Life’s Like A Puppet Show
Trekkie the Red Monster (puppeteers Thea Tadiar Everley and Joel Trinidad) and Kate (Carla Guevara-Laforteza).
Raunchy, weird and madly funny Avenue Q stars puppets and humans tackling all-too-real life situations together. SHARMILA BILLOT entered into the spirit of things at the showing in The Esplanade Theatre in Singapore.
A scene from Avenue Q.
TONY Award-winning Broadway show Avenue Q is raunchy and hilarious.
It is not your typical puppet show. Although the puppets are Sesame Street-inspired, make no mistake: the show is pretty much an “adult” show.
It had the audience in stitches throughout its performance the night this reviewer caught it at The Esplanade Theatre in Singapore. (It began on Oct 30 and runs until Nov 16.)
The story begins with Princeton coming to the street in New York City looking for an apartment. He’s a college graduate with an English degree, but with no skills or career plans.
Pretty soon, he meets the rest of the cast - his soon-to-be girlfriend Kate Monster; Brian and his Japanese fiance Christmas Eve, who are unemployed and rather bizarre; goofy Nicky and his closet gay Republican roommate Rod; building superintendent Gary Coleman (yes, that Gary Coleman, although here played by a woman); and the uncouth, porn-loving Trekkie Monster.
That is where the humour comes in, as these characters face real-life grown-up problems.
It’s a place where humans live side by side with puppets and monsters, and nobody thinks it’s strange.
The show is a good-natured story about a young man finding himself, and love, in the rocky world of young adulthood.
The performers are all fantastic, with the standout being Carla Guevara-Laforteza as the voices of Kate Monster and the aptly named Lucy the S**t.
Carla’s voice is clear and musical and she’s a joy to listen to. Lead actor Felix Rivera gives just as good in the challenging roles of Princeton and Rod.
It’s quite amazing to see the puppeteer switching speaking voices between such radically different characters in mere seconds, but that’s the incredible talent portrayed by the actors and actresses of the show.
It’s strange at first to see puppets with humans walking around, giving them their voices. You don’t know who to concentrate on initially. The furry characters’ actions or the puppeteers’ as the puppeteers are equally funny with their facial expressions.
But after some time, the weirdness passes, and by then, the audience is into the highly entertaining show.
This show is X-rated as puppet sex scenes are shown and foul language is used.
With songs like The Internet Is For Porn, It Sucks To Be Me and I’m Not Wearing Underwear Today, the cast regularly breaks into song to relay their emotions.
On the whole, Avenue Q is riotous fun. It’s also very real in terms of dealing with the harsh realities of life. A lot of people would easily relate to the story.
Avenue Q opened off-Broadway four years after it was written by Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx (music) and Jeff Whitty (the book).
The show picked up momentum during its run and was transferred to the Golden Theatre in New York’s Broadway district in 2003.
Not long after, it picked the 2003 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding New Musical, and in the following year picked up three Tony Awards (Best Musical, Best Score, Best Book).
It has played in the United Kingdom, Mexico, France, Israel and Russia.
Avenue Q is presented by Singapore Repertory Theatre (SRT) and VizPro Entertainment.
Tickets are priced from S$40 to S$140 (student concessions and group discounts are available). A limited number of S$15 tickets are available for the first seven shows to celebrate SRT’s 15th anniversary.
For ticketing information, visit www.sistic.com.sg or www.srt.com.sg
New Straits Times