s UNBC Life

Kelley Ware Multimedia Coordinator

E year, the UNBC Musical Productions club presents a musical to the public in the Canfor Theatre. This year, they selected the puppet-centric Broadway musical Avenue Qand absolutely outdid themselves.

Described by many cast members as “Sesame Street for Adults,” Avenue Q follows the trials of early adulthood with both human and puppet characters. With songs such as “What Do You Do with a B.A. in English?”, the content of the musical is extremely relevant for university students who will soon be graduating and entering the real world. In many ways, Avenue Qwas the perfect choice for a musical to perform at a university. Not only are we the right demographic to target with a story about the journey of young adulthood, but we

are also a generation that grew up learning lessons from Sesame Street on television.

When we were children, we watched colourful puppets teach us lessons about friendship and believing in yourself. It only feels appropriate to follow equally colourful characters as they struggle with relationships, jobs, porn addictions, and Bad Idea Bears (the personification of those terrible ideas that sound so awesome at the time that you just have to do them, such as spending your rent money on beer). Avenue Q held the right amount of heart, humour, and nostalgia to make it both charming and hilarious.

The cast and crew of Avenue Q did not fail to impress. Many times it was hard to remember that the performers, technicians, and set- designers are students. The quality of the

puppets used (all hand-made by the cast and crew) were incredibly impressive. They looked like they belonged in a Jim Henson production. That alone is an enormous success for the Musical Production club. The only problems that I was able to see

on opening night were small technical issues (such as a couple actors’ mics cutting out slightly at times). However, these

small issues did not truly affect the level

of enjoyment gained from the show.

The acting and singing talent of the cast was also remarkable. Most notably Franco Celli (Princeton), Adrienne Legault (Kate Monster), and Michelyn Rutledge (Gary Coleman) absolutely blew me away on multiple occasions during their solos. However, the entire cast was quite good and vastly entertaining. Likewise, all music played was performed by a live

band behind the set, something that also brought in an impressive amount of professional-level skill to the production.

There were heartfelt moments, slightly depressing moments, hilarious moments, and incredibly raunchy moments. Most memorable of the latter was the drunken sex scene between Princeton and Kate Monster. It was both hilarious and awkward as we watched Celli and Legault mash naked puppets against each other (yes, they designed the puppets to be naked). I’m not sure I needed to know that they gave Kate Monster nipples, but I don’t necessarily regret finding out.

UNBC Musical Productions has set the bar incredibly high this year, I’m not sure how they will be able to top it in the future.