Avenue Q at the Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road, London

Amongst the grotty run down houses in what the programme describes as an "outer-outer borough of New York city" live the charming residents of Avenue Q.

The musical comedy, now in its fifth year in London (although still the first at its current home, the Wyndham's Theatre on Charing Cross Road), follows Princeton (an orange puppet with resemblance to our childhood friends from the likes of Sesame Street, brought to life by the delightful Paul Spicer) as he embarks on his journey through adulthood having graduated and grown up with nothing to show for it other than his apparently useless English degree.

I'm thrilled to discover that despite a thoroughly well earned extensive run so far on the West End, this show has not lost an ounce of its charm, energy or charisma, and still shines brightly amongst musicals of late as a real gem. Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx's uplifting Tony Award-winning score along with an equally word perfect (and equally Tony winning) book by the suitably named Jeff Whitty are performed with proud and bold spirit by this show's tireless cast, most of whom spend their time lending their limbs to brightly coloured felt creations who look as though they've just stepped off the set of a Muppets movie and are taking the night off.

Spicer's other alter-ego is Rod, a firmly in-the-closet, upstanding, Republican investment banker with an unending love for Judy Garland, Broadway musicals and his adorably useless roommate Nicky (one of an array of characters who is chased around the stage with lightning energy by Tom Parsons, with the equally stunning Rachel Jerram in hot pursuit). The show's underlying sub-plot which sensitively follows Rod's troublesome journey to telling his friends his "big secret" begins with Nicky's brilliantly tactless solo number "If You Were Gay, That'd Be Okay", and ends with, thankfully, a roar of approving applause from the audience when he finally plucks up the courage to out himself with a bottle of champagne at the end of act 2. In between, we see him approach the avenue's resident Japanese therapist Christmas Eve (portrayed by the sublimely hilarious Jacqueline Tate) who when told of Rod's "friend" who just so happens to be living the exact same life as him but is also incidentally gay, advises him "Tell him to stay in closet; he good for nothing! I wouldn't want a friend like that!". It's refreshing to play witness to a show that can remain a musical comedy with an outlandishly camp homosexual character, yet still keep the gay references and jokes on the right side of the "here we go again" line. Rod's solo number, "I Wish You Could Meet My Girlfriend (Who Lives In Canada)", which he jumps into in the middle of a wedding reception at the moment he fears he may have been twigged by his friends, is both hilarious (the final lyric being "And I can't wait to eat her pussy again!") and haunting; the maddening desperation to conform and convince both his friends and himself of his heterosexuality rang so true in Spicer's performance, and the masking of Rod's inner struggle to come to terms behind a cacophony of bold and absurd statements about the fictional female spouse he was creating on the spot was, although I felt a little lost amongst much of the audience, one of the show's many painfully genuine moments.

Take Spicer, Parsons, Jerram and Tate, and add in the stunningly multi-talented Cassidy Janson as an array of leading lady puppets, the wonderfully mundane-trodden "everybody's best pal" figure Brian (Sion Lloyd) playing unfortunate husband to Christmas Eve, and the child-star that was, Gary Coleman of Diff'rent Strokes (understudied at this particular performance by the charming Jaygann Ayeh), incidentally acting as the cheerfully cynical landlord of the street, and you've got yourself the freshest, most outstanding company to grace a West End stage amongst the current big musicals. You'd certainly have trouble faulting the material, but what undoubtedly has this show continue to feel as though it could have opened last week and keeps that big, fuzzy heart alive is Avenue Q's youthful and exuberant cast. Avenue Q is a must-see for anyone looking for a musical that offers both hilarity and heart in liberal doses.

Update: In light of the death of Gary Coleman on Friday, Avenue Q's Delroy Atkinson (who currently plays him in the show at the Wyndham's) has told GYC Radio that; "There's going to be a few minor adjustments, but otherwise both the show and I are going to be playing it business as usual, as a warm tribute to him."

Avenue Q continues to run at the Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road, currently booking thru September 25th. Details and tickets at www.avenueqthemusical.co.uk

Trailer; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbWM0XxhUZQ