Review Roundup: AVENUE Q Returns to The West End

On Avenue Q, puppets and people intermingle in this show about the trials and tribulations of life as a grown-up: love, sex, money, race, and how to tell your roommate he’s gay.

After two decades, the three-time Tony Award-winning musical Avenue Q has returned to the West End in all its glory. With original Broadway director Jason Moore and original puppet designer Rick Lyon, a brand new cast takes on the puppet show with a difference.

So, what did the critics think?

Avenue Q is at the Shaftesbury Theatre until 29 August

Photo Credits: Matt Crockett

Aliya Al-Hassan, BroadwayWorld: The show no longer lands the shock that it did; subversive musicals are more of the norm these days such as Oh, Mary! and The Book of Mormon (which Lopez went on to co-write after Avenue Q). It's easy to simply be offensive; it's much harder to be witty, clever and also kind. Avenue Q works for many reasons, but one of the main ones is because it has a huge heart. Kate Monster's ballad “There’s a Fine, Fine Line” is as touching as it would be in any more conventional show and it remains remarkable how invested you become in these puppets and their struggles.

Marianka Swain, The Telegraph: Twenty years ago, the bonkers-yet-ingenious “Sesame Street for adults” musical Avenue Q romped into the West End, juxtaposing cute puppets with jaw-dropping comic songs like Everyone’s a Little Bit Racist and, unforgettably, a rampant sex scene. This jubilant anniversary revival at London’s Shaftesbury Theatre has a few contemporary updates – added references to Netflix, AI and OnlyFans – but, happily, doesn’t sacrifice one ounce of the show’s gleefully outrageous humour.

Alun Hood, WhatsOnStage: People who remember Avenue Q from first time round will know what they’re getting, the uninitiated may find themselves taken aback at the assertion that “everyone’s a little bit racist” or the eye-watering crudeness of a number like “You Can Be as Loud as the Hell You Want (When You’re Makin’ Love).” Attitudes and sensibilities have moved on in the last 20 plus years, but the lessons these lovable loafers and neurotics learn – that we’re all longing for connection, altruism makes you feel better, that schadenfreude makes you you feel even better, (well, possibly) and life can be disappointing – haven’t changed so much. Lopez and Marx’s earworm tunes, pitched peppily between theatrical pop and the comforting tum-ti-tum-ti tunes of kids TV, retain their sparkle and freshness.

Arifa Akbar, The Guardian: The force of the show’s faux-naivety works because of the comic dissonance between the puppets’ innocence – wide eyes, cutesy voices – and their adult misbehaviour (drunkenness, pole dancing, sex and betrayal). Lopez and Marx’s songs are a blast, from the cleverness of Schadenfreude to the melancholy in Kate’s break-up song, There’s a Fine, Fine Line, and the closeted hilarity of Rod singing My Girlfriend, Who Lives in Canada. Every number is performed with such physical and vocal exuberance by the cast of actor-puppeteers, especially the spectacular Harrison and Benjamin, that it really does seem as if the puppets are doing the talking, singing and shagging.

Andrzej Lukowski, Time Out: 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.

Anya Ryan, London Theatre: There are some half-hearted nods to the present, with references to AI, ChatGPT, and Trump. A Spotify playlist Princeton makes for Kate is framed as a “mixtape from the olden days”. But otherwise, things stay much the same. Even Gary Coleman – the character based on the real-life former child star who was ripped off by his parents – still makes an appearance. But in 2026, with Coleman’s celebrity fading, it is a gag that loses almost all its recognisable context.

Clive Davis, The Times: eff Whitty’s book and Anna Louizos’s brownstone set offer a snapshot of a New York neighbourhood where the residents scuttle around in pursuit of elusive goals. The superb young cast, led by Noah Harrison and Emily Benjamin, manipulate a collection of hand-held puppets, designed by Rick Lyon, that are brought to life with the simplest of gestures and interact with humans including Amelia Kinu Muus’s terminally dissatisfied Asian-American wife. The American Dream hasn’t quite delivered the goods in this part of town. What Do You Do with a BA in English? is a number that tells you everything you need to know about the job market.

Nick Curtis, The Standard: It’s both hilarious and liberating to see goggle-eyed, gape-grinning puppets drinking, swearing and shagging. The pitch-perfect, genre-mocking songs (Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx) and the book (Jeff Whitty) gleefully demolish taboos in a way that should leave the “you-can’t say-anything-these-days” crowd sputtering over their keyboards. The numbers Everyone’s A Little Bit Racist, Schadenfreude and the closing For Now are standouts. Lopez went on to co-create Book of Mormon and co-write the songs in the Frozen movies, while Mark has penned songs for Scrubs and Glee: astonishingly Avenue Q was the first completed work for both.

Average Rating: 80.0%