What do Tuscon, Arizona and puppets have in common? Not a lot. But this is the city where I had my first Avenue Q experience.  In October last year I was informed that we were considering Avenue Q for TPAC’s 08/09 season so I was given the opportunity to see for myself what all the hype was about.  
 
I must admit that besides knowing that Avenue Q featured puppets and had won the Tony for Best Musical (beating Wicked) I really didn’t know a great deal about the show.  What I did quickly learn, however, was that everyone I spoke to who had seen the show, would burst into a smile telling me how much they loved it. Needless to say, I arrived at Tuscon’s Music Hall Theater with some pretty high expectations.   
 
As I walked around the lobby looking at the show merchandise I began to get a bit more of an idea of what I was in for with Avenue Q. I saw a poster featuring one of the characters – Lucy the Slut - with a blatant disclaimer across the top stating ‘Full Puppet Nudity’ and my colleague and I couldn’t help ourselves and purchased a wildly inappropriate ‘Internet is for Porn’ mouse pad for one of our workmates.
 
The show was definitely laugh-out-loud funny. The humor is in your face, unapologetic, not at all politically correct, and indiscriminate. I’m pretty sure that my jaw dropped open a few times as I thought ‘did they actually just say that?!’ and I definitely squirmed during the ‘puppet sex scene’! I absolutely loved it though! I thought it was amazing how seamlessly the actors worked with their puppets, the facial expressions, the catchy songs, the clever lyrics and I was thoroughly entertained from start to finish.
 
I think it’s great that TPAC is bringing this hit show to Nashville – it’s young, fresh and edgy and very entertaining! As we walked out of the theater my colleague turned to me and summed it up, “that was Sesame Street, gone wrong - in a way that is oh so right!”

Golriz Lucina
Marketing Manager