the mommy avenger

I have a confession: Avenue Q was one of those shows that was everywhere when I was younger. It was the toast of New York City, sweeping the Tony Awards, and everyone who saw it came back raving about the puppets, the songs, and how it somehow made you laugh and feel something all at once. And yet, in all my years, I never managed to see it. It was one of those “someday” shows that kept getting pushed to the bottom of the list.

That changed this month. We were in London, and we were invited to see Avenue Q at the Shaftesbury Theatre in the West End. I’ll be honest with you, I walked in a little hesitant. I didn’t really know what to expect. I’d heard it was irreverent, I’d heard it was a little shocking, and I wasn’t sure how that was going to land with me. I am so glad I gave it the chance, because this show was absolutely fantastic.

If you don’t know the premise, here’s the setup: fresh out of college and armed with a brand new English degree and not much else, Princeton moves into a rundown apartment building on the fictional Avenue Q, way out on the outer boroughs of New York, because it’s all he can afford. He’s searching for his purpose, and along the way he meets a building full of neighbors, human and puppet alike, who are all trying to figure out their own version of the same thing. Work, love, money, self-worth, it’s all in there, just dressed up in felt and foam and one of the funniest scripts I’ve ever heard on a stage.

And that’s the part that really got me. This is not a puppet show for kids. The puppetry is genuinely masterful, the puppeteers are right there on stage with their puppets the entire time, fully visible, fully in character, and within about five minutes your brain just stops registering the human and locks onto the puppet as the one talking to you. It’s a wild trick of stagecraft, watching a person pour their whole performance, face and voice and body, into a character sitting a few inches above their head, and somehow it works so well you forget to be impressed by it because you’re too busy being pulled into the story.

The music is where this show truly shines. It is hysterical, in the laugh-out-loud, cover-your-mouth kind of way, but it also sneaks in some genuinely tender moments when you’re not expecting them. The talent on that stage was exceptional across the board, both the puppeteers and the fully human cast members mixed right in alongside them.

I have to call out a couple of standouts. Emily Benjamin, who plays both Kate Monster and Lucy the Slut, was phenomenal. Watching her flip between those two characters, one sweet and hopeful, the other, well, exactly what her name suggests, and give each of them a completely distinct voice and physicality was something else. And Noah Harrison as Princeton and Rod was fantastic too, carrying so much of the show’s heart while still landing every single laugh line.

What surprised me most, though, was what this show did to the room. Avenue Q is irreverent. It is a little shocking. It goes places you don’t expect a stage full of puppets to go. But instead of that making the audience uncomfortable, it did the opposite. There is something about watching a room full of strangers get let in on the same slightly naughty joke at the same time that breaks down every bit of stiffness in a theater. People were laughing out loud together, gasping together, applauding together. By the end of the night it didn’t feel like a room of strangers anymore, it felt like we’d all just shared something. That’s a hard thing for any show to pull off, and this one did it effortlessly.

I haven’t laughed that much in a long time. This musical caught me completely off guard, but in the very best possible way, and I thoroughly enjoyed every single minute of it.

If you’re heading to London and looking for a night out that will leave your cheeks hurting from laughing, Avenue Q is playing now at the Shaftesbury Theatre, booking all the way through January 2027. Tickets start from £25, and you can grab yours directly through the official Avenue Q website.

Do yourself a favor, get to Avenue Q!

^{*we were invited to facilitate a feature, all opinions are our own*}