Avenue Q

A relative newcomer on the West End scene, Avenue Q is a deliciously fun and enjoyable musical. Entering its third year on the West End, the show is very much inspired by classic children’s puppet show Sesame Street, with many of the characters parodying our childhood favourites; Bert and Ernie become Rod and Nicky whilst the Cookie Monster becomes the Treckie Monster.

Set in a rundown suburb of New York, the show combines puppets, real-life actors and multimedia inserts to provide a unique musical experience for the audience. It’s saying “furwell” on the 28th March, so if you’re wanting to see it, you better visit theatreguide.co.uk and get down to the Noel Coward Theatre as soon as possible. The plot follows the aptly named Princeton, a college graduate (hmm, I wonder where from?) who moves to Avenue Q and attempts to discover his own meaning in life and pursue his dreams. This modern day story of self-discovery and coming of age is complicated and given added hilarity by the busty blond who attempts to distract Princeton, the pitiful state of Princeton’s own finances and a whole host of human and puppeteered friends and neighbours.

Winning 3 Tony Awards in the U.S in 2004, Avenue Q made the leap across the Atlantic in 2006, since which it has been performed more than a staggering 1000 times and tickets are always hard to come by. The London Cast, aside from the wonderfully crafted puppets, is headed by Joanna Ampil, Julie Atherton and Daniel Boys, who belt out memorable numbers such as “There’s a fine, fine life” and the Finale number, “For now”.

The West End really will be a quieter, duller place once this musical has left our streets. The Sunday Times perhaps summed up the ethos of the show best of all when it commented that it was like “X-Rated Sesame Street with a hint of Friends”. Other critics have jumped on the shows ‘youth culture’ edge with Johnnie Walker on Radio 2 dubbing Avenue Q the “musical for the IPod generation”

Audiences should be warned that, whilst the visual style of Sesame Street is clearly being lampooned, this is certainly not a children’s show, with the production recommending that children under 12 would find the show highly unsuitable and children under the age of 5 are banned altogether; an excellent excuse to leave the kids with grandma for a night then!