A smash hit on Broadway, in the West End and most recently in a critically-acclaimed 2014 UK Tour, award-winning comedy musical Avenue Q will bringing a host of fuzzy friends to GRIMSBY, playing at GRIMSBY AUDITORIUM from TUE 3 to SAT 7 NOVEMBER. On sale now.
Featuring the naughtiest puppets in town, brought hilariously to life by an ensemble cast of 11 performers, Avenue Q is a Tony Award-winning musical about growing up, dreaming big, and finding your purpose in life.
Meet Princeton, a bright-eyed graduate who comes to New York City with big dreams and a tiny bank account. Soon discovering that the only neighborhood in his price range is Avenue Q, he finds himself moving in with some truly quirky characters. There’s Brian the out-of-work comedian and his therapist fiancée Christmas Eve; Nicky the good-hearted slacker and his closet gay Republican roommate Rod, an Internet ‘sexpert’ called Trekkie Monster and a very cute kindergarten teacher named Kate Monster. And would you believe the building’s superintendent is Gary Coleman?! Featuring hysterically funny songs including The Internet is for Porn and Everyone’s A Little Bit Racist, Avenue Q is a hilarious musical with a warm (and very fuzzy) heart.
“You’d be a muppet to miss it”
Avenue Q first opened Off-Broadway at the Vineyard Theatre in 2003, before transferring to Broadway later that year where it won three Tony Awards for Best Musical, Best Score and Best Book. In 2006 it transferred to the West End produced by Cameron Mackintosh, where it ran for five years before touring the UK. It has appeared in more than ten countries all over the world.
Avenue Q is co-created by Tony, Grammy and Emmy Award-winner Robert Lopez, who also co-created the smash-hit Broadway and West End musical The Book of Mormon. With his wife Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Robert also co-wrote the songs for Disney’s recent animated feature Frozen, with his work also seen on television in Scrubs, The Simpsons and Southpark.
The cast features Sarah Harlington as Kate Monster/Lucy the Slut, Richard Lowe as Princeton/Rod and Arina II as Christmas Eve. Returning to the show following last year’s tour are Stephen Arden as Nicky/Trekkie Monster, Richard Morse as Brian, Etisyai Philip as Gary Coleman and Jessica Parker as Mrs T/ Bad Idea Bear. The cast also includes Michael Woolston-Thomas, Douglas Walker and Cleopatra Joseph.
Avenue Q is produced by Sell a Door Theatre Company, who first presented this new production in a 6 month tour in 2014. Formed in 2007, Sell a Door creates touring productions aimed at engaging young adults in live theatre. Recent productions include a forthcoming UK Tour of The History Boys, Seussical in the West End and the debut UK tour of Spring Awakening. Their co-producer is Richard Darbourne Ltd whose recent work includes Pride and Prejudice on UK Tour and the 25th Anniversary tour of Return to the Forbidden Planet.
Avenue Q has a book by Jeff Whitty and music and lyrics by Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx. It is directed and choreographed by Cressida Carré, with set design by Richard Evans, lighting design by Charlie Morgan Jones and sound design by Chris Bogg and DBS Solutions. Orchestrations and arrangements are by Stephen Oremus. It is produced by Sell a Door Theatre Co and Richard Darbourne Ltd. Puppets are designed by Paul Jomain for Q Puppets (www.Qpuppets.co.uk).
@AvenueQUKTour
Cast Biography’s
Sarah Harlington | Kate Monster/Lucy The Slut
Theatre credits include: Sally in Girlfriends (Union Theatre), Serena Katz in Fame (UK tour), Twyla in When Midnight Strikes (Upstairs at the Gatehouse); Ensemble & understudy Sister Mary Roberts in Sister Act (UK Tour); Tribe in Hair (European Tour); Princess Jasmine in Aladdin (Sheffield Lyceum & Towngate Theatre) and Mary in A Human Comedy (Young Vic).
Richard Lowe | Princeton/Rod
Theatre includes: Wife Begins at Forty (Yvonne Arnaud Theatre), Loserville (West Yorkshire Playhouse and West End), Streets (Hackney Empire), The Light Princess (National Theatre) and Rumpelstiltskin (Theatre Royal Bath).
Stephen Arden | Nicky/Trekkie Monster
Theatre includes: Avenue Q (UK Tour), Clinton the Musical (Edinburgh Festival Fringe & Kings Head, London), Sweeney Todd (Centrepoint Theatre, Dubai), The Tenors (Netherlands Tour), Musicals Wanted (European Tour) and Elegies for Angels Punks & Raging Queens (The Tron)
Film includes: Zombie Musical (BAFTA New Talent Award).
Richard Morse | Brian
Theatre includes: Avenue Q (UK Tour), The Man Who Had All The Luck (Sell a Door), The Road to Qatar (Edinburgh Fringe), The Wonderful World of Mr E! (Dizzy O’Dare), Double Falsehood (MokitaGrit) and The American Clock (Steam Industry).
Arina II | Christmas Eve
Theatre includes: Princess in Aladdin (Belgrade Theatre), Marcy Park in The 25th Annual Putnam Country Spelling Bee (UK Tour), Avenue Q (No. 1 UK Tour), Lia’s Guide to Winning the Lottery (Perfect Pitch workshop), Cinderella (Crewe Lyceum); The Importance of Being Earnest (Tour de Force) and The Merry Widow, Eugene Onegin and Madame Butterfly (Opera Holland Park).
Etisyai Philip | Gary Coleman
Theatre includes Hairspray (Wales), Avenue Q (UK Tour), Choices (Kids Company/Criterion Theatre), SOLD (Edinburgh Festival). Film includes: Good Night (BAFTA Award nominated, Muriel D’Ansembourg).
Jessica Parker | Mrs T/Bad Idea Bear
Theatre includes: Avenue Q (UK Tour and Hong Kong); Seussical (West End); Evita (UK/International Tour); Thirteen Days – The Musical Arcola Theatre), Dancing Queen (UK/International Tour), Kiss Me Kate (UK Tour); Just So (European Premiere) and Godspell (Cannizaro Park, London).
Douglas Walker | Ensemble
Theatre includes: Miracle on 34th Street (Pitlochry Festival Theatre), Scooby Doo Live: The Mystery of the Pyramid (UK Tour), Company (Edinburgh Fringe Festival) and Towards the Moon (Edinburgh Fringe Festival).
Michael Woolston-Thomas | Ensemble
Theatre includes The Little Mermaid (Dugdale Centre), Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast (The Radlett Centre), Mods and Rox (New Wolsey Theatre) and Sleeping Beauty (Beck Theatre).
Cleopatra Joseph | Ensemble
Theatre includes: Peter Pan (New Victoria Theatre), Soul Sister (National Tour), Hairspray (Curve, Leicester) and Dancing in the Streets. Cleopatra has also been a backing singer for Leona Lewis on ITV’s The X factor
