Avenue Q

I've been sitting here for 2 days trying to get my thoughts together on an atrocious experience Preston and I had this past Sunday.

What we thought was going to be a fun filled afternoon at Bob Carr watching an Off-Broadway show with friends quickly turned into an incredibly awful, vulger experience.

A co-worker of Preston's invited us to go see the show Avenue Q with him and his wife. We show up without a clue as to what this is about...Lesson #1...ALWAYS FIND OUT WHAT YOU ARE ABOUT TO WATCH BEFORE YOU WATCH IT. Preston said that he thought it was a Sesame Street style show, but for adults. Okay. THAT can't be too harmful, right?

We quickly take our seats and see Pat (Preston's co-worker) with his 14 year old daughter. His wife ended up having to stay back with their other daughter for a sporting event she had to attend.

The stage is set up like a New Jersey street scape with brownstone buildings. The show starts and this man, dressed in gray, emerges with a puppet on his arm singing about him getting his diploma, graduating, needing to get a job and a place to live. Which then brings him to Avenue Q where he gets a finds a place to rent. The cast consists of some puppets as characters and some real actors, just like sesame street. The resemblense to Sesame Street pretty much ends there though...

One of the puppet characters is a girl (who's never had a date and is an assistant kindergarden teacher) gets the opportunity to be the sole teacher for the day and can pick any topic she wishes to teach her class. She decides it's going to be about the internet. She then begins to sing a melody all about the internet, only to be intermidently interrupted by a monster puppet who interjects his version of the song by repeating over and over how the internet is only for PORN. At one point in the song he even repeats how you just grab your dick and click! At this point I gasp, out loud!

I'm thinking it can't possibly get any worse than this. Boy was I wrong.

The next scene the girl puppet and the new guy puppet living on her street go out on a date, where they have way too much to drink. The very next scene the two puppets are now completely naked and having every type of sex imagineable up on stage saying things you really don't want to hear to each other. It was unbelievable. It was complete puppet porn. I was mortified, embarrassed, completely uncomfortable and disgusted to say the very least.

I sat there with tears streaming down my face. I was a bit caught off guard as to my reaction of weeping but I know without a shadow of doubt that it was the Holy Spirit speaking to me. I sat there, in my Sunday church clothes, thinking if my Lord were sitting next to me I would be so ashamed of this. Of allowing this to go on. I wanted to run out of that place, bolt to be exact. Preston saw my reaction and tried to comfort me, but I just wanted OUT OF THERE. He leaned over and said we could leave as soon as it was intermission...that couldn't come soon enough.

The last scene before intermission was a Bert and Ernie type duo where one was being accusted of being gay and being told that being "queer was okay". Then an entire gay dream sequence occured...most of which I looked down at the floor for, physically sick of this entire ridicilous performance.

The lights went on and Pat was bewildered over this and said he was sorry and they were going to leave. I'd had hope so...here I was a 35 year old woman completely mortified, I would have bolted IMMEDIATELY with my 14 year old daughter after the first "grab your d*ck and click" song!

I couldn't get out of there quick enough. My face was completely blotchy...I looked a mess.

Preston asked me a bit later why I still looked so sad. I think it made it ten times worse that they used the innocence of puppets, a child's toy, to do such inappropriate, vile and degrading things with. It just saddened me that there was an entire audience that thought this was not only perfectly okay, but funny!

I have the names of all the board of directors for Bob Carr AND the state agencies involved in picking what shows come to their center. Who in their right mind thought that THIS was appropriate to show, or to be a part of the broadway series package???? This should NEVER be included in a package. I plan on writing a letter to each of them and telling them exactly how I feel about my experience at their venue. Disgusting.

EDIT...

After I wrote this I decided to go ahead and actually look at Avenue Q's website to see what THEY have to say about this show. I was floored by what I found and the sugar coating they put on it...


What is AVENUE Q about?

AVENUE Q is the story of Princeton, a bright-eyed college grad who comes to New York City with big dreams and a tiny bank account. He soon discovers that the only neighborhood in his price range is Avenue Q; still, the neighbors seem nice. There's Brian the out-of-work comedian and his therapist fianceé Christmas Eve; Nicky the good-hearted slacker and his roommate Rod -- a Republican investment banker who seems to have some sort of secret; an Internet addict called Trekkie Monster; and a very cute kindergarten teaching assistant named Kate. And would you believe the building's superintendent is Gary Coleman?!? (Yes, that Gary Coleman.) Together, Princeton and his newfound friends struggle to find jobs, dates, and their ever-elusive purpose in life

Who is AVENUE Q appropriate for?

Adults love AVENUE Q, but they seem a little, er, fuzzy on whether it's appropriate for kids. We'll try to clear that up. AVENUE Q is great for teenagers because it's about real life. It may not be appropriate for young children because AVENUE Q addresses issues like sex, drinking, and surfing the web for porn. It's hard to say what exact age is right to see AVENUE Q - parents should use their discretion based on the maturity level of their children. But we promise you this - if you DO bring your teenagers to AVENUE Q, they'll think you're really cool!

Wow...that's all I have got to say. This is the most sugar coated review if I've ever seen one...and I guess you can call me prude, but no way should a teenager see this show...heck no! Shoot I"m 35 and I'm still too young for this audience! Guess I'm not going to be the "cool" mom this show thinks I should be.