Avenue Q

Last night, I had the pleasure of attending opening night of a fun, particularly raucous musical, Avenue Q. The show, with puppets as main characters, deals with the trials and tribulations of being young, single, and broke in a small borough of New York City. What a great show. If you offend easily, this show is probably not for you, but if you can look at life from more than one set of lenses, you may enjoy it. Joe was offended. See his comments. Leave your children at home. Joe said that those who grew up with Sesame Street probably liked this show so much simply because they were nostalgic. While there may be certain elements of Sesame Street (monsters, buddies, and good-hearted protagonists), Sesame Street this show is not.

The show is at the Keller (formerly known as the Portland Municipal Auditorium, the Portland Public Auditorium, and the Civic Auditorium), which was built in 1917. It was completely renovated in 1968 (after a sizable donation by Richard B. Keller). The location of the auditorium is convenient to me – I love that my favorite Broadway shows and the Portland Opera is only a short block away. The Oregon Ballet Theatre and the Oregon Children’s Theatre also perform here.

I wish I could find pictures of the auditorium from before it was renovated. I heard that there were beautiful columns and a decorated ceiling. When it was renovated, it was “modernized.” It feels like you are sitting in a cavernous capsule with a view of the Death Star or maybe a stylized version of the moon. Thus Spake Zaruthustra, anyone? The theatre is purely functional. Nearly every seat offers an excellent view of the stage. Sound quality tends to be sporadic, however. I think there were microphone issues at last night’s show. While the theatre serves its purpose (a very important word in Avenue Q), it is also visually unappealing. I keep saying that they should just tear the Keller down and start over. My favorite theatre on the West Coast is Seattle’s 5th Avenue Theatre. And I don’t even like Seattle that much.