Tony Award-winning 'Avenue Q' right up Chicago's alley
After winning the 2004 Tony Award for Best Musical, "Avenue Q" took its sweet time to finally play Chicago with a three-week engagement at the Cadillac Palace Theatre in 2008. Now this affectionate and adults-only "Sesame Street" spoof is back again for an all-too-short Chicago visit, and this time around there are a few changes.
"Avenue Q" now uses non-Equity performers, even though the production design and creative team are the same as before under director and Northwestern University alumnus Jason Moore. Typically that switch can mean a drop in quality, but "Avenue Q" still shines through (especially in the cozier confines of the Bank of America Theatre).
Sure, some of the voices the actors affect aren't as spot on as they could be in spoofing "Street Street" characters. Michael Liscio, Jr., for example, only approximates the PBS puppet counterparts of Cookie Monster and Ernie respectively in playing Trekkie Monster and Nicky. Nor are the actors' puppeting skills as vibrantly life-animating as those of "Avenue Q's" original Broadway cast (many of whom were actual Sesame Workshop veterans).
But the strong emotional underpinnings needed to bring the characters to life are all still there, especially in performances by Brent Michael DiRoma and Jacqueline Grabois. These two make the audience care deeply for the very human issues facing these furry and felt creations dreamed up by the award-winning composing team of Robert Jopez and Jeff Marx and playwright Jeff Whitty.
Another change hearkens to the London production of "Avenue Q." Instead of a petite woman, the role of former child star Gary Coleman is now played by a man: the very talented Nigel Jamaal Clark.
The rest of the human cast is also great, with Tim Kornblum epitomizing the unemployed slacker, Brian, and Lisa Helmi Johanson all but stealing the show as the politically incorrect Japanese-American émigré Christmas Eve.
Though "Avenue Q" still carries the disclaimer that it "has not been authorized or approved in any manner by the Jim Henson Company or Sesame Workshop," it does (in its own irreverent way) pay a warm homage to those puppet-filled children's TV shows that sought to teach life lessons and empathy toward fellow human beings.
See it now while it's still in town.
"Avenue Q" Rating: #9733; #9733; #9733;#189;Location: Bank of America Theatre, 18 W. Monroe St., Chicago, (800) 775-2000 or broadwayinchicago.com Showtimes: 7:30 p.m. Thursday and Sunday, May 6 and 9; 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, May 7 and 8; 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, May 8 and 9Running time: Approximately two hours and 15 minutes; with intermissionTickets: $25-$100Parking: Nearby parking garagesRating: For mature audiences (lots of profanity, adult situations and some full-puppet nudity)False20001436 False <div class="infoBox"><h1>More Coverage</h1><div class="infoBoxContent"><div class="infoArea"><h2>Video</h2><ul class="video"><!-- Start of Brightcove Player --><div style="display:none"></div><!--By use of this code snippet, I agree to the Brightcove Publisher T and Cfound at https://accounts.brightcove.com/en/terms-and-conditions/.--><script type="text/javascript" src="http://admin.brightcove.com/js/BrightcoveExperiences.js"></script><object id="myExperience83115002001" class="BrightcoveExperience"><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><param name="width" value="300" /><param name="height" value="255" /><param name="playerID" value="18011347001" /><param name="publisherID" value="1659832549"/><param name="isVid" value="true" /><param name="dynamicStreaming" value="true" /><param name="@videoPlayer" value="83115002001" /></object><!--This script tag will cause the Brightcove Players defined above it to be created as soonas the line is read by the browser. If you wish to have the player instantiated only afterthe rest of the HTML is processed and the page load is complete, remove the line.--><script type="text/javascript">brightcove.createExperiences();</script><!-- End of Brightcove Player --></ul></div></div></div>