The plot of Avenue Q is not (nor is it meant to be) hard to follow. The story tracks Princeton (Robert McClure), a puppet fresh out of college with a bachelor’s degree in English, and his neighbors—both the puppet and human kind—on rundown Avenue Q in New York City. As Princeton searches for his purpose in life, he falls in and out of love with Kate Monster (Anika Larsen), a kindergarten teacher’s assistant; neighbor Rod secretly pines after his heterosexual roommate Nicky (spoofs of Bert and Ernie, respectively); and engaged tenants Brian and Christmas Eve struggle as an unemployed comedian and a therapist without any clients.

For most, the biggest selling point of Avenue Q is its Tony Award-winning soundtrack, featuring songs such as “Everyone’s a Little Bit Racist,” “If You Were Gay,” and the YouTube-popularized “The Internet is for Porn.” Many of the songs are a bit too juvenile for me; I wasn’t surprised to learn that Q lyricists Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx were also behind “Everything Comes Down to Poo” from the “My Musical” episode of Scrubs. My favorite song of the 26-song set list was “I Wish I Could Go Back to College,” featuring the home-hitting verse, “I wish I could go back to college/In college you know who you are/You sit in the ([Q]uad), and think, ‘Oh my God!/

I am totally gonna go far!’”

As a whole, the cast did a phenomenal job. McClure, Larsen, and David Benoit as Trekkie Monster and Nicky gave top-notch performances as puppeteers and lent genuinely muppety voices to their characters. Audiences must get used to following the puppets themselves, rather than their handlers, as they frequently “change hands,” so to speak, throughout the show.

Overall, Avenue Q was a good show, but not a great one. The performances were strong and clear, but the lyrics and humor left a little to be desired. You may find the references predate your childhood (e.g., Diff’rent Strokes) or that you don’t remember much Sesame Street, but the show remains entertaining and worth seeing at least once.