Customer Reviews

Avenue Q (2003 Original Broadway Cast)

5 star:		(181)
4 star:		(42)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(17)

 

 

My wife and I just saw this on Broadway last week. It was one of those wipe-the-tears-of laughter from my eyes experience.
The standard description for the show has been "Sesame Street meets South Park", because the puppets, the setting and the music all are OBVIOUSLY Jim Henson-inspired, and because it is gleefully bawdy and offensive in an equal-opportunity kind of way.
While that is true, I found that the true similarity lies within the amount of truth and humanity all three have. Things are said, and ideas proposed, that would be inappropriate for "humans" to say. Seeing "puppets" talk about racism, porn, homosexuality, poverty and love enables you to look at it from a slightly different angle, and you'll learn a little bit more about yourself without even trying.
That is, if you can stop from laughing so dang loud.
The cast album perfectly captures the show, including just enough of the dialogue to give you the gist of the entire production. The vocal talent is impressive, with most singers doing two (or more) parts.
Seeing it live, realizing they are acting and puppeteering at the same time, the talent rises from "impressive" to "awesome".
The songs are flat-out irresistible. You'll be humming along before the individual songs even end.
The titles alone induce giggling: "What Do You Do With a B.A. in English", "It Sucks To Be Me", "The Internet is for Porn"...

Now, let's be perfectly clear. This is NOT for everyone. If you are easily offended, if you are homophobic, if you are uncomfortable talking about sex or race...this is NOT for you. This is not for kids.

It IS one of the most riotously funny Broadway experiences I've ever had. And the CD captures it perfectly.

By the way, if you haven't seen puppet sex, you haven't lived...

("It's OK to Be Loud As Hell (When You're Making Love)".

Yes, the new musical, "Avenue Q" looks like an episode of "Sesame Street," but be forewarned parents, the "Parental Advisory Warning" isn't there for no reason. This brilliant new Broadway show takes a cast of foam characters, who look suspiciously like the Muppets, and uses them to tackle decidely adult issues such as sex, pornography, racism, homosexuality, drug use, cruelty and cynicism. Ironically, this musical's most recent forebear is "Rent," and while that show told its story through rock opera while this one tells it through bouncy, cheery songs that sound like children's music but are in fact raunchy, vulgar, and most importantly, wickedly clever and satirically dead-on parodies (Think of the music to "South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut" and you'll get the general idea.), the shows' subject matters are remarkably similar, even if their overall tones couldn't be more divergent. Monsters who masturbate? Two male roommates who bring the supposed gay subtext of Bert and Ernie into the forefront? Songs that teach us such valuable lessons as "Everyone's A Little Bit Racist," "The Internet is for Porn," and "You Can Be Loud As the Hell You Want When You're Making Love"? Sesame Street this ain't. Absolutely hilarious it is. If you're in New York, you MUST go see this show, which is funnier than "Urinetown," "The Producers," and "Hairspray" combined. If you aren't, buy this cast album to get even just a small idea of the warped and wonderful world of "Avenue Q."

Mixing Rent, Sesame Street, South Park and The Simpsons into a musical comedy and you get Avenue Q.

Q has Rent's characters, Street's puppets, Park's bitting wit and a tip of the hat to Bart and Homer in its delivery. It is adult entertainment for the 70's generation who grew up watching Sesame Street. It's the back alley which we never knew, and really wanted to know about deep down. The cd makes the transfer from Broadway stage to compact disk without a problem.

The Music of Avenue Q is hip, wicked and amazing funny The music is also a mesh of 70's pop rock lyrics that are character driven more than humor driven. By doing this, it makes Q funnier in scope and delivery. John Tartaglia and Stephanie D'Abruzzo head an assemble cast with a catchy soundtrack.

For example, the song "The More You Ruv Someone" sound like a Muppet ballad, almost in the spirit of classic Sesame Street tunes penned by Joe Raposo with hipper modern lyrics .

The cd confidently captures the Broadway show with aplomb. You will listen and wish you were in New York watching this show. This is what a great theater soundtrack should make you do. It's worthy of any Broadway cd collection
Bennet Pomerantz, AUDIOWORLD

If you've read through several of the past reviews, you'll see that people tend to react STRONGLY to this material -- most think it's brilliant, but some find it trite or offensive, and you may be having trouble determining into which category you will fall.

I went to college with one of the composers, and I knew as soon as I read the song titles on this album that I would LOVE this show -- not only because Bobby is such a talented musician, but because the show's sense of humor is very much based on the experiences that our generation had in college and beyond.

In a nutshell, you will LOVE this show if you meet these two basic criteria:

1) You have a genuine fondness for Sesame Street. If you grew up loving the muppets and enjoying the simple truisms and upbeat tunes of Sesame Street songs, then you will appreciate the music and the style of the show. As a 30-year-old parent of a toddler, I have found myself falling in love with Grover and Prairie Dawn and the gang all over again as I watch the show with her and see it through her (delighted!) eyes. We own a 25th anniversary DVD of the best musical numbers from Sesame Street, and I think my husband and I have even more fun watching it than our daughter does, because as adults, we have come to realize that the musicians who write Sesame Street songs are BRILLIANT composers with strong backgrounds in numerous musical genres. The same can be said for the writers of Avenue Q -- sometimes it takes a very complex understanding of music theory and history to write songs that are so truly simple in their catchy melodies and so simply true in their clever lyrics.

If you are NOT a child of the Sesame Street generation, you may feel that the music of Avenue Q is simplistic or annoying and that the messages are trite or immature. But those of us in the know appreciate that this music is genius. (And the cast members' ability to channel Frank Oz and the other talented actors who have provided years of muppet "voices" is truly astounding.)

2) You can appreciate anti-PC "Gen Y" humor. Like South Park and the Simpsons, this type of humor is meant for people who have had political correctness drilled into them for so many years that they've realized it's time to LIGHTEN UP! If you could write a paper on why one should use the term "Asian-American" instead of "Oriental," then you'll probably be highly amused (and a little relieved) by the simple but true observances in "Everyone's a Little Bit Racist." If you spent four years on a liberal campus where homosexuality was not only tolerated and accepted but perhaps even a bit hip and cool, then I bet you'll love hearing "Ernie" try to convince "Bert" that it's okay to be gay. If your women's studies class taught you all about why pornography is degrading to women, you'll likely laugh to hear an exasperated Kate Monster try to dismiss the notion that for most men (and plenty of women!) the Internet is, at least in large part, for porn. And anyone who has been ashamed to admit that they sometimes long for the safety, camaraderie and freedom of college life will instantly identify with a song about just such a sentiment.

Those who should skip Avenue Q include 1) people who think that a show is only worth listening to if the chords and rhythms are as complex as Sondheim, and 2) anyone who hasn't at one time considered Jim Henson a minor deity. (Don't get me wrong -- Sondheim is, of course, also a god -- but I think there is a place on Broadway for music that is less overtly cerebral and more hummable.)

SUMMARY: Politically enlightened, college-educated children of the 70s and early 80s who know the lyrics to the "Rubber Duckie" song and remember life before Elmo and political correctness will most likely adore Avenue Q. Everyone else should probably skip it.

... listening to this soundtrack makes me wish that the Avenue Q cast dared do a show in Texas. An Avenue Q roadshow would be the coolest thing, just judging from the songs.

The musical, in case you missed it, is essentially Sesame Street aimed at Generation X- the twenty-somethings and thirty-somethings of the big city, out of college and frustrated as hell that life STILL doesn't make sense. A mixture of Henson-like puppetry and live actors, and characters that charm, embarrass, and amuse the listener.

The music... WOW. The orchestration is right out of the 70s and early 80s. If it weren't for the words (which don't carry nearly as much swearing as the EXPLICIT LYRICS warning might have you believe, though it is there), you could EASILY imagine the tunes being used on Sesame Street back in the days before it became the Elmo Show.

Speaking of, there are two songs on this record which are dead-on PERFECT pastiches of Sesame Street education through song. Rod and Nicky- the show's Bert and Ernie equivalents- have a tour de force when Nicky reassures Rod that he'd still be his friend "IF YOU WERE GAY", much to Rod's consternation. Not long after, teacher's aide Kate Monster has her first solo lesson on the Internet ruined by the reclusive Trekkie Monster, who insists that THE INTERNET IS FOR PORN. Either song, by itself, is worth the rest of the album.

Even without the spoken dialogue of the musical (and you can tell a lot's been left out, even without reading the liner notes), you quickly develop a rapport with the characters. Princeton's the liberal-arts major just out of college who thinks that, despite his useless B.A. IN ENGLISH, he'll change the world. Kate wants to open a school for monsters. Christmas Eve, possibly the most overplayed Japanese woman ever, is JUST A LITTLE BIT RACIST just like the other characters. And the building's super is Gary Coleman, who has a word or three to sing about SCHADENFREUDE, joy at the misery of others.

Best of all, although the characters are obviously stuck in dead-end ruts, and IT SUCKS TO BE them, they still have the same hope and essential optimism that flavors Henson's works. They talk about relationships, infidelity, and sex, including a full-cast showstopper that claims YOU CAN BE AS LOUD AS THE HELL YOU WANT (When You're Making Love). They also sing about love, tolerance, helping others (and helping yourself). Even in the essential transience of time (the final song, FOR NOW, reprises the Avenue Q theme and IT SUCKS TO BE YOU with different lyrics), the characters find hope and reaffirmation. Life is cruel, hard, and it sucks, and people make mistakes, but nothing bad lasts forever, so focus on the good things when they come.

Most musicals have pointless songs with forgettable contrived lyrics. Not so Avenue Q, whose songs touch the heart and mug the funny bone. Of course, the content is aimed at today's American culture, so even this excellence is only FOR NOW... so grab it while you can.

And hope like hell for an Avenue Q road show.

Sesame Street style puppets + adult themes = a great Broadway musical! This entire musical is entirely hilarious, never a dull moment, although it has moments of gross-out humor, so not for the uptight people who snub those kinds of things. And don't forget the show's constant mocking of Gary Coleman

Five Best Tracks

It Sucks To Be Me
Everyone's A Little Bit Racist
You Can Be As Loud As The Hell You Want (When You're Makin' Love)
If You Were Gay
Schadenfreude

I just got back from New York and I saw both Wicked and Avenue Q on Broadway. They were so amazing, fresh and different. I hadn't seen a musical in years after being so disappointed by Cats on Broadway, (I could actually see some of them lip sinking) that turned me off. But now I am fired up about musical theater again. So much so that I bought myself singing Lesson Cds- Voice Lessons To Go by Vaccarino , so that I could justly sing along with my new Musical CDs. Hey if only a was a few years younger I would consider going for those broadway lights myself. Even to be in the choruses of these productions must be awesome.

"horrible and disgusting"?! this has got to be the funniest thing I've ever heard! Avenue Q is a riot. if you've ever seen this musical on Broadway, you've seen 850 people all around you laughing their heads off and falling out of their seats laughing. There's a reason this cd has an average (AVERAGE!) Amazon customer review of 4-1/2 stars, and there's an extremely good reason it won the 2004 Tony Award for Best Musical (!!!), the 2004 Tony Award for best Score, and the 2004 Tony Award for Best Book of a musical. The person who said "(excuse me, I don't even consider it a musical)" is obviously just a moron. Is that why it's sold out on Broadway so much that you can't even get a ticket? Almost everyone I know loves Avenue Q and has the album on their ipods because it's hilarious and touching and very human (despite the puppets) all at the same time. Perhaps as you say, "any civilized person would not listen to such garbage" but then I guess I'd never want to be one of those civilized people you're referring to. Boy am I glad I'm not living in your world. You're missing the joke that the rest of us are having a great time enjoying... It sucks to be you. :) Avenue Q rocks.

If you were to listen to a random song from this recording, odds are it would have several lyrics that would offend SOMEONE. However, if you appreciate that broad (and undeniably funny) sense of humor, then you'll get a kick out of Avenue Q.

A show performed by puppets and touching on topics from homosexuality to internet pornography to being unsatisfied with a mediocre life could be just a novelty gag, and in a way, that's what Avenue Q is. After several listens, the once-catchy melodies and muffled-snort-inducing lyrics lose their appeal, and for this very reason I was disappointed in the show's victory over (in my opinion) the superior "Wicked" at the 2004 Tony Awards.

However, the timely topics and overall irreverence definitely make Avenue Q worth a second look. Although it is often a very shallow musical, suprising emotion is shown in "There's A Fine, Fine Line," even if the final message of the show is that happiness and sadness fade, and the only thing that matters is death.

Overall, Avenue Q is much more than it may seem at first, and is absolutely a good show. Since my initial infatuation, the CD has fallen to the back of my library, and is probably stuck beneath a seat in my car at the moment, but I dig it out every few weeks when I crave a little of the magical "It Sucks to Be Me." Take that as you wish.

A previous reviewer made the comment "This sounds like a grown-up version of Sesame Street."

The irony is that that is *exactly* what this musical is intended to be. In fact, some of the minds and bodies behind the show have actually worked on Sesame Street themselves, including as Muppeteers - no joke.

This is important to understand before you listen to the soundtrack, because the Broaday actors and composers who produce the music have quite deliberately decided to take their musical back to the squeaky style of those muppets we grew up with, for a very real reason: honesty. It starts off as a sort of cheerfully satirical view of all the stupid beliefs and stereotypes we as adults insist on clinging to, with songs such as "Schadenfreude" and "If You Were Gay."

But then, it suddenly blindsides us without warning through incredibly soul-felt songs such "Fantasies Come True" and "There's a Fine, Fine, Line," where the actors unleash their full vocal capacity to such an extent that it's hard to believe it's a puppet that's singing it.

It's quite easy to become shocked or insulted by some of the stereotype portrayals in the musical, especially if you hear it BEFORE realizing that the satire is two-pronged: the character types in Avenue Q are meant to parody a lot of the pre-conceived images people grow up with, but also to parody the way Sesame Street tries to sensitize children to eachother's problems by portraying many of those stereotypes. (Seriously, didn't it always seem as the show had a checklist of races and cultures to include as "living" on Sesame Street?)

It's also quite refreshing to hear songs that address the people of today by saying things everybody is thinking, but may or may not actually say out loud: songs like "I Wish I Could Go Back to College," -- which shows how we enjoy reminiscing but pokes fun at how it's not always as good as we remember it being -- and "Mix Tape" -- a song which gets us to laugh about how we tend to overanalyze the tinest actions just to figure out if someone is romantically interested, even something as minor as making someone a mix tape.

Personally, I've always hated South Park, and always thought that Family Guy is a cheap and unimaginative imitation of the Simpsons... So I'm not the type who usually enjoys shock-based satire. But Avenue Q is different, because it's got earnesty in spades - and it's got heart, TONS of it. It may have shock factor, but that shock factor is ALWAYS done in the context of things that happen everyday in real life.

It's about time someone figured out that adults need their own Sesame Street. Real life is far too important to be taken seriously. And the music is damn good, to boot.