All of the puppets and several of the humans in this wonderful production also were in the 2014 production I saw at the Mercury Theater.

This time, however, I also got to go on a backstage tour. You can go to Playbill to learn about dressers and quick costume changes for actors in Broadway shows, but what if those actors are puppets (and I don’t mean just of the director, but rather actual puppets)? Playbill has some information on that too, as did the tour.

Some of the puppets in the show have several costume changes. So, just like in the movie Baby Geniuses, where real life triplets took turns playing the parts of twins, twins and triplets and more of the puppets, dressed differently, are called into action in Avenue Q, thus avoiding a possible costume malfunction or diva puppet tantrum.

This kind of arrangement is not to be confused with several child actors playing the same part, but on different nights, as when three boys playing Billy Elliot shared the Tony for best actor. Avenue Q won the Tony for best musical in 2004, but while two of the human actors were nominated, none of the puppets were, ironically, as one of the show’s songs is Everyone’s a Little Bit Racist.

Hygiene also is a big deal backstage at the show. After each performance, several of the puppets get hooked up to a machine, in a way reminiscent of the movie Coma, that helps clean out their insides. If you don’t have one of those machines at home, there is online help for puppet care and feeding.

The pinnacle of the experience was when I was given the opportunity to try a puppet on for size (see picture above). I was asked to lubricate my hand with a big glob of sanitizer beforehand, almost as if I were going to give the puppet a prostate exam.