So I got back a couple hours ago from seeing the musical Avenue Q at The Fox. That show is outrageously hilarious. It’s definitely my kind of humor – and if you care about me enough to be reading this, then probably your kind of humor too – the type where taboos don’t exist and boundaries are constantly crossed.
The puppets were a little hard to get used to, but by the middle of the first act I was [almost] unaware of the human performers guiding said puppets. Actually, the performance by the humans was quite impressive. Their voices were outrageously animated, but it nearly never showed on their faces. The only contribution their bodies made (besides the puppeteering, of course) was to be the legs of the puppets during choreography.
What makes this show so likeable, I think, is its pure honesty. They sing songs like “Everyone’s a Little Bit Racist,” and “You Can Be as Loud as the Hell You Want (When You’re Making Love).” The lyrics seriously just cut to the chase and expose universal truths that usually everyone is too embarassed or scared to talk about. It is so unbelievably refreshing to just be able to come out and own up to things and stop being so freaking PC.
What also makes this show so likeable: the incredibly-realistic-yet-incredibly-disturbing puppet sex scene. That’s right. For a whole four minutes the audience gets to watch the two title puppets thrusting and groping and moaning and yes, even 69ing. The movements were uncomfortably life-like, which made it all the funnier. There were also some great lines uttered during this scene: “Do not put your finger there!….PUT YOUR FINGER THERE!”
But as hilarious and fluffy and brutally honest as Q is, it does in fact have an underlying theme: we’re all f*&#ed.
The second half of the show really hits home with college-age audience members. You see, almost all of the characters are young to middle age college grads, and none of them have a good job (or a job at all). By the near-end of the show, they have all come to realize that they screwed up somewhere along the line, and lament their mistakes in “I Wish I Could Go Back to College.” The song and situations of the characters highlight something that has been in the forefront of my mind lately: this is our one shot. Well, I mean, maybe not. You could always go back to school at some point. But who knows if you’ll have the time or money or resources to do that in the future. No – we all must take advantage of the opportunities and knowledge we are being given now. We have to live in the moment, but also plan ahead.
Avenue Q does well to make us all remember that as Princeton, Kate Monster, Gary Coleman, Christmas Eve and the rest of their friends sing, everything in life is only for now.
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