Avenue Q

Avenue Q presents performers with the unique opportunity of working with puppets, as well as acting, singing, dancing … and doing things many performers would not necessarily do … on stage that is!

Using very jaunty puppet characters, and a handful of ‘real’ people, writers Jeff Whitty, Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx were able to make some pithy comments about such things as racism, homophobia, homelessness, unemployment, loneliness and marriage in lively tunes and suggestive lyrics.

CTG’s production makes the most of every nuance, despite the fast pace set by the music and the direction. It is bright, colourful and entertaining – despite a couple of lighting glitches that the cast handled particularly well.

Some of the puppeteers work with their characters most professionally, especially Stefan Jamal and Jessica James-Moody who operate Princeton and Kate Monster.

Not once taking their eyes away from their puppets, both transfer the appropriate emotion to the puppet via their voices and multiple facial expressions. Thus, they become one with their puppet characters, making them more real and believable, as they sing and move smoothly on the stage.

Michael Hemming and Brad Gavin manipulate the puppets Rod and Nicky with quirky humour, and their rendition of If You Were Gay is as charming as it is poignant. John Edge is the husky brusque voice of Trekkie Monster, as, with the help of Ed Mafi, the hairy monster looms from a window above the stage to join in The Internet is for Porn, or lusts after the raunchy puppet nightclub singer, Lucy T Slut, manipulated and voiced by Bridget Keating McIntosh.

The Bad Idea Bears are manipulated by Peter Adam, Sam Creek and Katherine de Figueiredo and Grace Lizzio. Their voices also swell the chorus in all of the ‘company’ songs.

The ‘real’ people of Avenue Q are played with similar verve and energy by Rodney Dean, Sharonne Lipman and Lauren Nalty (Gary Coleman).

Dean and Lipman play off each other beautifully as Brian and Christmas Eve, a happy often, bickering sometimes, unemployed married couple who relate very naturally and sympathetically with their puppet neighbours.

Nalty is outstanding as Coleman. She is strong and arresting in this role, using her powerful voice and acting skills to establish her character convincingly – and her strong stage presence to cement the ensemble.

Director Ste Casimiro has made effective use of the venue despite very limited wing space for props to be wheeled in out and puppets and their puppeteers to be enter and exit. Though the performance could perhaps have been brought a little closer to the audience, the logistics of the space may have made this difficult.

This production of Avenue Q is a tightly directed ensemble performance that loses none of the blatant suggestiveness, intrinsic humour or the social inference of the lyrics. It’s fun and bright and very energetic.

Carol Wimmer

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