REVIEW: HTI’s “AVENUE Q” IS A HILARIOUS BLEND OF CRASS COMEDY AND COMMUNITY SPIRIT

Nov 16

Hamilton Theatre Inc. opens its 67th season with a crass musical comedy that, to the shock of many theatre goers, beat out the juggernaut Wicked winning the “Triple Crown” for Best Musical, Best Score and Best Book over twenty years ago. Revisiting any comedy from that era is naturally a bit of a rude awakening. Luckily, though some of the comedy and social mores are now outdated, Avenue Q has aged remarkably well for what it is. The heart beneath the naughty jokes and narrative shines through and its message about community is still as relevant as ever.

The titular Avenue Q, like Sesame Street, is an inner-city neighborhood (a splendid set design by Chris Stolz and crew) where humans, furry monsters and humanoid quasi-Muppets live together in the ghetto, facing the realities of unemployment, prejudice and life’s uncertainties. Optimistic college graduate Princeton (a likable, charming performance from Ryan McGinlay) moves to the Q since it's the only thing he can afford. Over the course of a year, he seeks his purpose in life, chases love with sweet Kate Monster (played and sung to perfection by Kristi Boulton) and lust with adult film star/lounge singer Lucy (a sultry and devious Katlyn Alcock), and finds a new community with his dysfunctional neighbours.

A large chunk of the show's appeal is the puppeteering style its original production pioneered. A fusion of Jim Henson's ‘Muppeteering’ with bunraku, the visible human puppeteers act and move in synchronization with their puppets, blending their more expressive body language and faces to the puppet's own physicality. Hours of work was put into creating rehearsal puppets on top of the final puppets used in the show and puppet creators/masters Giovan Anthony Paz, Re Magil and Jennifer Ferreira deserve huge acknowledgement for their efforts here. Watching the cast become one with their respective puppet counterparts and match with the actor’s emotions and words is extremely impressive work.

Musically, this is one of HTI’s best. The five piece band, led by Musical Director Jennifer Ferreira, sounds incredible and the sound mixing is almost a non-issue. The songs are full of gorgeous harmonies that the cast excel at throughout. There are also some sobering moments in an otherwise upbeat musical, especially the flute that soars in Kate Monster’s devastating break up ballad There’s a Fine, Fine Line. Lyrically, the songs are catchy, full of innuendo and heart. Sometimes it’s hard to believe that the lyricist, Robert Lopez, is the part of the duo that also wrote the music and lyrics for Disney’s Frozen (among others).

Performance wise, the entire cast gives it their all. High energy from the moment the lights hit the stage, everyone is having the time of their life. Director Aramenta Sobchak has passionately worked with each member of the cast to ensure memorable performances. Highlights include the introduction of the assorted misfits in It Sucks to Be Me and The Internet is for Porn, featuring newcomer to HTI’s community, Gregory Cruickshank, who is an absolute delight as perverted but beloved Trekkie Monster. His vocal performance is impressively close to the original cast version, adding to the hilarity of the role. The same can be said for John Connolly as Nicky, who shines in both If You Were Gay and Schadenfreude.

The human characters are great fun too. Matt Moore (Brian), Quincy Clarke (Gary Coleman) and Victoria Kyoko (Christmas Eve) all deliver great comedic moments and their enthusiasm is infectious. Kyoko was a standout as the nosy but maternal struggling therapist and her performance of The More You Ruv Someone was an unexpected highlight of the second act.

More than twenty years later, the show continues to find its community. It's still uproariously funny, just in a nostalgic way. It's a similar feeling to watching vintage episodes of Family Guy or South Park. That being said, viewing Avenue Q in 2025 as a time capsule piece isn't the worst thing for a musical comedy to be. Hamilton Theatre Inc. has put their hearts, hands and hours of community spirit into this production and it shows. Head on down to Avenue Q, you’ll be glad you did.

AVENUE Q TICKETS