At the end of September we headed to the Carriageworks Theatre, a small venue nestled away in the heart of Millennium Square, Leeds to see Avenue Q. A musical show with a twist in that all but two of the cast are puppets but the actors voicing and controlling the puppets can all be clearly seen on stage.
Be warned the use of puppets in no way means that this is a child friendly show, oh no. Think filthy Sesame Street and you’ll pretty much have what Avenue Q is, a fun filled ride of puppet nudity, profanities and musical numbers such as ‘The Internet is for Porn’, ‘Everyone’s a Little Bit Racist’ and ‘You Can Be as Loud as the Hell You Want (When You’re Makin’ Love). In short we loved it!
On more than one occasion I was crying with laughter, the dark, crass humour was right up my street and Josh’s too so we were bound to in stitches at line’s such as “grab your dick and double click”. The story follows Princeton, a recent college graduate who rents an apartment on Avenue Q. Whilst searching for his purpose in life he becomes well acquainted with the other residents, Brian and Christmas Eve (the only non puppet characters) who are ready to move on with their lives together, Nicky who suspects his friends and flatmate Rod is gay and just can’t admit it, Kate Monster who dreams of opening her own school for little monsters, Trekkie Monster who has an addiction to porn and finally Gary Coleman the building superintendent. On his journey to discover his purpose, Princeton also meets the Bad Idea Bears and Lucy the Slut (and with names like that you just know they’re going to spell disaster for Princeton!).
Avenue Q far surpassed the high expectations I had of it. Diva Productions, a local theatre production company, did a fantastic job of creating their version of the extremely popular Broadway show. I’d definitely watch another show by them and I’d absolutely book tickets to Avenue Q again at the drop of a hat.
If you love your humour on the dark, filthy side I cannot recommend Avenue Q enough, seriously if you see a production of it, book tickets I just know you’ll love it!
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