BWW Reviews: EPAC Presents a Rollicking, Raunchy AVENUE Q

The 2003 hit AVENUE Q, by Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx, with book by Jeff Whitty, finally moved off Broadway in 2009, where it's remained Off-Broadway ever since. The Gen-Y coming-of-age musical that brought a generation raised on "Sesame Street" into an adult world of puppets (can't call them "Muppets," thank you) and brightly-colored animated videos of words and concepts. Grover never explained schadenfreude for you, although he could have sung the song from this show himself, and Cookie Monster never explained the truth about the Internet's highest purpose to us... and while there's been plenty of speculation about Bert and Ernie, the word from Children's Television Workshop has always been a definite negative. No, "Sesame Street" cannot help newly adult former viewers navigate the scary adult world.

Is there any guidance out there for someone who needs a brightly colored puppet pal to show the way to adult responsibility? That's AVENUE Q, now at Ephrata Performing Arts Center, directed by Edward R. Fernandez with assistant director David Dierwechter. With an inexpensive - to be polite - New York neighborhood setting, a friendly apartment superintendent, child star Gary Coleman, to help you settle in, and a host of puppet friends, some of whom are charming, furry monsters and others of whom are your new gay neighbors, to help you find direction.

The show is really the story of Pippin - er, sorry, Princeton, a recent college graduate, moving to Avenue Q (the lower alphabet letter rents were too expensive) and trying to be extraordinary - whoops, trying to Find His Purpose. Yes, the underlying theme is the same as in PIPPIN: the young always seek to prove that they are extraordinary, only to discover that maybe they're really very much like everyone else. While Princeton is not a king's son, and while he doesn't go to war or head a revolution, he does go through the Gen-Y adventures of losing jobs, discovering sex and relationships, and looking for meaning in his life, only to find out that... just maybe... ordinary life isn't so bad, or at least it's bearable.

Princeton, the hero of this urban journey of self-discovery, and Rod, the day-trading musical theatre fan and upcoming Log Cabin Republican, are played with aplomb by Sean Deffley, who is able to infuse his puppet characters with real human emotion both in their voicing and in their, and his, movement. Love interest Kate Monster is given life by Katelyn Ann Mullen, who brings her a sympathetic sweetness that nonetheless is not cloying - Kate Monster is too practical a young woman not to be able to pick up the pieces when needed. Rod's roommate Nicky, of indomitable spirit and deep caring for his amazingly closeted friend, is played by an energetic and enthusiastic Preston Schreffler, who also gives Trekkie Monster, couch potato, computer guru, and porn enthusiast, a joie de vivre that transcends his deep-seated childhood traumas stemming from bullying at school.

The human cast members playing humans are similarly delightful. Jeremy Patterson is building super Gary Coleman - yes, that Gary Coleman, recovering from the theft of his child-star riches by his family and selling his property on Ebay. Patterson's charm carries through the show, especially in his duet with Nicky, "Schadenfreude," explaining how important it is for others' well-being for him to be the butt of national jokes. Lindsay Levine and Bob Breen are Christmas Eve and Brian, the young couple suffering from overeducation and underemployment, and Levine shines in Christmas Eve's song with Kate, "The More You Ruv Someone (The More You Want To Kill Them)".

For those who know the show, and they are many, yes, "If You Were Gay" and "The Internet Is For Porn" are, as they should be, audience favorites, as is Rod's infamous song, "My Girlfriend Who Lives In Canada". For those who don't know the show, the latter two songs alone are enough to make this show not family-friendly fare. Despite the presence of colorful puppets, or perhaps because of just how colorful their behavior and language is, this show is entirely unsuitable for small children except for the most precocious with the most lenient parents... who certainly should accompany them in order to discuss the material with them. In fact, adults who are uncomfortable with sexual discussion, strong language, (simulated) sex on stage, or politically incorrect discussions of race and discrimination would probably best avoid this show; they will not enjoy it.

Just as its inspiration, "Sesame Street," uses humor, Muppets interacting with humans, and animation to give children some insight into difficult subjects like death or divorce in their families, AVENUE Q uses humor, puppets, and animation to tackle the adult world for adults. Sex, relationships, coming out, race and racism, homelessness, unemployment, school bullying, are all here, in their most basic and most outrageous forms - songs about masturbation, panhandling and charity fundraising, implied prostitution, and bothering apartment neighbors during loud sex are all included, every one of them catchy and hummable.

Special kudos must go to Roger NeAl Weaver, who trained the cast in puppeteering. This production easily has the best use of the cast puppets this reviewer has seen in community theatre. In this show, that is no easy feat, as the puppeteers must maneuver the puppets to show action and emotion, must voice them (in some cases using multiple voices), and must be able to dance with them, even interacting as the legs and arms of the puppets in on-stage kicklines. This show is most successful when you can watch the puppet handler and the puppet together and perceive not only the puppeteer's voice but their visible body movements as being part of their puppet character and not them, the EPAC cast has for the most part accomplished this neatly.

Come for the puppets. Stay for the issues and the humor. Leave determined to buy the Broadway cast album and learn all the songs - just watch out where you're caught singing them. At EPAC through May 18. Call (717) 733-7966 or visit www.ephrataperformingartscenter.com for tickets.

Photo Credits: EPAC

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