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Sesame Street Meets Melrose Place At Avenue Q

In the summer of 1969 what is now known as the essence of Sesame Street was born “the artful blend of fluffy monsters and earnest adults”  defying the recommendations of many child psychologists who felt that to mix fantasy and reality would be misleading to children. The decision was made based on extensive research which showed that the mix of puppets with real life actors was the best way to gain and retain the attention of the audience (children). Avenue Q is a musical which extends the idea of combining puppets with real life actors but with more of an adult story line dealing with issues such as racism, pornography and sexuality and I must admit… I really enjoyed it – the combination of puppets, music and comedy had me totally adsorbed and mesmerised!

Whilst I found the storyline to be very simplistic (loss and redemption) there were enough twists, turns and surprises to ensure that I was entertained and captivated throughout the show. I totally enjoyed the blend of music, comedy and characters even though they were very reminiscent of Sesame Street (Rod and Nicky ~ Burt and Ernie, Trekkie Monster ~ Cookie Monster). Just think “what would Sesame Street be like if they didn’t have to worry about television censorship laws?”

The story itself is broken up into a string of musical numbers which introduced the main characters and their issues / problems. With songs like “everyone is a little bit racist”, “the internet is for porn” and “you can be as loud as you want to… when you’re making love” I couldn’t help but laugh and have a good time. Being an amateur comedian myself I can appreciate the work that went into writing the script of Avenue Q and I can understand why they won several Tony Awards back in 2003 including the award for Best Musical.

I do have some criticisms of Avenue Q though - it seemed like they were lip-syncing, if they wanted to they could have made it a lot more adult (I would have rated it PG, not C but definitely not MA either) and it would have been nice if they adapted it more to the Australian culture, maybe have an Australian character or two in there but these things didn’t diminish my enjoyment of the show overall so it’s no big deal.

Avenue Q is a highly entertaining mix of theatre, puppetry, music and comedy… If you haven’t seen Sesame Street or the Muppets in a while Avenue Q will definitely bring back some good memories and lots of laughs. Go check it out before it’s too late!