After the faboo time we had at Avenue Q on Broadway this spring, when the traveling company came to Denver (and your home town soon) we were right there to pick up tickets. Well, actually we picked up the tickets online, but you get the idea.
The plan was for Margie and me, and Jackie, and Stan, to go. At the last moment, back troubles kept Margie away, so Jackie invited a friend. We met downtown around 5:30p (hurrah for the Light Rail!), ate dinner at Maggiano’s, then made it through the will-call just in time to get to our seats at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House (Jackie sat with her friend; Stan was over by me — far audience right, just past the orchestra seating.
To start off with, the show was still a lot of fun. Being as far right as we were, we had some bad sight lines to backstage (which appears to be huge, vs. the tiny confines of the Golden), and we ended up looking at the backs of a lot of actors), but we were still close enough to see all the action.
The sound, for an opera hall, was mediocre. Either due to the sound system, how it was handle, the actors, or all three, there were a lot of higher-pitched voices that were hard to distinguish from each other, or to distinguish what they were saying. The actors did not seem quite of the caliber of the Broadway show, either.
For that matter, on rewatching, the show feels a lot frothier. Yes, they touch on some eternal verities of life, and the technical work with the puppets remains amazing. Oh, and the show is just darned funny at times. But it’s also, ultimately, gimmicky — without the puppets, there wouldn’t be a lot of there there. The coming-of-age meaning-of-life bits are looked at, joked about, and moved on from with little more than a song and a smile.
That said, I don’t regret having gone to it a bit. 🙂
There was no after-show auction, so no chance to win another backstage tour (I’d love to compare and contrast). We bid farewell to Stan, and Jackie gave me a ride back down to my car, since it was on her way.
A nice evening, marred only by Margie not being able to be there. But I am glad I got to see the show again.
We’ll be going to the Madison show Soon ™! =)