Avenue Q
Holding the notable position of 26th longest running musical in Broadway history, while winning several Tony Awards and the awards for the Best Musical, Avenue Q is an exasperating musical conceived by Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx, who wrote the music and lyrics, with the direction by Jason Moore. The show was produced by and opened at the Off-Broadway Vineyard Theatre in March 2003. The show has initiated a 2005 Las Vegas production, a 2006 West End production and various international productions. A U.S. national tour began in July 2007 and will end in May 2009.
As stated in the Broadway Playbill, the scene is a fictional street located “in an outer borough of New York City.” Manhattan, the center of New York City, has Avenues A, B, C, and D, making up the Alphabet City neighborhood. Alternately, Avenue Q could be in the Midwood and Gravesend area of Brooklyn, where there are also Avenues A, B, C, etc. all the way up to Avenue Z, with a few exceptions. One of the exceptions is Avenue Q. The Q subway train travels through this neighborhood, whose symbol used to be a Q in an orange circle resembling the Avenue Q logo. However, the authors have stated that Avenue Q is fictional and is not related to this or any other particular street.
The show is largely inspired by Sesame Street and follows the similar style too as most of the characters in the show are puppets and the set depicts several tenements on a rundown street in an “outer borough” of New York City, both the live characters and puppet characters sing, and short animated video clips are played as part of the story. Also, several characters are recognizably parodies of classic Sesame Street characters: for example, the roommates Rod and Nicky are versions of Sesame Street’s Bert and Ernie, and Trekkie Monster is based on Cookie Monster. However, the characters are in their twenties and thirties and face adult problems instead of those faced by pre-schoolers, thus making the show more suited for the adults who grew up with Sesame Street.
The characters use profane and outrageously explicit language while the songs are mostly concerned with adult themes. A recurring theme is the central character’s search for a “purpose.” Since the musical soundtrack for it was released, the song “The Internet is For Porn” has become particularly popular. According to the official site, the musical is appropriate for both adults and mature teenagers. The show is an explicit homage to Sesame Street. But unlike Sesame Street, Avenue Q openly addresses adult topics such as racism, pornography, and homosexuality; in fact, because of its adult language and content and “full puppet nudity”, the show specifically disclaims any connection to either Sesame Workshop or The Jim Henson Company.
The characters who are not puppets relate to the puppets, rather than to the actors holding them. The puppets speak directly to each other and never to the actors operating them. During the course of the show, a puppet character may be operated by more than one of the actor-operators, although the same actor creates the voice for a particular puppet even if he or she is not holding the puppet at the time. The puppeteers wear nondescript black/gray clothing while the three human characters are dressed in bright colors, as are the puppets.
Avenue Q has a distinct plot that engulfs the audience into its garb. Princeton, a recent college graduate, is looking for an affordable apartment in New York City. At Avenue Q, he meets a group of neighbors: Kate Monster, a single assistant kindergarten teacher; Nicky and Rod, two long-time roommates; Brian, an unemployed comedian; Christmas Eve, Brian’s Japanese fiancée, who is a therapist but has no clients; and Gary Coleman, former child star of the TV show Diff’rent Strokes, now the apartment superintendent. They all complain about their lives and all agree that Gary’s life sucks the most. Princeton takes an apartment, and everyone welcomes him to the block. Thus a true depiction of the frustration and cruelty that life inflicts upon common men is thus portrayed.
The recurrent adult theme can be witnessed when the characters expose themselves and their thoughts to the public. Rod is reading a book about “Broadway Musicals of the 1940s” when he is interrupted by Nicky, who wants to share a story about a gay man he met on the subway. Rod gets defensive at the mention of homosexuality, and Nicky assures his roommate that he would have no problem accepting Rod.
Secound production for Avenue Q was organised at Wynn Las Vegas hotel and casino in Las Vegas on September 8, 2005. Primarily the production had an “exclusive” contract that prohibited Avenue Q tours in North America. New theatre was built specially having capacity of 1200 seat for audience for this show
In mid-January 2006, the show was more organized by cutting 90 minutes, removing the interval and trimming of 10-15 minutes. The Logo had “Q” in white letters engraved in front. Due to outstanding performance the show was reported to have been more profitable, citation needed it closed on May 28, 2006, after only a nine-month run. The closing of the show in Las Vegas released the Avenue Q producers from their exclusivity agreement, have positive impact and opened new way for a U.S. national tour or other U.S. productions.
The first public production of this show was in June 2006 in London’s West End at the Noël Coward Theatre. The show previewed on June 1, 2006 and opened on 28 June 2006. Avenue Q is booked in London until April 25, 2009. In order to gain popularity the production uses a different logo for the show as well as the original logo. The original logo is styled after the New York City Subway system graphics, and so it would have little resonance with a London audience.
U.S./Canada Tour.
For More Information On Avenue Q
Visit: http://www.avenue-q.net
About the Author
Maria is a professional writer. Music and Art is her passion and she enjoys writing on various Arts events including concerts and theaters. She also love sports and like to write on sporting events as well.
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