Avenue Q: Boston

It doesn't suck to be them. The national tour of Avenue Q has made a stop in Boston, and it's terrific. This was my third opportunity to see the show and my first without most of the original cast. The show was as fresh and exciting as the first time I saw it. I have to admit, that was totally unexpected.

The members of the company put their own stamps on the roles created so successfully by the still amazing original cast. This Avenue Q stands on its own. The humor--the shock and awe--is all there, but the show was also surprisingly moving. I had forgotten that. Rob McClure gives us a full-bodied Rod that brought more than me to tears. Well, misting. His Princeton was also fantastic. Kelli Sawyer was also remarkable as both Kate Monster and Lucy T. Slut.

The supporting puppeteers were also fine. David Benoit and Minglie Chen bring originality to a host of characters. Chen, particularly, has amazing moments with the Bad Idea Bears that were unmatched in previous visits to the show.

The production preserves just about everything from the original production. The TV monitors are deployed differently (but just as effectively as on Broadway) and a few edits to the text probably make it run more smoothly.

For me, this has been a highlight of the Boston season!

A couple of additional thoughts:

The show is not perfect. Ann Harada did a better job than Angela Ai at making Christmas Eve less of a stereotype, but there's too much laughing at the stereotype and too little laughing with. I've seen Ai twice, and she was far superior having inherited the role rather than understudying it. Still, it's a big miss for me.

I wasn't sure how it would be seeing the show in a theater four times the size of the Golden. I have to admit, I liked it. Two moments--the puppet sex scene and "George Bush...is only for now..."--got huge, huge receptions. The size of the audience generated a lot of great energy.

This production sealed Avenue Q as one of my favorite musicals of the decade.