By Andrew Gans
29 May 2009

	Anika Larsen in Avenue Q
	photo by Carol Rosegg

Question: On a different topic, you were just recently in the tour of Avenue Q. What was the training process like with the puppets, and what was it like actually performing the roles of Kate Monster and Lucy?
Larsen: In order to even get a final callback, you have to go to puppet camp for two days, so that [the creative team] can see whether or not you have the capacity to learn it. And then I had three weeks to learn the show… and that's everything! All the stuff you usually have to learn for a show: your blocking, your music, your lines… and then, on top of that, the puppetry. It was really hard, I'm not gonna lie to you. A couple of my friends who have done Avenue Q, who were actors who then became puppeteers for Avenue Q, asked me throughout the rehearsal process, "Have you cried yet?" [Laughs.] Everyone hits a wall at a certain point where they just think, "I can't do this. It's too hard! There's too much of my brain required at every single moment to do all of this at the same time." You freak out a little bit because you know the day that you have to be onstage is looming and coming towards you, and you're terrified that you're going to look like a fool. The nice thing for me was that I was joining the tour, so I kept reassuring myself with the thought, "You don't know a soul in Fort Worth, Texas. If you're terrible, no one you know will see you be terrible." [Laughs.] The folks at Avenue Q are so lovely and helpful and wonderful, they had me entirely prepared by the time I was up onstage. Of course, over the eight months that I did the tour my puppetry got so much better. Doing anything eight times a week, you can't help but get better.

Question: Was it an enjoyable show to do?
Larsen: It was absolutely one of my favorite shows ever. . . . and they've asked me to join the Broadway company. So a week after Shafrika closes, I'm joining the Broadway company [of Avenue Q]. . . . I screamed as I was walking down the street because I missed the show. It's such a well-written show. . . . If you just do what's written and get out of the way of the jokes and the poignant moments and the fun, all the work is done for you in the writing. The puppetry is so much more fun than I ever expected. I never expected to love it as much as I did. The best part is that my Princeton, Rob McClure, they've also asked him to [join the Broadway cast], so we get to be boyfriend and girlfriend again.

Question: Congratulations on the casting!
Larsen: Thank you. It's so perfectly-timed, too, that it's literally a week after Shafrika closes. It just feels like the gods are smiling on me.

[Shafrika, The White Girl will play the Vineyard, which is located at 108 East 15th Street (between Union Square East and Irving Place). Tickets are $18 and are available through www.SmartTix.com (212) 868-4444. For more information visit www.JaradoaTheater.org.]

[Avenue Q plays the Golden Theatre, 252 West 45th Street. For more information visit www.avenueq.com; for tickets call (212) 239-6200 or visit www.telecharge.com.]

FOR THE RECORD: Next to Normal (Ghostlight Records)
The new musical Next to Normal, which received 11 2009 Tony Award nominations, had a long, circuitous route to Broadway. Seen at Off-Broadway's Second Stage Theater in winter 2008, the powerful rock musical was revised for a limited run at Arena Stage's temporary home in Arlingtob, VA, this past winter. After further revisions, the Michael Greif-directed production opened to mostly rave reviews at Broadway's Booth Theatre, where performances continue.

The original cast recording of Next to Normal is now available on the Ghostlight Records label and boasts what may be the best score of the theatrical season that just ended. With music by Tom Kitt and book and lyrics by Brian Yorkey, the talented six-person cast comprises Alice Ripley, J. Robert Spencer, Aaron Tveit, Jennifer Damiano, Adam Chanler-Berat and Louis Hobson.

Former Side Show and Sunset Boulevard star Ripley, who was Tony-nominated for her performance in Normal, heads the cast as Diana, a mother struggling with her personal demons. Ripley, who possesses one of the great Broadway belts, offers the performance of her career and, perhaps, the musical theatre season. She has also been handed some of the score's best tunes and mines all of the lyrics for their full emotional value.

What's particularly striking about the score is the abundant melody in composer Kitt's music. Not only are the major songs filled with melody, but the recitative — the dialogue-like songs between characters — are equally tuneful.

Each of the major characters gets the chance to shine on stage and on disc: Ripley scores with everything she sings, whether it's the aching "I Miss the Mountains," the accusatory "You Don't Know," the heartbreaking "I Dreamed a Dance" or the all-out rock number, "Didn't I See This Movie?" Also enchanting are newcomers Damiano — also a 2009 Tony nominee — and Tveit as, respectively, daughter Natalie and son Gabe. Damiano, who has grown tremendously in her role since the Second Stage run, sings with ease and is especially powerful in her duets with Chanler-Berat, who plays Natalie's boyfriend Henry. Her "Superboy and the Invisible Girl" is also a standout. Tveit's clear tenor soars remarkably in "I'm Alive" and "I Am the One," and Tony nominee Spencer, who succeeded Brian d'Arcy James as Dan — James was cast in the title role of Shrek the Musical following Normal's Second Stage run — does well with such tunes as "I've Been," "It's Gonna Be Good" and "I Am the One." The entire company also thrills in the show's moving finale, "Light."

The new two-disc recording boasts a color booklet featuring complete lyrics.

Well, that's all for now. Happy diva-watching! E-mail questions or comments to agans@playbill.com.

Aaron Tveit, Alice Ripley and J. Robert Spencer in Next to Normal
photo by Joan Marcus

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