EUCLID AVENUE BECOMES “AVENUE Q”

It’s the furriest, fuzziest and one of the funniest shows you’re likely ever to see at Playhouse Square! AVENUE Q, the smash-hit musical about trying to make it in New York with big dreams and a tiny bank account, comes to Playhouse Square January 15-27, 2008, as part of the 2007-08 KeyBank Broadway Series. The 2004 Tony Award-winning musical stops in Cleveland as part of its 18-month national tour of more than 30 cities.

AVENUE Q features a cast of people and puppets who tell their story in a smart, risqué, and downright entertaining way. It delights audiences with its savvy contrast between the clever tunes and rhymes of childhood television shows and the grittier ironies of real life after college. It both sends up and celebrates children’s TV as well as old-school Broadway clichés, including a long-running Broadway musical based on a Puccini opera.

AVENUE Q opened on Broadway on July 31, 2003, to great critical and popular acclaim. The New York Times hailed it as “a breakthrough musical of a very different stripe…sassy and delicious!” and Entertainment Weekly claimed it was “Jaw-droppingly hilarious! Grade: A!” It went on to win three 2004 Tony Awards: Best Musical, Best Original Score of a Musical, and Best Book of a Musical. Nearly 2,000 performances later, AVENUE Q remains one of Broadway’s biggest and most enduring successes, playing to enthusiastic sold-out audiences eight times a week.

In June of 2006, AVENUE Q opened its first international production in London’s West End at the Noel Coward Theatre. It has also been produced in Stockholm and Helsinki. AVENUE Q played a 10-month engagement in Las Vegas in 2005-06.

The AVENUE Q national tour features a cast of 13 veteran performers, many from the Las Vegas and Broadway productions. Robert McClure, who recently performed the roles of Nicky/Trekkie Monster on Broadway, plays Princeton, a recent college graduate who moves to Avenue Q to find his purpose in life, and Rod, a Republican investment banker.

The roles of Kate Monster, the kindergarten teaching assistant who wants to find a boyfriend and start a special school for monsters, and Lucy the Slut, a sexy cabaret singer, are played by Kelli Sawyer, who recreates these roles for the tour after performing them on Broadway.

Christian Anderson, another Broadway vet, reprises the roles of Nicky, Rod’s roommate (a slacker), and Trekkie Monster, a reclusive cyberspace porn addict. Carla Renata plays Gary Coleman, the former child star from the sitcom Diff’rent Strokes.

Cole Porter and Angela Ai play, respectively, Brian, and Christmas Eve. Both portrayed these roles in the Las Vegas company. Minglie Chen, who made her Broadway debut with AVENUE Q, plays Mrs. T., Bear, and others. Rounding out the cast are ensemble members and swings Jennie Kwan, Maggie Lakis, Seth Rettberg, Erica Robinson, Danielle Thomas, and Cullen R. Titmas.

Synopsis

The tale begins when Princeton, a preppy muppet-like creature, arrives on Avenue Q in New York, looking for an apartment in an ungentrified, albeit affordable, part of town. He takes a rather dumpy place that’s shown to him by none other than Gary Coleman, a building superintendent in the neighborhood now that his star has fallen from his Diff’rent Strokes days.

Princeton isn’t exactly thrilled with his prospects, but fortunately for him, he isn’t the only person having anxiety attacks on his new block. The collection of angst-ridden characters includes Brian, a frustrated stand-up comic, and his Japanese fiancé Christmas Eve, a struggling therapist. There’s a pair of puppet roommates named Nicky and Rod, who might remind you of another famous children’s puppet duo, except that Rod seems to have some sort of a secret. And there’s a grouchy, solitary weirdo known as Trekkie Monster, who spends an inordinate amount of time in front of his computer.

The newfound object of Princeton’s affection is Kate Monster, a kindergarten teaching assistant who, being a monster, is a little sensitive about her background. Their crisis-prone relationship sparks all kinds of life lessons, from the inherent difficulty in balancing love and work to the acknowledgment that a little racism exists in everyone. Added into the mix is Kate’s rival Lucy (the Slut), a lounge singer with loose morals and an eye for Princeton.

Together, Princeton and his new neighbors and friends turn the stress and strain of finding one’s place in the world into an occasion for unadulterated fun.

AVENUE Q has not been authorized or approved by The Jim Henson Company or Sesame Workshop, which have no responsibility for its content.

Photo: Avenue Q – Princeton, Robert McClure, Kate Monster, Kelli Sawyer