In 2003, Avenue Q was a provocative and hilariously original new musical that brought all kinds of puppetry realness to Broadway, winning three coveted Tony Awards the following year. It satirizes Sesame Street and its messages that everyone is special and life is great with sassy puppets who are, at turns, sexy, lost, fierce, and adorable.

Thirteen years later, even its “full puppet nudity” isn’t as shocking. As the The Barn’s 70th Season opener, though, it’s still delightfully relevant thanks to wonderful performances and excellent technical elements.

Avenue Q tells the story of Princeton, a vaguely Millennial-aged recent college graduate with an English degree who, amid his quest for purpose, stumbles upon deeper truths and hard knocks with a kooky cast of characters, both human and puppet, on his block in an “outer, outer borough” of New York. The characters include Gary Coleman, their building’s super, a poster child for the rising star smacked down by crippling disappointment.

But it’s all in good fun. In the opening, they sing joyfully “it sucks to be me,” revealing that no one is quite living the dream. Other peppy numbers, such as “Everyone’s A Little Bit Racist,” “The Internet is for Porn,” and “Schadenfreude” brightly and sweetly elucidate darker realities. Having fuzzy, colorful creatures smack us in the face with such harshness that rings true with levity is strangely heartening.

Director Eric Parker draws the most out of a wonderful ensemble, each perfectly suited to their roles. They’re all terrific actors and singers, successfully embracing the physical and artistic challenges of the puppetry. The actors are in full view, animating the puppets with their hands and voices while also showing their own expressive faces. When everything is in sync, and actor and puppet become one, the effect is magical, generating pure suspension of disbelief.

Melissa Cotton Hunter achieves this with both Kate Monster, the ingenue, and Lucy the Slut, showing extraordinary vocal and character range. Sam Balzac is wonderful as Princeton and Rod, the closeted Republican, developing real emotional subtleties and arc with both characters. Patrick Hunter is a stunning Trekkie Monster, with a spot-on Cookie Monster voice that turns beautifully operatic, and he’s also a super chill slacker Nicky, the Bert to Rod’s Ernie.

Hans Friedrichs and Brooke Evans make deliciously giddy Bad Ideas Bears, Care Bear-like darlings cheering on Kate and Princeton to binge drink and make other terrible decisions. Charlie King, Jasmine Ejan, and Shinnerrie Jackson are perfect in their human roles that must be extra high energy to match that of the bouncing puppets.

Music Director Matt Shabala and his fine orchestra make the upbeat, bluesy pop score especially crisp and bright, and leads the singers to create enormous sound and harmonies that are, at times, sublime.

Michael Wilson Morgan’s set creates the perfect street scene appropriately reminiscent of the television show of our youth, with pop-out windows and doors, that allow for effective scene changes without set changes as well as a fun video screen for funny teaching moments, numbers and words for grown ups.

Avenue Q is a bold choice for The Barn, and they pull it off with gusto, flexing this season’s company’s impressive range and skill, kicking off a promising 70th year with smart, lively fun.

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