Avenue Q Makes A Stop In D.C., At Last
Forget Christmas shopping, paying your bills, reading articulate reviews on your favorite local blog. The Internet is for porn.
Such is one of the life lessons the delightful Avenue Q, now playing at the National Theater, provides. The now-famous show is a Sesame Street for the post-college, ennui-ridden 20 or 30-something. This means it teaches us not to spell and know our colors, but instead how to cope with useless liberal arts degrees, commitment-phobic boyfriends and what happens when you have 3 Long Island iced teas before an important day at the office. Plus, naturally, there's puppet sex.
The show appeared on Broadway in 2003 after moving from off-Broadway, and it's touring a little later than most shows do (blame a long-term production opening in Vegas). As a result, this production doesn't feel quite as revolutionary as it did years ago, but that doesn't make it any less entertaining.
Adults operate the puppets which appear on stage, and play separate characters who interact with them as well. Each performer does a nice job invoking the spirit of his or her handheld counterpart without distracting from the puppet itself. We soon focus on the little creatures as the real characters (and the show has some neat staging devices to throw in the mix, such as a giant looming puppet threatening to bring the Avenue Q apartment complex down).
No one's a slouch in this production, but particularly enjoyable are the perky Kelli Sawyer, doing double duty as the ingénue Kate Monster and the puppet sexpot (yes, they can exist) lounge singer Lucy The Slut; David Benoit, at one moment the affable Nicky and then the reclusive Trekkie Monster the next; and Carla Renata as Gary Coleman, a gag that seems at first like it might get tired but works surprisingly well throughout the show.
The songs are of the get-stuck-in-your-head variety, from the provocative "Everyone's A Little Bit Racist", to the almost-too clever for its own good "Schadenfreude". While the songs make you laugh more than anything else, the show's biggest surprises are its moments of actual insight; after all the crap this cynical show puts these puppets through, it's kind of nice to remember that things are gonna be ok - "For Now," the show reminds us.
Avenue Q runs through Dec. 9. Tickets are available online.