Avenue Q

Again on one of my whims, me and my sister went to see Avenue Q tonight at the Orpheum. It was opening night and the crowd was abuzz. (I always wanted to say that.) I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised. Just sayin' cuz I got the soundtrack a couple of years ago but seeing it on stage was amazing. Plus knowing how cool it is to work with puppets is rad! The story moved very briskly. I wasn't even shocked by any of the rated-R stuff in the show cuz it served a purpose.

the cast was incredible! starting off, Kelli Sawyer stole the show for me. She played two different roles, sometimes at the same time, while the very cute, Minglie Chen, held one puppet, Kelli would do the voice of the puppet she was handling. And her voice! OMG! she belts out some amazing notes. and her expressions while playing Kate Monster is memorable.

Another standout is Robert McClure. He played Rod and Princeton. Both with not only two different speaking voices, but with different singing voices as well. I also loved Christian Anderson. He was trekkie monster, Nicky, and Bear. Which leads me to 2 of my favorite puppets in the WHOLE SHOW - the bears! Both played by Christian and Minglie :) don't wanna spoil it, but they stole the scenes they were in!

Overall, the story held up a lot better than I thought it would. The pace was brisk and one song just flowed right into the other.

have a busy day tomorrow, so better turn in. before I go, here are some pics from the SF cast of Avenue Q: http://broadwayworld.com/viewcolumn.cfm?colid=19211

night!