Avenue Q Mexico: with Abelardo?

[jcnegron]

The mexican production of avenue is slated to debut on April 9, 2008. Mexican fans of the musical are heading to either a great dissapointment or a pleasant surprise, due to the significant changes announced by the producers, besides the translation and the adaptation in style of humor. The story is in essence the same and still has New York as the backdrop.

For one, the producers announced a radical change in set design, "something graffitti oriented", which does not come as a surprise, due to the fact that the director's forte is in set design. Director Fernandez del Paso, who was nominated for an Oscar for his work on "Frida", will be responsible for the translation,adaptation, direction and set design.

More controversial has been their casting selection, made primarily of young telenovela-type actors, and teen-band members with no previous puppeteering experience. The producers, however, are capitalizing on the free publicity gathered by their most outrageous casting choice, selecting teen-band member Christian Chavez to play Rod. Chavez was outed last year by a gossips magazine, making him the only openly gay artist in Mexico, ever. Although he alternates the role with another actor, current promotion spins around his persona.

The puppets have not been disclosed yet, neither has been disclosed whether or not would be a Gary Coleman character. However during the cast press presentation one of the actors stated that Rick Lyon himself was in Mexico to give them the puppet training workshop. grouchy: Lucky b$s).

If the rumors are confirmed, Eugenio Bartilloti, one of the the actors that have played "Abelardo" in "Plaza Sesamo", might end up in the role of "Bryan", ironically the only person with experience with puppets, would be playing a human character.

Let's se how all goes...

 

[Toasty]

Hmmm... sounds interesting, but like you said, the changes will either be great or a huge disappointment (for those in the audience who may have already seen the Broadway version).

Hopefully the performers won't treat their puppetry performance like a third-class citizen... but I can't imagine anything more than mundane puppet work from those who are not completely devoted to learning it, or those who haven't had the time to master it. Having Rick Lyon involved is a good sign, though.

 

[ravagefrackle]

it is going to Mexico, I have a few Friends down thier and they heard about it as well

 

[jcnegron]

Hey, Rick Lyon apparently has confirmed that he is making the puppets for the Mexican production on this forum:

http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?page=2&thread=955383&boardid=1

He also clarifies:
"...I had nothing to do with the productions in Israel or the Philippines (despite the fact that they used photos of my puppets for their ads!), I consulted on the puppets used in Sweden and Finland and Paris..."

 

[Buck-Beaver]

Interesting to see photos of the puppets from the 1st community theatre production linked to. Have those been posted on here before?

 

[jcnegron]

Just an update. After being delayed, Finally Avenue Q Mexico debuted yesterday with an "Orange fur" carpet premiere, and all the mysteries were finally revealed to the press.

The final cast does not include the actor that played Abelardo. But includes one Teen-band member and a couple of ex-american-idol-type-show contestants, all of them with their own legion of fans. A character "generic-ex-child-actor" replaced the part of Gary Coleman.

The set design has not only one but two buildings in perspective one in front of each other that rotate, to make room for other set changes. There were some costume changes and finally much more dance by the performers.

Here are some pictures of the performance. What do you think of them?

http://www.esmas.com/noticierostelevisa/galerias/8385/avenida-q-la-puesta-en-escena/