Cover your ears, Kermit

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Raunchy musical features cursing, crude puppets living on the un-sunny side of Sesame Street

At the 2004 Tony Awards, the hyper-amped, $14-million Wizard of Oz prequel Wicked was the prohibitive favourite to win the coveted best musical trophy.

In one of the biggest upsets in Tony history, the modest, quirky $3-million musical with singing puppets and actors called Avenue Q won top prize. No one was as shocked as the Radio City Music Hall technicians, who mistakenly flashed "Best Musical: Wicked" on two onstage video screens.

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Colin Peterson as Boy Bear and Aaron Pridham as Princeton.

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Jackie Kurceba as Lucy and Aaron Pridham as Princeton.

Winnipeggers got to see the pop cultural icon that is Wicked for themselves when an American touring production hit town for the first time last August. Now its rival, Avenue Q, arrives here with an equally impressive 20-something following that scooped up every ticket to the six-performance run at the Gas Station Arts Centre.

Wannabe Cameron Mackintosh-style producer Ryan Segal grabbed the amateur rights to stage Avenue Q last spring, formed a new company called District Theatre Collective and cast a group of university students and recent graduates. The local professional production rights are held by an unknown theatre in Winnipeg.

"It was a big surprise when Avenue Q was nominated," says Segal, 22. "It deserved the victory. It's a show with a lot of heart. Its definitely the little show that could."

Avenue Q -- a story of youthful disillusionment focusing on a bunch of urban slackers trying to figure out what their purpose is -- is located on the raunchy side of town. Many YouTubers know it for its notorious songs, such as The Internet Is for Porn, Everyone's a Little Bit Racist or It Sucks to Be Me. Others have marked it for its rare display of puppet sex and full-frontal felt.

"It's amazing the number of people who have heard of the show outside the theatre community," says Segal, who will turn a profit on his $21,000 production. "A lot of the people who bought tickets don't go to the theatre but the show's humour travels around YouTube and everyone knows the songs."

The attraction for that demographic is how it reflects their world, especially a ditty like What Do You Do With a BA in English? What is also distinctive about Avenue Q is the Sesame Street-like libretto written by Tony winner Jeff Whitty in which the grown-up puppets learn lessons like: "If you don't pay your bills, you get kicked out of your apartment" or "If you don't practise safe sex you can get a STD."

The autobiographical Robert Lopez/Jeff Marx story follows Princeton, a bright-eyed college grad who comes to New York City with big dreams and little money. He takes up residence on run-down Avenue Q, where he meets, among others, Kate Monster, the girl next door; Rod, the Republican; Trekkie, the Internet addict; and Lucy the Slut.

The show is suggested for audience members 16 and older owing to the language and the puppet sex.

"Within the first 30 seconds, one of the puppets drops the F-bomb," says director Connie Manfredi, 23. "I think because it happens so suddenly, it tells the audience what kind of ride it will be on for the next two hours. The crude humour makes it adult, makes it real to our age group. But if the whole thing was puppet swearing and raunchy activity you wouldn't feel for any of the characters. For every sassy joke or crude reference, there is something honest in the show that will touch people.

"I've done a lot of university shows in my life but I'm sure Avenue Q will be the only one my dad will laugh out loud at."

The young, inexperienced cast had little previous puppet training and for months were sent to puppet boot camp run by puppet directors Tim and Becca Bandfield.

Paige Pooley, who plays Kate Monster, says the learning curve was steep, getting used to the lip-synching, ensuring eye contact and making your character's physical nuances second nature.

Pooley, 21, took her puppet out in public as much as she could to help with the familiarization.

"I brought it to my student-teaching class of Grade 3s and brought it on dates with my boyfriend, trying to get used to manipulating it in public," says the fourth-year University of Winnipeg education student.

Pooley, who played Liesl in Rainbow Stage's 2007 revival of The Sound of Music, didn't rehearse all her Kate Monster scenes in public.

"There is a sex scene," she says, during a break from her job as a barista at Starbucks. "The show is a reflection of reality and is uncensored. So is the puppet sex scene. Kate Monster indulges in some things that I have not and don't know if I ever will."

The adult content has made immersing in Avenue Q a little tricky for cast members.

"I'm always blasting the Avenue Q soundtrack in my room but whenever the song You Can Be as Loud as the Hell You Want (When You're Makin' Love) comes on, I turn it down," says Pooley. "I don't want my parents hearing it quite yet."

kevin.prokosh@freepress.mb.ca

ABCs of Q

2000 -- Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx write a proposed Muppet movie called Kermit, Prince of Denmark

2002 -- Avenue Q debuts at National Music Theater Conference in Connecticut

2003 -- Opens off-Broadway at the Vineyard Theatre in March

2003 -- Transfers July 31 to John Golden Theatre on Broadway

2004 -- Wins three Tony Awards, including best musical, book and score

2005 -- Began a nine-month run in Las Vegas

2005 -- Cast album is nominated for a Grammy as best musical show album

2006 -- Cameron Mackintosh-version premières in London's West End

2007 -- First translated version opens in Stockholm

2009 -- Closes on Broadway after 2,534 performances

2009 -- A month later opens off-Broadway at the New World Stages, where it still runs

Theatre preview

Avenue Q

District Theatre Collective

Opens Thursday, to Saturday at Gas Station Theatre Centre

Tickets: $18. Sold out

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition February 2, 2012 C1