Avenue Q
Noel Coward Theatre, Tuesday 20 June
2006
Review by
© June 2006
I was a bit apprehensive
about seeing this show. I had heard the original Broadway cast album and quite
enjoyed bits of it, especially some (although not all) of the lyrics. I wanted
to see the show because it is so innovative. Yet at the same time I wasn’t sure
whether I would like the puppetry, given that this was to be in the hands of
four unknowns (well unknowns as puppeteers, some of them are known as actors).
The Original Broadway cast after all had used experienced puppeteers (mostly from
Sesame Street) for those roles. When one has watched such
legendary TV puppet shows as: Sesame Street, The Muppet
Show, The Secret Life Of Toys, The Ghost Of Faffner
Hall, and, Spitting Image, one gets used to watching a
rather high standard of puppetry. How would this measure up to that?
Opening Avenue Q,
performed by the entire company. It’s a beautiful affectionate pastiche of the
late Broadway songwriter Joe Raposo’s work. Now who would ever have
thought that one day Joe Raposo would actually have his style pastiched
in someone else’s musical!
On wanders Jon Robyns
with Princetown on his arm, in graduation gown, What Do You Do With A
B.A. In English? Great song, and one which I’m sure many of us can
connect with, whatever our degree subject. Jon sang it convincingly too. The
puppetry though ok wasn’t as convincing as his singing.
Enter the first of our human
actors, Sion Lloyd as Brian, plus another puppeteer, Julie Atherton
with Kate Monster on her arm. I had seen Julie on The Prince Edward Theatre’s
stage some six years ago, as a very likeable Sophie in Mamma Mia.
That likeability is still there, but this time it’s in her right hand. Right
away we are focused more on her puppet than on her, just where we should be. It
Sucks To Be Me. Another good song, rather tuneful actually; soon most
of the rest of the company join in. Best of all, one really can’t help
sympathising with the characters of Brian and Kate. I’m sure many of us have
been in their sort of situations; and the two performers did the number with
engaging sympathy. Actually this song is really growing on me.
Jon enters with Rod on his
arm. Soon joined by Simon Lipkin with Nicky on his arm, and Clare
Foster as his assistant Right-handing, If You Were Gay. Some
members of the audience (like the couple of elderly gentlemen on my right)
clearly found this song both poignant and amusing. The puppetry worked pretty
well too.
Jon with Princetown on his
arm wonders what his Purpose is. Here, besides a song, we also
have the first of several TV spoofs (an affectionate parody of many an
educational TV programme), on two TV screens which are positioned just above
the stage (on either side of it), in this case illustrating the word Purpose.
During the song Princetown’s moving boxes come to life, to provide a backing
chorus, performed by the other three puppeteers. Around about this point we
also meet the Bad Ideas Bears, a couple of hand-hand-rod puppets performed by
Simon and Clare, they make quite a double act.
Julie enters with Kate on her
arm, when Princetown asks if she and Trekkie Monster are related, she accuses
him of being racist, he retorts that she is a little bit racist too,
wanting to open a school for monsters, Everyone’s A Little Bit Racist,
this is some song, especially when the human actors in the company, Ann
Harada, Giles Terera, and Scion join in. It’s a good tune, really
thoughtful lyrics, and perhaps most importantly of all there is so much truth
in it. It really characterises the whole show, amuses us (especially with the
little tune parody of Lloyd-Webber’s Growl Tiger), but
also delivers a powerful edifying message.
Teaching-Assistant, Kate has
a chance to teach a whole class by herself, and considers teaching the children
about the internet, she starts to sing, but is interrupted by Trekkie
(performed by Simon Lipkin), The Internet Is For Porn.
This was the song I liked the least, it is so vulgar and crude. Unfortunately
it is also irritatingly catchy, like The Chicken Song from Spitting
Image you can’t escape this dance. Its one saving grace is Julie
Atherton’s immensely likeable Kate. The one character who I actually felt
empathy with during this number. The one other thing this number had going for
it was the interaction, early in the song between Kate and Trekkie, it was pure
Muppet parody (shades of Sesame Street, and, The Secret
Life Of Toys et al), especially the way Kate said “Trekkie, you’re
ruining my song”. Julie really did mange to do a voice that sounded uncannily
similar to the sort of voices that some of the great female muppeteers (such
as: Fran Brill, Stephanie D’Abruzzo, Louise Gold, or
Much more enjoyable, is Mix
Tape, largely performed by Julie as Kate, with some contributions from
Jon as Princeton. A lovely romantic ballad. Just the kind of good old fashioned
love song tune I like to find in a musical, but with more contemporary lyrics.
At a club Brian played by
Sion entertains with I’m Not Wearing Underwear Today. The best
performance I’ve ever seen to date from a GSA graduate. Well done. The
song may be a little crude, but not too vulgar. I kind of enjoyed it.
Special finds Julie Atherton demonstrating her
versatility, as with Lucy The Slut on her arm she sings in a markedly different
voice. Her whole manner, including her own body changed taking on the different
persona, even in the way she walked. Nevertheless, for the most part she
managed to keep the audience’s attention focused (where it should be) on her
right hand.
Another rather jolly
performance from Simon and Clare as the Bad Ideas Bears lead into You Can
Be As Loud As The Hell You Want (When You’re Making Love), a song I did
not like when I heard it on the album. However, it works so much better live on
stage. Naughty, shocking, very adult; but absolutely right for the show. Most of the cast are involved, but the stars
of the number are Julie and Jon with the naked puppets of Kate and Princeton.
For two such inexperienced puppeteers their performance was truly remarkable
(perhaps a testimony to
Jon continued to puppeteer
pretty well in Fantasies Come True, this time a duet with Simon,
whose work was also good.
Less good was Jon’s singing
in My Girlfriend Who Lives In Canada. (at Brian and Christmas
Eve’s wedding reception). However, part of the problem may have been Nick
Finlow’s rather fast tempo, and in a sense it is in keeping with the
character, Rod, singing the song; as he throws Nicky out of his apartment.
It is left to Julie, again
demonstrating her potential as an all round performer, to close the first act,
in traditional musical theatre style, of having the show’s romantic leads
separated, There’s A Fine Fine Line. Like Mix Tape
this too is a lovely ballad, and well Julie does her best to do it justice.
Act 2, finds Jon as
One of the amusing things
about this musical, rather like Stop The World I Want To Get Off,
is that both the romantic leading lady and the ‘other woman’ are performed by
the same performer. (Julie voices, and for the most part puppeteers both Kate
and Lucy). This particularly amusing when Kate hates Princeton for having a “One
Knight stands” with Lucy, and Christmas Eve commiserates with her The
More You Ruv Someone. This becomes even funnier a little later, but
first....
Out on the street Giles
Terera as Gary (in a manner reminiscent of one of the ‘Grown up’ actors on Sesame
Street) explains the concept of Schadenfreude to a
homeless Nicky. Giles and Simon both sing the lyrics clearly, and I couldn’t
help feel what an appropriate song this was for the show. (Though for some
strange reason it also made me think of such record-breaking flop shows as the
musical Ziegfeld and the play Bag).
The rivalry between Kate and
Lucy, all the more funny with Julie performing (or in this scene at least
voicing) both characters, is played out with Kate accidentally knocking Lucy senseless
by dropping a coin on her head. Truly this is something which could only be
funny when done with puppets; and I can’t help wondering if there wasn’t a
sideways nod towards say Vetinarian’s Hospital in there
somewhere; at least given Princeton’s remark about Lucy’s head falling off
in the ambulance.
I Wish I Could Go Back
To College, is another engaging
song, perhaps not as great as It Sucks To Be Me. But nevertheless
musically and lyrically it is quite decent, and, one does feel a lot of
sympathy for the characters. Simon, Jon, and, Julie sing well, their puppetry
is variable.
There seems to be something
of a tradition for money songs in musicals: Call Me Madam, Cabaret,
and, Mamma Mia all have good ones; and so does Avenue Q.
The difference is that Avenue Q’s The Money Song
has a message about helping others, in it. It’s a great song, and rousingly
performed by a mixture of human actors, and three of our four puppeteers.
Into the final scene, with
the opening of Kate’s School For Monsters/The Money Song Reprise,
Simon with Nicky on his arm enters along with another character, who looks just
like him, a boyfriend for Rod named Ricky - I couldn’t help wondering if this
was named after someone, - after all Sesame Street had quite a tradition of
naming characters for their personal (for example: Herry Monster, Little Jerry,
Little Richard, Joey Monkey, Davey Monkey, Louisey, and even Zoe). Nicky leads
the company. Then it’s Jon and Julie’s turn with
Overall, to my mind, the
score is pretty decent; and in some places very good. The lyrics do stand out
as really thoughtful. While Robert Lopez and Jeff Markx’s score may
not be quite in the league of Stephen Sondheim or
Jeff Witty’s book really is something. It’s funny, thoughtful, and
thought-provoking as well as entertaining. As a writer he could well be a
successor to such great television writers as Jocelyn Stevens or even
the late great Jerry Juhl. In fact Jeff Witty’s book for Avenue
Q is a direct descendent of 1960s American television advertising. The
show basically uses that style of advertising to “sell” concepts and ideas
about how to get through life (in particular ones twenties) to the audience. To
get some of the jokes it probably helps if you have seen Sesame Street
(which grew out of those 1960s advertisements, and used that style of
advertising to sell literacy and numeracy to children). Avenue Q
has quite rightly been described as “Sesame Street for adults”. There’s
a subtle affectionate parody of Sesame Street running through the
whole style of the show. I don’t usually like people parodying well known
children’s TV programmes, at least not when it’s programmes that I’m fond of.
However, the crucial difference is that the writers and designers of this stage
show clearly appreciate Sesame Street, and that is reflected in
their work. It’s everywhere, in the
songs, the style (including the video screen explanation), the puppets
(designed by former Sesame Street puppeteer
The three human actors are
uniformly good. Until now, I’ve generally not too impressed by GSA
Trained actors, but for once, I actually did enjoy Sion Lloyd’s performance.
He made a convincing buffoon of an unsuccessful comedian, a character whom one
actually felt quite a lot of sympathy for; so well done him. Broadway performer
Ann Harada was another fine performance, with great comic timing. Giles
Terera gave a lovely little performance as Gary Coleman. he really entered
into the style of the show, and played it with due seriousness (as of course
did the other two, but I really noticed it with him).
The four young “puppeteers”: Julie
Atherton, Clare Foster, Simon Lipkin, and, Jon Robyns
had the most difficult job in the show. Not least, because judging by their
resumes they didn’t really have any experience of puppeteering before. Back in
December 1978 in an interview in the TV Times British puppeteer Louise
Gold (then herself rather new to puppetry) made the profound comment “Puppeteering
is a very difficult craft to do really well”, while Jim Henson himself
commented on the documentary Of Muppets And Men The Making Of The Muppet
Show, that whenever he took on new puppeteers it generally took
about a year for their puppeering technique to get good enough for them to even
start performing major characters. So it’s a hard craft, and here on Avenue
Q these four clearly have a long way to go, however given their
inexperience, their performances were surprisingly good. When I first heard
that Avenue Q was going to be on in London, I kind of hoped we
might get some really experienced puppeteers in it (after all the original
Broadway production did). However, if the producers had done it that way it
could easily have been problematic, for if you were to have one or two
performers who were very experienced mixed with two or three who weren’t, the
more experienced performers could really have shown up the less experienced ones.
So perhaps it was better to start out with four performers whose skills were
more or less on a level with each other. There four clearly have a talent for
puppetry, as well as their more obvious musical theatre talents. If you’ve ever
watched footage of any of the really major puppeteers when they were starting
out, then you can see a similar situation. Take as an example Louise Gold’s
work (I used Gold as an example here for the simple reason that her early work
as a puppeteer is so widely shown, and thanks to a combination of her being
heavily used, having an often distinctive voice, and insisting on puppeteering
left-handed quite easy to spot). On Seasons 2 and 3 of The Muppet Show in
particular, that she had a talent for bringing puppet characters to life was
obvious, but her performances were so stiff and very rough round the edges
(look at Annie Sue Pig in Pig Calypso for example). Compare that
to her work on the two later seasons of The Muppet Show, and even
more on such programmes as Sesame Street (in the early 1990s), The
Secret Life Of Toys, and even to this day in her cabaret act, or on
television explaining how the Spitting Image puppets were
operated. She’s so much more fluid and polished. That’s the result of
experience. But the potential and talent were always there.
The young quartet on Avenue
Q have potential too, but also faults (due to their inexperience). Jon
Robyns’s puppetry in particular seems rather stiff. Though fortunately he
can kind of get away with it, because it can become a part of his two
characters. Unfortunately he also has a tendency to do a bit too much with his
face, and we find ourselves focusing somewhat on him rather than his puppet. Simon
Lipkin and Clare Foster, have not only had to learn to operate
hand-and-rod puppets, but also live-hands puppets. They work best as a team,
whether it is operating a Live-hands puppet together (be it Nicky or Trekkie),
or performing a double act with a couple of hand-and-rod puppets, the Bad Ideas
Bears. Alone neither of them is as good. Simon has a slight tendency to draw
the audiences focus onto himself rather than his puppet, and Clare is usually
operating other people’s character’s, (because they are doing two characters in
the same scene). But together Simon and Clare have a chemistry, that makes you
concentrate on their puppets rather than them. Puppetry (at least this sort of
puppetry) has benefited enormously from some great double-acts over there
years*. The best of the quartet is Julie Atherton. I thought her a fine
actress when I saw her six years ago in Mamma Mia, I didn’t think
so much of her in Out Of This World at Chichester. But back in
the West End she is once again a winner. Although her puppetry still has a long
way to go, she really is convincing. Out of the four she was the one who seemed
to connect the most with her puppet, grasping the technique of performing her
role through her hand. One is nearly always focused exactly where one should,
on her puppet not her. Added to which, she has the ability as an actress to be
convincing by giving her character a likeability. With the role of Kate Monster
this is something she successfully translates into her puppetry. I’d like to
see her try her hand at the role of Sister Mary Amnesia in Nunsense,
I think she could quite possibly pull that one off.
All four performers are
obviously versatile, and should they want to I hope they can find the
opportunity to be successful in both fields. If only casting directors were
enlightened enough. Usually even performers who have done a bit of both acting
and puppeteering tend to be primarily one or the other. Quite a number of
successful puppeteers did start out as actors, but for one reason or another
switched into puppetry, they include: Mark Jefferis, Kathryn Mullen,
Jerry Nelson (one of the greatest singing puppeteers ever), and,
Overall a great fun, feel
good, groundbreaking show. Edifying but also enjoyable. If this kind of thing
sounds like it might be up your street, then consider going to see it.
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*There are two kinds of great
double acts, Simon and Clare are tribute to both :
Performing Nicky or Trekkie
they kind of reflect the many great partnerships between a puppeteer and his or
her assistant such as: Jim Henson & Frank Oz (Swedish Chef), Richard
Hunt & Jerry Nelson (The Two-Headed Monster), Jim Henson
& Louise Gold (The Muppet Newsreader, Captain Link Hogthrob); And
not forgetting of course Rowlf the dog whom Jim Henson performed with a
variety of assistants (Frank Oz, Louise Gold, and, Steve
Whitmire among them).
Performing the Bad Ideas
Bears, they reflect the wonderful chemistry that can exist between two
puppeteers with their individual characters, such pairings as: Jim Henson
& Frank Oz (Bert & Ernie, Kermit & Piggy, Kermit &
Fozzie etc), Richard Hunt & Jerry Nelson, Dave Goelz
& Steve Whitmire (Gonzo & Rizzo, Stinky & Jake etc), Louise
Gold & Jerry Nelson (Cowboy Jerry & Lou-The-Jugband-Lady,
Herry Monster & Louisey, The Tourist Rats etc).. to name but a few.
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Off Site Links:
Avenue Q, London Production, Official Site: http://www.avenueqthemusical.co.uk/
My review of seeing Julie Atherton in Mamma Mia (where her
co-stars included Louise Gold): http://www.qsulis.demon.co.uk/Website_Louise_Gold/Mamma_Mia_Review.htm
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