So: awesome. Awesome, awesome, awesome. There is
literally nothing bad I can write about Rochester Broadway Theatre League’s
touring production of “Avenue Q.” No sound problems. No weak actors.
No crappy sets. Nothing. The play is great, the singing was great, the
production was slick – it’s a critic’s worst nightmare.
“Avenue Q” was the surprise winner for the 2004 Tony Award for
Best Musical. In fact, co-writer Robert Lopez
writes in his program bio that he’s “still reeling” from taking home
the Best Score trophy. (It also won for best book, direction, and lead male and
female actors, plus a host of Drama Desk awards.) So the show has quite a
pedigree, although I suspect it could kind of care less. It’s the
quintessential Gen X/Y musical, totally post-post-modern, snarky to within an
inch of its life, and steeped in 80’s nostalgia to boot. And it’s also a hell
of a lot of fun.
“Avenue Q” is basically a jacked-up version of “Sesame
Street.” It’s a place where humans live
side-by-side with puppets and monsters, and nobody blinks an eye. The action
begins when puppet Princeton comes to the street to find
an apartment. He’s a new college grad with an English degree, and thus no real
skill set or career plans. He quickly meets the rest of the cast, which
includes sweet, lonely Kate Monster; bickering unemployed couple Brian and
Christmas Eve; goofy puppet Nicky and his closeted gay Republican roommate,
Rod; building superintendent Gary Coleman (yes, that Gary Coleman,
although here deliberately played by a woman); and uncouth, porn-loving
upstairs neighbor Trekkie Monster.
The cast regularly breaks into song to relay their various 20/30something
struggles, including money woes, relationship problems, racism, noise levels
during sex, and laughing at the misfortune of others (in the show-stopping
“Schadenfreude,” my personal anthem since I first heard it years
ago). To further the Sesame Street-like
feel, throughout the production big-screen TVs descend from the ceiling to
deliver colorful life lessons in childlike script, although with an adult twist
(the “commitment” and “five nightstands” clips are among
the cleverest bits in the show).
The performers are all fantastic, with the standout being Kelli Sawyer as
the voices of Kate Monster and the aptly named Lucy the Slut. Sawyer’s voice is
clear and big and beautiful, and she’s a joy to listen to. Lead actor Robert
McClure gives just as good in the challenging roles of Princeton and Rod; it’s
a little terrifying to think that one person switches between such radically
different voices in mere seconds, but that’s the nature of the show.
It is a little odd, at first, to realize that when the puppets are onstage,
you’re supposed to focus on the furry characters’ actions and not the
black-clad humans walking them around, giving them their its voice. But by the
second or third song, the weirdness passes, and by the time the vigorous puppet
sex scene rolls around, you really can’t look at anything besides their
flapping, fuzzy bodies.
Seriously, there are no negatives here. I wondered whether intermission
would see a mass exodus by some of the more prudish members of the audience
(see: vigorous puppet sex scene). But it seemed like almost everybody stuck
around and had a great time. Don’t miss this one during its limited run.
This article appears in Mar 5-5, 2008.
