion during a Shakespeare play, that is where your focus goes and that is what draws out laughter. However, we should be watching Romeo and Juliet meet for the first time. We should be watching the sparks fly and the love blossom, not giggling because some girl is copying a dance from a rap video. Also, right after Romeo has killed Tybalt, the cops pull out the yellow caution tape and of course the crowd is going to laugh at that, but the moment is a truly serious moment in this show and it flies over the heads of the crowd because they are giggling.


That is not to say that I did not enjoy the show because I did, but it was in spite of a clueless director. First of all, the words are still Shakespeare words so they are hilarious, intelligent and heart breaking. Most people consider this to be the most tragic love story ever and in some ways it is. You have to remember that in this time period people married who they were told to and so it would make sense that young people who have a connection could rush into believing it is love and Romeo is about the most romantic guy ever. Our Romeo(John Tufts) played up a cockiness in the character I had not seen much of but it worked because it made his transition to love sick emo boy so much more tragic. Our Juliet(Christine Albright), a gorgeous vision, also played Juliet a little differently than I had seen before. She seemed to play up Juliet's sense of entitlement factor. She was very good, if a bit whiny but the two had tremendous chemistry, which could be due to the fact that they hang out off stage as well (yes we saw them the next day on the street).


In all of the years my family has been going to this festival there is one actor whom we just love in everything. His name is Don Donohue and I have seen him in 4 or 5 different shows and he is always fantastic. I have seen him in Shakespeare and non Shakespeare and he can just do it all and in this show he was playing Mercutio and I was very excited about it because I love this character and I was not disappointed. Clearly this man was the high point of the show for me playing Mercutio the way I always have envisioned him to be played. He was physically loose and confident but never overly cocky. People always have a tendency to play him like a typical hot head, but that was not found here. He was not afraid to fight, but he wasn't really looking for a fight and it made watching this part so much better for me. I was sad he doesn't get the kind of death I would have liked to see, but when he was on stage it raised the level of the show.


My other complaints come from the Nurse (Demetra Pittman). Some people just do not understand the language or rhythm of a Shakespeare play. It is not really their fault, but it exists and this woman had no clue what she was doing on that stage. her words did not make any sense because she did not know how to recite them. She was not funny, which the nurse can be and she was not interesting, which the nurse can be. She was just this obnoxious woman who could barely spit out the words and was so obviously acting it was painful. However, Lord Capulet (Jonathan Haugen) was the exact opposite. That part is very difficult because he gets a huge outburst that seems to come from nowhere but this man committed fully to his breakdown and turned it into a masterpiece of over the top acting. I think the first row may have got spit on, but man was it ever effective.


The story is still wonderful even if the director did not have a clue on how to direct a Shakespearean tragedy and preferred to play up non-existent comic moments instead. I was fairly disappointed by the show in the end but the acting from the youngsters made the show worthwhile for me. I am worried that the director is going to be taking over as the artistic director for the entire festival starting next year, but I will be withholding judgement on it until next years.

Les Miserables

I have never been a fan of this show even though I have never actually seen it. I had a "best of" Cd and it put me to sleep with its insane boring music. However, everyone has always told me that I would like it so much more when I actually saw it, so since it was at Music Circus this season, I figured I would check it out. Allow me to begin with some of the factors I was dealing with while watching it that may have adversely affected my opinion of this show: 1. The woman and child in front of me insisted on whispering constantly and 2. The woman on the end of my row thought humming along to "On my Own" would be a fantastic idea. Also, I may make some Shakespearean comparisons because, well they fit and sometimes I like to pretend I am smart.


This happy little show begins in 1815 where we meet our hero, Jean Valjean (Ivan Rutherford), fresh from serving a 19 year jail sentence for stealing a loaf of bread. Had this not been 1815 France I would have found this to be ridiculous but considering this play will eventually take us to the revolution, it makes sense. He cannot seem to find work because of his past so he decides to leave that past behind, much to the chagrin of Javert (Brad Little), the cop who becomes obsessed with finding Valjean. We jump 8 years and Valjean is explicitly the mayor of a village, apparently it is near his old village (no one said he was smart) and Javert is still haunted by losing him. We are also introduced to a down on her luck Fantine, who has a daughter (Cosette) who is starving and living in bad conditions but Fantine can't seem to get money because she us shunned for having a baby out of wedlock. She sells herself and and before she is arrested she tugs at the heart strings of Valjean and he promises her he will find her and take care of her. Also, for some unknown reason Valjean has superhuman strength and Javert remembers this and when he sees Valjean lift a runaway stage coach, he is reminded of that prisoner. Valjean reveals himself but escapes.


After rescuing Cosette from some truly heinous people, Valjean starts a new life and again we jump time to nine years later. Cosette is a bit older and Valjean is still an idiot because he is still near Javert. Now we meet some young liberal minded men who want to start the revolution and among these people is Marius (Michael Hunsaker). They instantly fall in love, as only those in movies or theater can, but are ripped away when Valjean believes Javert is on his tail yet again. Also the revolution has started and people are being picked off left and right. That is as basic of a plot as I can possibly give, but I know I left some things out.


This musical is still boring, even while watching it staged. The stage constrictions at the Wells Fargo Pavilion make keeping track of everything and everyone nearly impossible. The director apparently told his actors to face every way but where I was sitting because I rarely got faces. The sparse set just doesn't work for me with a show like this. I wanted to see something big and epic to keep up with the giant nature of the score. The orchestra was flawless and the lighting superb but the other technical things were off. Some of the mics were late to be turned on and some turned on too early and a few props seemed to be missing, if you were paying attention (unless they were going Our Town style).


As for the performances well, Valjean is strong but his falsetto wasn't working for me and it actually made me giggle at times. He seemed to be a strong actor in the tender moments but his strong moments didn't really register with me. Javert was a pleasure to watch and listen to, especially in his soliloquy, where like Wosley in Shakespeare's Henry the 5th, he laments how his own ideals have been lost during his life and instead of trying to figure out what to do, he kills himself (a hokey moment given the stage constrictions). One girl I didn't mention during the summary was Eponine (Juliana Ashley Hansen). She is love with Marius, but he sees her as only a friend and at the beginning of act two she sings "On My Own". It is my favorite song in the show and Hansen does not at all disappoint. She was incredibly strong and vulnerable in her conviction to the song and to Marius and played Eponine with more playfulness than I would have imagined and it worked. Of everyone on stage she was the one I felt for and when she was killed, it was the only death that got to me, not unlike Queen Katherine in Henry the 5th as she makes her final grand statement before dying.


As the lovers Cosette and Marius, Laura Griffith and the aforementioned Hunsaker are fine. They don't stand out and make you feel their love and the songs don't help really. The one other guy who incredibly impressed me was Enjolras (Will Ray), Marius' friend. His solo work in "Red and Black" (still a corny ass song) and "Do you hear the people sing" were truly the high points of the show for me. Another high point would be Valjean's "Bring him home." The moment was incredibly tender and while the stage's spinning stage loses it's charm quickly, it works in this moment.


Following in that Shakespearean tragedy format, we are not devoid of a few light moment. Where Macbeth has its witches, we have a husband and wife team that sing the ghastly overrated "Master of the House." It is a funny little number but wears out its welcome very quickly. Also it reappears as a different song later in act 2 (right before the big finale, how very Othello like). While in Othello it was meant to soften us up for the big nasty to follow, this little comic relief right before we see Valjean meet his fate serves as just an obnoxious repeat to what we saw earlier. Maybe it was the two actors, maybe it was the staging, but I could have done without this nonsense.


I have not read the source material or seen the non musical movie version and while this is an incredibly flawed production and musical, the basic story makes me interested int he movie. Watching Javert's obsession take hold of him as Valjean's increasing kindness proves him to be a good guy is an interesting study in right and wrong or good and evil, but in the realm of this musical it takes the form of random choppy encounters. The musical doesn't flow real well, at least this production doesn't. It seems jarring in places where it should move seamlessly like a snake through grass.