Have you seen Avenue Q at Circuit Playhouse yet? If you haven’t I hope it’s because you’ve tried and tried to get a ticket and the show was sold out every time. Avenue Q is Sesame Street for adults who still have a lot of growing up to do. It’s occasionally raunchy, always real and a helluva lot of fun top to bottom.
Director Jordan Nichols has done a great job in bringing the politically sly puppet and minstrel show to life. It doesn’t hurt that he has an amazing cast.
What can you expect to see from Avenue Q other than red hot puppet action and Gary Coleman? You will see a closeted gay republican banker puppet realize that things get better. You will thrill to the Bad Idea Bears and their Long Island iced teas. You will believe that a monster can masturbate.
Avenue Q’s songs are more than slightly irreverent. “The Internet was Made for Porn,” is still a funny song even though the joke’s gone stale from overuse. “Everyone’s a Little Bit Racist,” taps into hard and hilarious truths that turn our worst instincts into a bonding experience. “It Sucks to Be Me,” needs no explanation.
I have to admit seeing Gary Coleman as a character on stage is weird now that he’s dead, his sadness and anger preserved forever thanks to reality television. And that makes me wonder a little about Avenue Q’s shelf life. It’s certainly held up well enough so far.
For more information, here’s a link.
