Gillian Furmage's verdict: five stars.
For the uninitiated, Avenue Q is what you’d get if you put The Muppets, Sesame Street, Sex and the City, Team America and Friends in a blender. And turned it into a musical.
The action starts with naïve Princeton arriving at Avenue Q, fresh out of college with a BA in English, and then getting to know his array of eccentric new neighbours. The ensemble cast are all stellar and despite many of them playing dual roles (and of course the fact that most of the characters are puppets) you can feel the audience genuinely begin to care for each unique member of the crew.
With songs that cover racism, being gay, sex and internet porn, this is not a show for youngsters. Even with its bevvy of crude jokes, the show exudes warmth and cheekily gets away with all its potentially offensive songs with a wink.
The score here is incredible and the ridiculously good cast let rip with vocals that didn’t falter despite being put through some tough gymnastics. Songs like ‘It Sucks to Be Me’, ‘Schadenfreude’ and ‘The Internet is for Porn’ are hilarious and irresistibly catchy, and ‘There’s A Fine, Fine Line’ packs a surprisingly emotional punch.
The Bad Idea Bears were a crowd favourite, probably because they’re not unlike a rowdy pal on a night out. Stephen Arden, who deftly juggled the roles of Bad Idea Bear, Trekkie Monster and Nicky, was a show standout, as he faultlessly switched between the cookie-monster depths of Trekkie Monster to the Kermit-like vocals of Nicky, to the piercingly high-pitched mischievous Bad Idea Bear.
The show is bold, brash and full of puppets, but with distinctly human themes like money worries, relationship woes and life not quite living up to what you thought it might be, it’s distinctly human. It’s a show with a huge heart, a dirty mouth and a soaring soundtrack.
Avenue Q is on a UK tour and will run at the Glasgow King’s Theatre until August 29.
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