Review: Avenue Q at Mayflower Theatre, Southampton

The story follows Princeton, a young graduate, looking for his purpose in life, whilst meeting new friends and love interests on the titular downtown New York street.

The song titles alone suggest this not a show for the faint-hearted. With tunes such as Everyone’s A Little Bit Racist, The Internet is for Porn, and If You Were Gay, the audience were laughing from start to finish.

Richard Lowe was lovable as Princeton and hilarious as Republican banker, Rod. Stephen Arden showed his effortless versatility playing Nicky, Trekkie Monster and Bad Idea Bear, Of the human characters, Christmas Eve, played by Arina II, was a clear crowd favourite.

However, the night belonged to Jessica Parker who played Kate Monster and Lucy the Slut. The understudy stepped up to play these roles and did so to perfection. Her rendition of There’s A Fine, Fine Line to close the first act was spine-tingling, while her turn as man-eating Lucy was a far cry from the sweet and vulnerable Kate.

As the slogan says: ‘You’d be a muppet to miss it’. I couldn’t agree more.

Until Wednesday.