It must be the case that, among the many performing arts events staged each year in Iola, nine out of 10 are family-friendly. And that?s nice…if, you know, family-friendly is your thing.
The Iola Community Theatre, on the other hand ? in its expert staging of ?Avenue Q,? the long-running Broadway puppet musical that rides the line between the profound and the profane with hilarious finesse ? recognizes that adults can?t subsist on pap alone, and that an uncomfortable truth expressed in the form of a dirty joke is sometimes the best catharsis. And when it comes to ?Avenue Q,? this musical has catharsis coming out the waz.
Staged as a ?Sesame Street?-style musical, ?Avenue Q? tells the story of Princeton (played by an excellent Dave Glauner), an idealistic young college grad who lands in New York full of dreams of becoming, his imagination suffused with the certainty that the perfect life is just around the corner ? a great career! an ideal love! happiness! meaning! purpose! But it isn?t long before Princeton?s optimism is roughly dashed against the sharp rocks of adult disappointment and our buoyant protagonist finds himself front stage, belting out grimly funny numbers like ?I Wish I Could Go Back to College? or ?What Do You Do With a B.A. in English.?
Princeton?s only consolation, if it even is that, is that he?s fallen in with a group of similarly overeducated, underperforming neighbors who have it as bad, if not worse, than he does.
But, again, this isn?t a musical for the pearl clutchers. I?t?s sophisticated?, off-color wit will likely remain invisible to anyone whose sensitivities are easily disheveled by the show?s course surface.
??Instead, ?Avenue Q? is for ?people who don?t mind ?? or even enjoy ? ?seeing two puppets simulate sex while TV?s Gary Coleman (Bryan Johnson) sings a song called ?You Can Be as Loud as the Hell You Want (When You?re Making Love).? It?s for those who won?t blanch ?when an Oscar the Grouch-inspired monster (Paul Vernon) ?sings about his hardcore porn ?addiction. ?Oh, and there?s an irksome kindergarten teacher named Mrs. Thistletwat (Ranie Wahlmeier) and a promiscuous ?cabaret singer ?named Lucy the Slut (also Wahlmeier). Tim Everson?, one of the few humans in the show without his hand up a puppet,? ?plays Brian, a failed stand-up comedian ?engaged to an overbearing? Japanese woman named Christmas Eve, played with an enormously broad accent by Alison Fees, who also directs the ?two-hour ?play. ?At one point in the show, Everson [an Iola Register reporter] serenades the audience with a very moving rendition of ?I?m Not Wearing Underwear Today.? And you believe him.
Not to be outdone, his betrothed, Christmas Eve, sings her best version of ?The More You Ruv Someone.? And in case you?re wondering whether ?Avenue Q? knows that it?s trading in Orientalist stereotypes, it does. The show even includes a perky song about this very brand of casual racism, called, well, ?Everyone?s a Little Bit Racist.?
Perhaps the only morally unblemished character in the musical is Kate the Monster (Kate Terhune), a kindergarten teaching assistant and Princeton?s main love interest ? when he isn?t lusting after the amply bosomed Lucy, that is.
Princeton?s emotional crisis is internal. It?s the anguish of feeling, deep down, that you?re meant for something great but not knowing exactly what it is you?re being called to do. His is the silent scream of the flounderer. ?What is my purpose?? Princeton asks again and again throughout the show.
But Princeton has real-world nemeses, too. For starters, there are two extremely cute, demented, Care Bear-like creatures (Ben and Sofie Alexander), who exercise an adorable malice over Princeton?s life, appearing during his various moments of self-doubt. The Bad Idea Bears, with their squeaky cartoon voices and id-oriented influence, encourage the vulnerable Princeton to drink more, to sleep with strangers, and, finally, to kill himself (spoiler alert: he doesn?t follow their advice).
While ?Avenue Q? plumbs dark themes, the show itself is flooded with raucous joy. It ranks ? like certain great works of satirical literature, by Rabelais or Chaucer, say, or TV shows like ?The Simpsons? or ?South Park? ? among that species of beautiful filth that, by touching on forbidden biases or desires, makes you laugh even when you shouldn?t.
