Avenue Q in Perth

I see the Perth season opened a few days ago, just wondering if anyone's seen it yet and what they thought of it. Interestingly, I've been having an email discussion with many American puppeteers and they've had some thoughtful comments on the American tour and the puppeteering, as well as the language/R-rated stuff. If anyone's curious I'll post a summary of their thoughts. Also, I was going to tack on a bump post to this thread: http://www.theatre.asn.au/theatre_reviews/avenue_q_australian_premiere but no comments are allowed anymore. :P

I saw a preview last night. I don't have a programme, so have no idea who the performers were, but I believe we had a few understudies. The set looked fantastic. Simple, yet intricate at the same time. The lighting and sound were as you would expect from a professional touring show. No mic glitches, levels were good, maybe the followspots could do with another rehearsal. As for the performances - I had heard people not being sure whether to watch the human or the puppet, but I found both to be equally entertaining. Apart from David Strassman, this is the first "puppet show" I've seen, so am not sure what's right and what's wrong. The actor with Katie Monster on her hand, in particular, mirrored all Katie's emotions, movements and facial expressions, which made me unsure where I should be looking. The same actor played Lucy, with a very different style, and voice. Likewise, Princeton, and Rod had the same "handler". This made for some very quick changes backstage. Naomi's looking for a review.......I had a fun night. The performance was very enjoyable, and I found myself humming "It Sucks To Be Me" all day. The almost full house seemed to agree , and I would heartily recommend the show. I thought the writers got the balance just right. They could have taken things a lot further toward the dark side, given the licence allowed by not having "live" actors. Apart from Kate and Princeton's tryst (which was hilarious), it was remarkably cleaner than I expected. Go see it. If you know nothing about it, it's probably not what you're expecting. After the show, we retired to the Subi Hotel for a couple of quiet ones, and had a chat with one of the local techs working on the show, which gave a few interesting insights. www.meltheco.org.au

Thanks so much Jeff - it sounds like you had a good night, and I'm glad. I do hope the puppeteering improved since I saw it last, but my guess is you'll have different ideas of puppeteering than I do (and have suggested as much above). Funny that you say it was cleaner than you expected: many puppeteers I chatted to recently have mentioned that they find the language/adult themes too much and/or unnecessary. I guess 'adult' puppetry is considered much more overt in the public's eyes than actually represented in Avenue Q. (For the record, I believe the standard is that unless you're supposed to know the puppeteer is the puppeteer - ie, a play within a play - you're not supposed to notice the puppeteers at all. Newcomers to 'white light' (puppeteers being visible) find it confusing, but a good puppeteer will not distract attention from the actual puppet) Puppets and patterns at Puppets in Melbourne