Avenue Q: The Road From East 15th To 50th StreetAvenue Q has long been a little musical about firsts.
First musical to mount a serious (and successful) campaign to win the Tony for Best Musical.First musical to immediately forego the national tour route in favor of a sitdown (and not so successful) Las Vegas production.
First musical to offer "full puppet nudity," as well as puppet sex.First musical to present its version of a presidential debate, dubbed "Avenue Q&A" in which Rick Lyon and Jennifer Barnhart operated George W. Bush and John Kerry puppets, respectively.First musical to host an online contest to change lyrics (President Barack Obama's inauguration necessitated a change from the show-closing line "George Bush is only for now").Now, in perhaps the biggest firsts of them all,
Avenue Q will be the
first hit* Broadway musical to ever transfer to an Off-Broadway venue.
During yesterday's Broadway closing, producer
Kevin McCollum made the surprise announcement that the little tuner that could would in fact move just a tad more than five blocks from the Great White Way's
John Golden Theatre at 252 West 45th Street to Off-Broadway's
New World Stages at 340 West 50th Street. According to
The New York Times:
[T]he Off Broadway production would likely use a smaller group of musicians, as when it was performed at the Vineyard Theatre in 2003, and that some reorchestration of the music might be needed. Otherwise, it will use the same sets (and same puppets), and the show’s creative team, including its director Jason Moore and book author Jeff Whitty, will remain with the show. Casting for the Off Broadway production was not announced.
It should be noted that by vacating the Golden Theatre,
Avenue Q was already leaving one of Broadway's smallest theatres, which has a capacity of 805. But for fans, this was very welcome news.
While
Avenue Q made its initial debut during the 2002
National Music Theater Conference at Connecticut's
Eugene O'Neill Theater Center, the show's first New York production came in March 2003 at the tiny 120 seat Vineyard Theatre on East 15th Street. Just four months later,
Avenue Q made the highly successful leap to Broadway, opening on July 31, 2003. Talk about a quick ride to the Great White Way.
Later that same fall, I saw
Avenue Q and enjoyed myself, even though I have to admit being caught a little off-guard by the level of delight the show took in "Schadenfreude." But the original cast --
John Tartaglia,
Stephanie D'Abruzzo,
Ann Harada,
Jordan Gelber, Lyon, Barnhart and
Carmen Ruby Floyd as Gary Coleman (
Natalie Venetia Belcon was out the night of my performance) -- possessed such a sweet sincerity that I rolled along with it. It wasn't until
I took in the first national tour in early 2008 that I was really put off by its overly cynical, mean-spiritedness. In retrospect, I chalk it up to being in too large of a venue with a cast that could not deliver irony quite the way the original did.
At least with
Avenue Q's transfer to the intimate New World stages, its producers won't have to worry about it becoming lost in too large a house. The question will be whether its too-be-announced cast can deliver the goods.
* Thanks to Alicia for correcting me. Apparently there was another musical to go from Broadway to Off-Broadway, but it was no Broadway hit.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Labels: Avenue Q, Broadway, Closings, Firsts, Jennifer Barnhart, John Tartaglia, Musical, Off-Broadway, Rick Lyon, Stephanie D'Abruzzo, Touring Production, Transfer
Broadway Preview: Shrek The MusicalI don't mean to be an ogre, but could it be that I'm the only living person who hasn't seen any of the
Shrek movies?
I'm not exactly sure why I never took them in, but the longer I've gone, the less interested I've become. Perhaps I've avoided them because I've been told that they're too smarmy for their own good, and I've never been able to shake that notion.
So it's against that backdrop that I find myself less than excited about the upcoming
Shrek The Musical, which already begins its
out-of-town tryout next month in Seattle at the city's 5th Avenue Theatre -- the very same venue that proudly launched
Hairspray six years ago.
The 5th Avenue Theatre describes their tryout:
This summer, the most beloved swamp-dwelling ogre of all time will make his theatrical debut in the World Premiere of Shrek The Musical, at The 5th Avenue Theatre. This all-new production is based on Shrek’s adventures in the classic William Steig book and Oscar-winning film. Joining Shrek on his journey from the swamp to the stage will be his wisecracking sidekick Donkey, Princess Fiona, Lord Farquaad and a chorus of everybody’s favorite fairytale creatures. With more layers than ever and a completely original new score, Shrek The Musical proves there’s more to the story than meets the ears.
Shrek The Musical is due to land at the Main Stem's
Broadway Theatre in time for previews starting November 11, with an opening night slated for December 14.
Now, if there
is anything to get excited about, it's that
Jeanine Tesori (
Caroline, Or Change) is writing the music for its score. The fact that Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright
David Lindsay-Abaire (
Rabbit Hole) is supplying the lyrics and book should also have me intrigued, but we all know what happend during his
previous musical effort. Knowing a thing or two about monsters is Tony nominated director
Jason Moore (
Avenue Q), who helms the show, yet the choreography comes from Broadway first-timer
Josh Prince. You see, everything I see as good is somehow tempered.
OK, another positive is that the criminally underused, Tony-nominated
Brian d'Arcy James returns to Broadway in the title role. Tony-winning actress
Sutton Foster will portray Princess Fiona; regular readers
will recall that it wasn't until my
fourth attempt to see her that she was actually performing in a show, but on the plus side, I thought she was incredibly talented when I finally saw her. Other cast members include the Tony-nominated
Christopher Sieber as Lord Farquaad,
Chester Gregory II as the Donkey,
Kecia Lewis-Evans as the Dragon and the Tony-nominated
John Tartaglia as Pinocchio.
Nevertheless, with the lackluster critical success of recent
film translations to the stage, along with some early
negative press already appearing in some important quarters, I'm left still feeling a bit like a bogeyman.
So, I ask you, dear readers. Should I bite the bullet and see the "Shrek" trilogy on film? Will it have me thirsting for the stage incarnation?
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Click here for Shrek Seattle tickets.Click here for Shrek Broadway tickets.Related Stories:Is It Just Me, Or... (Part III) (January 22, 2008)
Labels: Brian d'Arcy James, Broadway, Chester Gregory II, Christopher Sieber, David Lindsay-Abaire, Film, Jason Moore, Jeanine Tesori, John Tartaglia, Musical, Seattle, Shrek The Musical, Sutton Foster
