I finally saw “Avenue Q” this afternoon. This show was at the top of my list, because it seemed like everyone I knew had already seen it, and I’d heard it was hysterical.
I loved it.
I grew up watching “Sesame Street.” Okay, lots of people my age grew up watching “Sesame Street,” but I really grew up watching it. When I was a toddler, I’d watch it three times a day. It was my favorite show. My mom took me to see Sesame Street Live when I was little, and when the show ended and all the characters waved goodbye, I cried.
Anyway, “Avenue Q” was terrific. It was basically the id of “Sesame Street.” Trekkie Monster is what we all thought Oscar the Grouch was supposed to be: we always knew that Oscar’s messiness was just a synecdoche for being a bad, misbehaving, slovenly boy. (Holy crap. I think that’s the first time I’ve ever used “synecdoche” in a sentence.) Rod and Nicky are what we always knew was going on with Ernie and Bert (okay, when we were little kids we didn’t know, but we learned it as we grew older). And Lucy the Slut is clearly Miss Piggy.
The two key phrases of the show that are resonating most in my head right now are “for now” and “for porn.” “For now” — this too shall pass. The bad things shall pass, the good things shall pass. Rather Zen, eh? It all passes. “For porn” — we all have slutty thoughts, and that’s OK. There’s that id again.
For now. For porn.
“Avenue Q,” like “tick, tick… Boom!,” made me think about one’s 20s — a time when you’re supposed to have fun, and a time when your dreams buck up against reality. One song, “I Wish I Could Go Back to College,” actually brought tears to my eyes. And more than the latter show, “Avenue Q” made me ponder my identity as a part of this group.
As of today, there are 70 days until my 30th birthday. Did I ever really have that quintessential 20something “Avenue Q” experience? Has anyone had it, or is it just something that we romanticize and see in the media? I was in law school in a small-city academic setting until I was 25. My New- York-City-focused life, that eptiome of Gen-X-ness, didn’t really begin until I was 26. And suddenly, soon, I will no longer be 29. I started late and now it’s almost over.
Bah. It’s not almost over.
These days, the 30s aren’t much different from the 20s — especially when you’re gay, I think. A few weeks ago I was talking to a friend of mine at work who’s in his late 40s, and when I told him I was almost 30, he got excited for me. He told me that the 30s are a great decade — you still have your health, but you know more than you did in your 20s. He told me I have so much to look forward to. It made me feel great.
At any rate, the nice thing about seeing a Broadway show is that after you’ve left the theater you can buy the cast album, like I did, and then listen to it over and over, which I’m about to do.
Everything in life is only for now.
I’m glad you finally saw it and enjoyed it. Any time you want to go again (or try standing in the lottery line for $25 front row tickets), let me know!
It’s great, eh? The CD’s on heavy rotation here as well.
My 20s are more than a decade behind me, but the show spoke volumes to the over-30 somethings I saw it with.
And, yeah, we cried too.
My thirties – and I’m almost at the midpoint – have so far been infinitely better than my twenties. Partly this is because I met my boyfriend two months after I turned thirty, but mainly its for all of the reasons your work friend mentioned.
Jeff,
Don’t look now, but the 40’s are just around the corner… ( what a long strange trip it’s been… sighs ) Life, with its plethora of indescribable beauty and soul-gnawing terror, has a nasty habit of slapping one upside one’s head when one is not looking and even when one is… “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…” life… ain’t it grand…
Michael
The soundtrack was just added to the iTunes library, too, so I’ve just purchased it ($9.99), downloaded it and Jeff and I are listening to it right now.
And life here on the plus side of 40 feels really pretty much like life in my 30s and even my 20s, only better in so many ways. And with a bf who’s 26, I get to be in my 40s and in my 20s at the same time anyway.