Slog - Comments on Avenue Q

Comment by Chris B

Chris B — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 15:20:56 -0800

It's corny, but I stumbled onto Avenue Q during a rough patch a couple of years ago and it really helped. There's something oddly (and I hate this word) affirming about hearing a completely objective "Yep, life sucks" once in a while.

And I just got my tickets. I can't wait.

Comment by heywhatsit

heywhatsit — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 15:21:33 -0800

When's Wondershowzen coming to the stage?

Comment by Jubilation T. Cornball

Jubilation T. Cornball — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 15:22:57 -0800

@2 -- Kids on the street! Kids on the beat! Beat kids!

I will personally bankroll the production...

Comment by michael strangeways

michael strangeways — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 15:24:09 -0800

It just came to Seattle because the producers opted to not tour the show nationally right after it won the Tony. It played in Vegas instead...which doesn't make much sense to me.

Comment by Will in Seattle

Will in Seattle — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 15:24:58 -0800

Sounds like the audience for the SIFF movie La France.

And, even if annie liked that, it's still a 1 or a 2 for those of us who watched the whole thing ...

Comment by Bellevue Ave

Bellevue Ave — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 15:25:59 -0800

I was there last night and it was good. Not as good as the Broadway production (the male and female leads werent as strong) but it was damn good.

And for people to be offended by this means they were completely ignorant of what was in store.

Comment by PopTart

PopTart — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 15:29:36 -0800

I can't wait, I can't wait, I can't wait! And! Spring Awakening is also coming to the Paramount.

Comment by Jubilation T. Cornball

Jubilation T. Cornball — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 15:31:48 -0800

I wanna see Passing Strange.

Comment by The Artist Formerly Known As Sigourney Beaver

The Artist Formerly Known As Sigourney Beaver — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 15:38:36 -0800

Okay, years ago I had a co-worker who was friends with Roscoe Orman, the dude who played Gordon. Remember all that 'Bert is Evil' shit? A lot of the Sesame Street folks were upset about it, but my friend told me that Roscoe thought it was hilarious.

Comment by The General

The General — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 15:38:46 -0800

The show was great. The people who left were morons.

Comment by NapoleonXIV

NapoleonXIV — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 15:42:02 -0800

What? They didn't see the five-foot high poster of Lucy the Slut at the entry to the theatre? Or the 40 foot high banner prominently featuring Muppet Cleavage?

Comment by Fnarf

Fnarf — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 15:49:33 -0800

Ah, the Seattle culturati who can't stand anything 0.1 degree out of alignment with bland.

I once saw a fellow at a Philip Glass performance at the UW stand up and address the crowd IN THE MIDDLE OF A MOVEMENT, complaining that the music was too loud and he would like to move to a seat further back, and if anyone sitting further back would like to exchange seats with him, he would be happy to do so, blah blah blah, while a column of thick black smoke ascended from Mr. Glass's rapidly boiling forehead.

Comment by MB

MB — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 15:52:42 -0800

Hilarious. Some of the billboards advertising the show have "Not for the little ones" under the title. They obviously anticipated that clueless parents would be all "oh look, puppets! little Bradley will love it!"

Comment by mmbb

mmbb — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 15:55:50 -0800

Those who were disappointed in the show should be given a free pass to watch "Meet the Feebles."

Comment by Bub

Bub — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 15:56:41 -0800

AVENUE Q is awesome. Here is "It Sucks to Me" from the Israeli production ... in Hebrew, of course.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7e12RsEwYek

Comment by Bub

Bub — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 15:56:53 -0800

AVENUE Q is awesome. Here is "It Sucks to Me" from the Israeli production ... in Hebrew, of course.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7e12RsEwYek

Comment by PopTart

PopTart — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 15:57:49 -0800

If I see parents with kids under 10 when I go to the show am I allowed to wallop them upside the head?

No? I didn't think so, but it would be nice...

Comment by COMTE

COMTE — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 16:04:28 -0800

Oh, Fnarf, just because some people - who happen to live in Seattle - found offense with "Avenue Q", puhleeze dispense with the tired, constantly disproven myth that these kinds of things ONLY happen in Seattle.

And @17:

Personally, I think you're remiss in upholding your Civic Duty if you DON'T wallop them upside the head...

Comment by K

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 16:04:41 -0800

Puppets, like cartoons and comics, are for children. Everyone knows that.

(George W Bush apparently gets an exception.)

Comment by Cookie W. Monster

Cookie W. Monster — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 16:07:21 -0800

Like my main man Oscar the Grouch once said, if they can't take a joke, then funk 'em!

Anyway, all the truly cool kids know that
The Electric Company was way cooler than Sesame Street. I should know, I was there.

Eatin' scenery instead of snatch, natch!

Comment by Will in Seattle

Will in Seattle — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 16:12:06 -0800

The Electric Company rocked, especially in Math.

Comment by Fnarf

Fnarf — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 16:25:13 -0800

No, Comte, they don't only happen in Seattle. But the other places they happen are cultural backwaters like Spokane, or Peoria, or Birmingham, Alabama. Seattle has aspirations to be a bigger, better place than that -- but these things do NOT happen in bigger, better places. Seattle is in many ways Boise pretending to be San Francisco.

Comment by Seriously

Seriously — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 16:32:24 -0800

Well Fnarf, how do you know that the offended folks weren't FROM Spokane or Boise, out for some shopping, dining and to see a show?

A good of friend of mine worked on the original production of Avenue Q off-broadway and on, and said they occasionally got complaints of indecency and frequently those people weren't residents of NYC.

Comment by San FranBoisico

San FranBoisico — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 16:43:05 -0800

@22: Uh, some people are narrow-minded or don't do their research in bigger cities too. I saw people in SF walk out of Shortbus shaking their heads and grumbling.

Comment by Laurence Ballard

Laurence Ballard — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 16:46:23 -0800

Art usually reveals much more about the viewer than the artist(s).

Seattle will always be a rural metropolis.

Comment by wisepunk

wisepunk — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 16:48:12 -0800

You know, for being the "smartest" city in America, there are a lot of stupid motherfuckers walking the streets.

I saw something like this during a David Cross performance at bumbershoot a few years ago, but he was showing a 30 foot vagina on the wall, and people were not warned. YOu can expect a walkout or two in that kind of situation. These fuckknobs bought tickets!

Alas, I will probably not be going to Avenue Q, as every single girl I know is already going. Even the one that just came back from the UK is already going. Goddammit. I really want to sing along with "The Internet is for Porn." I do the cookie monster voice so well.

Comment by keshmeshi

keshmeshi — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 17:03:41 -0800

There was that incident at Mike Daisey's show, in New York I believe.

Comment by Fnarf

Fnarf — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 17:03:46 -0800

So in 2008, everywhere you go in America, it's Spokane.

Comment by Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 17:14:06 -0800

Ha! Reminds of my college days back in Pittsburgh, when we went to see "Hair". There was a whole row of nuns in front of us, and when things got kinky, out went the nuns!
Not sure why the hell they even went to see "Hair". Maybe they thought it was "Godspell."

Comment by Greg

Greg — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 17:16:28 -0800

FUCK YES I am going. And I'm dragging the wife with me, even though she will hate me for about a week once she gets "The Internet is for Porn" stuck in her head again.

Comment by laterite

laterite — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 17:51:11 -0800

Don't the TV commercials pretty much go out of their way to let folks know that this show isn't for the kiddies? I can't imagine that the type of person who would attend this and then walk out *wouldn't* have seen them.

@28: So true. Spokane reminds me of any given mid-major Midwestern city. Oogy.

Comment by Jessica

Jessica — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 18:07:47 -0800

@26: You're welcome to sing it to Slog Happy tomorrow. Everyone loves a good Cookie Monster voice.

Comment by Catalina Vel-DuRay

Catalina Vel-DuRay — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 18:43:47 -0800

Those drips who stormed out are probably the same ones who thought "Follies" was breathtaking.

Me, I sweared off productions at the Fifth Avenue after "Follies". But I didn't storm out.

Mind you, that was probably 15 years ago...

Comment by Cookie W. Monster

Cookie W. Monster — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 19:19:14 -0800

I'm not going to Slog Happy unless this song is on the jukebox.

Comment by Scotto

Scotto — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 20:42:46 -0800

I didn't really know what I was getting myself into; we went because my wife went to college with the guy who wrote the book. That said, this play is literally the first time I went to a play at the Paramount or the 5th Avenue that I didn't feel like theatre at that level was just a sold-out racket. This play was beautifully existential, remarkably intelligent, heartfelt without being manipulative and crass. I can't recommend it enough.

Comment by rob

rob — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 21:24:35 -0800

Maybe the people who rushed out had just been reminded about pussy-eating and couldn't wait to do it again.

Comment by zzyzx

zzyzx — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 05:20:09 -0800

Maybe they thought, "Ah, puppets singing about sex. That might have been a radical idea a decade or so ago, but hasn't it been done to death by now?"

Maybe you guys aren't selling it well and it's not mostly the cliche of taking a kids thing and making it be about sex and drugs, but it sounds like something I'd walk out of due to the giggling, "Look at me, I'm tweaking the noises of mainstream society," thing that has been done just way too often to still be interesting.

Comment by Nick Literski

Nick Literski — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 21:00:06 -0800

I attended today's matinee performance with several friends, and we loved it! We were shocked, however, to see the family right in front of us, who brought their little boy who looked to be about ten years old. I can just imagine the questions he was asking after they left the theatre!

On a side note, we all want to know who the hot, woofy bear was who played the role of "Brian" today. He didn't appear to be any of the actors in the program!