'AVENUE Q' -- SMUTTY (BUT SOCIALLY ASTUTE) PUPPETS, RIGHT ON Q
PUBLISHED ON February 19, 2010
By PAT MUIR ON MAGAZINE
The thing about broad, irreverent comedy is that it's a great way to sneak a subversive message across.
Hence the smutty puppets of "Avenue Q," the smash Broadway musical hit that opened Thursday and continues tonight at the Capitol Theatre. Songs like "The Internet is For Porn" and "I'm Not Wearing Underwear Today" -- sung by what appear to be "Sesame Street" castoffs -- are the mildly shocking spoonful of sugar that helps the show's social themes go down.
Even the more socially charged songs like "Everyone's a Little Bit Racist" and "If You Were Gay" are comically over-the-top. It's that mixture -- serious issues and a coming-of-age story combined with, well, um, puppet nudity and crass sing-a-longs -- that have given the show its wide audience.
"Even if you don't agree with it, you can still laugh at it," says Zach Trimmer, the touring show's 21-year-old dance captain and puppet coach. "It's a very approachable way to teach these lessons."
First produced off-Broadway in 2003, "Avenue Q" depicts life in a New York neighborhood populated by humans and puppets alike. Its protagonist, a recent college grad named Princeton, is coming to terms with life after academia. Hence the song, "What Do You Do With a B.A. in English?"
"It's about self discovery, how there's no routine anymore when you jump into the real world," says Trimmer.
Princeton's "real world" is populated by a cast of misfits that includes friendly monsters, a pair of roommates (a thinly veiled Bert and Ernie) dealing with sexuality issues, and a portrayal of Gary Coleman, the washed-up star of "Diff'rent Strokes," who has become a building superintendent. They're profane, troubled and easily led astray by their own impulses.
In other words, these puppets are human. Exaggeratedly so, but human, nonetheless. And ultimately, it's a redemptive story about growing up.
"The show has a really, really good heart," Trimmer says.
That it caught on the way it did -- running for more than six years and closing in 2009 as the 21st longest-running show in Broadway history -- is testament to that. The version touring now is the second "Avenue Q" national tour.
By the time it's done, the cast and crew will have performed the show more than 200 times. Trimmer, who serves as understudy for all the male roles along with his crew duties, has been on the road since March 2008, first with "Hairspray" and then with "Avenue Q" starting last September. He's already done more than 100 performances of this show, and he swears he's still not sick of it.
"Just like every time you read a classic book, no matter how many times you've read it, you always find something new," he says.
Watching the show night after night as a crew member, often in places that are socially and politically conservative like Yakima, has been gratifying, Trimmer says.
"We do visit a lot of conservative communities," he says. "And people who you think might abhor the show really like it."
The reason: Along with the musical's themes of acceptance and its liberal political leanings, it is just plain funny.
"It's very approachable," Trimmer says. "This show is not preachy. It's not a lecture."
Capitol Theatre spokeswoman Nela Sheppard believes that style will go over well here. The "Avenue Q" advertising has emphasized the show's adult nature, so people going to see it should be aware of what they're in for, she says. Tonight's show was nearly sold out as of On magazine's Wednesday deadline, and tickets for Thursday were going fast.
"It is irreverent," Sheppard says. "The language is not for everybody. ... But I think it's not only a charming musical, it's really relevant. It does make you think."
Having seen the show previously, she believes it will provoke discussion among viewers in Yakima.
"There's an opportunity to talk about some different issues," Sheppard says. "You can laugh at it, and you can think about it. Either way it's really a lot of fun."
The ability to strike that balance is something the show's writers, Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx, learned from their source material, Trimmer says.
"It's a great way to teach," he says. "Just like children's TV shows."
