Avenue Q gets its Tweet On!

 

I was lucky enough to be invited along with fellow blogger and friend Rochelle to take part in The Churchill Theatres 1st ever tweet seat for Avenue Q. For those of you unfamiliar with the term a tweet seat is where a member of the audience is encouraged to tweet their comments whilst the show is going on. This sign outside pretty much summed up the evening….

Having seen Avenue Q before I knew it was the perfect show for some twitter banter. The show is essentially the muppets for adults and it consists of 3 human characters and 11 puppets. We follow new arrival to Avenue Q, Princeton, played by Richard Lowe who sets out to find his purpose. Along the way we meet his neighbours which include Rod (also played by Lowe) who is struggling to come out of the closet and his flatmate Nicky (played by Stephen Arden), Christmas eve (played by Arina Il) a Japanese therapist with no clients and her fiancé Brian (played by Richard Morse), Gary Coleman (played by Etisyai Philip), porn obsessed Trekkie monster (again played by Arden) and of course Princeton’s love interest and adorable Kate Monster, played by Sarah Harlington.

Pre-show we had the opportunity to meet the bad idea bears. These are puppets that pop up throughout the show and act as that daredevil voice in Princeton’s head encouraging him to buy beer with the money his parents sent him. They were brilliant and it was fascinating to see the puppeteers who appeared to subconsciously morph with their puppet.

 

 

 

 

 

Upon arrival we were greeted with this sign …… love ‘puppet nudity,’ and as for adult themes do you think porn, racism, sexuality and a good old one night stand is enough to warrant the sign?!!!!

 

Rochelle and I were sat in the back corner so not to distract anyone and a few technical hitches and a borrowed tablet later (thanks Rochelle) I was off.

(I personally blame the bears unless Mr MusicalTheatreMusings has been on my phone…..!)

One of the first songs were are greeted with is ‘It Sucks to Be You’ – my tweet at this point pretty much sums up the night –

From then the comedy kept on rolling

That being said whilst it is a hilarious show you can’t help but appreciate the talent of the cast.

The talent of the cast combined with the brilliant writing means that you can’t help be drawn in to the puppets characters.  As the plot develops as an audience member you can’t help but love Kate Monster – her character is just so sweet and innocent.

One of my favourite characters soon hit the stage – Lucy the Slut! I think I resonate with her as I always seem to end up playing the hooker/bitch in shows!! She is there to cause pure havoc!!

 

After that Kate doesn’t appear quite so innocent anymore…..don’t ask-just see the adult themese sign above!!!

The Act closes with one of my favourite songs from the Show – ‘There’s A Fine, Fine Line,’ which is actually a bit of a heart wrenching song.

The vibe in the interval was great. The audience seemed to be loving the show and our tweet seats seemed to be going down well on twitter.

 

One thing about the show is that it says so many things that you think but shouldn’t really say – i.e ‘Everyone’s a Little Bit racist or….

It is not only just the songs but also those every day situations that rings all the awkward alarm bells

My fellow tweet seater was also full of interesting Avenue Q facts

The show was over far too soon, which my tweet pretty much said it all

It was a great opportunity to sit there tweeting throughout the show and I had to resist tutting at myself for having my phone out.

The Newsshopper also ran an article on the tweet seat so why not check that out here. I’d also be keen to hear your thoughts on the concept?
One thing I probably didn’t stress enough in my tweets is how talented this cast are. The members of the company that had puppets moved perfectly with their puppets, they all had strong voices and perfect comedy timing.

Avenue Q is on all week at The Churchill and if you are looking for an night out with adult humour this is the perfect show for you.