A FEW MINUTES WITH ANGELA AI (CHRISTMAS EVE)

It’s one thing to spend eight shows a week onstage with fellow actors. It’s quite another to spend that same amount of time with other actors, puppets, and actor/puppeteers. But that’s exactly what Angela Ai does in AVENUE Q, as the feisty Japanese therapist Christmas Eve.

Before the national tour was launched, Ai was already part of the AVENUE Q cast, both on Broadway and in the Las Vegas show.

AA: The tour cast and I are so in tune with each other that it is incredible. Everyone in the cast has either Broadway or Vegas experience. We know the show, we know each other. I really must say, that to be doing something this much fun, to be working like this, as a job, well, it’s like a working paid vacation! Criss-crossing the country, visiting all kinds of cities and states and meeting all kinds of people, performing seven or eight shows a week – this is what I love and get paid to do!

BUZZ: How are audiences handling the somewhat risqué nature of AVENUE Q?

AA: You know, it’s funny. The show is so cleverly written that there’s something for just about any adult to both enjoy or – maybe – be offended by. But that’s the point: it’s an equal-opportunity offender, laughing at or with just about every kind of stereotype that exists. And, besides, they’re puppets. How bad can they be? Actually, the audiences everywhere have been so receptive, so supportive that at the final curtain every night, it’s been almost all standing O’s. Now on the West Coast we’ve been treated like rock stars in concert at every show. They loved it, they “got it.” They were laughing at the beginning and howling as the show went on. In some of the “middle states” the reactions were maybe a bit more reserved early on, but as the show continued they would warm up, eventually giving us that same thunderous applause at the end that we received other places.”

BUZZ: You play Christmas Eve, a therapist with two Master’s degrees in social work. Tell us a little more about her.

AA: She’s not getting – or keeping – any clients. She’s a Japanese from Japan and still has quite an accent. She has learned English well, but she is not the best speaker yet. Her phraseology is often a bit unusual, and she can frequently be incredibly blunt and unapologetic. However, she doesn’t realize that the way she says things might be a bit harsh, and she remains confused as to why she can’t keep clients. But she does improve over the course of the play, and her life improves, too. She marries her fiancé, Brian, and we assume they live happily ever after. At least I’d like to think so.

Buzz: What is it like to play opposite puppets and the actor/puppeteers instead of other actors?

AA: It’s a little strange, even disorienting, at first, but after a while you get used to it. As actors we get used to ‘receiving’ from another actor onstage, but here you have to play opposite, look at, the puppet, but look at the actor as well. As time goes on, you start projecting what’s on the face of the human actor/puppeteer onto the puppet face. Obviously the fixed eyes of the puppet can’t give you anything real, but you begin to see in the puppet’s eyes what is in the human’s eyes behind the puppet. You start to receive the energy of the actor through the face of the puppet. It’s really one of the best acting exercises ever.

Buzz: Did you ever do any exercises like that in college theater classes?

AA: No, but that’s because I was a finance major at The University of Pennsylvania.

Buzz: You weren’t a theater major?

AA: Nope. Like I said, I was a finance major. I did get a good degree there, and a wonderful husband (“Ferd”), too. But actually I had been singing and dancing since I was five-years-old in Columbus, Ohio. And, yes, before you even ask, I am a wild Ohio State fan. GO BUCKS! But I guess I was pretty klutzy as a little kid, so my mother thought that ballet lessons would help with that. I then added piano lessons to my childhood schedule, and always dreamed of being either a famous ballerina or pianist.

It was in 7th grade, though, when I knew what I really wanted. The show choir at our local high school came to perform at my middle school. When one of the girls sang “I Don’t Know How to Love Him” from Jesus Christ Superstar, I just melted. I was bitten by the acting bug as well since she was singing and acting that song so beautifully.

I considered myself a singer/songwriter by the age of 15. I had seen a Barry Manilow special on TV, and after learning that he had written most of the songs he also performed on the piano, I said to myself, “If he can do it, I can do it.” I sat down that very day and wrote my first song. Each member of my family listened to it and critiqued it: a definite first success! Barbra Streisand was another ‘mentor’ – I would listen to her stuff and be blown away, hoping that I could come up with music even half as good!

Buzz: How did you transition from a finance major to a career in the performing arts?

AA: Well, since I wasn’t actually doing too much with my degree, I did get a manager for my “singer/songwriter” ambitions, and it was he who submitted me for the audition for AVENUE Q. I still thank him every day in my heart.

Buzz: Are you looking forward to returning to the Buckeye State?

AA: My parents are still in Ohio, lots of friends are still here, and my fan base is there! What more could I want?

Photo: Avenue Q- Angela Ai