Director Robert D. Nation brings the deliciously naughty hit musical Avenue Q to Andrews Living Arts in Fort Lauderdale, for an unlimited run beginning April 12th. Avenue Q features music and lyrics by Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx, and a book by Jeff Whitty. In 2004 it received six Drama Desk Award nominations and five Tony Award Nominations, winning three Tony Awards, including the Tony Award for Best Musical.
Set in a fictional “outer-outer borough of New York City”, Avenue Q is largely inspired by the PBS children’s program Sesame Street. All but three of the characters in the show are puppets that are operated by the actors onstage. The puppets speak directly to each other and never to the actors operating them. The characters who are not puppets relate to the puppets, rather than to the actors holding them. During the course of the show, a puppet character may be operated by more than one of the actor-operators, although the same actor creates the voice for a particular puppet even if he or she is not holding the puppet at the time. The puppeteers usually wear nondescript black/gray clothing while the three human characters are dressed in bright colors like the puppets.
The recurring theme of Avenue Q is the central character’s search for a “purpose”. Unlike Sesame Street, Avenue Q openly addresses adult topics such as racism in the song “Everyone’s A Little Bit Racist”, pornography as in “The Internet Is For Porn”, and homosexuality as in “If You Were Gay.” As the show’s characters face today’s adult problems instead of those faced by pre-schoolers, there is adult language and content (including simulated sex between nude puppets) that make this show PG-13.
Avenue Q will preview at Andrews Living Arts on April 6th at 8 PM and April 7th at 2 PM. An extended run will begin April 12th, with performances on Thursdays, Fridays, & Saturdays at 8PM and Sundays at 2PM. The Andrews Living Arts Studio is located as 23 NW 5th St., Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33301. In addition to scheduled performances, the company offers a wide variety of acting classes and workshops taught by Robert Nation, and Master Classes featuring professional guest artists from NY and LA. For more information on the Andrews Living Arts Studio you may reach them by phone at 954-530-1879 or through Brown Paper Tickets at 800-838-3006 , or on line at andrewslivingarts.com.
