STAGE TUBE: Highlights of Chinese Production of AVENUE Q

A Chinese production of the Tony Award-winning musical Avenue Q opened in Bai Yu Lan Theatre, Shanghai last week. The show will run for three months, from Oct.16 to Dec.22, in Shanghai and then transfer to Beijing in next spring.

AVENUE Q is the hilarious and internationally-acclaimed musical about a group of 20-somethings -- people and puppets alike -- who move to New York with big dreams and tiny bank accounts. Together they live as neighbors on a street in New York as they try to discover their purpose in life. This Chinese production, says Director Joseph Graves, is aiming to "capture AVENEU Q's message of love and hope in an appropriate style that offers a delicious, child-like approach to the exploration-through-humor of its very adult themes. We hope our audiences will leave the theatre identifying with AVENUE Q's story and empathizing with its characters (a group of struggling, twenty-something adults holding on to dreams of love and security in a world that can often be terribly loveless and very insecure) while at the same time find themselves humming the magical tunes of this comedy's unforgettable songs."

Check below for a highlight video of this production.

AVENUE Q CHINA

Music and lyrics by Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx; book by Jeff Whitty;

Presented by Seven Ages Production and TVBC; produced by Yang Jiamin; directed by Joseph Graves; music directed by Zheng Wei and Kain Liu; choreography by Andrew Delo; sets by Cui Jingyi; lighting by Zhang Nan; sound by Qu Tongyue; costume by Clara Zhou; Lyrics translated by Cheng He and Jia Yi

With: Kain Liu as Princeton/Rod, Zhang Xiaoqing as Kate Monster/Lucy The Slut, Zhang Haiyu as Nicky/ Trekkie Monster/ The Bad Idea Bears, Wang Huan as Christmas Eve, Danny Zhao as Gary Coleman, Steve Tong as Brian, Ma Su as Mrs. Thistletwat