File puptcrit/puptcrit.0507, message 197


Date: Sun, 31 Jul 2005 11:52:47 -0400
From: Adam Gertsacov <kafclown-AT-well.com>
To: puptcrit-driftline.org-AT-lists.driftline.org
Subject: [Puptcrit] Interview with Stephanie D'Abruzzo of Avenue Q


http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/31/theater/newsandfeatures/31robe.html

My favorite part is where they ask her if she can sing without the puppet.
As if the puppet were doing the singing!

Adam


July 31, 2005
A Puppet Master, Still Standing
By ROBERT SIMONSON

Broadway marathons aren't what they used to be. What with actors moving
between stage, film and TV, and corporate musicals that can support a stream
of interchangeable faces, the days when a Marian Seldes would play 1,793
performances of "Deathtrap" without missing a curtain are long gone. But
that doesn't mean stars with staying power are extinct. Stephanie D'Abruzzo,
who plays the puppet protagonist Kate Monster (as well as her rival, Lucy T.
Slut) in the two-year-old-plus "Avenue Q," recently woke up to find she was
the only 2004 Tony Award acting nominee (out of 40) who was still working
the job for which she was nominated. Ms. D'Abruzzo, who was beaten out for
best actress in a musical by that relative short-timer Idina Menzel of
"Wicked," spoke with Robert Simonson about keeping it fresh after more than
800 shows.

Have you ever played around with certain lines, changed them from show to
show?

We are not allowed to. I remember the night after the 2003 blackout, I
desperately, for one night, wanted to change the line "George Bush is only
for now" to "Con Ed is only for now." We were given the nay-say on that. The
thing about comedy is it is very fragile, and if you let it spin out of
control, if you dicker too much, it can lose something. If you go for the
laugh - which is so tempting to do after this period of time - then we are
in danger of becoming just the dirty little puppet show.

How many Kate Monster puppets have you gone through?

We did have one fully replaced, the one you see the least in the show, the
naked Kate. But those Kate puppets, some are from Off Broadway. Rick Lyon
built them to last. Actually, right now we're getting an influx of new
puppets. Our old puppets will be backup for the Las Vegas production. We
have brand new reformed Lucy, who shows up at the end of the show. She looks
totally different. She has no eyelids, has big wide open eyes and big
pigtails. The first time I saw her, I thought she looked like Suzanne Somers
in "Three's Company." I think her boobs are bigger, but Rick says they're
not.

Do you go on auditions for other shows?

Of course, but in many ways I'm limited, because so many people still see me
as only a puppeteer. People have actually asked me, "Can you sing without
the puppet?" I can't take myself too seriously. I walk out the stage door
that shares a service entrance with the Milford Plaza. So I leave the
theater every night surrounded by garbage or laundry or mattresses.

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