EDINBURGH 2025: Review: AVENUE Q, Braw Venues At Grand Lodge
A fantastic show that is full of humour and witty lines as well as smacking you round the face with sex, love and deceit.
This smash hit musical is a hilarious satire of modern life starring a mixed cast of humans and puppets. It combines the ridiculous with the all too relatable, following Princeton, a freshly graduated dreamer with his whole life ahead of him, as he gets smacked in the face by reality and does battle with adulthood.
Caricature neighbours help him through, with varying levels of acceptance for their own problems and a significant helping of dark humour. This production features some truly standout performances, especially anything with Kate Monster or the unreasonably talented multi-roling cast members, and the way the expressions of the actors and their puppets become one is wild and wonderful. Not to mention there was a last-minute substitution for an ill cast member, whose unofficial understudy coped really well.
The only real issue this show faced was the venue, which has neither raked seating nor a high enough stage. It is such a visual musical, and so much was lost by being just a few rows back; whole scenes could go by obscured by people’s heads, and the TV screen used as an extension of the set was useless for those not in the front right portion of the seating. That, at least, could be easily solved by raising it a bit further.
Try as I might, I couldn’t immerse myself in the show, a real shame considering the talent and efforts of the cast, and left feeling disappointed. My only advice is to be the first one there! It is certainly worth waiting in the queue for, with fantastic music, staging, and slightly aggressive audience participation. Despite being a well-established show with a Broadway run under its belt, it has a fun and uniquely fringe feel, and it’s an ideal time for anyone with a touch of the cynic to go along and enjoy.
Avenue Q is at Braw Venues At Grand Lodge until 24 August
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