Avenue Q (One Night and Matinee) - Sondheim Theatre

Great night. Hell of an atmosphere in the theatre, only topped by seeing the original cast of The Play That Goes Wrong in Manchester last year. Certainly better than the last time I saw Avenue Q, at a midweek matinee with an audience of probably less than 100.

The programme thing was weird. Got there early to buy one, but noticed the signed ones. Saw on the way out that there were still three big stacks of the signed ones. Should have asked really, as the woman in front of me had one, but I think she’d been at both shows. But there’s no articles or anything, which is a bit odd if it’s celebrating the show, and it is full of typos, not least the book writer Jeff Whitty’s bio which is just one big mistake.

I booked this weekend away specifically to see this and it was worth every penny. Top notch cast. Just makes me wish I’d seen it back in the day, rather than only the tour. I only saw Giles Terera yesterday in Dr Strangelove, but haven’t seen Simon Lipkin since Assassins, which must be nearly 10 years ago. I wanted to Oliver! anyway, but I really need to see him playing Fagin now. Very pleased Ann Harada came over to do it.

Always suspicious of how unscripted ad-libs actually are, though Simon Lipkin and Giles Terera seemed to have chucked a few in. Particularly Trekkie Monster’s password being diddydidntdoitdidhe, which the cast looked surprised by, and shouting “don’t f***ing patronise him, the man’s got an MBE!” when GT got a round of applause for messing up the start of Schadenfreude. There was a bit in Everyone’s a little Bit Racist about Gary making jokes about white people, then looks into the audience and is like “you too, huh?” Can’t help noticing that covered up the only real derogatory language in the show. Loved Ann Harada’s line “we’re moving to a better neighbourhood… The set of Phantom of the Opera!” and Jon Robyns’ “I’m over here!” when a spotlight failed to light him up at the start of act 2.

Nice speech at the end too from the original Broadway director, who got Cameron Mackintosh to do a little wave from the audience. Given the audience response during the show it was interesting to see quite a few people put their hands up when he asked if it was anyone’s first time seeing it.

Saw the evening performance last night and was filled with joy the entire performance! Most fun I have had in ages. Such a thrill to see the original London cast still able to hit it out of the park! I have to imagine their arms ached doing the puppets for 2 shows after not having done it for years and years!

Just a new production and I think they didn’t have the rights/access to the originals.

With regard to the comment about whether they could get away with this in the West End today, I did like Trekkie Monster's announcement before the show "No-one performing today should be cancelled as the jokes used were acceptable 18 years ago"

I don't see why it couldn't be done today
The humour is of a similar to veign to BOM and they still get away with it (thankfully).

After listening to the Broadway recording over the years I had forgotten that a lot of lyrics had been updated for London, so it was surprising to hear those - I was trying to work out if anything had been changed to suit modern sensitivities but I think all the changes were just the original London ones.

Most of the changes were to make it more relevant to London audiences like changing Korean deli to Chinese Restaurant for Christmas Eve in It Sucks To Be Me and also a change they made to Gary Coleman who I remember as I saw the show in previews that Gary Coleman was just Gary but then they changed it back to Gary Coleman when I saw it later on but with the same changes intact. 

That’s why it shouldn’t be done, it’s had its time.

I was there for the matinée and absolutely loved it. I'd seen it several times over the years in London, and also out on tour too (both pro and amateur versions), so it was great to see the original cast back together again.

The sound was a little tinny in places, especially for Ann as some have said, but given it's a one-day-only event this didn't really detract from the performance itself. The integration with the Les Mis set was fab! I'd forgotten how much skill is involved with the puppets, especially where Nicky and Trekkie have hands operated by two different people, yet look as though they're completely synchronised, and where one person does the voice from the other side of the stage while someone else operates the puppet.

The joy the cast obviously felt from being there was very apparent, and it was lovely to feel so much excitement from the audience too. I'm so glad I booked!

I agree about the black signatures on a black programme cover, you'd think someone might have noticed it wasn't a great idea. I suppose it's nice to have them, even if I can't decipher anyone's name! 😁

Some lovely pictures have appeared on Instagram

http://instagram.com/p/DCOkcBWhSAL