A review of Avenue Q

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The note in the Avenue Q booklet of the album containing the music from the musical states that, “Avenue Q has not been authorized or approved in any manner by the Jim Henson Company or Sesame Workshop, which have no responsibility for its content.” That’s a terrific little preface to the play Avenue Q, written by Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx, because it’s in a sense drawing a line in the sand between Sesame Street and this musical, and that’s a good thing. Avenue Q deals with puppets who all live in a friendly neighborhood, much like Sesame Street. The difference here is that these puppets, no matter how unreal, have grownup issues and face difficulty paying the rent. They are much rougher and harsher (and funnier) than the characters on Sesame Street, and this may have to do with the fact that their locale of New York is established to the audience. There’s more to be learned here than on Sesame Street, and that’s not because Sesame Street is merely aimed at children.

The plot of Avenue Q is fairly simple, just like any old plot on Sesame Street. The puppet Kate Monster is falling in love with the puppet Princeton, who just got out of College and doesn’t really know what to do with his life. They eventually go their separate ways. One day Princeton figures out his purpose in life, which is something that he has been striving for throughout this play. His purpose is to help other people. He decides to raise enough money in the neighborhood, so that Kate Monster can open up her own school for monsters. This noble gesture convinces Nicky to find his roommate Rod a boyfriend. I know what you are thinking: all of this is done with puppets?

The reason the musical works so well is because of its impudent streak. Songs like “Everyone’s a Little Bit Racist” and “The Internet Is for Porn,” restate realistic lessons that adults know is in the back of their minds. It’s almost as if the writers of the musical were stating to the audience, “Let’s be realistic here.” That’s a good tone for this particular musical to have; if it was too genteel it would just remind the audience of Sesame Street. However, the musical is very warm in its tone; Avenue Q represents a community that you want to be a part of. These lower class puppets are not mean New Yorkers, but instead cute puppets. It’s why the dislocation of having a puppet say funky vile realistic statements is funny. There’s warm camaraderie in songs like “For Now” and “There’s Life Outside of Your Apartment.” There’s even a gay puppet, and that’s really not that audacious of a concept. After all, the teletubies were construed as being gay. Hey, at least the puppet in Avenue Q comes out of the closet, and the community in the musical doesn’t hate him for it. The question becomes, why doesn’t Seseme Street teach some of these real life lessons to kids?

The puppets still retain the appearance of ordinary cute creatures, even though they say funny vulgar things. An audience member even forgets at some point to take notice of the human operating the puppet, which is appropriate. (The reason this happens is because the actors act in exactly the same way that the puppet does, so an audience member eventually doesn’t notice them, which is good acting.) That means that you could conceivably see the people who operate the puppets on Sesame Street as well; Jim Henson did the same thing on certain talk shows. Why not show the puppeteer? In Avenue Q, the two personalities emerge to form a much richer and detailed personality. The puppets onstage can even have dramatic elements and can really belt out their songs, which is something that I have never seen a puppet do before. This musical revolutionizes the puppeteer form, more than anything. It’s refreshing to see that a puppet needs money to pay the rent, because we as an audience can empathize with the prop.

Avenue Q contains a much warmer view of New York City than one is accustomed to. This is not only because there are puppets onstage, but also because of the impudence and warm camaraderie of the neighborhood. One of the main themes in the musical is that if you as a person look at the bright side of life, and move on from the sadness around you, then you will be a happier person. Avenue Q is not a narcissistic Seinfeld episode, but rather a very hopeful musical. It contains the type of lessons that are not on Sesame Street; I even learned a thing or two. I found out what schadenfreude means, which is the pleasure that a person gets from other people’s misery. Besides Gary Coleman, none of the other characters feel this way. This is a musical that mixes comedy with pure emotion, and in that sense it is very graceful. (The direction by Jason Moore is superb).

There is a very dramatic moment in Avenue Q, when Princeton sings, “I Wish I Could Go Back to College.” Eventually everyone from Avenue Q joins in the tune, because life in that particular lower class neighborhood is hard; the puppets for the most part never want to deal with that aspect of life. They do deal with it in this song. It has an emotional texture that’s powerful, and this is ironic because one is being moved by puppets. The reason why the tune gets to you is because the theatrical device of puppets cannot hide the emotionality and regret that the lyricists presumably have about this topic. At the end of the musical, Princeton meets another young kid just graduating from College who wants to live at Avenue Q. It’s a touching moment, and it reminds this particular writer of what this musical pertains to. This musical is out there to help young kids learn that there is a purpose to being passionate towards obtaining your goal, instead of wallowing away in your problems. Avenue Q’s lesson is that a person should take life with ease, but also be aware of your personal goal. This is the most refreshing thing I’ve learned from Broadway so far.