INTERVIEW: ‘Avenue Q’ is now located down the Jersey Shore
Photo: Avenue Q plays through Sunday, Nov. 20 at the Axelrod Performing Arts Center in Deal Park, New Jersey. Photo courtesy of the Axelrod / Provided by press rep with permission.
Avenue Q played on Broadway and off-Broadway for a combined 16 years, and the memories of the little-puppet-musical-that-could continue to be felt in the theatrical community. How does one forget those lovable and R-rated puppets who told a story reminiscent of Sesame Street, but with biting commentary about society, relationships and community.
The Axelrod Performing Arts Center, located in Deal Park, New Jersey, is currently revisiting the beloved show in a new revival directed and choreographed by Todd LaBron Underwood. Performances run through Sunday, Nov. 20.
The musical, which won the Tony Award for Best Musical, tells the story of Princeton, a college graduate who has newly arrived on “Avenue Q” and is ready to start his new life. While in the neighborhood, he meets everyone from Kate to Lucy to Rod to Trekkie and Gary Coleman, and, oh, they are presented on stage by expert puppeteers, according to press notes.
“Well, last year [artistic director] Andrew DePrisco reached out,” Underwood said in a recent phone interview. “[He mentioned] Avenue Q. I said, ‘I love that show, but I’m not a puppeteer by any stretch of the imagination.’ He said, ‘You don’t have to be.’ We have Rick Lyon, who was the original creator of the puppets and also the original Trekkie Monster, and he came for a workshop. And I learned in those four days how to tell stories, how to really invest in the storytelling of puppetry. It was the most amazing four days. Before that I was very intimidated because again I knew nothing about it, but I knew I loved the show. I love the message that it has. I think it’s so relevant to where we are today. It seems to keep giving.”
Underwood said that the performances have been excellent at the Axelrod. A couple in the crowd came up to him after experiencing the show with a nice assessment of the revival: “I never realized that it was going to touch me in the way that it does.”
The director added: “The show on its face seems to be happy and joyful and light, very Sesame Street-esque, but there’s a really great story about love and want and finding one’s place in life. So audiences have really found themselves moved in ways that they were not expected to.”
Underwood wears many hats for the production. He’s not only the director, but also the choreographer, and that has meant some necessary education on how to move the puppet characters around the stage.
“I have never choreographed puppets, so it was a learning curve for sure,” he said. “You think, we’ll do this, and my hands can do this, and my legs can do this. But it doesn’t quite translate. Learning the greatest hits of what the puppets can do was fun and also pushing ourselves to what these puppets maybe have never done before and think about giving the puppets greater life.”
As a child, Underwood fell in love with dance, music and eventually musical theater. He remembers watching early productions of Into the Woods, Sweeney Todd and The Sound of Music, and eventually he started down the path of musical theater. His professional fate was sealed when he attended college.
“That’s where I fell in love,” the director said. “I hadn’t really done theater before then. I was a trained singer, trained musician, trained dancer, but I had never done theater before. And so that summer sort of showed me what the joy was about doing theater, and so that began my love. From there, I knew I always wanted to be a choreographer at some point, and fortunately things sort of happened for me in a beautiful way. I got recommended to this person and this person, and it started to shape my choreographic career. Then I met my mentor, Stafford Arima, an off-Broadway director. He’s now the artistic director at Theatre Calgary. I was working for him as a choreographer, and we were at Stratford Festival. … Toward the end of our time there, I said, ‘You know, I’d love to be your assistant director and have you mentor me. I love what you do. I love your craft,’ and he said, ‘No.’ He said, ‘Let’s let this stew. Come back to me in two days, and tell me really why you want to do this.’ So I came back to him and said, ‘I feel like I have stories to tell.’ He said, ‘OK.’ So for six years I was under his wing, and we did everything — new shows, revivals … it was an undergrad and a master’s degree all in one. Then after those six years he kicked me out and said, ‘It’s time for you to go do your thing.’ So from then on, I’ve been trying to do my thing.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Avenue Q, directed and choreographed by Todd LaBron Underwood, continues through Sunday, Nov. 20 at the Axelrod Performing Arts Center in Deal Park, New Jersey. Click here for more information and tickets.
