{"id":243598,"date":"2010-06-25T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2010-06-25T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/puppets-dish-gritty-reality-in-avenue-q\/"},"modified":"2010-06-25T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2010-06-25T07:00:00","slug":"puppets-dish-gritty-reality-in-avenue-q","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/puppets-dish-gritty-reality-in-avenue-q\/","title":{"rendered":"Puppets dish gritty reality in ‘Avenue Q’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Por Patricia Morris Buckley
\nCr\u00edtico de Teatro SDUN
\n<\/strong>
\n

\"Puppets<\/a>
Brian (Tim Kornblum, left) is a failed comedian who has a lot to explain to Kate Monster and his wife, Christmas Eve (Jacqueline Grabois), in \u201cAvenue Q,\u201d coming to San Diego\u2019s Civic Theatre, July 6-11. (Courtesy John Daughtry)<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nA week later, he auditioned for the national tour of the Tony Award-winning show \u201cAvenue Q\u201d and landed the part of Brian, one of the two non-puppeteering roles. How\u2019s that for kismet?<\/p>\n

\u201cI was so excited,\u201d said Kornblum, who had acted in high school and college, but never professionally. \u201cIt\u2019s what I really wanted to do. It\u2019s really been my passion.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAvenue Q\u201d is not your typical Broadway musical. Yes, boy meets girl, loses girl\u2026you know the rest. However, in this case, the girl is a monster puppet, one of several puppets in the cast. The result is very much like TV\u2019s \u201cSesame Street\u201d but with a decidedly adult sensibility.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s \u2018Sesame Street\u2019 10 years later,\u201d explained Kornblum from Philadelphia, where the show was playing. \u201cPeople connect with the show at first because it\u2019s essentially a kid show and they feel nostalgia \u2013 then they recognize their own life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAvenue Q\u201d tells the story of Princeton, a recent college graduate with a degree in English who is cut from his new job before he even shows up. Broke, the only place he can afford in New York City is on Avenue Q (the city has an alphabet neighborhood, with the better homes closest to the beginning of the letters). Life isn\u2019t how he thought it would be.<\/p>\n

There he meets an odd assortment of losers, from the charming Kate Monster, an aspiring preschool teacher, to child star Gary Coleman, the building superintendent. The only two real humans are failed comedian Brian and his wife, psychologist Christmas Eve. <\/p>\n

Some adjustments had to be made in the show due to Coleman\u2019s unexpected death.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was rough in the beginning,\u201d Kornblum admitted. \u201cNow things are more back to normal. The book writer took out any dire references to Gary Coleman, any questionable jokes that were overstepping the bounds.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kornblum first saw the show on Broadway and fell in love with it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just so funny,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s such an original show that\u2019s well written. I love the comedy. The rhythm is like nothing I\u2019ve ever seen. It clicked with me right away.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brian is often the one in the show that tells the characters how life really is in a way that \u201cSesame Street\u201d never does. He\u2019s the one to admit that his life is terrible in the song \u201cIt Sucks to Be Me\u201d and even points out that \u201cEveryone\u2019s a Little Bit Racist.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cHis life is awful,\u201d said Kornblum. \u201cHe\u2019s just the kind of person who wants to make people laugh. That\u2019s like me. I like making many people laugh. I\u2019m almost shameless about it. I\u2019ll do whatever it takes.\u201d<\/p>\n

One scene that either shocks people or makes them laugh is the sex scene between two puppets. Even though there are warning signs in the lobby and the puppets don\u2019t actually have lower bodies, there are always shocked audience members, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a taboo subject,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s why the show works, because it\u2019s all about taboo subjects. People either laugh at the scene or are squeamish. It works in some cities and not in others.\u201d<\/p>\n

Working with the puppeteers is a different style of acting, he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cI went into the show knowing that you don\u2019t make eye contact with the puppeteers,\u201d he said, who admits he had no prior knowledge of what puppeteers do. \u201cThey\u2019re so close to the human players, that\u2019s it\u2019s not hard to shift your focus. After a while, you forget that the puppeteers are there.\u201d<\/p>\n

The result is a hilarious show that approaches the subject of life\u2019s expectations and realities in a way that entertains, shocks and tells the truth like never before. It\u2019s no wonder that it won the Tony Award for Best Musical. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere are so many wonderful parts of the show, from the song to the dialogue,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m having a great time doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAvenue Q\u201d
\nJuly 6-11
\nTeatro C\u00edvico de San Diego
\n3rd and B Street
\nCentro
\nTickets: $18-$76
\n570-2787 <\/strong>
\nBroadwaySD.com<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Patricia Morris Buckley SDUN Theatre Critic A week later, he auditioned for the national tour of the Tony Award-winning show \u201cAvenue Q\u201d and landed the part of Brian, one of the two non-puppeteering roles. How\u2019s that for kismet? \u201cI was so excited,\u201d said Kornblum, who had acted in high school and college, but never […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1295,"featured_media":243599,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"Puppets dish gritty reality in 'Avenue Q'","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11549,11551,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-243598","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-news","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1295"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243598"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243598\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/243599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}