[THEATRE REVIEW] AVENUE Q @ National Theatre Review (2025)
Few, if any, would question how revolutionary the preschool educational television program Sesame Street has been since it first aired in 1969.
It has, of course, bred familiarity with the characters, leading to merchandising and campaign leadership.
And then there is the acclaimed Sesame Street parody with adult themes, Avenue Q, which claimed Best Musical, Book and Score at the 2004 Tony Awards.
The musical comedy, with music and lyrics by Jeff Marx and Robert Lopez, and book by Jeff Whitty, features puppets and human actors melding as one.
The puppets are animated and voiced by puppeteers who appear on stage unconcealed.
Among themes it tackles are love, friendship, depression and isolation, homelessness, exploitation, racism, homosexuality and internet pornography.
In short, it deals with life and all its messiness and unpredictability, while cementing the importance of resilience.
AG Theatre’s production of Avenue Q is slick, assured and oh so much fun.
That comes down to not only the script, but the performances and production values, solidified by fine direction from Pip Mushin.
The puppetry, acting and musicality are first class.
All 10 performers are wonderful, poised and polished, injecting humour and pathos into their character representations.
It as if the puppets grow souls.
And it is undoubtedly true that sex sells, because there is a risqué puppet “roll in the hay” scene that is hilarious.
The setting is a fictional street in an outer-outer borough of New York City, where the players’ lives intersect and collide.
Princeton (Harley Dasey) is a recent college graduate who is anxious to discover his purpose in life.
He has an English degree, but no work experience and no job.
He can’t afford inner city rent, but he finds a place in Avenue Q.
Princeton immediately attracts the interest of kind-hearted kindergarten assistant teacher Kate Monster (Zoe Crisp), who longs for a boyfriend.
Her heart is set on starting a school for monsters, but first she gets the chance to front a class. She is given the nod when teacher Lavinia Thistletwat(Cassie Ogle) goes in for an operation.
Rod (Jonathon Shilling) is an obsessively neat Republican investment banker who has Nicky (Andrew McDougall) as his slacker roommate, but then the pair falls out.
Brian (Matthew Tomlin) is a soon-to-be 33-year-old aspiring comedian recently laid off from his catering job. He is engaged to strong willed Japanese fiancé Christmas Eve (Chiew-Jin Khut). She is a therapist with no clients.
Trekkie Monster (Andrew McDougall) is a surly recluse who surfs the internet all day in search of pornography.
The Bad Idea Bears (Perri Espinoza and Darcy Harriss) are two charming troublemakers who relish creating mayhem.
Lucy the Slut (Cassie Ogle) is a seductive cabaret artist with tickets on herself, who believes she can click her fingers and have any man she wants.
And then there is Gary Coleman (Stephanie Lacerna), the former child actor who fell on hard times and now serves as the apartment’s pragmatic superintendent.
Not only are the actors adept at portraying their characters and carrying their voices, but their interactions are dynamic and seamless. Plaudits to choreographer Adriana Pannuzzo.
The songs are intoxicating (very easy on the ear) and help propel the narrative. Musical director Alexandra Byrne and the orchestra deserve high praise.
The double storey setting with downstairs middle given over to alternate accommodation arrangements works well.
And then there is the material that appears on the video screen upper stage right that adds to the atmosphere and levity.
I walked out of Avenue Q with a spring in mind step, feeling I had seen and savoured something special.
Two hours 20 minutes, including a 20-minute interval, it is playing at National Theatre until 16th March, 2025.
Review by Alex First Photography by Nicole Cleary