[rating=5] Some 2o years ago, Jeff Whitty created the book for a musical ( music and lyrics by Robert Lopez & Jeff Marx) called “Avenue Q”. The story is about a young man graduating college and heading into his adult life. Sure, there have been other plays, musical and non that do this, but this one is different. Part of the beauty of what we see in this one is that it is in fact a parody of “Sesame Street”( an X-Rated “Sesame Street). The topics dealt with in this play is VERY adult and include racism, homosexuality, love triangles, and internet pornography. Music Theater Works is presenting a stellar production of this ( not for kids) musical.Our main character is Princeton ( Jimmy Hogan is quite the talent) We first meet him as he comes down the aisle of the theater and heads to the stage. He is of course a puppet and while we see that, within a matter of minutes, we start seeing them as one. The puppet trainer, Kristi Martens did an amazing job in training these actors in working with these special puppets (thanks to the Steffens for sponsoring the puppets). Each and every actor who worked with them were right on and became as one. Director/choreographer Chris Pazdernik truly used the set (Ben Lipinski) to its full advantage. The set depicts a street of apartments, like a “Sesame Street” and this was one of the best sets I have seen ( I think I have seen this musical 12 times)!
Pazdernik has assembled a small but mighty cast of players to make this delightful show come alive. Brandy Miller as Kate Monster , Princeton’s love interest, is adorable and has a marvelous singing voice. Andres J. DeLeoon handles Nickie ( the Ernie like character) as well as Trekkie Monster ( the porn lover that will remind you of Cookie Monster in many ways). He also teams with Melissa Crabtree to do one of the “bad idea bears). Ms Crabtree is a powerhouse in her working with DeLeon and brings the sexy Lucy to life. She also does a great Mrs. Thistlewat, Kate Monster’s boss. The other puppeteer is Adam Ross Brody who brings us Rod ( the Bert of the couple that will parody Ernie and Bert).
In addition to these characters that are part human/part puppet, we have three more characters: Brian ( deftly handled by Thomas E. Squires) a would-be comedian, his fiancée, Christmas Eve ( Mai Hartwich is perfect), and last but not least Gary Coleman ( played to perfection by Whitney Dottery ), the super for the buildings.
The songs are important to the story and its movements. The opening number is a great way to meet the players and “Everyone’s a Little Bit Racist” is funny, yet, if we listen to the words, we may find that this is true. Most of the music is stuff that belongs to the storyline and will never be sung anywhere else, but it all fits the story perfectly.
The musicians, who we never see, are wonderful never drowning out the performers. The Musical Director, Eugene Dizon has done this show many times and is very into each and every number. Kevin Disch and his five musicians are right on! The sound (Rick Sims) never falters, allowing everyone to hear every word and the lighting (Andrew Meyers) is spot on! In other productions, when it comes to costumes, the puppets ( with the exception of Trekkie) are like the puppeteer, but in this production, the puppeteers are in black in order to keep the eye of the audience tuned to the puppet/character instead of the actor. It worked! The other costumes (Justin LeBlanc) were terrific.
I hope they are doing enough performances to qualify for Jeff Awards because this is a performance and production that is worthy of being recognized by this award system. From start to finish, you will laugh and you will laugh harder. You will forget that there are both actors and puppets, seeing the puppets as characters and real. You will find your purpose, which is to have a great time at the theater.
“Avenue Q” will continue at The North Shore Center for Performing Arts thru April 2nd with performances as follows:
Fridays 8:00pmSaturdays 8:00pm ( additional 2 p.m. 3/18)
Sundays 2:00pm
Wednesdays 1:00pm
Thursdays 7:30pm
running time: 2 hours 20 minutes with one 15 minute intermission
Show Type: Musical
Box Office: 847-673-6300
The North Shore Center of Performing Arts is located at 9501 Skokie Blvd. in Skokie. Plenty of free parking.
To see what others are saying, visit www.theatreinchicago.com, go to Review Round-Up and click at “Avenue Q”
More Stories
“Guys & Dolls”
“The Music Man”
“The S Paradox” reviewed by Julia W. Rath