AVENUE Q Questions - The Money Song & George Bush

I'm currently addicted to the AVENUE Q soundtrack after seeing the show three times over the past few months. I'm wondering about two things though...

1. How often do audience members actually put money in the hats during "The Money Song?" And if they do, where does the money go? (I'm assuming to a deserving charity such as Equity Fights AIDS).

2. What's going to happen to the "George Bush!" line come February 2009 when he's outta there? Simply replacing it with "John McCain!" just doesn't have the same effect.

Updated On: 9/20/08 at 07:30 PM

They'll change it?

There is (or was at least when I saw it) a note that any funds collected went to BC/EFA.

When I saw the tour in Dallas I'm pretty sure a few people put things in the hats. When Rob McClure was on stage looking through them he said, "Oh, a ticket to the Rangers game.." (the baseball team) in a disappointed voice which was pretty hilarious.

For the George Bush line I guess they would change it but I still think it'd be funny if they didn't. Because obviously he really was "only for now," but who knows.

I won the lottery once a few years back, and when Gary Coleman came up to me, she held out the hat. and gave me a look as if I was being stingy. I reached in my pocket...pulled out whatever bill came first. Turned out to be $10. I stuffed it in the hat, and she gave me a huge grin.

All the money goes to BC/EFA so I didn't regret the loss of $10 on my part.

As for the Bush line, I always assumed they would just change the line to "George Bush WAS only for now"

But, seeing as I'm not one of the writers, I highly doubt that's going to happen, or if that's even a viable option.

---

Oh I know I still think it's hilarious. =]

McCain better not win, or this country will be in the crapper. Even more so than already.

---

I couldn't imagine the Bush line playing better in England than it does on Broadway---every time I see the show the audience explodes with applause and hoots and hollers during that line.

And originally, everybody had their fingers crossed that George Bush is only for now meant until the 2004 election.

Regardless of who wins the election, it'll be great to see what happens to the line.

It always remind me of the "Newt's lesbian sister" line in Rent. That was so cutting edge back in the day and I always thought about how they could sometimes throw in "Cheney's lesbian daughter" instead. Not permanently change the line, but just occasionally, like how Mark would sometimes say "You can take the girl out of Jersey, but you can't take the Jersey out of the girl" instead of Hicksville. Wow I cant believe I mentioned Rent again on this board. Sorry everybody

---

I sincerely apologize. Cast recording... NOT soundtrack. My bad.

Well he won't so you shouldn't worry.

Not permanently change the line, but just occasionally, like how Mark would sometimes say "You can take the girl out of Jersey, but you can't take the Jersey out of the girl" instead of Hicksville.

You're aware that's down to geography, and not personal preference, right? In NY, it's always been sung as Hicksville, but because the audiences at touring venues are unlikely to know that Hicksville is a town rather than an abstract concept, they change it to Jersey for other productions. Hicksville the town is quite different from Hicksville the concept.

I always liked the stories of various casts getting to lines about George Bush and being greeted by stony silence by the large groups from Texas that occasionally show up. (It occurs to me that that's definitely a 'Dirty Rotten Scoundrels' story but I'm sure similar must have happened at 'Avenue Q' over the years.)

Why do you find it hard to believe that Brits would find that as hilarious as US audiences? I like to think we're pretty big on political satire here, and I've always been able to find Brits more willing to stand up and be dismissive of world leaders than Americans. Just because we didn't choose Bush doesn't mean he doesn't have a big effect on us.

Part of me really likes the idea of keeping the Bush line intact. It scans, and I imagine the memories of 'Avenue Q' will fade LONG before the memories of the Bush administration. But I always thought they were going to change it when the time was right. We'll find out in a few months, anyway!

---

"I always liked the stories of various casts getting to lines about George Bush and being greeted by stony silence by the large groups from Texas that occasionally show up. (It occurs to me that that's definitely a 'Dirty Rotten Scoundrels' story but I'm sure similar must have happened at 'Avenue Q' over the years.)"

Well the audience I saw it in Dallas with were cracking up and cheering so it definitely wasn't a Bush-loving crowd. Same thing when I saw the Avenue Q tour, lots of cheers.

When Bush won in 2000, the cover of one of the London tabloids had a huge headline: "Lord help us - not HIM!"

They knew he was a moron long before the morons who elected him caught on.