[WARNING: The following may contain spoilers. RAYOR]
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I could go on and on, raving like per-quota-met-paid telemarketers who peskily offer you “pre-approved” credit cards (with waived annual membership fees for the first year, yay!) almost every week at exactly 3:00 PM right when you have cranked your ass in gear to meet loads of all-rush and equally-urgent projects, about the awesomeness of the musical that’s Avenue Q. Seeing it made me appreciate just how talented and versatile our local actors are. Hats off to you guys for taking your business and craft very VERY seriously. They’re so awe-inspiring, in fact, that you will most probably give them your renewed respect before the show even ends.
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It’s a total shame I once doubted our local actors’ brilliance. Yes, it took a franchised stage puppet production to ram an impression of that reality hard to my consciousness. What the hell was I thinking? Filipino artists are being taken in by Broadway from way before and THEY have the right mind to know talent when they see one and here I am, pre-judging when I haven’t even watched a single local stage performance my whole life, not counting of course those Kid’s Praise shows I’ve been on because apart from the minute-long minor role exposure where I lip synced in most of them all my elementary years, I’d rather be caught dead sniffing molded cheese than be bored witless watching those, liek srsly!
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What. A. Douche.
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I blogged about how keyed up I was on seeing it, playing the Avenue Q soundtrack at home and at work for an entire week before the air date. It’s a bummer that I couldn’t LOL as hard as those who have only heard the songs the first time. I mean, come on, I already know when to expect the punch lines, let alone the songs’ pauses and chronology. Heck, I was even mouthing the lyrics with the artists! Again, I’m a douche like that for being my own spoil.
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Personally, I never even for a while felt I had been short changed by the production. Everything about it either looks or feels awesomez00rz: excellent stage setup, spot on lighting, good acoustics, flawless transitions, on-point musical arrangement, great props, workable costumes, and a gifted cast, where “gifted” doesn’t even justify the cast’s absolute brilliance.
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No, they haven’t edited the lyrics to fit our pathetic local context so you get everything you loved from the soundtrack as is! Also, the actors delivered. Hard. Like rock-hard, pumped-up, and rarin’ to get themselves some good ol’ lovin’ (had they been throbbing the whole time, they’d be like penises but they didn’t). Yes, the actors sounded exceptionally similar to the original voices of their Broadway counterparts, much to my delight. Now that’s versatility! As Pau had put, it’s hard to pick a single favorite from that choice of really able cast. One actor does several voices and for several instances, one actor would transition doing the voice of one character then another all in one scene, deserving much of a sterile high five (a high five minus hand contact, duh-oh)!
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The show, not surprisingly, has moments which are reminiscent of Sesame Street. You’d have to watch it to know what I mean. Also, full puppet nudity and a sex scene with on-stage rabbit-like pumping action, booyah! Go Preston!
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For “perks,” because Lorna Lopez (of thebachelorgirl.com) is awesome like that, we had great-ass seats, like middle and close-to-center. I then understood why everyone’s raving about orchestra seats: audience interaction during the show with the cast, baby! In a short segment where Gary Coleman and the most of the actors made their way towards the audience, Lauren and I (yeah, the “date” to see Avenue Q finally did happen) got the treat to put an imaginary something in the donation-hat Gary’s been passing around. Also, after the show, we had our picture taken with the cast plus a spot in the sort-of video ad that will be used to hype Avenue Q further. Getting all these are just ridifuckingculously unbelievable! We’re cool like that, thnx.
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I’d better stop now before I give away more of what’s in store for those who’ll be seeing the shows this coming weekend.
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My verdict: Loved it.
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Would I watch it again? I’d say yes faster than five palpitating heartbeats induced by over-eating two big bowls of extra hot Korean noodles in under 3.2 minutes.
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