It looks deceptively like Sesame Street - but Avenue Q is definitely not for the preschool crowd.
The Arts Club Theatre is bringing the Tony Award-winning Broadway puppet musical to the stage at Shadbolt Centre for the Arts as part of its Arts Club on Tour series.
It's on Tuesday to Thursday, Oct. 7 to 9 in the Shadbolt's James Cowan Theatre.
Described as "irreverently witty and outright uproarious," Avenue Q is the musical story of Princeton (Jeremy Crittenden), a bright-eyed college graduate who arrives in New York City looking for love, a job and a purpose in life. The only neighbourhood he can afford is the multicultural Avenue Q, where Sesame Street-esque puppets rub shoulders with humans.
"The music is playful, the lyrics are outrageous, the script is hilarious, and the characters are delightful," said director Peter Jorgensen in a press release. "Underneath its colourful fur, a big, boisterous heart beats. Avenue Q is the perfect musical comedy ... unless you are under 14 years of age. I'm thrilled to be taking our hit production on tour to entertain even more audiences."
The musical won the Tony Award "Triple Crown" - Best Musical, Best Book and Best Score - in 2004, and last year's Arts Club production won the 2013 Jessie Richardson Theatre Award for Outstanding Musical.
Audiences are warned that, although it's a puppet show, it's definitely not for kids.
Among the subjects it tackles? Raucous sexual congress, failed childhood stardom, excessive drinking, moving in and out of a slummy neighbourhood, investing, mix-tapes, cute creatures doing bad things, getting fired, getting rehired, exotic dancing, erotic dancing, racism, pornography, roommates, coming out of the closet, going to college, panhandling, wishing you were back in college, coming out of your shell, and recycling.
The production also stars Jeny Cassady, Kayla Dunbar, Nick Fontaine, Evangelia Kambites, Andy Toth and Selina Wong.
Musical director is Sean Bayntun.
Along with its Burnaby dates, the production is also travelling to North Vancouver, Chilliwack, Mission, Surrey, Coquitlam, Kelowna, Vernon, Maple Ridge, Duncan, Nanaimo and Courtenay, before taking up residence at the Arts Club's Granville Island Stage from Nov. 20 to Jan. 3.
Check out www.artsclub.com for more details.
Tickets for the Shadbolt Centre show are available through tickets.shadboltcentre.com or the box office at 604-205-3000.
