Avenue Q review

And the songs – orchestrated with joyful exuberance by Stephen Oremus – have something for everyone. Lopez and Marx draw as deeply on the musical playbook as Jim Henson. For every cathartically stupid The Internet is for Porn, there’s the witty provocation of Everyone’s a Little Bit Racist and just enough heartbreak in There’s a Fine, Fine Line.

Moore ensures that the pace never slacks and that there’s always something to catch your eye on stage. The street itself is a character – a cracked-lens, studio-back-lot riff on reality. Louizos’ puppet-scale set is aptly like a pop-up book, with something behind every window or door. It blends well with Nina Dunn’s amusing, faux-educational video inserts.

Of course, Lyon’s puppets are the stars of the show. From the bulging-eyed mania of the Bad Idea Bears to the pinched anxiety of closeted Republican Rod, each has a detailed expressiveness that lifts them beyond simply paying satirical homage to their more innocent inspirations. Depressingly, the archetypal nature of puppets also captures something of the social media-simplified behaviour of real people today.

A superb cast effortlessly sync their performances with the puppets they are operating or acting opposite. Noah Harrison impresses as Rod and naïve graduate Princeton. Charlie McCullagh dextrously brings to life Nicky, Trekkie Monster and a Bad Idea Bear. Emily Benjamin steals scenes as shy Kate the Monster and hard-nosed Lucy the Slut. As formidable double-master’s degree Japanese migrant Christmas Eve, Amelia Kinu Muus also sharpens every comic line.

Not every character works, and the second half feels like an extended epilogue, but for big laughs and a winkingly naughty jolt of hand-operated humanity, this show is hard to beat.

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