One Night Only

This is one of those times when living and working in the city is really awesome. Yesterday, I found out quite randomly that the casts of Avenue Q and Jersey Boys were doing a "One Night Only Cabaret" benefiting a number of AIDS groups at the Post Street Theatre by Union Square that very night. Jersey Boys is one of my favorite shows I've seen in recent memory (saw it twice in SF - once with the original "Sherry" touring cast with Christopher Kale Jones as Frankie, and once with the new touring cast with Jarrod Spector as Frankie), and I loved Avenue Q when we saw it on Broadway last year. I immediately emailed my bf asking if he wanted to go, and was soon on the phone getting tickets.

The show was so much fun. The two casts obviously worked hard on putting together a very entertaining evening of song and dance, linked by the overarching "storyline" that the Four Seasons were auditioning to cast their newest touring production (the Utica cast) of Jersey Boys. The funniest songs all had to do with sex, of course, from Jake? from the Jersey Boys cast singing a country song about how "you're not gay unless you take it, but if you take it then, *poof* you're gay" (singing to the repressed Rod puppet character from Avenue Q) to a really amusing dual guitar act where an obviously sexually sucky guy with a disinterested partner is singing about how Wednesday night is the night they make love, and narrating the whole (2 minute encounter) including how brushing their teeth was foreplay... The songs I enjoyed most, though, were the tweaks and takeoffs on actual Jersey Boys and Avenue Q songs or characters. The show opened with the Avenue Q cast (in character) singing "I Hope I Get It" from The Chorus Line, with lyrics substituted for puppets and Jersey Boys-related stuff. A couple swings from Jersey Boys (including the one playing Nick Massi last night, b/c Michael Ingersoll was busy, something they "mocked" him for a few times), the Frankie stand-in (2 shows a week), Joe Pesci actor, and the actress who played Francine sang a hilarious version of Avenue Q's "It Sucks To Be Me" about how it sucked for them in the cast of the Jersey Boys (with the guys finally deferring to the lone Jersey Girl as having the suckiest position). The four leads from Jersey Boys sang a hilarious medley of "guy flick" songs, integrating Jersey Boy choreography and going through songs like "Eye of the Tiger," "Highway to the Danger Zone," and a whole bunch of other recognizable, hilarious songs, culminating with "Walk Like a Man." Rod from Avenue Q also sang a jumbled medley of a whole lot of varied songs that was hilarious, but which I can't recall specifics of at the moment. Rod and Nicky also sang "You're a Top" to each other, specifically to reassure Rod of his manliness. The women of both casts sang "I'm a Woman" with great power and strength, the three black women from the Avenue Q sang about how white boys were so pretty... Seth and Jennie from the cast of Avenue Q sang a hilarious argument song about how "I'm not mad that you were mad that I thought that you thought that..." etc etc... Another woman from Avenue Q opened the second half of the show with "If I Had a month/week/day to live"... "Mary Delgado" seized her 3 minutes and 28 seconds in the sun to sing a solo (forgot what it was)... Some of the more random notes of the evening was one of the Jersey Boys cast members singing a Gnarls Barkley song, a Jersey Boys band? member singing a Little Richard medley, Jarrod Spector in character as Frankie singing a love song to Kate Monster that didn't quite work for me... The topper of the evening, though, which they obviously realized since they left it for almost last, was Trekkie Monster, auditioning for the role of Frankie Valli, singing "You boobs too good to be true" (ie "Can't Take My Eyes off of You") with lyrics that just got more and more hilarious, culminating in him pissing off Mary Delgado, who kneed him in the groin, leading to the falsetto of the last line. It was awesome.

Halfway through the show, they did a live auction with a number of donated items (a trip for 2 to Hawaii, two first class tickets anywhere from Canada to Central America that Continental Airlines flew). The most popular items were the two related to the shows, though. One package was to see Avenue Q, get a backstage tour with the chance to meet the cast, and dinner for two. Another was for two souvenir packs from Avenue Q (which originally were packaged with the show tickets) which Jeremy Kushnier (Tommy DeVito) actually ended up winning, b/c the bids weren't going high enough. The one that got the most active bidding, b/c the Jersey Boys (who were the auctioneers) obviously had pre-planned sweetening the pot, kept adding more and more to it. It was originally lunch for 4 with Jarrod Spector (Frankie) and Michael Ingersoll (Nick Massi), along with signed Jersey Boys gear, two tickets to the next "One Night Only Caberet" (with the cast of Mamma Mia), and two tickets to "Blues in the Night" (the usual show that plays at the Post Street Theatre). As the bidding went up, first Drew Gehling (Bob Gaudio) and then Jeremy Kushnier (Tommy DeVito) offered to come along to the lunch... then Jarrod threw in a special "Walk like a Man" T-shirt signed by the whole cast that was from the AIDS walk they did earlier this year, then more signed gear, and then offered to sing "Sherry" at lunch..and finally, when they had a bid for $1400, managed to get someone else to match the bid, getting a total of $2800 for 8 people now to come to lunch with all four Jersey Boys, plus get all the gear.

The show closed with the entire cast singing "Dreams", a song written by someone who'd passed away for his daughter's graduation. It was quite sweet and pretty.

Overally it was a really great show and I am *so* glad I discovered it was happening the day of instead of the day afterwards. In the above I know I've left out songs and gotten the order of stuff completely wrong, but what's important was, the two casts put together an excellent show, and we had a lot of fun watching it.

Oh, and on the note of restaurants, we went to Siam Thai at 167 Mason Street (between Ellis and Eddy). It was good - I had a BBQ pork wonton/egg noodle soup dish (not what I would usually get at Thai) and my bf had the BBQ pork fried rice and we both enjoyed our dishes. Also cheap. However, must take note - we went to the one in the Parc 55 Hotel. There's a Siam Thai Noodle directly across the street which is much more hole in the wall (though appears to have the same pricing/menu)... I think the Yelp reviews are for both. I went to the Siam Thai Noodle, not seeing the one in Parc 55...my bf went straight to the one on the hotel, having read that it was there..neither of us saw the other restaurant until the other one pointed it out. Something to keep in mind if you decide to check out this place right on the border of the Tenderloin....