Alert: puppet sex

Avenue Q. Photo / Supplied

There's a new musical coming to town and it sounds like it's Sesame Street crossed with Peter Jackson's sordid black comedy Meet the Feebles.

Avenue Q, which starts at the Civic Theatre on May 13, is inspired by Sesame Street with the likes of Rod and Nicky based on Bert and Ernie and Trekkie Monster a take-off of Cookie Monster.

Most of the characters in the show are puppets (operated by onstage actors) who sing songs like Everyone's A Little Bit Racist, If You Were Gay, and You Can Be as Loud as the Hell You Want (When You're Makin' Love). So they might be puppets but it's not really one to take the kids along to. And warning: this show contains puppet sex.

Avenue Q tells the story of Princeton, a college graduate who arrives in the Big Apple with big dreams. But he soon discovers the only place he can afford to live is on Avenue Q - a street in an "outer borough" of New York City - where he meets a cast of weird and wonderful freaks.

It has already been a hit in the United States, winning Tony Awards in 2004 for best musical and best score. And it's still showing on Broadway to packed houses six years on.