Avenue Q: 2 recommendations
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Written by Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx, Avenue Q has garnered a huge cult following with its irreverent humour, light hearted take on controversial issues and its ingenious use of Jim Henson inspired puppets. Opening at New York's Vine Theatre in 2003, Avenue Q was an immediate hit and transferred to Broadway's John Golden theatre only four months later, where it remains as the twenty-eighth longest running performance in Broadway history. This success has spawned productions in Las Vegas and London, a US national tour and a number of international versions.
Essentially an homage to Jim Henson's Sesame Street rather than a parody of it (author Jeff Marx and a number of Broadway cast members have in fact worked on the show), Avenue Q tells about the lives of a number of puppets and their human neighbours who live on the street of the title. However, Avenue Q is geared towards an adult audiences, expressing an hilarious take on issues such as racism, unemployment, homosexuality and pornography with memorable and hysterical characters such as graduate Princeton, 'closeted homosexual' Rod, morbidly promiscuous Lucy T Slut and washed up child actor Gary Coleman. Because of the adult content, Avenue Q makes it explicit that it is connected in no way with Jim Henson, and warns that it contains strong language and 'full puppet nudity'.
The London production began in June 2006 at the newly refurbished and freshly renamed Noel Coward Theatre (formerly the Albery) and underwent a huge cast change with the departure of all seven principles. The cast now includes Daniel Boys from BBC's Any Dream Will Do in the lead role of Princeton/Rod.
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Reviews
The Guardian
Puppetry is no longer kids' stuff. It's been expressively used in Shakespeare and Puccini and now comes this acclaimed New York musical to rechristen the old Albery Theatre.
As a late convert to the art of string-pulling and manual manipulation, I warmed to this Muppet-style mix of humans and puppets even if, after two hours, I felt, as Mr Bennet said of his daughter's piano playing, it had delighted me sufficiently.
The Times
It’s mischievous and, frankly, rather juvenile stuff — but then what’s so wrong with that? Indeed, there’s something almost refreshing in several of the jaunty-sounding songs. Rodgers and Hart never composed a number called It Sucks, referring to people’s unfulfilled lives. You won’t find a song called Everybody’s a Little Bit Racist in the Lerner and Loewe archives or Schadenfreude, which is a jolly salute to the enjoyment of other people’s unhappiness, in Kander and Ebb’s unpublished files.
