Avenue Q : Musical Paper
Guillaume Jacob
Drama 2
4/16/13
Avenue Q
Created by Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx, who wrote the music and lyrics,
Avenue Q is a comedic American musical that opened in March 2003 at the Eugene
O’Neill Theater in Waterford, Connecticut, before being transferred to Broadway in
July of that same year. The book was written by Jeff Whitty and the show directed by
Jason Moore. The show won Three Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Original
Score and Best Book of a Musical. It ran in Broadway till September 13, 2009, for a total of
2534 performances in a little more than 6 years, before reopening Off-Broadway in October
at New World Stages.
Avenue Q draws its originality from its use of puppets alongside actors,
parodying the concept of children television shows featuring puppets, like Sesame
Street or The Muppet Show (even though the production officially disclaims any connection
with both). All the puppets have been designed and made by original cast member Rick
Lyon, each puppet takes 120 hours of hand fabrication. The puppets are animated and
voiced by actors who manipulate them on stage in full view of the audience like hand
puppets, some puppets may require more than one puppeteer actor to control them and
some actors may have to voice more than one puppet. However, during production
numbers or scenes when two puppets supposed to be voiced & manipulated by the same
actor are on scene together, another actor would manipulate one of the two puppets
temporarily while the other actor would still voice it. The non-puppeteer actors, like Brian
or Gary Coleman, are supposed to ignore the presence of the puppeteer actors and interact
directly with the puppets. The story is centered on the life of the Avenue Q’s residents and their everyday
struggles with life. Princeton
Drama 2
4/16/13
Avenue Q
Created by Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx, who wrote the music and lyrics,
Avenue Q is a comedic American musical that opened in March 2003 at the Eugene
O’Neill Theater in Waterford, Connecticut, before being transferred to Broadway in
July of that same year. The book was written by Jeff Whitty and the show directed by
Jason Moore. The show won Three Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Original
Score and Best Book of a Musical. It ran in Broadway till September 13, 2009, for a total of
2534 performances in a little more than 6 years, before reopening Off-Broadway in October
at New World Stages.
Avenue Q draws its originality from its use of puppets alongside actors,
parodying the concept of children television shows featuring puppets, like Sesame
Street or The Muppet Show (even though the production officially disclaims any connection
with both). All the puppets have been designed and made by original cast member Rick
Lyon, each puppet takes 120 hours of hand fabrication. The puppets are animated and
voiced by actors who manipulate them on stage in full view of the audience like hand
puppets, some puppets may require more than one puppeteer actor to control them and
some actors may have to voice more than one puppet. However, during production
numbers or scenes when two puppets supposed to be voiced & manipulated by the same
actor are on scene together, another actor would manipulate one of the two puppets
temporarily while the other actor would still voice it. The non-puppeteer actors, like Brian
or Gary Coleman, are supposed to ignore the presence of the puppeteer actors and interact
directly with the puppets. The story is centered on the life of the Avenue Q’s residents and their everyday
struggles with life. Princeton