Ziegfeld Theater’s ‘Avenue Q’
REVIEW
“Avenue Q”
Music and Lyrics by Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx
Book by Jeff Whitty
Aug. 28 - Sept. 12
Ziegfeld Theater
zigarts.com
Warning: Rated R, flashing lights, loud noises, fog
I will begin with compliments to all the puppets for their engaging and realistic portrayals of humans and monsters. The seamless work of the puppet animators was amazing. The puppets were real characters, believable people and creatures. The physical choreography required to make everything seem natural was so clever; it was delightful to see the magic happen. Director Caleb Parry sharpened every tool available in stagecraft and gave us the funniest two hours you’ve seen this year (unless you saw Caleb in "Something Rotten!" this past winter).
I’m always glad to see Morgan Parry share her talents on stage. She, Jeremy Gross and Cameron Kapetanov carry the biggest weight with their voices and words. Another standout is Mejai Perry as Christmas Eve. They always sparkle as dance captain and in the ensemble in previous productions. This time Perry is probably the funniest person on stage. Their character is so original to me, I was astounded.
Now for the material. It is ostensibly about a young person looking for a purpose in life after getting a degree in English. It is obvious that this is a satire using "Sesame Street" as the model. However, instead of learning about 1-2-3 on Sesame Street, we are learning A-B-C on Avenue Q: adultery, bestiality and copulation, etc. If there is a trigger point that wasn’t explored, I don’t know what it is. It is so startlingly "woke," you feel like you consumed an entire coffee shop. And it is funny. It is very, very funny.
It made me think about this: my Roy High School class of 1966 reunion just took place. When we were in high school in the 60s none of the humor from this production would even be allowed to be spoken out loud. This is before easy birth control, Women’s Lib, LGBTQ Rights, HIV/AIDS, etc. when some of us were only just beginning to organize protests against our government. We were the ones who brought profanity to the public debate.
We made the two-finger peace sign into a one-finger salute. We were only beginning to understand truckin'.
That person, the one I was in 1966, was shocked and embarrassed that I laughed so hard at the junior-high vulgarity, but accuracy, of this commentary on our society. I don’t know how long it will take me to erase the scene of Muppets, you know ... "doing it." I can’t even bring myself to write it! What’s even "worse" is that some of this fraternizing takes place between a human and an animal/monster. Anything goes here.
As Trekkie Monster (also very funny!) so logically points out, PORN makes the world go ‘round, or at least the internet. He has a logical connection between porn and almost everything hoomans do. His argument holds up.
I hope nothing I’ve written here would discourage you from attending this play and being offended at something and then laughing about it with everyone else in the audience. It is a humbling experience. I’m hooman, oh, so human.