Entertainment Criticism

Brought to You by the Letter ‘Q’

Avenue Q | TPAC’s Jackson Hall | Oct. 28 - Nov. 2

I’m pretty sure nowhere is feeling the sting of the lulling economy more than Broadway. Cult sensation Rent? Closed. Cute tuner Legally Blonde? Closed. Spamalot? Hairspray? Spring Awakening? Closing. Closing. Closing. Though it may be hard to imagine, the little-show-that-could Avenue Q will soon be the fifth longest running musical still packing audiences into a Broadway theater each night.

Yet, a feat such as this really should not be too difficult to imagine. After all, Avenue Q does what any great piece of theater should do – it transports the audience to a world other than the one they just came from and makes them forget the troubles of their everyday life. The world in question this week is Nashville, where the superb national touring company plays through Sunday. And make no mistake, Music City is a better place for it.

The true genius of the Robert Lopez/Jeff Marx score is that it offers us a delightful slice of non-escapism. That is, the mounting bills and problems at work we are trying to get away from by going to the theater are blissfully lampooned right on stage and we somehow feel better for it. Nowhere is this more evident for me than in the story of Princeton (Robert McClure), a fresh-faced 22-year-old wondering what to do with his newly acquired B.A. in English. I can guarantee that this will be my theme song on May 16, 2009, when I have to figure out what in the world to do with my B.A. in English. (No joke.) At the end of the song “It Sucks to Be Me,” Princeton lightheartedly quips, “This is real life.” It may be difficult to take him seriously because, after all, he’s a puppet. But what makes this show so effective is that he is actually not far off from the truth.

In fact, all of the songs have this great double-edged truthiness to them. Kate Monster (Carey Anderson) is routinely interrupted by Trekkie Monster (David Benoit) as he explains that “The Internet Is for Porn.” Nicky (Benoit) assures his roommate Rod (McClure) of their unconditional friendship in “If You Were Gay.” Perhaps the funniest number is “Everyone’s a Little Bit Racist” in which some brightly colored, furry friends chirp, “Ethnic jokes might be uncouth / but you laugh because they’re based on truth.” These characters get away with every last bit of it because it feels as though you are watching children’s television.

Jeff Whitty’s inspired book follows the mold of these familiar programs and pays homage to them in the process. (After all, he’s teaching adults some very valuable lessons here.) My favorite plot device is the insertion of Gary Coleman (Danielle K. Thomas) into the mix as the superintendent of Avenue Q. Didn’t you ever wonder as a child why Gloria Estefan would randomly show up on Sesame Street and teach Grover how to sing “Conga”? So did I. The presence of Coleman offers a knowing wink to the genre but also provides an endless source of searing one-liners regarding the misfortunes of the former child star.

The fact that the actors are entirely visible on stage while handling their puppets is never a problem. It’s impossible not to watch the innocent faces of Princeton and Kate as they stumble into a cute little romance. In fact, it’s really quite fascinating to watch McClure, Anderson, or Benoit navigate a scene in which they play two different characters. Their transitions between voices are often so smooth, it may take a few minutes to realize it is an entirely different handler manning the puppet for whom they are speaking. Overall, this is a testament to the talent of the company as a collective unit.

For the record, the touring cast is an absolute treat, offering crisp performances and impeccable comic timing. Maggie Lakis as one half of the devilish duo known as the Bad Idea Bears offers the funniest turn of the evening as a baby-voiced teddy who encourages Princeton to drink irresponsibly, sleep with his girlfriend, and even kill himself. (She offers the poor guy a noose, for crying out loud.) A joyful irreverence can be found in her delivery and, indeed, in the entire show.

It may not have been the most likely contender for the 2004 Best Musical Tony, but Avenue Q won it for a very legitimate reason. It reinvents what meaningful theater can be while maintaining the basics of stage storytelling. Because it hijacks something as pure and familiar as kiddie TV, it connects with us on an instinctive level, rendering the jokes a little funnier and the moments of meaning a little more substantive. In the hands of the talented traveling company, the material has never shined brighter. Let’s just hope Nashville has the wherewithal to embrace the piece for its wacky brilliance before it packs up to spread its irreverent glee elsewhere.

Mommy Dearest

Gypsy | St. James Theatre

Four years. If that. That’s how long it has been since the last Broadway revival of Gypsy closed at the Shubert Theatre. Is it really necessary, then, that yet another mounting of the Jule Styne musical arrives on the boards, this time with Patti LuPone in the role of infamous stage mother Rose?

Duh.

LuPone’s performance is everything it was expected to be – masterful, emotive, and complex – but that’s a given with a title like Gypsy. You know you’re going to get an above-the-title star with monumental stage presence. You’re bound to be subjected to some conventional Playbill art of said star throwing her dramatic arms up in justified exultation. And if you don’t hear some class-A belting, you should be pretty pissed.

Granted, it is great fun to see LuPone give what many have dubbed the performance of her career, but it is even more invigorating to witness the show’s many other outstanding qualities.

Chief among these is the musical’s book, penned by Arthur Laurents (who also staged this particular production). Equal parts gripping and comical, the meaty dialogue gives the show something many other musicals lack – a compelling, dramatic story. Based on the memoirs of burlesque dancer Gypsy Rose Lee, the narrative follows the sacrifices made by the ever determined Rose on the road to making one of her daughters a major star. With LuPone at the helm, the woman’s determination is simultaneously inspiring and disturbing. And Laurents never took the easy way out in the conception of his characters. They are fully-formed creatures of the most realistic proportions.

Rose’s protégé June (Leigh Ann Larkin) loathes the spotlight her mother thrusts upon her. She morphs from dough-eyed kewpie in chintzy stage routines to rasping cynic when the spotlight is turned off. The mild-mannered Herbie (Boyd Gaines) is the appropriate sweet to Rose’s sour, yet his temper can flare if his girls are put in harm’s way. And of course there is Louise (Laura Benanti), the lesser-loved daughter who gets to play parts like the back end of a cow until June flees the scene at the end of the first act.

But does Rose really love Louise more than June? Laurents’ book certainly does not let the audience make that assumption. While it would be easier to follow a plot that had Rose favor June and ignore Louise, we get scenes in which she makes a concerted effort to shower Louise with attention on her birthday (though, ironically, it is Rose’s antics that have left her not knowing how old she actually is). This momma may pimp her daughters and their friends out to any schmuck in the American public willing to buy a ticket to their act, but she loves them both fiercely, a fitting commentary on the emotional nature of all stage parents.

Of course, it helps that the powerhouse book is augmented by one of the more rambunctious Broadway scores of the 1950s. Brassy act closers “Everything’s Coming Up Roses” and “Rose’s Turn” give the leading lady her much deserved time to shine. And shine she does.

But, once again, it’s the sleepers herein that give the show its real magic. The immensely satisfying melodies of Rose and Herbie’s duets “Small World” and “You’ll Never Get Away from Me” never seem to, well, get away from you. The bawdy subject matter of “You Gotta Get a Gimmick,” in which three geriatric burlesque dancers teach Louise the art of stripping, is still as side-splitting as ever. And I would argue that the sisters’ ode to Rose’s chances with Herbie, “If Momma Was Married,” is the most exhilarating number in this entire production as a result of Larkin and Benanti’s soaring vocals.

While we’re on those two, let’s go ahead and point out the fact that this musical’s cast is not comprised of singers – it is comprised of actors who can carry a really good tune. Benanti in particular is the most enjoyable performer to watch (yes, even over Patti) in the transformation she makes from an awkward girl with stringy hair to a vamped-up vixen. And that’s just within the span of one song, “The Strip.” The undeniable sway that Gypsy Rose Lee holds over her panting audience is the same power exerted by Benanti on those sitting in the seats of the St. James Theatre. Her flawless comic timing is a sight to behold as she often makes choices that may not seem conventional but end up paying for themselves tenfold in laughter. Something about the way she phrases her “moo moo, moo moo” in the “Dainty June and Her Farmboys” number is simply hysterical. But the girl can break your heart, too. See the poignancy rendered in “Little Lamb” or the way she longs after Tulsa (Tony Yazbek) in his big number “All I Need is the Girl.”

So sure, Patti is great. And seeing Gypsy only for her would be just fine. But to convey her as the only asset (even the biggest asset) of this show would be a downright lie. Gypsy triumphs on all levels, emotionally, musically, dramatically. And with a cast as formidable as this, one could probably find backers to produce a musicalized version of the phone book. I guess we’ll just have to settle for one of the greatest works of the American musical theater. Sigh. Take the show’s advice and let them entertain you.

(S)well Seasoned

The Swell Season | Ryman Auditorium

I think it was probably a year ago now that I sat with two or three of my really good friends in a tiny art house cinema near Lincoln Center and inhaled the fresh breath of Irishy goodness that was the film Once. Listening to the intimate harmonies of Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, I felt as though I were uncovering an undiscovered treasure mine – I wanted everyone else to be able to experience the beauty of their addictive acoustic ballads but I also (selfishly) wanted to keep them all for myself.

Fast forward a few months later and they had to go and win an Academy Award for their tune “Falling Slowly,” one of the strongest tracks on the soundtrack to the aforementioned film and their studio collaboration known as The Swell Season. So yeah, I guess a few more people know about them now… but I still like to think they are all my own.

The duo’s current tour does much to preserve this feeling of freshly discovered genius. There’s a palpable authenticity to their performance which I think comes primarily from their lack of pretense while on stage. Hansard’s meandering comments on topics as varied as the presidential election and the denizens of Nashville’s Broadway (which he likened to Hades for its level of noise pollution) were endearing and often humorous while Irglova’s more demure interjections were insightfully sincere. The bottom line is that these are just really good people who happen to make good music.

Perhaps the reason I feel like these two could be my BFFs is because they end up offering the most private thoughts of their hearts by the end of the majority of their songs. Hansard started things off with “Say It to Me Now,” a slow-burner from the point-of-view of a frustrated lover that was intensified by his choice to perform it at the foot of the stage, sans artificial amplification. The earnest lyric paints the portrait of a desperate heart: “Cause this is what you’ve waited for / Your chance to even up the score / And as these shadows fall on me now / I will somehow.” Hansard readied the crowd as his growling baritone echoed to the furthest rafters, announcing his arrival and readying us for the compelling evening to follow.

Irglova and the duo’s four-piece band joined Hansard on stage next, completing a trifecta of songs from the Once soundtrack including “All the Way Down” and “When Your Mind’s Made Up.” And let’s just go ahead and get this out there – Irglova probably rivals the proverbial button in terms of her level of cuteness. She may be but a quiet lass of only 20 years, but when she pours her soul into cuts like “I’ve Loved You Wrong,” you would swear the words were coming from the mouth of an individual with at least a few more decades under her belt. She definitely takes the back seat to Hansard in terms of showmanship, but that’s often the way things go with an artist and his muse. Which is not to say that the whole night was about the pair’s off-stage relationship (indeed, none of it was).

Next, Hansard kicked off his four-song solo set with the aggressive “Leave” along with a couple of new tunes, “What Happens When the Heart Just Stops” and “Backbroke.” The highlight of this segment, however, was his larger-than-life cover of Van Morrison’s “Astral Weeks,” a soaring epic that explores the limits of devotion and commitment: “If I ventured in the slipstream / Between the viaduct of your dreams / Where immobile steel rims crack / And the ditch in the back roads stop / Could you find me? / Would you kiss-a my eyes?” By the time Hansard reached the first of what would be many crescendos, I could have sworn there was a full band backing him and his guitar due to the sheer decibel level that emanated from his wiry frame. White boy can wail.

The rest of the outfit returned for a few new songs including the appropriately titled “Happiness,” one of the many selections Hansard and Co. encouraged the crowd to join in on once the simple melody had been learned. Throughout the entire night, he and Irglova were both gracious and a bit in awe of performing in the hallowed hall of country music, so it was fitting that they closed their standard set with a bit of Hank Williams’ “Lost Highway.” They returned for a generous five song encore which featured “If You Want Me” (which “Mar” dedicated to all the ladies in the audience…but let’s not forget the boys need some lovin’ too) as well as “Blue Shoes,” an exquisite instrumental piece performed by their violinist. “People Get Ready” was the final song of the night, featuring an buoyant refrain that encouraged, “We’ve got all the time in the world / To make it right / We’ve got all the love in the world / To set it right.” Amen to that.

Pinpointing the magic of these two individuals would, in essence, be destroying it. They are what they are, and what they are is sublime. It never ceases to amaze me how some of the most heartbreaking, gut-wrenching, cry-your-soul-out music can be the most emotionally satisfying and, oddly, the most comforting. But that’s exactly where their music will take you. It will be interesting to see if their fresh material makes its way stateside in the form of a new record within the next few years or if their momentary blip on the radar was only a rare occurrence to happen, well, once (pun fully intended). I, for one, am rooting for the former.