Avenue Q

The Broadway Musical Avenue Q won the 2004 Tony Award for Best Musical (it also won Tony Awards for Best Score and Best Book of a Musical), defeating the much bigger-scale musical of the season, Wicked. It opened off-Broadway at the Vineyard Theatre in March 2003 (where it won that season's Lucille Lortel Award for Best Musical), and it has been on Broadway at the Golden Theatre since July 31, 2003. It has risque songs about racism, Internet porn, and the difficulties of life, and all but three characters are portrayed by puppets.

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The show is largely inspired by (and in the style of) PBS's Sesame Street, with several characters that are recognizably parodies of classic Muppet characters. For example, the roommates Rod and Nicky are clearly adult versions of Sesame Street's Bert and Ernie, and Trekkie Monster seems to be based on Cookie Monster. Likewise, many of Avenue Q's musical numbers are in a style associated with classic Sesame Street songs.

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Because of its adult content and "full puppet nudity" (including graphic simulated sex between puppets), Avenue Q is not recommended for ages 12 and under. Additionally, for this reason, the show specifically disclaims any connection to Sesame Workshop or The Jim Henson Company.

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The music and lyrics are by Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx. The book is by Jeff Whitty. The original production was directed by Jason Moore and choreographed by Ken Roberson. The puppets were designed and constructed by original cast member Rick Lyon.

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A second production of Avenue Q opened on September 8, 2005 in the Broadway Theatre, a $40 million, 1,200 seat venue built to house the production at the Wynn Las Vegas hotel/casino. Plans for a third production in 2006, at London's West End, were revealed in a cover story in the Wall Street Journal on March 10, 2005.

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Musical: The art of singing and dancing in a prepared fictional play has been a time-honored tradition ranging to the early days of civilization. In modern times, these song-filled plays are known as musicals. There are two major kinds of musicals:...

Wicked: Wicked is the name of several things:...

Off-Broadway: Off-Broadway plays or musicals are performed in New York City in smaller theatres than Broadway, but larger than Off-Off-Broadway, productions....

Avenue Q related Images and Photos (experimental)

Avenue Q: The 2003 Original Broadway Cast CD	Park Avenue	Fifth Avenue	Fifth Avenue Girl (DVD)
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