Avenue Q opened up the season at the Ogunquit Playhouse this year. The show is sort of a perversion of Sesame Street that is funny as hell and certainly worth seeing. The night we went was during one of the Bruins’ Playoff games (season ticket holders have only limited say over what night the tickets are for) and was the first show in years that my husband and I could remember that wasn’t sold out. It was still impressively full, though, considering (reference: Bruins’ Playoff game).
This show’s ticket has the warning not to bring children under 17 due to the explicit language and, um, live (puppet) sex onstage (two darn good reasons, don’t you think?) but then I read an interview with Brad Kenney this month in the York Independent and became confused. He is quoted in the article as qualifying the aforementioned good advice by saying:
“Well, we recommend parental discretion for anyone under 17–but, if you do bring them, you will be considered VERY cool! And they probably know all the songs anyway!”
Huh?
I attended a Playhouse show a couple of years ago (The Full Monty) which was a show (obviously) intended for adult audiences. Parents in the front row somehow thought it would be okay to bring their kids to see it too, one of which looked to be about tween-aged. Not only was the poor boy uncomfortable, but the actors on the stage were uncomfortable as well! How do I know this? Because one of them gestured to the boy in the front row and made a comment about having a child in the audience cramping his style, or words to that effect.
Parents? Leave your kids at home for adult-themed live shows.
Brad? My 12-year-old does not already know any of the words to any of the songs in Avenue Q!
Karen Creamer Author, Coach, Speaker 
Thank you!
I’m an adult and I’ve never heard of Avenue Q, but I agree that parents should leave their kids home when attending adult themed shows no matter how cool they want to look in their children’s eyes.