Avenue Q
Noel Coward Theatre, London

Rhona Foulis
posted 5 July 2006

'It's like your life, only funnier' isn't the most appealing of tag lines, but this Tony Award-winning show has humour in abundance. Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx originally conceived and devised Avenue Q for television, but the off-Broadway hit swiftly transferred to New York's Golden Theater in 2003, before coming to our own Noel Coward Theatre. Lopez and Marx, both musical theatre lovers, sought a way to make the medium more relevant to modern audiences - and so they have, to a generation of South Park viewers.

On Avenue Q in Brooklyn, we meet a community of puppets and humans, all dissatisfied with their lot, proclaiming, 'It sucks to be me'. Our protagonist, Princeton, is a new arrival, a 22 year-old graduate, aimlessly attempting to 'find his purpose' now that the college bubble has burst. Love interest, Kate, is a fur monster, a puppet racial 'other', who argues that 'some of the most productive members of our society are made of fur'. Christmas Eve is a (human) Japanese immigrant, misidentified because she works in a Chinese restaurant. The Bert and Ernie characters, Rod and Nicky, are cohabiting friends, although Rod harbours secret sexual feelings for Nicky and is advised by counsellor Christmas Eve to stay in the closet. Ex-child TV star Gary Coleman is the local handyman. Oscar the Grouch-like Cranky is the other monster on the block, and the Bad Idea Bears force everyone to act upon the hedonistic voices in their heads. Each character's struggle to discover his or her 'purpose' in life forms the dramatic quest in the social microcosm that is Avenue Q.

Lopez and Marx part-parody and part-celebrate the notion of 'finding oneself'. Gentle melodies jar with ironic lyrics, such as the mock-romantic song, 'the more you love someone the more you want to kill them'. The audience is won over by the sheer fun and entertaining wit of the show enough that we forgive its soft-centred message. Life sucks, but hang in there, because fantasies can come true. Kate and Princeton start dating and, after a night of absinthe daquiries bought by the Bad Idea Bears, have rampant puppet sex in a scene that rivals that of Team America. The clever success of the show lies in the way it elicits hilarity, but also empathy with the characters. The actors and puppeteers make no attempt to hide the puppetry. When you expose the artifice of theatre, the audience will trust the performers to take them anywhere.

The heightened, camp style of Jason Moore's production is a treat. When Rod dreams of Nicky in his sleep, we watch their beds fly off like rockets, as a glitter ball dazzles the audience. Christmas Eve wears a flashing bow and tutu-like skirt to her wedding. And when Kate attempts to reconcile her broken relationship, she waits for Princeton on the top of a windy Empire State Building, a pastiche of Sleepless in Seattle. Despite Avenue Q's satirical tone, its ending capitalises on the feel-good factor. Desperate to save his relationship with Kate, Princeton raises the money to build the special school that Kate always wanted to run - a 'Monsterssori School'. Lucy the Slut becomes a born-again Christian and recovers her chastity, whilst the Bears discover scientology.

One of Avenue Q's most refreshing qualities is a non-patronising approach to an assumed audience of open-minded, though George Bush-loathing, spectators. Christmas Eve's subjugated boyfriend Brian naively refers to her as Oriental. Princeton retorts, in song: 'Brian, where ya been? The term's Asian-American'. The musical number, 'Everyone's a little bit racist sometimes' ensues, as the entire company sings 'Ethnic jokes might be uncouth but that's because they're [whisper] based on truth'. Is it racism cloaked in irony? No. It credits audience with intelligence and takes for granted their liberal attitudes (in contrast to so much current 'political theatre' overburdened with dull didacticism).

Lopez and Marx stick two fingers up at political correctness, as their lyrics brazenly discuss racism, sexuality, pornography and prejudices, with numbers like 'The internet is for porn' and 'If you were gay, I'd say hooray'. Avenue Q part-parodies and part delights in the musical genre. Delivered by Muppet-like characters, the non-naturalism of puppetry lends Avenue Q further humour and licence to 'go there'. This is Sesame Street with charisma, for liberal-leftie grown-ups.

Till 30 September 2006.