By Bridgette M. Redman
ANN ARBOR –
PBS may still insist that Bert and Ernie aren't gay, but that won't stop the thinly veiled characters of "Avenue Q" from singing, "If you were gay, that'd be OK," as Niky tries talking Rod out of the closet.
This time they'll be singing those songs in Ann Arbor in the region's first community theater production of the hit musical whose rights just became available a few months ago. The Ann Arbor Civic Theater is producing the show that joyously declares that the Internet is for porn and everyone is a little bit racist. Director Wendy Sielaff said it was a lucky chance that Ann Arbor Civic was able to do it so quickly after the rights became available.
Sielaff had spent nearly nine months preparing to do "La Cage Aux Folles" in this time slot. Then, right in the middle of tech week for "Miss Saigon" this past June, she got a call telling her the rights for "Folles" had been pulled. Two hours later, she received a message from a different source – an email list that let her know the rights for "Avenue Q" had just become available.
"I got on the phone with Ann Arbor Civic and told them to go get it now," Sielaff said. "It fell into our laps by accident that we got it so early, but that was a blessing."
It was also one that had actors from throughout the region excited about participating in. People came to auditions from far and wide, and cast members drive in nightly from as far away as Ohio and Clarkston.
"Avenue Q" opened on Broadway in 2003 and went on to win three Tony Awards. It is a "Sesame Street" for grownups, though the Jim Henson Company has not endorsed the show and has nothing to do with its creation. Puppets interact with humans dealing with the difficulty of making it in the real world.
"The puppets can get away with saying the most amazing things," said Sielaff. "It's OK if you're gay, everyone is a little bit racist, the Internet is for porn. The appeal is the raw humor. We have puppet sex on stage, we have naked puppets … Kate Monster is definitely Prairie Dawn and she drops the F-bomb constantly. You just don't expect it."
Sielaff quickly brought Kyle Farr on board as the puppet director. He had performed in a version of "Avenue Q" in Kalamazoo a few years ago when it was being tested to determine how far rights could be released. He instituted a three-week puppet boot camp to teach all of the cast members how to manipulate the puppets and to manipulate their bodies when working with puppets. She said he has been amazing in teaching the cast, only one of whom had previous puppet experience. She also said her cast has taken to the work and put in all sorts of extra hours to learn what needed to be done.
"They've been so willing to do anything," Sielaff said. "We got the cream of the crop. Some bought their own practice puppets. They've been an amazingly wonderful cast to work with."
One of the mantras of the show has been to "keep it pure." They may be a community theater, but they're not modifying anything from the Broadway production. They've rented the puppets from the original production company and made their own videos for several of the scenes. The set itself may seem simple from the front, but in back it is an intricate piece of stagecraft.
"In the back we have scaffolds and ladders and platforms. People get 14 feet into the air. We knew it would be complex, but we never realized how much."
'Avenue Q'
8 p.m. Sept. 15-17, 2 p.m. Sept. 18
Ann Arbor Civic Theatre at Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre
911 N. University, Ann Arbor
$17-$22
http://www.a2ct.org
