Avenue Q: Life Lessons

So is there a plot to back up all of these hilarious songs? Yes, and it is surprisingly deep for a show with puppets singing about internet porn. But the important part of the story is the message, not the details. On the surface, the show follows Princeton and Kate fall in love, fall apart, and then reconcile, while the other couples try to find happiness as well. But it is so much more than that.

Avenue Q and Sesame Street are not afraid to show the harsh realities of life in addition to the uplifting ones. Granted, there are fewer bad experiences on Sesame Street since children's lives USUALLY don't involve the pains of adulthood, while at times, the residents of the Avenue feel like their lives are falling apart, since post-college life can be turbulent, but there are happy times as well. Some of the songs in the show give examples of how to cope with the down times in life, one of which is about how to make your life look better. When Nicky is down and out after Rod kicked him out of the apartment, Gary Coleman explains the concept of schaudenfreude, which is German for taking pleasure from the pain of others. Gary reasons that schaudenfreude makes the world a better place to be, since it allows people to feel better about themselves. While it can be said that the ending of Avenue Q is a happy one, the real message is that the ending is happy ENOUGH for the characters, and life is full of good and bad times. The trick is to be able to weather the bad times and embrace the good times.

One of the final lessons of the show is that things don't always work out and nothing, whether it be good or bad, lasts forever or is certain (except death and taxes). Does Rod finally embrace who he is and find love? It looks that way. But does Brian finally become a comedian? No, and it looks like he never will (he bombed at a comedy club halfway through the show, and was heckled by his own fiancee). However, the show also says that sometimes, miracles can happen; in a bit of a deus ex machina, Trekkie Monster shows that he is a very savvy investor and allows for Kate's dream to come true (the show debuted a few years ago, but just a few weeks ago, when the stock market started going into the toilet, my father said that Trekkie Monster had the right idea, and if he could have invested like Trekkie, he would have).

The final song, "For Now", may not be as funny as the other numbers, but it isn't supposed to be. It is about how, when times are bad, we have to remember that they will soon pass, but it also reminds us that good things don't last as well, and we can't dwell on them when they are gone.

Avenue Q is an incredible show that is juvenile and sophisticated, laugh-out-loud hilarious and very sweet. It is extremely deserving of the Tony Award it received for Best Musical (though I still think Wicked is the better show), and it does a phenomenal job of teaching without preaching to its audience. A lot of people will be off-put by the lewd lyrics and puppet sex, but this is a show that everyone should see.

Up next: A trip to Fleet Street...

Avenue Q: It Sucks To Be Me!

Avenue Q may be the most sex and profanity-filled show to ever win the Tony for Best Musical (the next one I'll talk about, Sweeney Todd, may be the bloodiest). I don't know this for sure, but it must be hard to compete with a show that has a song called, "You Can Be As Loud As The Hell You Want (When You're Makin' Love)" and features the two puppet leads going at it like horny teenagers. It's almost hard to believe that Avenue Q's main inspiration is the children's show Sesame Street. But behind all the "fucks" and "shits" uttered, behind the internet porn jokes and puppet sex, is a story meant to educate us about the trials and tribulations that we face as 20-somethings. Sort of like how Sesame Street helps teach kids about things they will have to deal with in pre-adolescence.

The titular street is located in an outer borough of New York City, and if you live there, it's very likely that your life sucks in one way or another. The apartments are small, roommates are almost a necessity, and Gary Coleman is the superintendent! Princeton, a recent college graduate, gets his first apartment on his own here because he can't really afford to live anywhere nicer. He still gets occasional financial help from his parents while he tries to find a job and his purpose in life, but for the first time in his life, he is nearly on his own.

Other inhabitants include Kate Monster, an aspiring teacher who is frustrated with her love life, which seems to be going nowhere. Like Sesame Street, some of the puppets are "humans", while others are "monsters", complete with fur, and sometimes horns. Though it appears that human and monster are as different as skin color, since human puppet/monster puppet relationships are not unheard of (though there is a slight stigma associated with them). Brian is a 32-year-old who has just been fired from a dead-end job. He wants to be a comedian, but he is beginning to give up on his dreams, since he is only getting older. He is engaged to Christmas Eve, a Japanese immigrant who recently became a therapist. They are two of the human characters (actual humans, not puppet humans), similar to people like Gordon and Susan on Sesame Street. They are a little older than some of the other residents of Avenue Q, so they have accrued some wisdom, but still are not the best sources of information.

Bert and Ernie are lambasted through Rod and Nicky, two roommates who are so close that they now can't stand each other. Rod, a Republican investment banker (who may be gay) is uptight and anal retentive, while Nicky is a lazy slob who encourages Rod to come out and finally be happy. Gary Coleman (who is played by a woman) is the sarcastic superintendent, and Trekkie Monster is the neighbor from hell. He never leaves his apartment because he is constantly looking at internet porn. He only pops his head out of his window to yell at his neighbors to be quiet or go away.

It's a colorful cast to say the least! Most of the songs serve the same purpose as the songs on Sesame Street: to educate the audience about important issues, which may or may not forward the plot. My favorite example is "Everyone's A Little Bit Racist"; Princeton and Kate are talking and Princeton accidentally says something that Kate construes as racist. When she chews him out, he apologizes, but rationalizes that everyone, including her, has said or done things that are indicative of some shred of racism within the person. They go on to say that racism is wrong, but is part of human nature, and maybe we should relax a little...

Princeton and Kate: Everyone makes judgments based on race!
Princeton: Now not big judgments like who to hire or who to buy a newspaper from.
Kate: No.
Princeton: No, just little judgments, like thinking Mexican busboys should learn to speak goddamn English!!
Kate: Right!

Comedy gold. Avenue Q also has brief animated interludes to reinforce points within the show. On Sesame Street, they may have shown a short cartoon about the Number 6, while on Avenue Q, they had a clip involving nightstands to give a name to what happens with Princeton and Lucy the Slut, a shady lounge singer (let's just say that the clip starts with multiple nightstands and ends with one; figure it out).

Up next: More than just "For Now"...