Boisterous puppet-filled fun, but rather wanting in substance, seems to be the general attitude towards the Tony award-winning musical, Avenue Q. "It's mischievous and, frankly, rather juvenile stuff - but then what's so wrong with that?" was Benedict Nightingale's opinion in the Times.
Nightingale goes on to say that the songs are "almost refreshing", with foul-mouthed characters such as Lucy the Slut and the Trekkie Monster achieving what he describes as "a rip-off and send-up of the Muppets", but notes that "those looking for something genuinely subversive or politically incorrect will leave the Coward [Theatre] unrewarded".
The musical score is "jaunty, if generic" to Paul Taylor of the Independent, but he praises the "smart, sassy lyrics" and points out the comedy in the "mismatch between the perky, morally improving conventions of children's television and the uncertainties and compromises of adult life".
But the show was a "disappointment" for the Telegraph's Dominic Cavendish, who calls it a "dinkily alternative but incredibly light-weight affair". The puppets, "in search of a raison-d'être", are "endearing, if rudimentary".
All things considered, as the Times declares: "Extract the puppetry and the best of the songs, and the story is awfully ordinary".
