REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK:

During the opening scene of the adult-themed Broadway musical “Avenue Q,” when the first few actors come on stage holding their furry puppets in their hands like ventriloquist dummies, one can’t help but wonder why the miniatures are necessary.

The puppets mimic the same gestures and emotions as the plainly visible actors holding them. It all seems a bit redundant — that is, until you see a male puppet reach for his groin and make an explicit symbolic movement that is enough to convince any parents that their children would be better off with a group of drunken fraternity brothers as baby sitters than watching the musical.

Then it hits you: The fuzzy surrogates are the only things that allowed the producers and directors to get away with gags so obscene that human beings acting them out would undoubtedly send even liberal audiences fleeing to the exits.

“Somehow it’s OK because it’s puppets and not people. If people were saying these things they might be a little offensive,” one of the actor-puppeteers said before the show.

Born in New York City, the musical is definitely geared toward a 20- to 40-year-old crowd. All the main characters are in that age range and they struggle with post-collegiate problems like finding and keeping a job, committing to a relationship and coming to terms with their identities.

Instead of becoming outdated, the musical is probably more topical today than it was when it came out. Early into the show, only a couple of the characters are employed.

Situated in a socially conservative area and usually attended by an older demographic, the Orange County Performing Arts Center seems an unlikely venue for “Avenue Q,” which played to packed houses in younger, metropolitan areas.

“We try to never judge what [the reception] is going to be like because it’s always a surprise. The towns that you think might not like the show at all sometimes love it the most,” said understudy Lexy Fridell a week before the opening in Costa Mesa.

Those words turned out to be prophetic Wednesday night as the audience gave the performance a standing ovation after laughing uproariously throughout.

The gratuitous use of four-letter words and blunt lyrics in songs like “The Internet is for Porn” and “Everyone’s a Little Bit Racist,” drew the loudest laughs and cheers, but they weren’t for everybody. A few theatergoers sat silently and didn’t applaud or return after intermission.

The crass humor and anything-but-subtle sexuality of the musical is tempered by a romantic, if unconventional, plot. A love story is the center of the narrative.

One oddity that seems like it must be a relic from back when the show premiered off-Broadway in 2003 (before becoming an international, multimillion-dollar success) is that the cast members actively hit up the audience for donations not once, but twice in the evening. One cleverly couched scene has cast members running through the aisles passing hats during the performance as part of a fundraising effort that is built into the plot. Then, after the show, the actors themselves stood on the way to the exits holding donation buckets for the charity Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

IF YOU GO

WHAT: “Avenue Q,” the puppet musical

WHERE: Orange County Performing Arts Center, Segerstrom Hall

WHEN: Now through April 12

COST: $20 to $70

CAUTION: Not recommended for children

MORE INFORMATION: (714) 556-2787

Reporter ALAN BLANK may be reached at (714) 966-4623 or at alan.blank@latimes.com.