Avenue Q

We had a guest in town for a few days who wanted to see some theater, and he couldn't make it to our Hello Dolly date. He was bummed and wanted to see something funny, and since he is a friend of my husband, we knew he would love the raunchy humor of Avenue Q. It's playing at New World Stages which is a great place to see lots of off Broadway theater. My husband purchased tickets ahead of time on TodayTix and it was our first time doing so. The seats were great...

For $45 we sat in row E towards the center. I had a friend who also saw it by coincidence at the same performance, and she got front row tickets for $25, but she moved back to the 10th row just so she wasn't in spitting range. So in the future, you can probably get away with rush tickets for this show. This was also for a Saturday matinee, so keep that in mind. 

The puppeteers were wonderful as they always are. The sound quality was a bit low so it made hearing lyrics difficult (and I know ALL the lyrics so that's bad) 

 I especially enjoyed watching all the doubling up, like seeing the actress who plays both Lucy and Kate Monster be on stage but talk for someone else. This happened with Rod and Princeton as well. The show is a little dated, but not to the point where you can't enjoy it. When I first saw it in 2004, during the Bush administration, the lines in "For Now" were George Bush. Now, it's "Donald Trump." Other small line changes I noticed were during "Mix Tape", because instead of a cassette, Princeton now makes CDs for all his friends.

Hello Dolly

 This was the second time I got to see this production of Hello Dolly. BTW, I should remind you that I've never seen a live production of this show until this broadway revival. I saw the movie when I was in high school and thought that it was ok, and I believe I gave it a 7/10. This was a birthday gift for me from my friend, and he was able to get tickets because....

Donna Murphy was playing Dolly, not Bette Midler....

That's ok, because I've already seen Bette. We sat in the balcony once again. Row E on the house right. The ONE issue I have with the seats was that there was a pole RIGHT in front of my friend's seat. BOO! We were able to move down in the second act to row C, and aside from the obnoxious kweens in front of us, it was a great spot. 

 

 This time I paid more attention to the costuming, the story line, the singing and choreography, and of course the cleanliness of the show. Because the show has already opened and the Tonys have been dealt out, they really feel like a tight knit cast. The supporting cast was SO strong. In fact, Aaron mentioned that the millinery scene that he previously had disliked ended up being one of the best this time around.