REVIEW: Avenue Q gets an A
Though the script of this adults-only puppet-based parody may need some updating, this sold-out Hamilton Theatre Inc. production is high quality.
Avenue Q is a crude musical-comedy Sesame Street parody about a puppet facing an existential crisis after graduating from college. After winning Best Musical, Book and Score at the 2004 Tony Awards, beating out Wicked, the puppet-dominated musical written by Jeff Whitty, became a Broadway hit.
Princeton, our graduate, moves into a new apartment he can’t afford on the street Avenue Q after graduating with a BA in English. He’s introduced to his eclectic neighbours and their various troubles, and via song and dance, learns lessons about life, love, sex, and his purpose.
The entire cast of Hamilton Theatre Inc.’s production, including Ryan McGinlay as Princeton, Kristi Boulton as Kate Monster, Eliott Shams as Rod, Quincy Clarke as Gary, and many more, are high-level performers. Most of the actors in Avenue Q must be aware of their own physicality, puppeteer while delivering lines, and also routinely burst into song. Pulling off the multi-faceted production is no walk in the park, and this cast is particularly sharp.
This production also has fantastic set design with clever detailing. Puppets add layers of jokes from the background of scenes, a TV screen adds digital silliness, and the characters pop in and out of colourful faux neighbourhood apartments that add movement and depth to the performance.
Several of Avenue Q’s jokes, characters and politics feel more at home in the early 2000s than here in 2025. The 2003 production feels outdated when we’re introduced to insensitive storylines about racism, queerness, gender politics, and others. That’s not to say that Avenue Q’s messy, sexually charged and coming-of-age themes are not still relatable to an emerging adult Gen Z audience, but the approach needs updating.
Avenue Q superfans will be delighted at the quality of this Hamilton Theatre Inc. production, as already demonstrated by the sold-out run. If a high-quality musical about porn-obsessed puppets sounds like an entertaining romp, you can sign up to be added to Hamilton Theatre Inc.’s waiting list below.
NEED TO KNOW
Avenue Q
Continues Nov. 27, 28, and 29
Hamilton Theatre Inc.
140 MacNab St. N.
Tickets: Currently sold out, but visit here to be added to the waiting list.
