‘avenue q’

Image courtesy of Google Images.

I was a pretty big fan of ‘Sesame Street’ back in the day. Learning the alphabet, colors, and numbers was a big deal for me, and back in the day before ‘Baby Einstein’ DVDs or educational television shows aimed at children, ‘Sesame Street’ was really the only show that carried an academic message to children of my generation.

The program I got as soon as I stepped into the theater made sure I knew the difference between my childhood television and the production I was about to see. To quote the program; “Avenue Q has not been authorized in any manner by the Jim Henson Company or Sesame Workshop, which have no responsibility for its content.” Basically it’s saying you’re about to see a satire.

I won’t lie, I’ve seen Avenue Q before, so I knew what was coming. I couldn’t help but snicker at the older patrons who held season tickets waiting in the lobby. They had no idea what they were in for. Neither did the few families waiting with young children. And to forewarn you, Avenue Q is not something to take your children to. Not unless you want they expanding their vocabulary to various four-letter words and watching puppets copulating.

Avenue Q is set in modern-day New York City. It follows the story of a recent college graduate named Princeton. He moves to Avenue Q in hopes of finding his purpose in life, however he quickly is met with many of life’s challenges: money, women, alcohol, and a shortage in jobs. While ‘Sesame Street’ taught you how to read and write, Avenue Q teaches you a valuable life lesson: life just downright sucks sometimes. However, it does it in a comically charming way. Along the way we’re introduced to everyone from Gary Coleman to Lucy the Slut (no joke, that’s her name) to Rod and Nikki (who are the most obvious closeted homosexuals you may ever see), to yes, even a horny pornography-loving satire of Cookie Monster known as Trekkie Monster. See why you shouldn’t take the kids?

The thing I love about Avenue Q is not how profane it can be. Yes, there are puppets having sex and the show touches on racism, homosexuality, and pornography. So what? The thing that makes Avenue Q special is that it doesn’t sugar-coat anything. It reaffirms what our conscience has always believed: ‘Everyone’s a Little Bit Racist’, ‘The Internet is for Porn’, ‘It Sucks to Be Me’, and yet sometimes our ‘Fantasies Come True’ (all are songs from the show). You don’t leave feeling elated, it’s more a feeling of anticipation for what life has in store. So “until our dreams come true, we live on Avenue Q.“

The following clip is from the BBC’s Children in Need Telethon. The cast is performing ‘It Sucks to Be Me’. The introduction and interview are not a part of the actual production, but it introduces the characters pretty nicely.

Clip courtesy of the BBC and YouTube.