Gropin' Sesame

It may look like a famous muppet-populated street but the hit Broadway show Avenue Q is brought to you by the letter 'R' and the number '16' for its rude humour. Photo / Supplied by Bridget Delaunay

It's hard to know where to look. At the actor? The puppet? Or both? Because unlike most puppet shows, the mad and colourful cast of characters in Avenue Q are operated by onstage actors who move and manipulate their puppet pals in full view of the audience.

It's an odd dynamic to get used to. But after a while - the puppeteers refer to it as "the 10-minute mark" - the cheeky grins and manic movements of the humans and puppets start to morph into one.

"Every night you can feel the audience collectively going, 'this is kind of bizarre'," says Luke Joslin, who plays the internet and porn-obsessed Trekkie Monster, a dead ringer for Sesame Street's Cookie Monster only bigger, louder and more of a delinquent.

"Then," says Joslin, "at the 10-minute mark it kicks in, everyone settles, and you let yourself go."

By the time Joslin and Trekkie - who, it's fair to say, is the crowd favourite - crack into The internet Is For Porn you're strangely hooked.

The thing is, Avenue Q is not a puppet show. It's hard to nail down actually what it is. It's a mix of puppet show, theatre, and musical - and like an X-rated and funny Sesame Street.

There are also elements of The Muppets, the crass and hilarious humour of South Park comes through on songs like It Sucks To Be Me and Everyone's A Little Bit Racist, but then there's an over-riding warm-heartedness to it.

Avenue Q tells the story of Princeton, a fresh-faced college graduate trying to work out his place in the world. He moves into Avenue Q in an "outer borough" of New York City, where he meets a bunch of loveable freaks like his main crush Kate Monster, seductress Lucy T. Slut, and a human called Gary Coleman, a take-off of the Different Strokes star who is the apartment superintendent where Princeton lives.

The show is a big hit in the United States, winning Tony Awards in 2004 for best musical and best score, and is still showing on Broadway to packed houses six years on.

The Australian production of the show, which has clocked up more than 300 performances across the Tasman, starts at the Civic in Auckland on May 13.

The tone of the show moves from sweet and romantic, to crude and cutting, and then philosophical all in one.

It delves into the value of friendships, follows the path to finding true love, and there's rampant puppet sex. In fact it's hard to know where to look when Kate Monster and Princeton are naked and getting it on to the tune of You Can Be as Loud as the Hell You Want (When You're Makin' Love).

"People love the sex scene. They roll around in their seats - but it's funny seeing them covering their eyes," laughs Natalie Alexopoulos, who plays Kate Monster.

Both Joslin and Alexopoulos were drawn to the show by the unique puppet-actor role and also how it blends a fiendish sense of humour with "serious everyday adult issues".

"It focuses on social inclusion, racial tolerance, community, friendship and relationships, and what all that means," says Joslin. "If you've got that sense of community and friendship in your life then everything kind of falls into place - and that's why people leave [the show] feeling good."

But coupled with that feel-good mood is the more sordid and confronting bits, like Trekkie's porn obsession, the dirty-minded Bad Idea Bears (like Care Bears only bad) who encourage Princeton to get Kate drunk and take advantage of her, and cheeky lyrics like, "ethnic jokes might be uncouth, but you laugh because they're based on truth".

"It is crass, and politically incorrect, and nine times out of 10, if you didn't have a puppet on your arm, you wouldn't get away with saying the things we say. Well, you probably could, but I don't think it would be received anywhere nearly as well."

Alexopoulos agrees: "Having the puppets means you express things differently and do things on stage that you wouldn't normally do." But, reckons Joslin, it also taps into your childhood and takes you back to watching The Muppets and Sesame Street - even though Rod ("a Republican investment banker with a secret") is far more camp than Bert, and his mate Nicky is far more reckless than Ernie.

"There's a wonderful heart to the show, and that's the other thing about these puppets, they do evoke so much emotion. But at the end of the day its not Shakespeare, it's just a very sweet and touching story with a lovely heart."

Lead actor Mitchell Butel, who plays Princeton and over-the-top Rod, says part of his passion for the show comes from having an obsession with puppeteer and Muppets creator Jim Henson. "A lot of puppets like Basil Brush just open their mouths and talk. But the Muppets have this kind of cool rolling along way about them, and a sideways head thing - and we've tried to take that into Avenue Q."

He also says similar to the Pixar films of today, the sense of story and character in Sesame Street and The Muppets, and many of Henson's other films, such as Labyrinth, were always strong.

"And there was always an incredible honesty to the characters, be it Miss Piggy to Snuffleupagus. And sometimes when you're watching normal actors you don't get that truth. So with Avenue Q, that appeals to me. And the crazy anarchy of everything."

While the most common comparison the show gets is Sesame Street-meets-South Park, Butel and director Jonathan Biggins liken Avenue Q to American sitcoms such as Friends and Seinfeld.

"With any sitcom that's about a group of people, you want to be part of that gang and that's what made Sesame Street so popular, its inclusiveness," says Biggins.

"That's the thing about Avenue Q, anyone is welcome there, and people's idiosyncrasies are tolerated, and that's what gives the show its heart."

And you might just get a little corrupted along the way, especially if Trekkie and Lucy have anything to do with it.

A SHOW OF HANDS: THE AVENUE Q WHO'S WHO

Trekkie Monster

Like his close cousin Cookie Monster, he's loud and loveable, but obsessed with the internet and porn instead of biscuits. The crowd favourite harbours a surprising secret.

Princeton

Innocent and likeable college graduate who is desperate to find his place in the world.

Kate Monster

A sensitive and sweet kindergarten teacher's assistant who is in love with Princeton. Also an animal in the bedroom.

Rod

A total drama queen, or, in the words of actor Mitchell Butel, "your closeted Republican investment banker".

Lucy T. Slut

This busty babe with bedroom eyes and a smoky voice seduces you, then spits you out.

LOWDOWN

What: Avenue Q, the musical, puppet theatre stage show like Sesame Street and The Muppets meets South Park

Where & when: Civic, Auckland, from May 13-23