When we were children, the TV shows we watched told us that we could be whatever we wanted when we grew up including astronauts, scientists and adventurers. We’d have great jobs, great families and everything would work out. But that’s all kind of a lie, isn’t it? Things don’t always work out but if children were told so, they’d never want to grow up! Although, growing up is just something you can’t stop!
Princeton (Harley Dasey) is a fresh-felt-faced 23-year-old college graduate. Just out of school with a useless degree, he gets a run-down apartment in a part of New York where everyone goes to when their life is aimless, Avenue Q. Moving into his new place, he meets his neighbours. Some of them are fluffy like Kate Monster (Zoe Crisp), a teacher’s aide hoping to start her own school, there’s odd roommates Rod (Jonathan Shilling) and Nicky (Andrew McDougall), plus porn advocate Trekkie Monster (Darcy Harriss). While others neighbours are fleshy like love-hate couple Brian (Matthew Tomlin) and Christmas Eve (Chiew-Jin Khut), and the superintendent, former child star Gary Coleman (Stephanie Lacerna).
All these wacky characters have one thing in common: none of them have a purpose in life! They struggle to find jobs, to find love, and to find themselves. The voluptuous Lucy the Slut (Cassie Ogle) may know exactly what she wants out of life (to make others want HER), but for everyone else, things aren’t quite so simple. As this neighbourhood of misfits fuck around in more ways than one, they’ll face heartbreak and frustration. But through song and dance, hopefully they’ll find peace, as no matter how good or bad things might be, “it’s only for now”.
Who could have known that when Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx‘s off the wall adult, puppet musical Avenue Q which premiered in 2003, would still be going strong over 20 years later?! Who could have guessed that such a musical would be such a commercial and critical success winning the “triple crown” (Best Musical, Score, and Book) of the Tony Awards?
Despite the show’s adult content and zany concept, Avenue Q resonates with current audiences more than ever. Nostalgically looking back as adults, we see Avenue Q as the grown-up version of all those puppet shows we watched as kids, helping to get us ready for the world. “This is no Sesame Street” may be a tag line, but it’s not simply because this has a bunch of swearing.
As director of AG Theatre‘s production, Pip Mushin puts it, “Grown up life isn’t like Sesame Street, it’s a lot more like Avenue Q”. It’s messy, uncertain and full of self-doubt. Every adult out there, questions where they are going in life at some point and Avenue Q taps into those conundrums. It makes us in the audience think, it makes us a little depressed, but then it makes us laugh as well, leaving us feeling uplifted. Avenue Q is so much more than just “The Muppets with tits”.
Comedically, one can easily see why Avenue Q keeps audiences returning again and again. Gags and musical lyrics from a time when it was okay to satirise subjects seen as taboo today. With humour mirroring that of Jim Henson’s 1979 The Muppet Movie or Brian Henson’s 1992 The Muppet Christmas Carol, absurd yet with heart. There is a lot of edge but it is without crossing the line of bad taste and vulgarity into the territory of Brian Henson’s 2014 dud, The Happytime Murders.
Our fleshy protagonists are all loveable, but especially the audience favourite’s tradition gender-bent portrayal of Gary Coleman, here performed by Stephanie Lacerna, who cartwheels her way across the stage just to make the disconnect between the real Coleman and Avenue Q‘s version even more distinct. Although naturally, the real stars of the show are the puppets and their performers!
Each character has been lovingly crafted by Andrew McDougall to appear similar, although legally distinct from one of Jim Henson’s loveable creations. Each one full of personality and identity with unique colours and designs, each appearing unique and some being controlled differently to others (requiring two puppeteers). They all feel right at home together on Avenue Q.
Initially, I was struck by how prominent the puppeteer performers were and was even a little distracted by it. Similar, live ventriloquism shows opt to black out the operator to draw attention more to the felt creations. This production is special in that the puppeteers are equally as much a part of the final experience as the caricature they’re in the process of fisting. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the sultry exaggerated movements of Cassie Ogle who seduces just as “Lucy” does to the gents of Avenue Q. It is sort of like watching a film with subtitles, eventually you are no longer diverting your attention but get so used to it, you take it all in naturally.
Choreography by Adrianna Panuzzo is nothing short of incredible. With the talent of the puppeteers and the musical direction of Alexandra Byrne (and her 5-person live band off-stage) this was as impressive a musical as any I’ve seen. Songs like ‘It Sucks to Be Me’ highlight the central crisis all the residents face, while ‘There’s a Fine, Fine Line’ is about realising your relationship is going nowhere. Others like ‘Everyone’s A Little Bit Racist’ are simply hilarious and ‘The Internet Is for Porn’ speaks for itself, while being painfully catchy, already an online meme in its own right!
The stage and set design by Abbey Stanway add to the technical proficiency of Avenue Q. Beginning as an open street front, similar to Sesame Street’s primary stage, the thoroughfare already makes for a fun playground. But an opening section in the middle of the backdrop and fast changeovers reveal individual characters’ apartments and the romantic hijinks within.
Opening night saw a few technical gaffs which hopefully can be ironed out. The actors were all perfect, however, a few times spotlights missed their marks and microphone audio wasn’t activated until the 2nd or 3rd line of the dialogue. Not to mention, a moment when a banner from act two unfurled midway through act 1 and a (quite literal) stagehand needed to roll it back up. Things like this happen in live theatre but a bit of improv could have covered for it nicely.
The talents of the puppeteer-actors really are worth the price of admission alone. Partnered with toe-tapping musical numbers and a story full of genuine emotion, Avenue Q isn’t just an adults only show, but a legitimately mature one as well. And yeah, there’s puppets drinking, swearing and screwing too and it’s a whole lot of fun!
Avenue Q is an uproariously great time for the young-old and old-old alike! Its cast of Australian talent bring this nearly 25-year-old show to life, and it feels just as hip and relevant as it ever was.
AG Theatre’s production of Avenue Q, executively produced by Andrew Gyopar, is now playing in Melbourne until March 22nd at The National Theatre in St Kilda.
For more information and ticketing, please visit:
https://agtheatre.com.au/avenueq
https://booktickets.com.au/avenueq
https://nationaltheatre.org.au/avenue-q
Photography by Nicole Cleary.
Thank you. Looking to watch this musical!