I mean, her name is Alberta and she lives in Vancouver...

With Tower Records going out of business and selling most of their stock for 30% off, I decided to indulge my theatre bug and pick up a few musical theatre soundtracks. One of the albums I picked up was the soundtrack to Avenue Q. Back in high school, even my choir teacher was raving about how great this show was. 2003 saw the heralding of this musical winning Best Musical and Best Original Score, beating out The Boy from Oz, which featured Hugh Jackman wearing tight gold pants, and Wicked, which featured a lady in greenface singing moving songs about defying gravity (ask any theatre kid and they'll be happy to sing the whole score for you.)

So, what made Avenue Q so special, you ask?

It may have something to do with the fact that it had live, nude puppet sex. Yes, that's right, puppet sex. Q is a live musical consisting mainly of puppets, parodies of the characters of Sesame Street (including a not-so ambiguously gay couple) with the exception of a few human characters, such as Natalie Venetia Belcon who portrays a down-on-his-luck Gary Coleman, who is in turn the landlord of the fictional Avenue Q in downtown New York. The show's repertoire includes songs with such elegant titles such as, "The Internet is For Porn," "Everyone's a Little Bit Racist" and my personal favorite, "It Sucks to Be Me."

As such, this show is really, really funny. And not only that, it's smart and musically pleasing as well.

The whole story evolves around the inhabitants of a rundown neighborhood called Avenue Q. Princeton, a recent graduate from college, is awaiting life to begin as he ponders what exactly someone can do with a B.A. in English. He croons, "Four years of college / and plenty of knowledge / have earned me this useless degree." He finds an apartment in neighborhood as the current residents sing about how much their lives suck, except when they're together. Princeton soon strikes up a relationship with Kate Monster, one of his new neighbors. The show has many side stories, including Princeton and Kate's relationship, as well at Rod and Nicky, the musical's version of Bert and Ernie, and Brian and Christmas Eve, a Japanese therapist. Times prove tough as Nicky exposes Rod as gay (he defends himself by making up a Canadian girlfriend, see title of this post), and Christmas Eve tries to comfort Kate after a fight with Princeton, reminding her that "the more you ruv (love) someone, the you want to kir (kill) them."


The show not only explores the spheres of sexuality, whether with others or with yourself, but also the "sensitive subject of race." Kate Monster and Trekkie Monster, both puppet monsters of the Elmo variety, are seen as racially different than Princeton, Rod, Nicky and the other puppets, who are considered more human. Kate even wants to open a special "Monstersorri" school, which, she comments to Princeton, "doesn't want people like you." The character of Christmas Eve, played by Ann Harada, has an "Engrish" accent typical of a stereotypical Japanese English speaker. Gary Coleman has to deal with the fact that he is black...and also Gary Coleman. However, the characters face the problem of the growing Political Correct generation by stating that "everyone is a little bit racist sometimes / doesn't mean we go around committing hate crimes," and that not all racist statements are personal attacks, because everyone makes fun of someone.

The songs themselves are excellent. They aren't all silly songs about sex and money, but also feature a few heart-moving ballads such as "There's a Fine, Fine Line," in which Kate bemoans heartbreaks "between love and a waste of time." Another song recounts the easy days of dry-erase boards on dorm doors and meal-plans, in "I Wish I Could Go Back to College," where things were so much easier with an academic adviser to point out the way (or a T.A. to screw). Even the silly songs are expertly written, with tongue cheek lyrics, such as "Schadenfreude," which is of course about gaining happiness from the misery of others. The melodies soar and the group harmonizes, in a format that is similar to Sesame Street and Zoom! but all the while worthy of being branded "Broadway."

Unlike other satires of Sesame Street and Blue's Clues seen on Saturday Night Live or MadTV, where children and puppets are seen as stupid and unaware of real life, Avenue Q depicts modern, adult life as it really is, only with puppets. A little far-fetched, a lot offensive, but all in all a good show, for the theatre go-er who doesn't take themselves too seriously, or at least anyone who can admit that the Internet is mainly for porn.

As the play closes, the characters remind us that scary things like unemployment, breakups and George Bush, and everything in life, "is only for now."