I Will Review

Just got home from having dinner at Avenue B [oooouuuuut tonight! LMAO] -- spent the afternoon at Alphabet City. Then I remembered that I haven't blogged about my first off-Broadway show... AVENUE Q.

Last 28 April 2010, I got to watch Avenue Q at the New World Stages. It was easy enough to get there. And it's so close to the Gershwin! [I'm still thinking of watching/skipping Wicked. I mean, I love it as much as I do American Idiot but I've watch it so many times already.] I had two comp tickets but oh well, I watched it all alone. It's okay though. I might piss off any companion with my mouthing of the songs! I can't help it, sorry haha.

To "commemorate" my first off-Broadway show, I bought a souvenir. This Avenue Q keychain. [I got the American Idiot shirt/poster for free so I won't buy any more the next time I watch woot!] I loved it from the first time I saw it. It's so cute!

I didn't get a photo POV from my seat. Well, I tried but the theater was smallish and ushers were EVERYWHERE. Anyway, I was Orchestra Row M seat 5 and 7. Great seats! :D And oh, even though it was Avenue Q we were watching, I pimped American Idiot to those watching with me. The girls in front of me were wondering which Broadway show to watch. They were reading the list off the playbill and one of them said, "Oh American Idiot!" So I kinda offered my $0.02. The playbill helped as well: it has the Mayer on Armstrong interview and a full-page ad for American Idiot. Suffice to say, I am sending three new Idiots over to St. James next week. ;-)

Anyway, oh man I forgot how fun this show is. It's been a while since I listened to the OBCR and the last clip I've seen is of Mary Faber as Kate Monster singing "A Fine, Fine Line". My Princeton-Rod is Seth Rettberg and My Kate Monster-Lucy the Slut is Sarah Stiles. Ann Sanders is my Christmas Eve. I love them! I probably looked stupid singing along to "It Sucks to be Me". Yes, I know all the words. And fuck it, I "bopped" my head towards the end of the song, "We're together here / On Avenue Q..." I'm a dork lmao! It's a good thing there was no one seated behind me. Hahahaha!

At first, it was a bit distracting with my eyes shifting between the actor and the puppet. (My favorite cast is the original London cast because they are the most engaging and not distracting at all.) Sarah Stiles' voice was so cute. Although she did a better job as Lucy the Slut vocally than Kate Monster. I do like Seth Rettberg but sometimes Princeton's mouth doesn't move. So sometimes, I'm looking at Seth instead of Princeton. Like with Sarah, I like his secondary character more, Rod. Cullen R. Titmas was an awesome Nicky (voice). I loved his performance in "If You Were Gay". Ann Sanders as Christmas Eve was HILARIOUS! Whenever she's onstage, I couldn't take my eyes off her. Nicholas Kohn as Brian was okay. I mean, every Brian I've seen are somewhat the same anyway. Gary Coleman was played by Danielle K. Thomas. She was very funny. But for me, the best performance was by Maggie Lakis as one of the Bad Luck Bears. Oh man, she was so good!

My favorite scenes are "The Internet if for Porn", "If You Were Gay", "Fantasies Come True", and my favorite song from the show, "A Fine, Fine Line".

I didn't like "I Wish I Could Go Back" and "The Money Song" because there was a bit of sound overload. One funny thing that happened that night: in "Schadenfreude", there's a dialogue:

Gary Coleman: Satisfaction or pleasure felt at someone else’s misfortune.
Princeton: "Satisfaction or pleasure felt at someone else’s misfortune"? That IS German!

Oh man, there were three "older" German audience members seated at the row in front of me. [They were talking in German during intermission, that's how I knew.] OMG, they weren't laughing for a good ten minutes... until after two songs at least! It was awkward but funny!

The audience was great! Most of those in the front rows are out-of-towners -- they were dressed to the nines! I think it was a class trip; I overheard a couple of them in the ladies' room... something about how "they don't have [this] back home".

Overall, I enjoyed it a lot. I couldn't have picked a better show to pop my off-Broadway cherry. Yes, I just said that. ;-)

On the way home, I decided to pass through Times Square and say hello to the American Idiot billboard. It's cool that it's beside the Avenue Q sign - the two shows I've seen so far. Then I got to 44th street and peeked at the St. James Theatre. I was kinda hoping I could catch some stage dooring but Avenue Q runs longer than American Idiot even without the intermission. Oh well, next time I watch then.

Next show: Volleygirls. Free reading at New World Stages (again), Monday at 3pm.