A+E

Avenue Q ends performances with the song "Only For Now"—perhaps one it should have cut when it scaled down recently, rather than tempt the gods of prophecy.

"Now" ends May 28 when the under-attended Tony-winner will vacate Wynn Las Vegas, concluding a truncated nine-month run, the hotel announced Tuesday. The move allows Wynn to convert the Q theater into the Grail Theatre to house next year's Spamalot, without cutting into its popular golf course.

A warning flare that Vegas cannot become Broadway West? Nonsense. Ambitious, creative shows—Avenue Q was all that—fail fairly frequently back East. Broadway goes on.

Here, Hairspray, with marquee star Harvey Fierstein, has the chops to draw well, Mamma Mia! thrives and Phantom of the Opera and Spamalot are on deck.

Why the box-office Q-uietude? Possible reasons: too New York-centric; a puppet show—no matter how naughty—is a tough sell in the City of Sin; no nostalgia value (unlike Mamma Mia!, or even Hairspray); no brand-name association (as in Monty Python to Spamalot); no deep cultural history (as in Phantom). Throw in an initially two-hour-plus show with intermission in a town where theater is not the prime attraction, and strange scheduling—a 6:30 early show awkwardly cut through dinner, gambling and shopping plans—and Q was cooked.

A shame. To paraphrase one of its pithy tunes, right now it must suck to be them.

Hope


Hope Boyz (2 stars)

Listening to Hope is a lot like watching an episode of MTV's Making the Band 3, which is to say that while she's talented—not unlike the thousands of wannabe starlets singing (occasionally) and backbiting (constantly) for a roster spot on P.Diddy's Bad Boy label—she's just not ready for prime time. If the five-song EP seems shorter, it's because neither the songs nor her voice are particularly memorable. By the CD's finale, "I Love You," you don't really know what Hope is capable of as a singer. While she flexes decent chops on "Let's Be Together" her voice lacks the sheen of a polished performer. Luckily, she's a teenager, so she has time to grow.

The February 6 episode of NBC's Las Vegas contained a bit of footage that caused some consternation on the part of the American Family Association, but not so much that the organization (currently boycotting Abercrombie & Fitch, Movie Gallery, Kmart, Ford and Nike) doesn't provide a file on its website where you, too, can see 13 seconds of strippers. We're guessing the main source of moral outrage centers on a busty blonde who seems like she's completely topless while she caresses herself, her body slowly gyrating ... where were we? Oh, yeah, moral outrage. Our suggestion: Members of the religious right shouldn't watch shows about Sin City.

Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (G) (4 stars)


$29.99

Only three films were nominated for an Oscar in this year's race for Best Animated Feature. It's such a pitiful number, 3. Did the screening committee take a Starbuck's break and forget to watch Madagascar, Valiant, Robots and Chicken Little? Fact is, it would have been difficult for any of those films to beat Howl's Moving Castle, The Corpse Bride or, new to DVD, Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. In the latter, the nutty scientist and his loyal dog discover a humane way to rid local gardens of rabbits feasting on blue-ribbon vegetables. In doing so, they create an even greater menace. The folks at Aardman Animation, who also made Chicken Run, hit another home run with this hilarious shaggy-bunny story, which is accompanied by some interesting making-of material.

Proof (PG-13) (3 stars)


$29.99

Shakespeare in Love director John Madden reteams with Gwyneth Paltrow in this emotionally charged adaptation of David Auburn's play. She plays Catherine, the daughter of a brilliant mathematician (Anthony Hopkins), who got lost in his logarithms and flipped out. Upon the event of his death, Catherine is allowed time to reflect both on the many sacrifices she made to care for her father and the likelihood she inherited the seeds of his madness. When a graduate student discovers a notebook filled with brilliant scribbling, Catherine must prove to him and her overbearing sister that she was as capable as her father of genius. Paltrow turns in another stellar performance.