MAYHEM AND MADNESS.(Avenue Q)(Theater Review)

The musical puppet-and-people show "Avenue Q" (at the Golden) has so much to recommend it--an exceptionally gifted cast, a strong book by Jeff Whitty, with equally strong music and lyrics by Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx, and the splendid direction of Jason Moore--that to focus on the highs in the production is rather like begging at a banquet when one's plate and cup are full to overflowing. But not to single out the remarkable Ann Harada--a funny girl who can sing, act, and let the audience in on the joke all at the same time--would be a mistake. Harada's character, Christmas Eve, a Japanese-born therapist who can't seem to book a client, lives on Avenue Q, in an ...