A few more idle thoughts about the musical…
(1) The set design was magical: creative sorcery of the first order. A simple, straightforward block of run-down brownstones…just like the ones you’d see on the actual Sesame Street. But when the need arises, doors become windows, windows become living rooms & bars, and cycloramas become the night-time New York skyline. An ingenious, creative jigsaw puzzle, it’s easily one of the most convincing settings I’ve ever seen in a theatre production.
Productions at Stratford tend to be much more open-plan, relying a great deal on light and foreground props; heavy on mood, and light on actual structures. It’s extremely effective in its own right, but Avenue Q shows what you can do with imaginative, chunky, familiar, old-fashioned set design…and does so brilliantly. The set is a living, breathing part of the cast, and the production wouldn’t be half as effective without its dynamic energy.
(2) Don’t think you can portray a convincing, trippy nightmare sequence on stage? Guess again! At one point, Princeton imagines being trapped in a situation where he must propose to Kate Monster…and that’s when the insanity begins. Cue the spinning, green, sick-inducing lights. Cue the twisted projections of the word “PROPOSE” all over the stage. Cue the GIANT MANGA-INSPIRED HEAD OF KATE MONSTER LOOMING OVER THE ENTIRE SET, like a cute-but-deadly version of Godzilla! You will expire from amazement and laughter.
I really need to get out and see more theatre. This kind of imagination is so much better live than on screen. :D
