Confession:  Despite the unique opportunity of being able to attend their rehearsal and mingle with the cast (LINK), and despite my great desire to do so, I did not think that I could watch Avenue Q again this time around, despite being their farewell run. 

It was already the final week.  I was able to convince some of my colleagues to go watch it.  They all turned in rave reviews, as I expected (although they conspired to let me think otherwise at first, hehe).  Unfortunately, I personally had no opportunity this time to watch it this time. 

Time dwindled right until Saturday night, when suddenly the bright idea came up of bringing Eric and Vangie (my wife's brother and sister who are visiting from the States) to go watch it.  Stoked and hopeful, I called Mae of Atlantis.  She said she had only three tickets left for the final show on June 22, 8pm.  Yes!  Exactly what I needed.  However, the seats were scattered all over the theater. Hmmm.... what the heck, I went for broke and reserved them.  But Mae's condition was that I had to pick them up in the morning before 12 noon. 

We all know what happened on the morning of June 22, Supertyphoon "Frank" hit very close to Metro Manila.  I texted Mae, and yikes, the Atlantis office was open despite the storm!  So yes, I braved the continuous torrential rains, and strong winds, and floods and EDSA from Caloocan to reach Makati before the deadline, in order to buy those precious last tickets.  These were 2 loge and 1 side orchestra tickets, all separate from each other.

Now you ask me, was all of that worth it?  The answer is a definite YES!!!!!

The Farewell Run of Avenue Q was very much the same show I saw and enjoyed last December.  Since I had seen it before, this time I was able to concentrate more on the wit, the dialogs, the lyrics, the facial expressions, the subtle gestures -- all those funny little details that escaped my notice the first time. 

The cast was as fantastic as ever.  Felix Rivera was still the same idealistic Princeton and the same tormented Rob, I daresay improved.  Joel Trinidad was so effortless both as the mischeivous Nicky and the controversial Trekkie Monster.  The vocal and action nuances of the characters were very well distinguished, and captured with so much confidence and verve by both actors.  Of course, Frenchie, Aiza and Rycharde were consistently excellent in their performances of their respective human characters.

Now the inevitable comparison of the cast newcomer Carla Guevara with the actress she replaced, Rachel Alejandro.  As much I did not want to believe it, the performances were amazingly equal. There had been a consistent portrayal of Kate Monster and Lucy the Slut, inasmuch that you would think the same actress portrayed these puppets in both the December and the present run.  I guess I could credit that with the Directors' vision and guidance and the talent of the performers. 

In whatever slight degree though, I must say, however, that Carla has the saucy edge in playing Lucy.  Rachel, on the other hand, had the sweet edge in playing Kate.  While Carla's delivery of "Special" was certainly extraordinary, Rachel's version of "There's a Fine Fine Line" still remains to be my overall favorite Avenue Q song performance ever (it had not been called "exquisite" for nothing).

While the December show ended with the cast singing "Give Love on Christmas Day," this farewell run show appropriately ended with a farewell song--the closing theme of the old Donny and Marie TV show that goes "May tomorrow be a perfect day may you find love and laughter along the way..."  And they sang it beautifully, all their voices ringing very true and sincere. 

This 8pm show on June 22, 2008 that I watched WAS the final show of the Farewell Run.  I am very happy that I got to watch it, just in the nick of time.  All the difficulty I encountered in getting these tickets were immediately forgotten, and the fortuitous luck of getting the last seats in the house that night was definitely much appreciated.

June 2, 2008 -

The hit musical and puppet-show Avenue Q strikes Manila for the third and probably the last, time come June 13 to 22, 2008, again in the Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium in Makati.  Today is their first public announcement of their upcoming Farewell Run, and what's so special is that they have chosen BLOGGERS to be their first witnesses!  Hooray for the power of cyberspace advertising!

This special rehearsal cum interview session was held at the Centro Flamenco. SJG Bldg, Kalayaan Ave, Makati at 11 am.  The bloggers in attendance were organized by no less than the indefatigable Bachelor Girl.  And I, as a totally new and amateur blogger, am very honored to have been invited for this particularly rare opportunity.  This is definitely a first for me, and, clinic notwithstaning,  I dare not waste this singular chance!  Thank you very much for the generous invitation, Ms. Bachelor Girl.  Thank you Dr. Abbie Sanz for covering for my clinic.


They were all there from the old cast:  Felix Rivera (Princeton/Rob), Aiza Seguerra (Gary Coleman), Frenchie Dy (Christmas Eve), Joel Trinidad (Trekkie Monster/Nicky) and Rycharde Everley (Brian).  And there were two new faces in the cast:  Carla Guevara who takes over Kate Monster and Lucy the Slut.  And Thea Tadiar who takes over Mrs. Thistleswat and Others.     


The cast performed three songs for us:  the hilarious "It Sucks To Be Me" by the whole cast, the even-more-hilarious "If You Were Gay" by sang so skillfully by Felix Rivera and Joel Trinidad as the Ernie and Bert-inspired Rod and Nicky, and the beautiful "The More You Ruv Someone" by the vocally-bombastic Ms. Frenchie Dy, with Carla Guevara.


After this came the Interview Portion.  The cast sat down in front of us and gamely entertained our questions.  The questions ranged from the shallow (like Frenchie Dy's previous bouts with Bell's palsy) to the sublime ("What did you gain from the Avenue Q experience?" asked by my new online buddy and co-theater blogger Julie).  While watching them in this spontaneous part, you can feel that the cast has really gelled very well with each other, and that they were having a lot of fun together. 


In between, we got to know more about Carla Guevara.  It turns out she was one of the auditionees before in the first run and was called because Rachel Alejandro already had other commitments this year.  This is her first time working with Atlantis.  She says she can relate to both her characters, and the stark contrast of these two is what she likes about her roles. 


We also got to learn more about the other newbie there, Thea Tadiar.  She takes over the role of Mrs. Thistleswat and Others, previously held by Teenie Chan.  Thea happens to be the better half of the guy who plays Brian, Rycharde Everley.  They apparently met while she was taking up her Masters in England, and got married while performing a play by Brecht in London seven years ago.


They talked about the Puppets.  Marvin the Puppet Master was there.  While audiences think Trekkie Monster is the most difficult puppet to handle, it was actually Lucy the Slut.  This was because it was quite heavy, and she needs to flip her hair a lot, thus requiring a lot of wrist work.  I learned later from Ms. Thea that one of the more difficult puppetry techniques to master is to move the mouth by moving the thumb downward in order to drop the jaw of the puppet.  You can imagine how difficult this is when you see the size of the puppets!


The directors Bobby Garcia and Chari Arespacochaga were also on hand to answer questions.  When asked what they looked for when casting this show, Mr. Garcia enumerated Talent, Dependability and an Obsessive-Compulsive attitude, which each member of this present cast possesses, but with varying rank each person.  I was also able to ask a question about possible revisions on future editions of the play, since certain details within the book date it, like the mixtape or George Bush.  Answer was there will definitely be changes in the lyrics next year when Bush steps out of office.  And that the book writer Jeff Whitty already has a trove of suggestions from the numerous fans on how to update the play!


After this, the cast sang around the piano the "Theme from Avenue Q" (video).  And invited us, and all of you, to join them on this their Farewell Run.  We were then given the opportunity to talk and mingle with the cast members over Krispie Kreme Donuts.  Felix and Sir Jojo (the pianist) still recalled our SLMC concert with the Repertory Philippines last April 16 (photos here, here and here).  While I took the opportunity to promote the Voice Center of St. Luke's Medical Center, but the bad case laryngitis I had this morning was really in poor timing.  Ms. Aiza even quipped, "Hindi yata sila ang tumingin sa yo a!"  LOL! 

So there it is.  Don't miss this last chance to catch the funniest and most entertaining play staged in Manila last year.  Call Ticketworld at 891-9999 or click on their website for tickets. You can also contact The Bachelor Girl because the shows she booked (14 June 2008 2pm and 21 June 2008 8pm) also feature her special "Spread the Fuzz" activities before and after the shows. Believe me, I was in one of those "Fuzz" shows last year, and it was a blast even outside the theater!  Again, the Farewell Run shows are from June 14 to 22, 2008.

After this run, they are already slated to perform in Singapore, from October 31 to November 16, 2008. Break a leg, guys!

More photos of this event here.

June 2, 2008 - The cast and crew of Avenue Q make their first public announcement of their upcoming Farewell Run set on June 13-22, 2008 at the Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium in Makati.

Here they are singing the "Theme from Avenue Q" around the piano. And later, they would invite everyone to catch this Farewell Run.

The cast of Avenue Q (Farewell Run) are, from left to right: Felix Rivera, Aiza Seguerra, Joel Trinidad, Frenchie Dy, Thea Tadiar, Rycharde Everley and Carla Guevara. Sir Jojo on the piano.

Main article posted here: http://3xhcch.multiply.com/journal/item/222
More photos of this event here: http://3xhcch.multiply.com/photos/album/59