A HOST of badly behaved fuzzy friends will delight audiences when Avenue Q returns to Mayflower Theatre's stage next week.

A smash hit on Broadway, in the West End and during its previous Southampton run, award-winning comedy musical Avenue Q features the naughtiest puppets in town.

They are brought hilariously to life by an ensemble cast of 11 performers in this 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 neighbourhood 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 funny songs including The Internet is for Porn and Everyone’s A Little Bit Racist, Avenue Q is a hilarious musical with a warm heart.

Avenue Q first opened Off-Broadway 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 ten other countries since.

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.

Avenue Q runs from Monday to Wednesday.

Tickets: Call 023 8071 1811 or go online at mayflower.org.uk.