In tone, attitude and style, you will not find two American musicals more different from each other than Guys and Dolls and Avenue Q.

The first of these, now playing at Spreckels Performing Arts Center features singing-and-dancing gamblers and gangsters in a family-friendly trifle about luck and love, set along Broadway in Prohibition-era New York City. The other one, now running at the Novato Theater Company, in Novato, puts potty-mouthed puppets alongside heckled humans in a contemporary R-rated send-up of Sesame Street.

Though polar opposites, both of these shows offer plenty of visual invention and clever songwriting—and each one shines bright and beautiful with some truly sensational singing.

Directed by Gene Abravaya, Guys and Dolls is packed with colorful characters - the marriage-phobic Nathan Detroit, played by Tim Setzer, the wealthy-and-amoral gambler Sky Masterson, an excellent Anthony Martinez, and the optimistic sidekicks Nicely-Nicely Johnson and Benny Southstreet, played by Ted Smith and Kyle Stoner, who are so good at harmonizing it’s almost illegal.

The story of Guys and Dolls is slight, to say the least As Nathan Detroit seeks a location for his illegal, nightly crap game, he avoids committing to his longtime fiancée Miss Adelaide, a nightclub dancer played well by Denise Elia-Yen. Simultaneously, Nathan is attempting to raise cash by betting Sky Masterson - who will make a bet on anything - that he can’t convince the pious and pretty Salvation Army missionary Sarah Brown -Stephanie Dietz - to have dinner with him . . . in Cuba. The tale’s effectiveness is

dampened a tad by a lack of chemistry between the romantic leads, but still works on the strength of Frank Loesser’s delightfully off-kilter songs, snappy musical direction by Janis Wilson, and a winsome cast and ensemble, with special kudos to the immensely engaging Clark Miller, as Sarah’s surprisingly understanding Uncle Arvide, who works with her at the midnight mission they’ve established to save souls of New Yorks criminal class.

Criminal Class. That’s a nice way to sum up Guys and Dolls.

On to Avenue Q, crisply directed with obvious glee by Carl Jordan, with superb musical direction by Monica Norcia. Avenue Q, set in another part of New York City, blends wicked social satire with outrageously crude onstage puppet shenanigans, offering a

stunningly realistic view of life after college and on the fringes of society and success.

The awesome puppetmaker Mary Hildebrand Nagler contributed the sensational puppets for this production.

Here’s the story.

An unemployed idealist named Princeton - played well by Robert Nelson - arrives on Avenue Q with a useless degree and no marketable skills, but dreaming of changing the world for the better.

He soon falls for the insecure but adorable Kate Monster, played with mountains of charm by Amanda Morano. Paths cross with Nicky and Rod (Seth Dahlgren and Alexander Belmont, who are Bert-and-Ernie-like roommates with a rather complicated relationship, since Rod is still in the closet, though everyone knows that A. he’s gay and B. he’s in love with Nicky. Meanwhile, upstairs neighbor Trekkie Monster (Dahlgren again) is a grouchy, porn-addicted recluse with a secret, And then there’s Lucy the Slut (Melissa Claire), who complicates everything.

It’s hilarious, entertaining, and delightfully spot on.

But be warned. Contrary to the whole “educational puppet vibe” Avenue Q was inspired by, there is off-color language, songs about racism and homophobia, and some no-holds-barred onstage puppet sex.

The songs are infectious, and the entire cast rocks, energetically co-creating a show that is as fresh as it is hilarious, outrageous, and surprisingly moving.

"Avenue Q" runs Friday–Sunday, through November 9 at Novato theater company, Novatotheatercompany.com.