Mean Streets

After a disappointing puppet slam on Monday, I went to the Lower Ossington Theatre Thursday night to see if a more polished puppetry act could do the trick. It was a local production of the Broadway hit Avenue Q. Set in an brownstone apartment in a less desirable part of New York City, several 20-somethings had to come to terms with being "under-employed" and disaffected after having left their college careers with starry optimism. The twist is that several characters are animated as plush Sesame Street-style puppets.

For a small production, the design was good, with a large two-story "brick" facade representing the apartment building. The musical opened with recent grad Princeton (Stephen Amon) finally finding a for rent sign in his price range. We would then be introduced to the residents: his love interest Kate Monster (Jacqueline Martin), closeted Rod (Amon) and and his bro room-mate Nicky (Phil Skala), Brian (Mark Willett) and his fiancee Christmas Eve (Ann Paula Bautista), Trekkie Monster (Adam Norrad), and superintendent and one-time child actor Gary Coleman (Natasha Strilchuk).

The actors were able singers and puppeteers, especially Amon and Martin, who played multiple roles. I was pleasantly surprised by the skillful use of live-hand and double-rod puppets. The acting was adequate but often defaulted to the "gee-whiz mister" school of emoting. Given that sort of mannered performance, I didn't feel much connection to the characters.

This was a fun but forgettable evening of theatre. But because of the material and not the actors. Having heard of but never seen Avenue Q, I can't believe it won 3 Tonys and played so long on Broadway. The vignette nature of the plot made the show disjointed and its supposed subversiveness (such as songs about loud sex and schadenfreude) felt dated and glib. None of the songs were particular memorable musically or lyrically. In fact, I have heard more clever song craft at some Fringe musicals.