Avenue Q – Shaftesbury Theatre, London

Book: Jeff Whitty

Music & Lyrics: Robert Lopez & Jeff Marx  

20 years on from its original West End debut, Avenue Q is back, and as just as outrageous, ridiculous and hilarious as ever.

Like a grown-up Sesame Street, the residents of Avenue Q are a tight-knit community who spend a lot of time together. Princeton (Noah Harrison) is the newest kid on the block, recently graduated with a BA in English and devoid of any job prospects, desperate to find his purpose in life. He meets his new neighbours quickly: Kate Monster (Emily Benjamin) is as suggested, a monster, who dreams of setting up her own monster school; Trekkie Monster (Charlie McCullagh) just wants to crack on and watch his porn in peace; Gary (Dionne Ward-Anderson) is a former child star, turned handyman; the Bad Idea Bears (Meg Hateley and McCullagh) want to lead everyone into dubious life choices; couple Christmas Eve (Amelia Kinu Muus) and Brian (Oliver Jacobson) fight just as much as they love; and best friends Rod (Harrison) and Nicky (McCullagh) are the local Bert and Ernie dynamic duo.

Despite the various characters and their individual plot threads, Jeff Whitty’s story is still very much secondary to the puppetry and production. The loose storyline about friendship, finding yourself and fulfilment wouldn’t be strong enough to hold attention with a full human cast, but being delivered by puppets makes it a perfectly light-hearted add-on to the other impressive aspects of the production. I

f you saw it from the original run, it’s mostly the same, though some references have been tweaked and modernised to include more relevant mentions for things such as AI, Grindr and Trump, seamlessly integrating each reference into the original script. Robert Lopez & Jeff Marx’s music and lyrics are silly, funny and performed with gusto by the cast. Songs such as It Sucks to Be Me and For Now are brilliantly catchy, while If You Were Gay and Everyone’s a Little Bit Racist strike a clever balance between humour and social commentary, without ever tipping into anything offensive. The Internet is for Porn is hilarious and ridiculous – summing up the show itself very well.

The production value (alongside the puppetry) is at the core of the show being such a success. Anna Louizos’s set on the surface is simple, a standard suburban street lined with houses, but it transforms into so much more, with creative inspiration. Doors are opened to show tiny, intricate puppet rooms, cardboard boxes suddenly and impressively come to life and break into song, and the street quickly morphs into the Empire State Building or Times Square with smoothly executed transitions. Short cartoons (Nina Dunn) are occasionally projected onto TV screens, again akin to a Sesame Street-like educational breaks, where audiences are taught about commitment or one-night stands as very funny, clever and playful additions to the show.

Rick Lyon’s puppets are adorable, easy to identify each character, and are excellently handled by the cast. Each puppet has a distinctive personality and individual mannerisms that are showcased with fantastic skill by Harrison, Benjamin, McCullagh and Hateley. The facial expressions and movements are performed in unison with their puppets, often switching between characters mid-scene. Their larger-than-life commitment to the performances maximises all of the humour, heartfelt moments and playful fun, making the cast just as enjoyable to watch as the puppets themselves.

Runs until 29 August 2026