Avenue QNoel Coward Theatre (formerly the Albery Theatre), West End, Greater London
Synopsis
Avenue Q is not the most upmarket of New York streets, and is about as far away from Park Avenue as you can get, but it is home to some lively and off the wall characters performed by an unholy comedic alliance of humans and puppets! Princeton, a bright-eyed college graduate, has just moved to this neighbourhood as he desperately tries to follow his dreams and discover his ever-elusive purpose in life. A tiny bank balance, the distraction of a busty blonde and a variety of weird and wonderful friends and neighbours lead Princeton on a hilarious story of self-discovery. Life may suck on Avenue Q but being jobless, homeless, politically incorrect, having sex (whether hetero, homo or porno... and that s just the puppets) are just some of the topics featured in the terrific songs of this show. Running time approx. 2hrs 15mins (including 15 min interval)
Review Round-up: Critics Q Up to Praise Avenue?Date: 29 June 2006 Tony Award-winning Broadway musical comedy Avenue Q opened last night (following previews from 1 June) at Cameron Mackintosh’s newly renamed Noel Coward Theatre (formerly the Albery). The offbeat show – billed as a musical form of Sesame Street meets South Park - features a cast of just seven humans, three of them playing humans, the rest manipulating multiple puppets that include a closet gay puppet called Rod, a porn-addicted puppet called Trekkie Monster, and a puppet looking for love called Kate Monster (See News, 17 Feb 2006). Avenue Q has music and lyrics by Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx and a book by Jeff Whitty. It’s directed by Jason Moore, with puppets conceived and designed by Rick Lyon, and scenic design by Anna Louizos. The London cast features original Broadway cast member Ann Harada along with Julie Atherton, Jon Robyns, Giles Terera, Simon Lipkin, Clare Foster and Sion Lloyd. Overnight critics enjoyed the light-hearted, zany take on modern urban living, but many were unconvinced that Avenue Q is as cutting edge, subversive or politically incorrect as it would like to be. As for the central conceit, although initially endearing, by Act Two, the inspired use of puppets in the show had lost its impact, according to the critics, some of whom also had reservations about the show’s Americanisms. (To hear what theatregoers thought on opening night, view our WOS TV footage and check out our 1st Night Photos to see which celebrities were in attendance!)
Michael Coveney on Whatsonstage.com - “We’re so mesmerised by the trick of it all, that it would be easy to overlook the brilliance of the art behind the charade. I became incidentally fascinated by the vocal ingenuity of Julie Atherton as the main man Princeton’s girlfriend, Kate Monster (doubled with Lucy the Slut)… There are a few problems. Surely no English audience has the remotest idea about the identity of a black former child star called Gary Coleman ... And the second act is definitely inferior to the first… It just goes a little downhill, partly because the material is less good, but chiefly because we have got the point of it all by now, and we feel like moving on to the next port of call, thanks all the same. Still, I haven’t laughed so much since Sooty and Sweep had a teatime television threesome with sweet little Soo.” Benedict Nightingale in the The Times - “Extract the puppetry and the best of the songs, and the story is awfully ordinary… there are puppets and there are songs, and they do much to cover up the sentimentality and predictability. Most performers appear onstage… attached to a puppet, and the person and the attachment act and speak in sync. Since those attachments mostly have round velvety faces and large, lipless, toothless mouths, the effect is both a rip-off and send-up of the Muppets… Here, maybe, is whatever point the evening possesses. These puppets do, say and sing things I don’t recall when I watched their prototypes on TV with my children. They have pretty vigorous, variegated sex. They use words that The Times prints in asterisks. A large hairy puppet called the Trekkie Monster, and clearly indebted to the Cookie Monster, delivers an ode to porn. 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…. But to listen to the lyrics themselves is to understand why the show has had so long a run on Broadway. Those looking for something genuinely subversive or politically incorrect will leave the Coward unrewarded.” Michael Billington in the Guardian - “Puppetry is no longer kids' stuff… As a late convert to the art of string-pulling and manual manipulation, I warmed to this Muppet-style mix of humans and puppets… Much of the show's charm lies in the easy interaction of people and puppets: one human couple, a would-be comic and his Chinese wife, effortlessly socialise with their fuzzyfurry neighbours. There is more wit than whimsy in the delightful Lopez-Marx numbers… But, much as I welcome the show's rudeness and the spectacle of puppet rumpy-pumpy, there is something very New Yorkish about the emphasis on cosy village life and private dreams. Underneath the show's glancing satire there is the inevitable feelgood ending in which we're reassured that ‘everyone's a little bit unfulfilled’. Having started from the premise that ‘life sucks’, the show ends with the hint of false cheer that goes with musical territory…” Nevertheless, decided Billington, “you have to admire the show's oddness”. Dominic Cavendish in the Daily Telegraph - “Gosh, gee, golly and all things beginning with the letter ‘g’, what a disappointment… Maybe the zany idea, combined with the show's gilded reputation, will be sufficient to keep the crowds coming. But either something has been lost in translation or this dinkily alternative but incredibly light-weight affair, staged now with a mainly British cast, was never as much cop as its New York admirers have been claiming. Robert Lopezand Jeff Marx’s tame beast of a show lumbers up a cul-de-sac of one-note satire before hitting a brick wall of anodyne schmaltz… By the second half, I found myself mentally rechristening it Avenue ZZZ… No complaint can be levelled against the performers, who bound around the stage with all the cutesome, fresh-faced enthusiasm and energy of, well, children's television presenters. But the material itself ambles when it should run, and, too keen to be loved, never lets the fur fly.” Paul Taylor in the Independent - “With a jaunty, if generic, score and smart, sassy lyrics by Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx, the show applies the look and format of Sesame Street to the college-educated but unsuccessful twenty- and thirty-something denizens of a low-rent neighbourhood in New York. And it gets a lot of comic mileage out of the mismatch… What's appealing about the piece and Jason Moore's bouncy, enjoyable production is the total absence of jaded cynicism. What's less attractive is the lack of real bite… All the same, I found it, intermittently, a lot of fun… it's not every show that manages to be tongue-in-cheek and hand-on-heart, while having its arm up a puppet's bum.” Nick Curtis in the Evening Standard - "This affectionate adult spoof of Sesame Street is a one-joke show. Fortunately, it's a pretty good joke, for a while at least... The first few times we hear a goggle-eyed sock in a wig swear, it's undeniably funny. But even if we accept it as a wider satire on American culture or an even bigger mockery of universal human weakness, the puppets-as-real-people gag eventually wears thin... The actors, all but one of them non-Americans, are both convincing and sweet-voiced. Always visible, they manipulate Rick Lyon's deceptively expressive puppets beautifully. But once you've heard the title of a song - It Sucks To Be Me, Everyone's A Little Bit Racist - you've got the gag." - by Caroline Ansdell | Score | Comment | Date |  | Ive now seen Avenue Q 7 times and im planning to see it again. Its just the thing you need to lift your spirits if your feeling down and the songs are so catchy! Atherton is definitely a great Lucy/Kate since returning for her second run towards the end of last year but she is off again and a new Lucy/Kate will be named very soon for the October-January run (although im sure it will be extended again)
Anyone who doesn't like this show clearly has no sense of humour.
GO SEE IT!!
and if you already have
GO SEE IT AGAIN!!!
10 STARS ********** - TheOriginalCj | 05 Sep 09 | | Well I've probably seen this more times than I care to admit, but the (not so) new cast are continuing to impress and both Daniel Boys and Rebecca Lock have really made the characters their own. - Kay | 28 Mar 08 | | Saw this last week - wow. Very crude, some excellent songs, brilliant performances by Rebecca Lock and Daniel Boys. This is the funniest musical that I have ever seen - If you haven't seen it - make the effort....don't take young kids though - it really isnt for them. - Neil Maidman | 20 Feb 08 | | This show is NOT very politically correct, its crude, its rude and its bawdy, but dammit its the best nights entertainment I've have in years! - John Corcoran | 14 Feb 08 | | 20 months on and its still fresh. The new cast are very good indeed, with an impressive Daniel Boys playing two lead
roles very well. I still don't think its as good as many below, but it is 'original undemanding fun' as I said way down below! - Gareth James | 03 Feb 08 | | Saw the new cast for their first performance last night and I thought they did a fantastic job - particularly Daniel Boys who I thought shone as Princeton/Rod. Having a particularly hard act to follow was Rebecca Lock, taking over from Julie Atherton, and whilst she was excellent she has yet to find the skill that Julie had for making Kate Monster 'come alive' but I'm sure that will come with more performances.
Loved it and look forward to seeing it again. - KayW | 04 Dec 07 | | Saw this before the recent cast change. Went being unsure of whether I would like it as I'm hard to please when it comes to comedy. I have never laughed so much in my life. Yes it's rude,and very amusing, but it also has a big heart. It is sentimental without being ridiculous and the puppets really come alive. Not sure what the new cast will be like but Julie Atherton was stunning as Kate/Lucy. I went home and bought the CD and the piano music. The only trouble is sitting on the tube singing "if you were gay" gets some funny looks. Go see it. - Katarinablanca | 04 Dec 07 | | Saw this for the first time last weekend - LOVED IT - very funny, rude and thoroughly entertaining. Will be going again to see the new cast in December. - KW | 10 Nov 07 | | After a grim week there is nothing better to lift the spirits than Avenue Q; as funny as Spamalot but with a warmer heart. Unfortunately after seeing the show so many times you start to notice the little mistakes and it is also now clear that it has been impossible to replace Ann Harada as Christmas Eve (conversely the new Gary is brilliant). Even the wonderful Julie Atherton has developed a habit of speaking like a ventriloquist with her mouth almost closed so some of Kate and Lucy's lines are lost. This is nitpicking though as Avenue Q is still the most uplifting show in town. - David Baxter | 07 Oct 07 | | Avenue Q can perhaps best be (and probably has already) described as Rent crossed with Sesame Street. It’s been over a year now since it hit the West End, and from its modest beginnings, Avenue Q has now firmly established itself on the musical scene. It has been lauded by some as innovative and irreverant, and dismissed by others as a puerile joke. Visting the show last weekend, I hadn’t known what to expect, but it appears that the joke has not yet worn thin, though good clean family fun it is not.
Immediate credit must go to Anna Louizos’s impressive and highly appealing set, which draws the spectator into the shambolic and down-at-heel world of Avenue Q, where starry-eyed college graduate Princeton turns up to begin his quest for purpose, entering to a winsome little tune entitled “What Do You Do With a BA in English?” whose line “I can’t pay the bills yet, as I have no skills yet,” drew the first of many knowing cackles from the audience. And herein lies the great individualising strength of this musical, which is that it draws its material not from the melodramatic emotional lexicon unique to TheatreWorld, but from real life. It has depth, and a social honesty all too rarely seen in West End musical theatre. The use of puppets, surprisingly, serves not to detract from its realism, but rather emphasises how straight-down-the-line much of the narrative is, as well as a knowing nod to the way in which we theatricalise our own experience.
As the show begins, the audience is soon engaged in puzzling out the dynamics of the puppets, puppeteers, and the human cast members. At first, it’s difficult to know where to look – “it’s as if the Punch and Judy man and the policeman and the crocodile were all on stage at once,” commented Sceptical Friend – but it is suprising how quickly your focus shifts onto the puppets themselves, who are manipulated with admirably expressive physicality by their enablers. The live-action puppet aspect is of course this production’s gimmick, and it is this that has led to its dismissal as nostalgia-fodder for kidults – The Muppets with knob jokes. But make no mistake – Avenue Q is clever. Catchy and likeable tunes such as “Everyone’s A Little Bit Racist” mask a more subtle discussion of social attitudes towards (amongst others) the homosexual, the homeless, and “people of fur.” It is astonishing what depths of emotional articulacy can be achieved with an inanimate mass of fake fur and plastic, as the response elicited by lead character Kate Monster’s heartbroken solo “It’s a Fine, Fine Line” illustrated. At some points (there is a better example, and those who will have seen the show will know to what I am refering) you are taken aback by just how real the puppets can be made to seem. The human cast are strongest in ensemble pieces, where there is a notable uplift in the onstage energy. Simon Lipkin as Nicky/Trekkie Monster is consistently amusing, with a great talent for mimicry (see if you can spot the not-so-subtle character references here) and Jon Robyns is strong as Princeton/Rod (particularly in the latter, whose neurotic Republican hymn to denial has to be heard to be believed) but the star of the show is indisputibly Julie Atherton, who is, quite simply, brilliant. The degree of harmony within which she interracts with her puppets (she doubles the demure kindergarten teacher Kate with brassy femme fatale Lucy the Slut) is fascinating; her vocal versatility is awesome. This is a performer who has not yet achieved the recognition she deserves, and from whom much more may be anticipated. By contrast, Jennifer Tanarez as Christmas Eve proves a weak point – physically great, but a little lacking in charisma – many of the jokes fell flat as her singing voice was too high to distinguish the words. The music was indeed rather too loud throughout, with the audience occasionally having to strain to make out the lyrics. Other problems included the Gary Coleman character – Delroy Atkinson is a charming and appealing performer, but can’t do much with a role that the majority of the British public simply don’t get. The references miss the mark, and add little to the show, being more cringeworthy than truly funny. But these are minor quibbles in what is, essentially, a great production. Instant stand-out tunes include “Schadenfreude”, and Kate and Trekkie’s now-famous duet “The Internet is For Porn”, which predictably brought the house down. The most admirable thing for me, though, was the tempered and unsentimental end of the plot, which stays true to the no-holds-barred irreverance for convention that the piece established.
In Avenue Q, it seems, we have a somewhat extraordinary creature – a comic musical that deals honestly with life.
- Violet Holloway | 19 Sep 07 | | | Click here for more user reviews and to post your own |
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