Avenue Q at Ruth Eckerd Hall Review

So last week, I was lucky enough to score free tickets for, not one, but TWO recent Tony Award winners for "Best Musical."

While I would usually kill (only unpleasant people) for free tickets to a show (I love musical theatre AND I'm poor — what other option is there?), no one had to be harmed in this instance. The Tampa Tribune was a sponsor for both shows and, during the holiday week, there were a lot of free tickets given away through our company's ad department to help put butts in seats for each show.

I didn't even care that I'd already seen "Avenue Q" in Tampa earlier this year.

The Tony-winning, Sesame Street-spoofing musical was one of the funniest productions I've seen and I wasn't about to pass up a chance to check it out again. (It also became the first show I've seen on stage more than once, but it still trails "Rent"s seemingly-unbreakable tally of seven.)

The story mixes humans, puppets, and monster puppets in the story of Princeton (Robert McClure), an idealistic recent college grad who can't afford to live anywhere else other than the semi-run down Avenue Q. There he meets Kate Monster (Anika Larsen), a kind, shy monster who meets and falls for Princeton. The street is also populated by failed comedian Brian (Cole Porter — no, not THAT one), and his oriental fiancee Christmas Eve (Sala Iwamatsu), roommates Ron (McClure) and his not-so-secret crush Nicky (David Benoit), porn-loving Trekkie monster (Benoit) and Gary Coleman (Danielle K. Thomas).

Just so you know, the whole thing turns out to be even funnier and wackier than it sounds.

The music and melodies are appropriately lighthearted given the setting, but the lyrics are sharp as a penny dropped from the Empire State Building, as well as refreshingly honest and profane without being off-putting. Ok, well maybe it's a bit off-putting if you're watching the show with your mom. The music and lyrics by Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx are as funny and relevant today as I imagine they were five years ago when the show was on Broadway.

Still, the show has more on its mind than just having puppets sing and say curse words (which probably would've been a solid show in its own right). Princeton uncertainty about the future and the rest of the gang's satisfaction with their lives, reflected in songs like "It Sucks to Be Me" and "I Wish I Could Go Back to College," is something almost anyone can relate to.

Since, I'd heard a good portion of the songs on the soundtrack before seeing the show for the first time, I was pleasantly surprised by how funny the non-musical portions of the show were. I'm specifically talking about the "Bad Idea Bears" who are basically the opposite of every helpful and caring member of Sesame Street and the Muppets. They're also absolutely adorable and probably my favorite part of the show.

While the show is overwhelmingly heavy on the funny, there are also a few moments of genuine emotion mixed in, most prominently in Kate Monster's rendition of "There's a Fine, Fine Line."

Still, for me, the show remains mostly a fantastic accomplishment in direction, set design and the performances of the actors manning the puppets. The set doesn't look like anything special at first, but the show does great things with lighting and subtle set changes to bring the show to life. The actors who hold the puppets eventually become virtually invisible, and not just because they're wearing all black (a nice contrast to the colorfully attired Christmas Eve, Brian and Gary Coleman). They do a fantastic job disappearing into the wonderful puppet characters designed by Rick Lyon.

McClure is so good as Princeton and Rod that I almost gave him some cash when he came near our section in the audience during "The Money Song." Larsen was appropriately funny and touching as Kate Monster, the heart of the story.

Other standouts included Iwamatsu as Christmas Eve and Benoit's work as Trekkie Monster and one half of the troublemaking bears.

Still, the most recent production I saw wasn't without its slight problems. Larsen's real singing voice came in and Kate Monster's kind of faded toward the end of "There's a Fine, Fine Line." Also, an unfortunate microphone malfunction resulted in most of Nicky's part during "Schadenfreude" being unintelligible. I also don't think the crowd at Clearwater's Ruth Eckerd Hall was into the show as much as the crowd at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center back in April. Maybe they all had Christmas hangovers or something, but I feel like it slightly affected the energy level of the performers on stage.

However, "Avenue Q" is still a fantastic show and I would absolutely go again tomorrow if someone invited me (and, preferably, if I didn't have to kill anyone).

Avenue Q...A-