Princeton is fresh out of college and new to Avenue Q. He decides that he must figure out his purpose in life, this is something the fellow residents of Avenue Q attempt to help him with …
Forget everything you already know about puppets and how they work on stage, this show throws them all well and truly out of the window. You can see the people openly singing and moving around with them all dressed in black and that is just one of the many brilliant things about this musical. Believe it or not you actually find yourself watching the puppet instead of the actor/actress anyway.
Another brilliant thing about this musical has to be the songs, they aren’t scared and totally go for it with what you are thinking, it is strangely quite real. You can relate to the songs and understand how the characters feel. Especially if you have been to University/College that feeling of finishing and what you have to then do next. The Avenue Q gang are pretty crazy and the songs are hilarious from start to finish, but that doesn’t take away a lot of meaning in them as well. The odd swear word randomly in the songs adds to them and even makes them more real at times.
The show deals with all different types of problems and with song titles ‘It Sucks To Be Me’, ‘If you were gay’, ‘Everyone’s a little bit racist’ and ‘The Internet is for porn’ it isn’t going to be your normal trip to the theater. It was a ground breaking show and everything is still relevant today. It had been about 8 years since I last saw this one in the West End and it really is an amazing theater experience.
You won’t have seen anything like it before and you probably won’t see anything like it again. It is unique and it has a heart as well as being fall off your seat hilarious from start to finish. Some of the songs really hit home and you can relate to the characters, which may seem strange when most of them are puppets. The acting from the whole cast is incredible, especially when the main three double up on the voicing of the puppets as well. So much very quick changes happen on the stage as well. The emotions they all put into the show is fantastic, it really must be a difficult one to perform in night after night.
Kate Monster still remains my favorite character as she is just so sweet and innocent at times and then the bad idea bear kicks in and everything changes for her. Also being involved in the unbelievable ‘You Can Be as Loud as the Hell You Want (When You’re Makin’ Love)’ which sees puppets having sex on stage and don’t take that lightly at all they really do go for it, in every way imaginable. One of the many reasons this show is not recommended for children. Don’t let the puppet factor fool you, these puppets are not cute at all they are crazy!
It does have what I would call a real love song in ‘Theres a fine, fine line’ which really does hit home about love and that it could really be wasting your time. You really do feel for Kate Monster throughout the show. Princeton seems to be a typical young man and cannot get everything together quickly enough. Getting the most laughs and probably the most difficult part has to be Christmas Eve with her broken English.
Honestly you need to see this show (if you’re not easily offended) it will brighten your day and you will leave the theater with a huge smile on your face. It is a lot of fun and you really will laugh out loud for most of the show. So if you think it sucks to be you, see if it sucks as much as it does for the Avenue Q guys!
The tour continues in the UK until September, you can find more dates here.
