You suck donkey balls, Avenue Q producers.

The BBQ Pit
1

Screw you, you little money-hungry fucks. Your show was the underdog at the Tonys this year, and many of us ‘theatre geeks’ were thrilled that you won (even a major Wicked fan like me). Your show has introduced songs like “The Internet is For Porn” (Grab your dick and double-click!), “What Do You Do With a BA in English?”, and “Everyone’s a Little Bit Racist”. It’s a funny, well-performed, GOOD show.

So why the FUCK would you prevent a touring production in favor of Vegas?? So there will be NO touring version of Avenue Q. Instead, a second production of the show will open at a new entertainment resort in Vegas next year. So unless people go to New York or Vegas, the show’s off-limits.

Here’s the article (no registration required): Avenue Q Bound For Vegas

Great. Assholes. Do you realize that you’re basically limiting your performces? Instead of opening up kids in Podunk, Ohio (I live in Ohio, so no disparaging remarks) to a new brand of theatre, you’ll limit the show to people who can afford to travel to NYC or Vegas and have a lot of disposable income. The whole point of tours is to bring musical theatre to people who would otherwise not be exposed to it.

When I was a kid in college, I saw a touring production of Grease. While not a brilliant production, it opened my eyes up to a world that I’d never seen before - Broadway. When I moved to NYC, I saw a minimum of a show a month, usually more. When I lived in Virginia last year, I dragged parents and friends and fiances to every theatre performane I could find. Now I drag my fiance to Cleveland and to a dinner theatre in Akron to see good and bad productions - but they’re shows we wouldn’t otherwise see here. I plan to do the same with my kids - whether or not they’ll grow up with a love of the theatre is something I can’t determine, but at least they’ll be given the chance to see all of the shows.

This just really bugs me. This started out as a small, unknown PUPPET SHOW. They’ve pulled themselves up to become well-known and critically acclaimed, and now it’s become all about money.

This guy put it best, I think - from the article:

``I understand why they are doing it (playing Las Vegas), but it’s heartbreaking because you want local audiences to actually see the show,’’ said Jordan Fiksenbaum, director of theatrical presentations for the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia.

Product is becoming harder to find,'' said Fiksenbaum, a big fan of the puppet musical. I just hope it’s not a trend. You’re not making the show inclusive. You are making it exclusive.’’

Ava

2

Money.

It’s always about money.

It will always be about money.

Even when it isn’t. It is.

3

Sounds interesting. Is this show on DVD?

4

If the show stays $ucce$$ful for a long time, they may pull a Cat$ and put out a version on DVD.

5

Not legally :D.

It’s only been open for months - my guess is that they’ll look to release a DVD performance of it in a year or two, if they do at all. Unfortunately, DVD performances of recent shows are fairly rare - I think the last one I ever heard about was Kiss Me, Kate two years ago, and Putting It Together with Carol Burnett and Ruthie Henshall three or four years ago.

It’s a good show. I think it could certainly hold its own in a touring production.

Ava

6

I agree with you 95% and from what I’ve heard of the show I’d love to see it and may not get the chance to without a tour, but I get why the producers would go with the second venue over a tour. I can’t imagine this show would be a very easy sell in the average community that’s more used to tours of things like Grease or Gypsy.

7

There was a worry about RENT with that, too, and AFAIK, the tours have been incredibly, incredibly successful. Both shows have some similarities - ie, much profanity and sex - and the biggest worry with RENT was that the average theatre-goer wouldn’t see it on a tour, which has definitely been proven wrong. Add that to the fact that Avenue Q is very hot in entertainment news (I mean, heck, we’re getting articles in the Akron Beacon Journal about it?), and I truly don’t think they’d have a problem doing a good tour.

I understand their reasoning, even if I don’t agree with it, and I think they could do a tour as WELL as the touring version. I know there are large costs associated with touring, but many shows manage to turn some sort of profit.

Ava

8

“The whole point of tours is to bring musical theatre to people who would otherwise not be exposed to it.”

Uh, no, it isn’t, and never has been. Producing a show - any show - is about bringing theatre to people willing to buy tickets, no more and no less. (I know you know this - your OP seems to be more of a vent than anything - but it really sticks in my craw when people suggest that a private venture is somehow supposed to turn itself into an act of artistic charity.)

And the reality is that enormous numbers of people go to Vegas each year for conventions and such - I suspect a lot of the same people who might see it in their hometowns. To me, this is another example of the Avenue Q producers’ financial savvy: they’ve been very good at husbanding their limited resources to the benefit of a show that has a limited audience.

9

Yeah, I do know that - for the producers, it’s about getting people to pay money. But for those of us in cities without a big theatre community or for people who have NO theatre community whatsoever, these tours provide that service. I should’ve made that more clear. And I was mad:).

I’m not saying the producers aren’t being savvy. Yeah, it’ll probably be off the charts in Vegas - and since we love Vegas and are planning another trip there next year, and since I’m always heading back to NYC for weekends, we’ll probably see it. But we would love to take my in-laws to the show if it came here, and I know my friends in other cities would love to see it, but don’t plan on visiting NYC or Vegas, and for them, it’s their only opportunity to see it.

I just don’t get why there can’t be both versions - run it in NYC and Vegas, AND send out a touring version of it. If the tour flops, pull it. But at least give it a chance before refusing to do it at all.

Ava

10

Well, one reason you may not be thinking of is that many “road” theatres are HUGE, 1500-4000 seats. In New York, Avenue Q plays to a little over 800 people per performance. It’s a SMALL show, intended for a small audience. And, unlike WICKED, Grease, or even RENT, you cannot bring a child to Avenue Q. So, yeah, it sucks for the adults who can’t afford to come out here or to Las Vegas, but it’s a smart move, financially.

11

Not to mention the fact that Avenue Q, while ridiculously successful in cities like Las Vegas and New York, might not do as well in more conservative cities.

I’m a little torqued that it’s not touring, too, but at least it’s for reasons I can understand.

Robin

12

Trouble is, the costs of touring are pretty astronomical, given the union rules that apply to most tours. It’s not something a producer can “just try” and hope for the best: either you’ve got reasonably assurances that a show is going to real folks in (and into large houses, as NWR notes), or you don’t do it at all.

I guess it just sucks to be you, doesn’t it?
:wink: :smiley:

13

Now, now oxy, that’s just Schadenfreude making you glad that you’re not her.

14

Well, I bet you both wish you were me because I’m not wearing underwear today.

Ava

15

Fuck you, lady, that’s what stairs are for.

16

(bolding mine)

Actually, I was thinking they could do a tour as well as the Vegas version (;)) but according to http://www.broadway.com/template_1.asp?CI=39538&CT=38

17

While I can understand – to a point – the assumption that racier shows like Avenue Q wouldn’t fare too well in more conservative cities like, say, Tulsa, the truth is there’s always going to be an audience.

Most of the touring musicals that come through Tulsa are brought here by an organization called Celebrity Attractions, but they refused to host Rent, even though – from what I understand – the show’s producers were eager to bring it here. They assumed it wouldn’t be successful in such a conservative city and opted to give us Riverdance instead (plus, I think the head honcho is a conservative Christian). But another organization whose name escapes me (something with an “X” in it) brought Rent here and it was a huge success (and every bit as good as when I saw it on Broadway).

Granted, the audience for shows like Rent and Avenue Q will be made up of a different demographic than the audiences for the latest Rodgers and Hammerstein revival, but the audiences will be there.