Avenue Q UK Tour 2012
Puppets can do things you've never even dreamed of...
Listings
Avenue Q seems to cause a stir no matter what city it enters. The
reviews are mixed, some find it shocking, others are devoted fans and
have seen it countless times. It is an entertaining, light-hearted
comedy set in a shabby, run down part of New York. Popularly known as
the adult version of Sesame Street, it is not for the easily offended.
Avenue Q is known for its crude, politically incorrect language and its
wicked sense of humour.
It's certainly not your average musical, with a cast featuring three human characters and nine puppets. It takes a while to adjust to focusing on the puppets and not their human counterparts, but you soon get absorbed by the story. Having won the Tony Award for best musical we had high expectations of the songs and they didn’t fail to impress. The creators Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx wrote the score with highly amusing lyrics and incredibly catchy tunes making it near on impossible for you to stop dancing in your seat.
The plot contains weighty issues such as love, racism, unemployment, suicide, homosexuality and porn. All in the space of two hours! Despite all of this, it kept a light spirited even heart warming feeling intact throughout the whole performance. Like us, the puppets complain about the trials of life. The character of Princeton is a comic take on a university graduate who has an uncertain future with no job and still relies on his parents for money. Sound familiar? Itchy felt at home.
Some parts were outrageous. The song ‘Everyone’s a Little Bit Racist’ caused the audience to both gasp and fall apart with laughter. Who would have thought that puppets could talk dirty? Itchy won’t hesitate to admit we were laughing profusely at the absurdity of a puppet having sex.
Each member of the cast performed superbly. The physical performances on stage will captivate you. Actions are perfectly timed with the witty dialogue from human to puppet. The lead singer Rachel Jerram managed to voice the parts of both, Kate Monster, the well behaved kindergarten assistant, and Lucy the Slut fantastically well. Overall we found it highly enjoyable. The show ends on a happy note with the cast joyfully singing about their hope for the future. Perhaps a slightly soppy ending, but we wouldn’t want to leave the theatre sad now would we? In fact, we were humming the tune to ‘Everyone’s a Little Bit Racist’ all the way home.
Itchy caught Avenue Q in Bath, but we recommend the rest of their UK tour:
Tue 7th Feb -Sat 11th Feb
Edinburgh Playhouse Theatre
Tue 21st Feb -Sat 25th Feb
New Theatre, Cardiff
Wed 29th Feb -Sat 3rd Mar
Grand Theatre, Wolverhampton
Tue 20th Mar -Sat 24th Mar
Regent Theatre & Britannia Suite, Stoke-on-Trent
Mon 16th Apr -Sat 21st Apr
Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury
Mon 14th May -Sat 19th May
Kings Theatre, Glasgow
Mon 4th Jun -Sat 9th Jun
Theatre Royal, Brighton
Sun 15th Jul -Sat 21st Jul
Grand Theatre & Opera House, Leeds
Hannah Perella
It's certainly not your average musical, with a cast featuring three human characters and nine puppets. It takes a while to adjust to focusing on the puppets and not their human counterparts, but you soon get absorbed by the story. Having won the Tony Award for best musical we had high expectations of the songs and they didn’t fail to impress. The creators Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx wrote the score with highly amusing lyrics and incredibly catchy tunes making it near on impossible for you to stop dancing in your seat.
The plot contains weighty issues such as love, racism, unemployment, suicide, homosexuality and porn. All in the space of two hours! Despite all of this, it kept a light spirited even heart warming feeling intact throughout the whole performance. Like us, the puppets complain about the trials of life. The character of Princeton is a comic take on a university graduate who has an uncertain future with no job and still relies on his parents for money. Sound familiar? Itchy felt at home.
Some parts were outrageous. The song ‘Everyone’s a Little Bit Racist’ caused the audience to both gasp and fall apart with laughter. Who would have thought that puppets could talk dirty? Itchy won’t hesitate to admit we were laughing profusely at the absurdity of a puppet having sex.
Each member of the cast performed superbly. The physical performances on stage will captivate you. Actions are perfectly timed with the witty dialogue from human to puppet. The lead singer Rachel Jerram managed to voice the parts of both, Kate Monster, the well behaved kindergarten assistant, and Lucy the Slut fantastically well. Overall we found it highly enjoyable. The show ends on a happy note with the cast joyfully singing about their hope for the future. Perhaps a slightly soppy ending, but we wouldn’t want to leave the theatre sad now would we? In fact, we were humming the tune to ‘Everyone’s a Little Bit Racist’ all the way home.
Itchy caught Avenue Q in Bath, but we recommend the rest of their UK tour:
Tue 7th Feb -Sat 11th Feb
Edinburgh Playhouse Theatre
Tue 21st Feb -Sat 25th Feb
New Theatre, Cardiff
Wed 29th Feb -Sat 3rd Mar
Grand Theatre, Wolverhampton
Tue 20th Mar -Sat 24th Mar
Regent Theatre & Britannia Suite, Stoke-on-Trent
Mon 16th Apr -Sat 21st Apr
Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury
Mon 14th May -Sat 19th May
Kings Theatre, Glasgow
Mon 4th Jun -Sat 9th Jun
Theatre Royal, Brighton
Sun 15th Jul -Sat 21st Jul
Grand Theatre & Opera House, Leeds
Hannah Perella
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