Review Round-Up: AVENUE Q at Shaftesbury Theatre

What are critics saying about Avenue Q?

London Box Office

"Deserves to run forever"

★★★★★

Reviewer: Stuart King

"Thankfully, the show which I gleefully remember for its New York energy and irreverent songs like “Everyone's A Little Bit Racist”, “The Internet's For Porn”, “Schadenfreude” and “You Can Be As Loud As The Hell You Want When You're Making Love” still packs a wallop and resonates with current audiences, primarily because the inherent truth in their lyrics hasn't changed and human beings (contrary to the belief of many nowadays) are absolutely capable of laughing at themselves and society's ridiculousness."

Read the review here.

WhatsOnStage

"Puerile puppetry perfection"

★★★★★

Reviewer: Alun Hood

"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."

Read the review here.

The Telegraph

"More outrageous than ever"

★★★★

Reviewer: Marianka Swain

"But the joy of this jauntily efficient show (from which many meandering new musicals could learn) is that these existential crises are presented through catchy songs by Robert Lopez (of Frozen fame) and Jeff Marx. Along with Jeff Whitty’s crisp book, they temper the life lessons with a constant stream of bawdy gags. When Kate earnestly extols the virtues of the internet, the Cookie Monster-esque Trekkie roars that its main use is “FOR PORN” – and turns his unblinking gaze on the squirming audience for confirmation. Mischievously riffing on speculation about Sesame Street duo Bert and Ernie’s sexuality, Nicky tries to encourage his closeted Republican roommate Rod to come out through the song If You Were Gay. There’s also the memorably named femme fatale Lucy The Slut, and a pair of evil teddy bears who encourage binge-drinking."

Read the review here.

The Guardian

"Provocative puppets return for a feast of filth and fun"

★★★★

Reviewer: Arifa Akbar

"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."

Read the review here.

Princeton (Noah Harrison). Photo by Matt Crockett.

The Evening Standard

"An illicit, profane, puppet joy"

★★★★

Reviewer: Nick Curtis

"This revival by the original Broadway director, Jason Moore, becomes a layered, elegant dance between the puppets and their visible, all-singing operators, who often mirror or undercut their charges’ reactions. The sets, by Anna Louizos, are cartoonish evocations of New York stoops, the Empire State Building and rat-strewn Times Square, augmented by onscreen pastiches of basic educational animation: a graphic of “five night stands” is reduced to “one night stand” before two puppets are discovered in bed. True, the show has dated somewhat despite injected references to ChatGPT and Donald Trump. But it remains surprisingly wholesome and hopeful despite the willfully offensive lyrics and the poor life choices that the fleshy, furry and felt-faced characters make. Above all, it’s laugh-out-loud funny. I remember having a sense of humour failure at the original West End production. F***ing hell, what was wrong with me?"

Read the review here.

The Times

"Deliciously louche humour with smart lyrics"

★★★★

Reviewer: Matt Crocket

"If Jason Moore’s production looks like an adult version of Sesame Street or The Muppets, the jaundiced, wise-cracking worldview is closer to The Simpsons. Beneath the jaunty rhythms, the songs by Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx enjoy thumbing a nose at convention. These puppets are as flawed and venal as any ordinary human being. And they can draw blood as well. A ditty such as Everyone’s a Little Bit Racist still has the power to catch a listener off-guard. “Ethnic jokes might be uncouth, but you laugh because they’re based on truth” is a line designed to make you squirm in your seat. You can understand why, in the programme notes, producer Kevin McCollum draws comparisons with Rodgers & Hammerstein’s You’ve Got To Be Carefully Taught. Here is another song that forces us to ponder our herd instincts."

Read the review here.

TimeOut

"If it no longer feels audacious, it is very charming"

★★★

Reviewer: Andrzej Lukowski

"It’s all very well done: Anna Louizos’s sets and Rick Lyon’s puppets look superb to this day, and it’s the endearing stuff – the cute singing boxes or delightfully random puppet cyclist – that impress as much as the naughty bits. It’s a thoughtful homage to Sesame Street, that in some ways stays true to the show’s wide-eyed spirit while amusing itself imagining what might happen if the crushing realities of adulthood encroached. While the humour of Lopez and Marx’s songs has dated to varying degrees, they still stand up well, with their big, bright primary coloured tunes."

Read the review here.

The Independent

"A Gen-X time capsule that maybe should have stayed buried"

★★

Reviewer: Louis Chilton

"It’s not just the references that have aged, but the show’s whole ethos. Observations about casual racism (“Everyone’s a little bit racist,” they sing, in a song that uses equal-opportunity bigotry to assuage white guilt) feel mired in an understanding of racism that society has mercifully grown beyond. Despite some attempts to soften the egregious offensiveness of characters like Christmas Eve – here, she dresses like a fashionable hipster, sans kimono – or the Muppety siren referred to as Lucy the Slut, there’s no getting around how obnoxious and old-fashioned the show’s attempts at provocation now feel. There is a pervading sense of “you won’t believe they just said that”, but of course, we do believe it – they’ve been saying it for decades. "

Read the review here.

Want to know more about Avenue Q? Here's everything you need to know about this beloved musical. If you're interested in seeing more theatre revivals, here's all the must-see revivals playing in London in 2026.

Avenue Q Tickets