Avenue Q cast photo courtesy Nicholas Souza.

(BIVN) – This past weekend saw the historic Hilo Palace Theater open its doors to full capacity for the first time in four years.

Crowds were entertained by the “outrageous” Tony award-winning musical, Avenue Q. The show runs weekends through April 3rd. 

“Avenue Q will mark the first time in forty-two months that the Palace has been allowed to sell a full house,” said Phillips Payson, the Executive Director of the theater, in a news release promoting the show. “Since 2018, operational capacity was reduced while maintenance and upgrades were made to the sprinkler system. Then of course, we had to limit seating capacity even further because of Covid. But now the fire safety system is upgraded and Covid capacity restrictions have been lifted. So, this is a really big deal and we sincerely hope Hilo comes out to support our long awaited return!”

The show is being described as “Sesame Street meets South Park” features a cast of Hilo’s favorite musical theatre stars, “plus a cast of outrageous, sassy foul-mouthed puppets.” According to the news release:

The fresh, funny and irreverent take on the joys and challenges of making it on your own strikes a chord with audiences young and old alike. But be forewarned, due to strong language, adult situations (like full-frontal-puppet nudity) and mature themes, Avenue Q may be inappropriate for children.

Tickets start at $20.

Show times are:
Friday March 18th @ 7:00pm
Saturday March 19th @ 7:00pm
Sunday March 20th @ 2:30pm
Friday March 25th @ 7:00pm
Saturday March 26th @ 7:00pm
Sunday March 27th @ 2:30pm
Friday April 1st! @ 7:00pm
Saturday April 2nd! @ 7:00pm
Sunday April 3rd! @ 2:30pm

Tickets for the show are available at hilopalace.com