ONSTAGE REVIEW: ‘Avenue Q’ takes successful Vintage formula to Ignite stage

The Ignite Theatre company’s production of the smash Broadway musical “Avenue Q” may feel familiar to dedicated fans of local theater.

That’s because the show currently running in the Aurora Fox studio theater is an almost complete remount of the Vintage Theatre’s critically acclaimed 2011 production, one of the last shows to run in the theater’s former digs on 17th Avenue in Denver. The current Ignite production faithfully seeks to recreate every detail of the original show, reuniting the vast majority of the cast and crew and taking design, sound and production cues straight from the Vintage performance.

The Ignite Theatre’s current production of the musical ‘Avenue Q’ is a remount of the Vintage Theatre’s show from 2011. The critically acclaimed show features a mixed cast of people and puppets and runs at the Fox until Nov. 3. (Courtesy photo)

With such a critically beloved show as its model, it would be pretty tough to screw up this show. And here’s the good news: Director Bernie Cardell and the reassembled cast and crew don’t screw it up. Just as it did in 2011, this show offers the feel of a big-scale Broadway show on a small stage.

The inherent challenge of putting on a performance of the “Sesame Street”-inspired musical by Jeff Whitty, Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx hasn’t changed. With a cast made up mostly of puppets and the animated segments that come as part of the script, “Avenue Q” poses plenty of hurdles for a small theater company on a shoestring budget.

Once again, Cardell and the cast take up these demands with ease. The puppetry is spot-on, as is the videography, stage and sound design. This time around, the cast take on their roles with the confidence of proven veterans. Time has had an impact on the script itself — some of the gags in Whitty’s book somehow feel less trenchant and irreverent than they did when the show debuted on Broadway during George W. Bush’s administration. For the most part, however, the comedy keeps its power, and the score by Lopez and Marx is as charming as ever.

For those who missed it the first time, “Avenue Q” draws on the charm of furry puppets and colorful graphics beamed on a television screen to convey a story in true PBS form. Instead of lessons about colors or numbers, however, the show tackles more adult themes like relationships, college debt and sex. All of these tough life lessons come in the exploits of the furry main characters.

Princeton (Keith Rabin, Jr.), an English major fresh out of college arrives at the dilapidated Avenue Q neighborhood in search of an apartment and a life purpose. He finds the former through an unlikely landlord, Gary Coleman (Anna High), and senses traces of the latter through a budding relationship with Kate Monster (Carolyn Lohr), a sweet puppet with life goals grounded in a career as a teacher.

A varied cast of monsters, bears, bizarre characters and people round out the neighborhood. There’s Brian (Eric Fry) and Christmas Eve (Arlene Rapal), a human couple set to be married; Trekkie Monster (Patrick Brownson), a recluse obsessed with Internet porn; and Rod (Steffan Scrogan, the sole newcomer to the cast) and Nicky (Mark Shonsey), two roommates resembling Ernie and Bert who seem a bit too close.

Considering the dynamic of the show, much of its comedy depends on a combination of costumes, puppetry and effects. Cardell and the cast haven’t forgotten the lessons learned two years ago.

Both Rabin and Lohr haven’t lost any of their skill as leads. Once again, it’s difficult to tell where the puppets end and the actors begin. Lohr’s performance is all the more impressive, considering that she plays the two puppet roles of Kate Monster and Lucy T. Slut, sometimes simultaneously. All of the other memorable performers are back in top form.

Mike Uhlenkamp’s set design recreates the charm of a vintage Sesame Street set, and Rob Rehburg’s videography offers nostalgia for anyone who grew up watching “The Electric Company” on public television. A quintet directed by Trent Hines does justice to the irreverent score.

All of this shouldn’t come as news for anyone who caught the Vintage production in 2011. But while the highlights here may be familiar for some, Cardell and the cast have revived some truly magical moments for the uninitiated.