Picaresque Puppetry By Tom Wachunas Remember Bert,Ernie, and Cookie Monster? Imagine each one married, raising children who werehappy, hopeful, and secure in their beloved Sesame Street neighborhood. Thenimagine the frustrations of those children as 20-somethings on their own andwho, encountering a world terribly different from the one they envisioned askids, find themselves destitute and lonely on a far-flung, shabby street in NewYork City. What’s this ‘lost generation’to do? To paraphrase a song from AvenueQ, the Broadway musical that premiered in 2003 (music and lyrics by RobertLopez and Jeff Marx, book by Jeff Whitty), it sucks to be them. Most of the characters are Muppet-styled rodpuppets, with their human operators always clearly visible with them on stage.For this production by Canton’s Players Guild Theatre, Steve Parsons not onlyconducts the sparkling six-piece, off-stage orchestra, but also directed theamazingly gifted cast in a comical romp that starts in frolicsome overdrive(choreography by Michael Lawrence Akers) and rarely slows down. The intimacy ofthe Guild’s arena theater allows the audience to admire at close range the castmembers’ delightful abilities to let their puppets be their syncopated,empathetic partners in expressivity. So who are these partners? The affable Princeton(Matthew Heppe) is a recent college graduate ardently seeking his purpose inlife, and conflicted about his budding relationship with Kate Monster (AbigailRiley), equally conflicted as she dreams of founding “Monstersori” – a specialschool for monsters only. The chemistry between Heppe and Riley is quitemarvelous – a piquant blend of vulnerability and youthful hope. Additionallythere’s Rod (Vincent Sisely), a tightly-wound banker and closeted gay, constantlyat odds with his straight, lazy roommate, Nicky (Stephen Berg). The hermitic,strangely endearing, and porno-addicted Trekkie Monster (Adam Cerrezuela) livesupstairs. Lucy the Slut (Sarah Marie Young) is a sultry and intrusive temptressin the style of Mae West at her most lascivious. Then there are the relentlessBad Idea Bears (Craig Joseph and Alexis Long), mischievous critters who live upto their name by implanting pernicious impulses in their vulnerable victims.Joseph’s frenetic facial and vocal contortions constitute a gut-splittingperformance unto itself. Three actuallyhuman characters round out the Avenue Q tenants: Brian (Brian O. Jackson), anunemployed would-be comedian; his Japanese fiancée, Christmas Eve (MarySheridan), a therapist looking for clients; and the apartment buildingsuperintendent, ex-child star Gary Coleman (Tiffeny Brown). Among the wittyand/or wickedly cynical tunes (such as Everyone’sA Little Bit Racist, and The Internetis for Porn) that pepper thisgluttonously funny feast of a show, none seems more illustrative of its overallaesthetic than There’s a Fine, Fine Line. Riley’s Kate Monsterleads one of the evening’s more poignantand anxiety-filled scenes at the end of Act I when she sings, with herastonishingly sweet and crystalline tonality, “There's a fine, fine linebetween a lover and a friend; There's a fine, fine line between reality andpretend…” Later in Act II, MarySheridan’s Christmas Eve, responding to Kate Monster’s frustration withPrinceton’s fear of commitment, provides a hilarious quasi-counterpoint whenshe strides about the stage like a sarcastic opera diva, intoning The More You Ruv Someone (the more youwant to kill them). That said, while finelines can require careful walking, this show crosses several with cavalier ifnot disturbing ease - lines between compelling satire and insipid parody, betweenthe venerable and the vulgar. Speaking of the latter, satire or not, and despitethe paroxysms of laughter elicited from the house, did we really need to seethe ribald enactment of Kate and Princeton’s one-night stand? Fornicatingpuppets…seriously? After a while, the“off-color” humor gets to be just that. Call it a raucous monotone, which tendsto overshadow any truly dramatic authenticity in those coming-of-age momentslate in the show when these angst-riddled neighbors manage to find sustainableresolutions to their respective situations. Sure, there are a few references toJesus and selfless service to others, but they come off a little bit likedisingenuous afterthoughts amid so much existential insouciance. Like whistlingin the dark. But I think the fault, should you perceive it as such, lies in thewriting, not the performing. In the end, Iended up caring about these characters if only because, 13 years after theirinception, they still reflect the flaws and wounds of a culture navigating lifewithout a steady moral compass. Belly laughs aside, I want that culture toexperience not just the cautionary jubilance voiced in the show’s closingnumber, Only For Now, but moreimportantly, an unequivocal surrender to a Divinely appointed forever. Avenue Q, at the Players Guild Theatre (inthe W.G. Fry Theatre) runs throughSunday March 13, 2016 / Friday and Saturday performances at 8:00pm, Sunday matineesat 2:00 PM. Tickets: $26.00 for adults, and $23.00 for seniors. Tickets may be purchased online 24 hours aday at www.playersguildtheatre.com or in person at the Players Guild BoxOffice, located in the Great Court of the Cultural Center for the Arts, 1001Market Ave N. By phone: 330-453-7617. Please note, due to adult content this productionis intended for mature audiences only. For othercommentaries by Tom Wachunas on the performing and visual arts in the Cantonarea, please visit his blog, ARTWACH, at www.artwach.blogspot.com