"Avenue Q" by Amici Productions.

Duchess Theatre, Long Eaton.

Puppets, earworm songs, a heart-warming story of a graduate fresh out of university looking to find his purpose in life – and finding a girl along the way. A show that’s fun for all the family.

Wrong! Very wrong!

I wonder if the lady who brought her two young children along to see this really knew what was in store for their innocent eyes and ears?

Avenue Q is enormous fun but with songs like ‘The Internet (Is For Porn)’ and a puppet sex scene (which is hilarious by the way), this show is strictly for adults and in no way like any puppet show at any kids party I’ve been to.

The show centres on Princeton, an arts graduate and therefore out of a job (What do you do with a BA in English). Trying to find a cheap enough place to rent, he finds on Avenue Q and meets a host of wonderful characters.

These including Kate Monster who dreams of opening her own monster school, the humans Brian and Christmas Eve, and Gary Coleman – the child actor off Different Strokes who is now down on his luck and the superintendent at Avenue Q. ( I don’t think it’s giving anything away by saying that this isn’t THE Gary Coleman).

A porn obsessed monster, a couple of male puppet characters who live together, a pair of little bears who keep coming up with "fun" ideas and a buxom lady puppet who relishes in her own independence, if you know what I mean.

The actors behind these puppets, most of whom were new to puppetry, and I can only imagine that acting, singing, dancing and not really being the focus of the audience, and still going through the full realm of visual expressions your puppet is expressing, can't be the easiest of acting jobs.

You focus on the puppet characters and not the actor but can't help appreciate the talent the actor behind the puppet has. This cast, who are difficult not to watch at the same time as the puppets stars because of the facial configurations they project, are just brilliant, every one of them.

There are some very funny, and non PC songs here and, even though I've seen the show several times previously and know the soundtrack well, this show still makes me laugh loudly. Songs like "Everyone's A little Bit Racist", "The Internet Is For Porn" and "If You Were Gay" sit well alongside love songs like "There's A Fine Fine Line" and "Mixtape".

Every single actor on that stage deserved every round of applause they received, as well as the first night standing ovation at the end. Something I predict will continue throughout this short run.

Kyle Fearn (Princeton), Megan Hill (Kate Monster), Jake Gelernter (Rod), Jack Readyhoof (Nicky as well as the wonderful Trekkie Monster), Beth Yearsley (Lucy the Slut), Kheenan Jones (Brian - not a puppet), Mariko Jones (Christmas Eve - also not a puppet), Desrick Francis (Gary Coleman - whatchu talkin' about Kev? Not THE Gary Coleman?), Charlotte Howarth and Lu Anthony (both very naughty, but nice Bad Idea Bears) and last, but by no means least, Laurie Trott (Mrs T wait to hear her full name!!).

I could give you a description of who every character is but, it's so much more fun to beg, steal or borrow a ticket - currently every show is SOLD OUT, so any of the above three options, although I am not condoning the second, or checking the box office for any fool who returns or cancels their ticket, giving you a chance to experience this crazy but wonderful show.

Directed by Matt Fry. All I can say is that Matt must have had the best of times directing this show and this particular cast because they had such a great time on stage that their enjoyment radiated to the audience. When an audience reacts in the way that this one did tonight, you know that the Director has done the best job ever, and he did.

Musical Director, and Producer is Dave Dallard. I have great fondness for these songs and love the musical, let's face it there's not really another musical quite like "Avenue Q" Great fun songs and they sounded great as well. Situated behind the set itself, the balance was created just right.

Choreographed by Beth Yearsley. I don't know how many times I can say the word "fun" but even the choreography was fun to watch. Whether it be the simple skipping around the stage, which may not sound that much fun, but just watch Kheenan, there's something childishly funny, which makes the skipping fun, or the other choreographed pieces, it is pure fun and I love it.

Martin Holtom's puppet workshop gave the actors all they needed to know to bring these cloth characters to life. It's not easy to synchronise a puppet's mouth or limbs to match what the actor is doing or saying, but it's this cast's newly found skills that made sure that we were watching the puppet stars and not the actors who just had a hand in bringing them to life. I also appreciated that all of the actors were dressed in black. This may be a given, but I have seen in the past an actor who wasn't and that stuck out.

Loved the set design by Chris Renshaw. Every time I see "Avenue Q" the set design is changed slightly and is literally well constructed on many levels. Additional staging by Roydon Charlesworth.

Something that you don't get in a lot of musicals are screens, and the technical side of this show also needs to be complimented. There are screens at either side of the stage which also show segments akin to American style shows like "Sesame Street", which are highly entertaining.

Lighting is by Richard Chamberlain, and even the odd couple of stray spotlights couldn't mar my enjoyment of this production. Neither did the odd missed mic cue; Sound by Dave Martin and Phil Holland. The only reason I mentioned these two minor details is that I'd hate for you to think I'd gone soft. But seriously, no one else probably even noticed, but also shows that these two areas are so specialised and not as easy to operate as many people think.

I have not seen so many smiling, happy people in one place after the show as I did on Thursday night, showing what a big success this production is. I need not say more. I just wouldn't like to be that mother in tonight who has to explain to her two youngsters what those two puppets were doing to each other.

Amici Productions are collecting for three separate charities throughout the run of the show, so please dig deep to help them.

There is bad language, adult themes and puppet nudity involved in "Avenue Q", which is at The Duchess Theatre, Long Eaton until Saturday 11 November.

Photos thanks to Martin Holtom.