Sesame St meets South Park

With characters such as Trekkie Monster and Lucy the Slut and on-stage sex between two puppets, it is a long way from the Muppet Show.

Avenue Q, Sir Cameron Mackintosh's new venture, is also unlike his previous hits, such as My Fair Lady and Mary Poppins. But the theatre impresario is hoping the musical will replicate its success on Broadway when it opens at the re-named Noel Coward Theatre ( formerly the Albery) in June.

The show has been described as Sesame Street meets South Park with a combination of humans and puppets. Set in downtown New York, the action centres on Princeton, a bright-eyed college graduate embarking on a story of self-discovery. Song titles include Everyone's A Little Bit Racist and The Internet Is For Porn.

It is the debut musical of Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx and has been one of Broadway's biggest hits since it opened in 2003, winning three Tony Awards in 2004. Sir Cameron is hoping word of mouth and a month of previews with reduced ticket prices will make the show a West End smash too.

"Avenue Q is totally a gamble," he told the Evening Standard. "We know some people know of it from America but we're assuming it's not many. But it became a terrific success in the States purely on word of mouth.

"I'm not going to spend much on ads, there's no point - it's purely word of mouth. The only marketing we're going to do is get as many people in to see it at the lowest price that is humanly possible in the first few weeks and hope they tell their friends that they'd be fools to miss it.

"The show's best chance is that it is completely different from any of the other big musicals opening. We want both a traditional musical audience plus an audience that likes something fresh and different that would never consider coming to a musical."

Sir Cameron came to co-produce Avenue Q by accident. "I had no intention of getting involved with the production," he said. "I just wanted it for one of my theatres. It was great to see an original, fresh musical that wasn't relying on showbiz pastiche to get by. The song titles are everyday subjects, not luvvie ones."

Despite the content, he does not expect controversy. "This is the country that has embraced Little Britain," he said.

"We've always found that America is usually behind what is acceptable on the British stage. You could not imagine shows like The Producers or Spamalot being on there 15 years ago but audiences here have always liked anarchic humour and irreverence.