Friday, September 28, 2007

We Live On Avenue Q!

.:The Wonders Of Avenue Q:.

For years, my favorite musical has always been Jesus Christ Superstar. With all the music and pizazz, it was just nothing short of splendid to see the passion of Christ done in very catchy songs, and interpreted in a very imaginative way.

Upon seeing Avenue Q last weekend though, I was blown away. The Philippine staging was as awesome as I imagined it, and even if they never took liberties with attempting to localize some of the musical's lyrics, I was still extremely happy with how well they pulled it off, and even with their excellent casting, such as Aiza Seguerra as Gary Coleman and Rachel Alejandro as Kate Monster/Lucy the Slut.

I noticed that a particular song wasn't included during the performance, that is, “Tear It Up And Throw It Away”, but despite that, it was still a really awesome musical despite that one missing song. I don't know where it could've fallen into place in the original script, but it's all good, and so was not changing “George Bush” in the last song, but hey, I'm not complaining much, since everything else about the play was just splendid.

The songs really resonate. From the tongue-in-cheek but honest messages in “Everyone's A Little Bit Racist”, “The Internet Is For Porn”, “Schadenfreude”, and “If You Were Gay”, you also have the real but cartoonized “The More You Love Someone”, to the true-to-form “It Sucks To Be Me”, and to the heart-wrenching “There's A Fine, Fine Line”. All in all, the songs were splendid to hear live, and I stand by my belief that Kate Monster sounds so much like Delamar, and even Rachel Alejandro's interpretation reflected that.

I watched Avenue Q with the JGL, as it was myself, Clair, JM, Charo, and Sean, and after the show, I even bought myself a Kate Monster button and performed a magic trick for Aiza Seguerra and Rachel Alejandro.

Amusingly enough, it turns out that my Beloved and Aiza are high school buddies, and are still regularly in touch with each other.

I especially liked the “logic” employed by the Bad Idea Bears... why buy a six-pack when you can buy a case of beer so you can save in the long run?

The play was an excellent post-modern look at life and love and finding one's purpose. I swear. My favorite line from the musical had to be the one Kate told Princeton after they broke up because Princeton was scared of commitment and how he felt that he was a mess since he couldn't find his purpose. Princeton was on his way to his apartment with Lucy the Slut in tow (Yes, Rachel was pulling double duty on the voices here.), and then...

Kate: Is that your new friend, Princeton?

Princeton: Yes, she is.

Kate: Is her name Purpose?

Oohhh! Burn!

I can't help but wonder how things would've turned out if I made it through the auditions. I'd almost give my left arm to be part of the cast, but then that'd mean I can't play Trekkie Monster. =P

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