The profane puppet musical back in town, and if it no longer feels audacious, it is very charming
6 / 10
There’s a slightly woolly message to it all about growing up and learning to be yourself that could be most kindly viewed as another homage to Sesame Street. Still, the story isn’t that substantial – Jeff Whitty’s book is secondary to the concept – and it vacillates over how earnest it wants to be (notably the edgy jokes about racism vs Kate’s sincere but underdeveloped attempts to stand up for monster rights). The script has been given a cosmetic overhaul and now has references to Trump, AI, etc. It’s all pretty skin deep, though. Again: Avenue Q today is not the punky outsider it was almost a quarter century ago. But as a heritage musical, it remains a delightful one-off.
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