“Avenue Q The Musical”

[rating=4]Try to imagine an X Rated Sesame Street! In reality, that is pretty much what “Avenue Q The Musical” is ! Yes, this is a musical comedy that won the “Triple Crown” ( winner of the Tony for “Best Musical”, “Best Score” and “Best Book”). It is a story about a college graduate who is ready to conquer the world. As he checks out apartments to do this, he finds that the rents are far out of his range, but as he works his way down or is it up the Avenues in New York and his Avenue Q, he finds a home and a new “family” of friends.

This is a small show, but I have never seen it done on such a small scale. The set (Molly Cornell) fits the stage at The Skokie Theatre and while it is not as clever as in many other recent productions, it is adequate. This is a play that depends more on actors and their performances with their puppets and their ability to handle the songs. The book by Jeff Whitty and music and lyrics by Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx is amazingly powerful and in order to make this  work needs a highly energetic cast. They have that!

Just so you know, this combination of humans and puppets handles a great number of adult themes, so don’t think that since it has puppets it is “family fare”. It is X-Rated featuring adult topics, language and an onstage portrayal of puppet sex ( don’t ask?)! Our hero’s name is Princeton ( Zach Moore, a recent college grad who is doing his first production and does so to perfection). He is perfect as our lead, Princeton, but also, just to show his versatility handles another character, Rod. I have never seen an actor handle two roles ( including puppets), but for the most part, one can tell who he is when he has the puppet on his arm, so I guess director ( and choreographer) Ty Perry did it right.

The costumes (David Lundholm) , sound (Kevin J. Mell) and lighting (John Holmes) are all right on the spot. The props ( Arielle Raybuck) work well, but it is the cast and their ability to bring their characters ( and puppets) to life that make “Avenue Q” one to see. Brian, the unemployed comedian (Dennis Schnell), his fiancé Christmas Eve ( an adorable Shea Lee) and Gary Coleman ( Sabrina Edwards) are the actual human actors.

The puppets besides Princeton and Rod (Mr. More), we have Natalie Rae handling Kate Monster and Lucy. These two female puppets are the loves of Princeton’s life. His true love ( and first love) as well as the woman who changes his life. Ms Rae is terrific. Here we have two actors who are also puppeteers and there are times they are onstage at the same time. This is where puppeter Heidi Hansfield shows her true abilities. She steps in for these lady puppets and once in awhile for Rod. Her counterpart Rami Halabi it a wonderful talent, doing Nicky ( sort of the Ernie to Rod’s Bert ,( think Sesame here), as well as Trekkie ( one of the funniest characters in a musical) and he and Hansfield also do the Bad News Bears. To be honest, if Halabi and Hansfield were not as talented as they are, this production might have only been a three star.

This is a musical and they do have live musicians ( although we do not see them backstage) led by Sachio Nang. These seven musicians fill the theater with the lively music in this show. Songs like “It Sucks To Be Me”, “If You Were Gay”, “Everyone’s a Little Bit Racist”, ” You Can Be As Loud As The Hell You Want When You’re Making Love” and “Fantasies Come True” and many more make the story move along. Again, language is not fitting for kids ( or prudes) so be prepared. The show has a theme- finding ones “purpose” and just like the TV show it emulates, there are times the action stops to define the action on stage- a great bit of comedy. “Avenue Q” creates a look into the world that is far more difficult than we were told by our parents. Life is not as simple as we had hoped for.

“Avenue Q the musical” will continue thru August 7th with performances as follows:

Fridays  7:30 p.m.

Saturdays  7:30 p.m.

Sundays  2 p.m.

Tickets range from $38*-$45 and are available by calling 847-677-7761 or at www.skokieTheatre.org      * seniors and students

The Skokie Theatre is located at 7924 N. Lincoln Avenue in downtown Skokie. Plenty of free parking in the area.

To see what others are saying, visit www.theatreinchicago.com, go to Review Round-Up and click at “Avenue Q the musical”.

Covid regulations are in force so right now, masks must be worn for the entire production- running time 2 hours and 25 minutes including a 15 minute intermission.