With a terrace of shabby looking houses, songs with a message to be delivered and superb interaction between the puppets and the human characters, this show has the totally authentic look and feel of a classic episode of the children’s favourite, Sesame Street, but there is one, less than subtle, difference.
With songs like Everyone’s a Little Bit Racist, If You Were Gay, It Sucks to Be Me, I’m Not Wearing Underwear Today and the classic, The Internet Is For Porn, what we have here is what would have happened if Sesame Street had grown up at the same rate as it’s viewers.
The wonderfully catchy score and lyrics by Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx, together with the book by Jeff Whitty, create this multi award-winning gem of a show which, under Cressida Carré’s slick and tight direction, flows seamlessly from start to finish and is a non-stop feast for the eyes and ears.
Etisyai Philip as one time child star and now apartment superintendent, Gary Coleman, Richard Morse as would be comedian Brian, and Arina Ii as the wonderfully named therapist, Christmas Eve, are the humans in the show and each has brilliant comic timing and, very cleverly, ensures that all the interaction is directed straight at the puppets and never at the puppeteers.
Other than the more adult nature of the content, the biggest difference between Avenue Q and its TV inspiration is the fact that all of the puppeteers are visible and no attempt is made at ventriloquism. This performance style is also used in the stage version of The Lion King and, as with that show, it can take just a little while to get comfortable with it . The puppeteers are quite simply brilliant. Their skill at creating personalities for their puppets is incredible and each one comes “alive” before our very eyes.
Sarah Harlington is responsible for the two female leads, Kate Monster and Lucy the Slut. The characters are total opposites, and Harlington ensures that they both have very distinct personalities. In one scene the two “ladies” meet in the same apartment and, helped by Jessica Parker who manipulates the puppet of Lucy, Harlington manages to voice both characters, while still controlling Kate.
Stephen Arden has Nicky and Trekkie Monster, both of the larger, two handed, puppets to work with and, again assisted by Jessica Parker (who is credited as “the second arm”), he ensures that both puppets dominate the stage whenever they appear.
The two male leads, college graduate Princeton and repressed gay Rod, are both played, in his second national tour with the show, by Richard Lowe. Of all of the cast, he seems the most adept and using his body as an extension of the puppet and, in some of Rod’s more dramatic scenes, he really lives the part. Both of his puppets are given very distinct voices and, despite the relatively high-pitched American accent, Lowe is able to sing faultlessly with the same voices as they speak and he gives a fantastic performance.
Although it is 10 years since the first UK production of Avenue Q, the show still feels as fresh and funny as it was back then and, with its sassy combination of hummable tunes, wacky characters and downright dirty humour, it will keep audiences flocking back for many years to come.
**** 4 Stars
