Before M left for home, one last treat was in store, as I had booked some tickets for the Avenue Q musical at the beautiful Gielgud Theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue in London’s West End.
The evening certainly started well, as I’d only gone for the cheap option up in the gods, but I guess due to the low numbers that go along to shows early in the week, we were upgraded to commanding seats in the circle! And what a great night we had – Avenue Q is Sesame Street for adults you might say, with musical numbers like “The internet is for porn” and “If you were gay” acted out by a mixture of actors and Jim Henson-style puppets.
The people involved in the show are amazingly talented, and it was interesting that, as the evening went on, for me the flesh and blood actors seemed to melt away and I found myself completely concentrating on the puppets. Lucy The Slut and Kate Monster were particularly fun to watch, and there were lots of genuine laugh out loud moments in the dialogue and in the songs, although there were also a few duds here and there. For example, M was NOT amused by a phrase spoken in German by one of the actors that got the reply, “Hey, what’s with that Nazi language?” – neither were most of the audience either as it turned out, because it was greeted with a stony silence! That being said, overall I really enjoyed the show – a bit of irreverence is good for soul I think. Definitely on my recommended list if you’re thinking about heading into town for a night out at the theatre.