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AVENUE Q is coming back to London! | everything we know about the revised West End production
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- [01:33]
Mickey Jo
Oh my God. Hey, welcome back to my theatre themed YouTube channel. Or hello to those of you listening to this on podcast platforms. My name is Mickey Jo and I am obsessed with all things theatre. I'm a theatre critic and content creator here on social media and I don't know about all of you, but today it sucks to be me just a little bit less because the Tony Award winning musical Avenue Q has announced that it is heading back to the West End to celebrate its 20th anniversary. Specifically, the show will open in 2026 for a limited run at the Shaftesbury Theatre amidst simultaneous refurbishment. If you're thinking how the heck does that work, don't worry, I will explain. I actually got to be part of a Zoom call with producers Jamie Wilson and Kevin McCollum yesterday in which they spoke about their passion for bringing the show back to the West End and why it was happening in the way that it was. Earlier today the news was made public and a lot of people are very excited and there are a couple of interesting things for us to consider about a 2026. West End return of Avenue Q For one thing, the production is being called rather than a revival, something of a revisal. We can speculate a about what that might mean beforehand though. Let me tell you everything that we know so far about this production and also let's consider what casting might look like when it heads to the Shaftesbury Theatre next year. Is it going to be full of alumni like the recent original West End cast reunion concert or talented new faces who were kids when Avenue Q first came out? Now, as always, I will be sharing all of my thoughts, but I would love to hear yours. Are you excited for Avenue Q at the Shaftesbury Theatre? Do you plan on getting tickets? Let everyone know in the comment section down below and let us know where you've seen Avenue Q before. I've never actually seen the show show in London, but I saw the original production on tour and then the subsequent tour of the Cellar Door non replica production. So I'm particularly excited to finally get to see the show in the West End and here are all the details about how I will. Let me read to you from the press release back on the Block 20th anniversary production of the three time Tony Award winning and Olivier Award nominated musical Avenue Q to open at the Shaftesbury Theatre for a strictly limited season from 20 March to 29 August 2020 26. Of course, one of those three Tony Awards was for Best New Musical which it famously won over Wicked. Still slightly controversial, though it must be said that Avenue Q has always been to my mind a deceptively smart and sophisticated show in the way that it parodies Sesame Street. If you have no idea what Avenue Q is, it's a slightly raunchy and adult comedy musical featuring puppets or as they prefer to be called, Persons of Fur I think is the appropriate name and it is very much extrapolation of Sesame Street. But for adults, particularly those navigating a quarter life crisis, and where Sesame street taught young children things about the world and about the Alphabet, Avenue Q teaches us about commitment and coming to terms with your own identity, grappling with finances and nostalgia and adult relationships and all of these complicated things in a way that I would describe as a little close to the bone if half of the characters had bones, but also side splittingly funny. And there's parallels everywhere. Not only are some of the characters sort of direct placeholders for Sesame street characters like Rod and Nikki, who feel like an interpretation of Bert and Ernie, but also a lot of the typical elements of an episode of Sesame street are parodied in this as well. We have occasional little animated interludes teaching us about different words like commitment and even a celebrity guest appearance. Just like you'd occasionally have a star wander onto Sesame street and hang out with Elmo. Gary Coleman is the superintendent of Avenue Q, a reference that always played slightly better in the us, where he was more well known than in the uk, with one major difference between American and English productions of the show being that Gary Coleman has almost always been cast with a female performer in the U.S. because Gary Coleman was a child star. So it's sort of, you know, it's that higher vocal pitch thing. And because there was less faith, perhaps in a UK audience knowing who Gary Coleman was to begin with. Gary Coleman in the UK has almost always been cast with a male performer. There are also a handful of different lyrics, like superintendent became I'm here fixing the toilets on Avenue Q, things like that. But let's carry on. So, 20th of March to the 26th of August, late spring through the summer at the Shaftesbury Theatre. Strictly limited season, so expect this to be the entirety of the run. Don't expect it to extend. Kevin McCullum and Jamie Wilson productions are delighted to announce that the three time Tony Award winning and LVA Award nominated musical Avenue Q will return to the west end for its 20th anniversary, bringing the original Broadway puppets. Great news. To the Shaftesbury Theatre for a strictly limited season from 20th of March to 29th August. Tickets are on sale now from Avenue Q Musical Dr. There is a statement here from the producers who said, we're beyond excited to bring Avenue Q back to the West End to celebrate its 20th anniversary. When the show first opened on Broadway, it broke all the rules. It was bold, funny and full of hearts. Speaking honestly about growing up and finding your place in the world. Two decades later, its message feels more relevant than ever. This revival is a love letter to the original production and to everyone who's ever seen a bit of themselves in the residence of Avenue Q. We can't wait to reintroduce this brilliantly irreverent, endlessly uplifting show to London audiences once again. Now Avenue Q is jointly presented by the American producer Kevin McCollum, the show's original producer, who was also famously a producer on Rent and who champions many a new musical these days, as well as the man who has become his sort of regular London producing partner, Jamie Wilson. The two of them having met a couple of years ago. Yesterday, Jamie Wilson told a story about seeing Avenue Q in his adolescence and being hugely enamored with it and how it's been a real passion of the two of them to try and find a way to Avenue Q back to London. Now, the reason why it's happening right here and right now at the Shaftesbury is not just because Jamie Wilson has a 10 year deal with the Shaftesbury Theatre doing all of its programming. It is specifically because the theatre is about to go under a little bit of restoration refurbishment in the kind of ceiling area. And the initial thinking was that this would mean it would have to be closed for a time. However, the brilliant minds at the Shaftesbury have found a way to close off the Upper Circle and install a false ceiling so that they can do work up while the theatre remains open, but with a reduced capacity to somewhere around a thousand. Inspired by that, these producers thought what show would play well in a smaller capacity Shaftesbury Theatre? The answer being Avenue Q, which maybe thrives on that slightly more intimate environment. Although it is objectively a little funny to use the word intimate when discussing a venue with a capacity of a thousand. Anyway, that's what's going on and that is why Avenue Q is happening there. Now, interestingly enough, I, I think from what I read, the work is set to continue beyond the run of Avenue Q. So perhaps there is going to be another piece of limited programming put into the more intimate Shaftesbury Theatre after Avenue Q ends. But to tell you a little bit more about the show before I tell you my feelings about all of this, it has music and lyrics by Robert Lopez, now known best of course for Frozen and Jeff Marx and a book by Jeff Witte. This revival production of Avenue Q. Let's pay attention to this. Based on an original concept by Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx will see the return of many of the original Broadway team, including the award winning Broadway director, Jason Moore. Original Broadway puppets conceived and designed by Rick Lyon alongside music, orchestrations and arrangements by Stephen Aremus and set design by Ana Luizos. Joining them for this anniversary production, new creative will be choreographer Ebony Molina with casting by Pearson Casting, CDG and other new UK creatives to be announced. Interesting. We have a little bit of a synopsis here as well. Fresh out of college and searching for his purpose, Princeton ends up in a shabby apartment on New York's run down Avenue Q. He he quickly meets his new and colourful neighbours where together they navigate the life struggles of work, love and paying the bills in their own hilarious way. Irreverent and irresistible, Avenue Q is the mischievous and charming musical full of infectious songs and lovable characters that will leave you smiling for days. Avenue Q first opened in the west end in 2006. This is interesting at the Noel Coward Theatre before transferring to the Gielgud Theatre, followed by the Wyndham's Theatre, all Delfonte Mackintosh venues. It was originally produced in partnership with Sir Cameron Mackintosh in London, where it played its final performance performance on the 30th of October 2010, a really respectable run across those three theaters. A special concert production was performed at the Sondheim Theatre in 2024 to celebrate the show's 18th anniversary. Which means, I think, that Avenue Q is beginning to rival the likes of Chicago and 222 A Ghost Story for being one of the shows to have played the most different West End houses. This will be its fourth fifth if you count the concert. But let's continue speculating a little bit more about what exactly the 20th anniversary production of Avenue Q is going to look like. And let me tell you how I feel about of this.
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- [11:04]
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- [11:41]
Mickey Jo
Now this news makes me happy for a whole handful of reasons. I think this kind of a fun musical comedy doesn't come along all too often and we have a lot of really brilliant fresh talent in the UK that it would be great to see in a lot of these roles. It was asked yesterday whether there was any sort of initial plan for it to include a handful of familiar faces. Was it going to bring back the original West End cast? Particularly, I guess asked because of the recent reunion concert, but also because that original West End cast have almost all gone on to pretty extraordinary success. In fact, Original Kate Monster. Julie Atherton is at the Shaftesbury Theatre right now playing Margaret Thatcher in Just for One Day, admittedly a slightly different role. It also included the likes of Simon Lipkin. I think Claire Foster was in the original cast as well. John Robbins, like brilliant people in the first cast of Avenue Q here, I'm also just excited about the notion of having Avenue Q back in the West End. My fiance Erin and I were talking not that long ago about how it feels like now is a great time, almost a better time than 20 years ago for Avenue Q. Just tonally in terms of the kind of comedy that people are enjoying, in terms of the appetites of audiences, I think this is going to be really popular. I think this is going to sell really well throughout its lim run and I think audiences are really ready for Avenue Q. I'm also super excited to experience a reduced capacity Shaftesbury Theatre with like just a stalls and a circle level, but like a wide stalls and circle level. I think that's going to be really fun. My biggest curiosity is around this idea of revisals and there were a couple of words said about the idea of updating certain things. And there has always been a song towards the end of the show called for now which speaks about particular cultural things happening around the time of the show that has always had updated references. So it goes without saying that that is going to feature references to more recent things, whether it's going to talk about Donald Trump, whether it's going to. I mean, it's a little late in the day for us to be talking about Brexit or Covid, but who knows? It'll depend. Whatever is topical at the time, maybe by 2026 new wild things will be happening in the world. Can't wait to experience yet more unprecedented times. Unprecedented times. Weren't they fun? My initial reaction was that it would be great to have an updated Avenue Queue with a little bit of re examination of some of the material. And a lot of people I've spoken to have said the same thing, but on reflection, so much of the material, it is a little crass and it is irreverent and offensive, but it's sort of equal opportunities offensive and not like the Book of Mormon, which is still fairly directed this in even its most Controversial moments. Even songs like Everyone's a little bit Racist or when depicting amorous relationships between puppets on stage, which fun fact, was not a part of the show I knew about because my sister used to play me the cast recording and skip that bit. What a surprise that was for me when I saw it on tour at the Southampton Mayflower. But off the top of my head, and there are probably moments I'm not considering, it doesn't really feel like it's material that's punching down or is necessarily outdated. It's just a little bit wild. So it's going to be really interesting to see. See to what extent it has some kind of an update also, by the sounds of it, new choreography and the returning creative team. But it doesn't necessarily mean that the exact direction is going to be replicated. The return of the original puppet designer, it was said the original Broadway puppets, they might be a little updated, someone might have a slightly new puppet haircut, we don't know. I think inherently a 20th anniversary production is going to have in many ways a little bit of a new shine to it, but it's going to still pay tribute to the original version of the show. And it's one of those shows where I don't think any non replica version has ever really improved on it, either aesthetically or in terms of the staging. I think it's such an iconic original production. Spring Awakening, I find to be a similar example. I just don't know that it can really be done any better. So I'm excited to see that version of the show again. I also think that this is pretty great producing. Not only is it coming at a good time, but it's also clearly coming from a place of love remounted by the show's original producer in conjunction with a producer who grew up watching the show, who has always loved it. And I'm thrilled that the Shaftesbury Theatre is getting this renovation work done. And it doesn't mean the theatre has to be dark, because we like for these theatres to have shows in, we like for them to be open, we like to have as many different shows on as possible, but we also like the theatres to be well maintained and taken care of. I love going to the theatre, but I really love when the roof doesn't fall down. That's. That's like maybe my favourite thing. And it's great to see that so much work is being done on the Shaftesbury Theatre. They had a big refurbishment not too many years ago and fun fact, it's one of very few commercial West End theatres to be independently owned. Don't sing the song. Don't sing the song. And there is clearly a lot of love for the building. I will also say, incidentally, and this is not to say that I disbelieve any of the reasons given for this particular piece of producing. Does the amount of nostalgic producing and revivals we're seeing at the moment feel a little bit like a recession indicator? I'm just gonna put that idea out there because simultaneously as this was announced, the return of another prolific long running West End show from yesteryear was also teased on social media. I'm not gonna tell you which one. You've either seen the teasers or you haven't, and it will be announced soon enough, but certainly on either side of the Atlantic. At the moment it feels like we're really leaning into revivals and remountings and the returns of shows that we know sell well, which is great, which is fantastic as long as those same prod producers with all the money they make from those shows are also putting that towards the development of new musicals, which is something that the likes of Jamie Wilson and Kevin McCollum do. Finally. Then, let's speculate about what casting could look like for this production and I would love to hear all of your thoughts in the comments section down below. I think inevitably great as it would be to see returning stars from previous casts and there have been really great people in it, not just in the original cast, but like I saw Lucy May Sumner as a fantastic Kate monster on one of the Non Replica UK tours. I also think it would be fantastic to see this new generation of musical comedy talent getting to go into the show. And I'd be curious as to who has always wanted to do Avenue Q, maybe who has a background in puppetry or who can do those kinds of character voices. There's a lot of performers swirling around my head right now. There's a lot of musical theater trained actors who have also done mischief shows who clearly have an extraordinary capacity for that kind of zany comedy. Lewis Cornay is a name that's just popped into my head. Chrissy Beamer is a name that's popped into my head. Teddy Hind is a name that's popped into my head. Like there's so many people. I'm thinking about some of the cast members I saw recently in 50 First Dates. I'm thinking about some of the cast members I saw not too long ago in Kathy and Stella Solve a Murder. There's so much exciting talent this is going to be, I think, a really fun casting announcement when it eventually gets unveiled. Oh, Julie Yaminy would be fun in this show as well. Let's make that happen. And I will also add one other thought out there into the universe. And I don't know if Jamie Wilson is listening to this, but the Shaftesbury Theatre, post renovations a couple of years ago, is now one of very few, maybe only a couple of commercial West End houses in which the backstage and stage areas are accessible for performers who are wheelchair users. We talk a lot about front of house accessibility and audience members who are wheelchair users being able to enter the theatre and the auditorium. But there are even fewer venues where wheelchair user actors can actually get onto the stage. The Shaftesbury Theatre is now one of those. And there are great people like Ed Larkin, like Amy Trigg, like all of the names that I don't yet know, who I think would be fun in Avenue Q. And Amy Trigg, Mrs. Thistle Twat, that would be kind of iconic. And there's a lot of roles in the show where the specificity of that performer's identity matters. But if it's going to be a revised and updated version, maybe it could be a little bit more reflective of the world that we live in now. There was always something in the early 2000s that was a little bit friends esque about the New York depicted in Avenue Q. And they were talking about their challenges, but it was still a pretty like smiley and fun and you know, puppets don't have have skin color. But the human performers on stage are predominantly white cast other than Christmas Eve and Gary Coleman. And a little diversity would never hurt, especially because I am so curious. This is the one thing I can't yet quite predict about how Avenue Q is going to play in 2025. I agree it's super timely and there will always be a generation, you know, coming of age having that kind of a quarter life crisis. I was a teenager when I first saw this show. Now I've, you know, just turned 30. So I'm gonna look at it in a very different, more relatable way. But I also think that a lot of what is being experienced by that generation right now is sort of more akin to political fatigue and strife and despair, which aren't themes explicitly recognized in the show. It's a lot more about like getting a job and maintaining a relationship, hooking up with a sexy puppet. And, you know, we've all been there. But there are definitely going to be other elephants in the room and not literal elephants. Unless, of course, the revivals to the production are even more extreme than I thought. In any case, lots for us still to find out about the West End return of Avenue Q. But in the meantime, I am very excited to welcome it back to London and I hope you feel the same. But let me know what you think about all of this in the comments section down below. Are there any parts of the show that you think maybe are going to play a little bit differently in 2025? Are there any performers you would like to see in the cast? Share those names, share those thoughts, and let me know if you've got tickets already. In the meantime, thank you so much for listening to this theatre news recap. Stay tuned for my coverage on everything happening in the West End and on Broadway as well as around the world. Plus plenty of things. Theatre reviews and theatre going vlogs right here on YouTube or on podcast platforms. Make sure you're subscribed or following me so you don't miss any of that content. And as always, I hope that everyone is staying safe and that you have a Stagey Day. For 10 more seconds. I'm Mickey Jo Theatre. Oh my God. Hey, thanks for watching. Have a stagey day. Subscribe.
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Mickey Jo
New secrets, lies are coming out. This is gonna be catastrophic. We're fighting for our marriages and the girls are just putting us through hell.
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Marc Maron
I can't.
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Mickey Jo
Hopefully this doesn't end in a bloodbath.
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Marc Maron
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