Everybody is a little bit racist

Avenue Q brings its irreverent version of Sesame Street to the OB Playhouse through September 17th. Written by Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx way back in 2002, the bawdy puppets still feel fresh and timely.

Avenue Q is, while not a parody, a different take on Sesame Street. Where Sesame Street might have encouraged kids that they can do and be anything, Avenue Q has a song called, “It sucks to be me.”

Sesame Street encouraged cooperation and multicultural interactions. Avenue Q has a song called, “Everybody is a little bit racist”.

The “Q” in Avenue Q finds its significance as the main character, Princeton, looks for an apartment and a job. Princeton starts looking at Avenue A and ends up on Avenue Q — not the bottom of the barrel but below average.

This is one of the themes in the show which continues to resonate. Princeton has a degree in English and finds his realistic, for a puppet, options far below what he might have been led to believe by his optimistic “you can do anything”, upbringing.

Through a series of South Park-esque escapades, Princeton, eventually has the idea to turn his story into a Broadway show. The other characters ridicule him and convince him that it would never work in the real world.

The autobiographical content is owned by the creators of the show, but the whole thing doesn’t hold water. That Avenue Q exists as a Tony Award-winning show proves that you really can do anything.

That’s the most significant element of the “you can do anything” argument. If you have any success at all in criticizing the “you can do anything” position then you end up proving the “you can do anything” position.

The influence of South Park cannot be overlooked in Avenue Q. South Park’s edginess only works because it is a group of animated perennial fourth graders. The characters make jokes and perform sexual acts which could only be pulled off by animation or puppets. The show is hilarious, but it wouldn’t work at all without the puppets even though the puppeteers are clearly visible and present the entire time.