Ave Q TKTS

[Myglass989]

Posted: 9/2/09 at 10:16am

A few friends and I want to do TKTS for Avenue Q this Friday...I know its been at the booths this past week, but what do you think my chances are of getting tickets? We're planning on going to the South Street Seaport booth, will that make a difference? And what time do you think we should get there?

Thanks so much!

[iWannaBEaSedaris]

Posted: 9/3/09 at 12:34am

Early as possible, 3:00 i'd say, but thats just me.

[Lumen2]

Posted: 9/3/09 at 12:50pm

I guess since it's close to closing it might be a problem, but the last few times I was there Avenue Q was always on the board.

[tigger3]

Posted: 9/3/09 at 12:56pm

If you do go, will you post back if avenue q was actually on the board and how much of a discount was available. Im interested in going as well, but wondering if I should just buy them online

[saveusmike]

Posted: 9/3/09 at 12:58pm

Im just a little confused..
The most TKTS offers is 50% off right? Atleast thats the most I have seen for Q. Why not just go to the Times Square information center and ask for a Avenue Q coupon..?

I have seen the show 6 times never spending more than 65 for a Orch seat. And if Orch is about 121 im guessing TKTS 50% off tickets would be the same price as using the coupon right?

[Myglass989]

Posted: 9/4/09 at 10:47pm

We got there a little before 10am and were third in line. Avenue Q was up, but it was only 20% off, and each ticket was $107.50, which seemed like a lot to me.

But, the show was absolutely fantastic. The cast overall was really strong and it was great to see it again before it closed.

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 9/5/09 at 6:00pm

Great story from AP about the impending closing.

The Broadway production, capitalized at $3.5 million, recouped its investment in 10 months. As of now, it has grossed more than $119 million - a 553 percent return on its investment, according to Goodman. Not included in that figure is income from the still-running London production or the first tour of "Avenue Q," which ended last May.


===addendum:

The link appears to no longer be working. Here's the full article:

By MICHAEL KUCHWARA (AP)

NEW YORK - What's an unemployed puppet to do?

The question takes on cosmic - and very real significance - when "Avenue Q,"
the funny, often raunchy musical tribulations of twentysomethings, closes
Sept. 13 on Broadway after a six-year run of more than 2,500 performances.

For Kate Monster, a teacher by trade, maybe a return to education. "This is
a great chance for me to bring up a whole new generation of little monsters
who can change the world," the puppet says. Or Rod, a gay Republican, who's
looking for a something a little more personal: "I don't have a steady
relationship now, but I am on the prowl."

As for Lucy the Slut, she has, uh, divided, if not exactly specific,
aspirations. "I like the idea of being able ... to give to humanity and
mankind in whatever way you can," explains the show's freest spirit, red
press-on nails gleaming. "You've got to work your assets."

As for the human contingent involved in "Avenue Q," the final curtain is
even more bittersweet, although filled with proud accomplishment.

"My heart is a little bit broken although we do have a (licensed,
non-Equity) tour going out for 35 weeks in the fall," Robyn Goodman, one of
the show's producers, says. "It will keep the show alive across the
country."

For Jeff Marx, who co-wrote the music and lyrics with Robert Lopez, "It so
far exceeded anything that we could have dreamed of - many times over." And
the monetary rewards haven't been bad, either.

"'Avenue Q' let me put a lot of money in the bank," Marx says. "I have the
security of never having to wonder where my next meal is coming from, which
has been a blessing and a curse. A blessing because it's a lovely sense of
security. But ... it was a lot easier when my motivation was fed by hunger."

The musical, which opened on Broadway in July 2003 after an off-Broadway run
earlier that year and went on to win three Tony Awards including best
musical, has done well for its producers and its creators, who also include
book writer Jeff Whitty.

The Broadway production, capitalized at $3.5 million, recouped its
investment in 10 months. As of now, it has grossed more than $119 million -
a 553 percent return on its investment, according to Goodman. Not included
in that figure is income from the still-running London production or the
first tour of "Avenue Q," which ended last May.

And community theatres and amateur groups will soon be able to rent the
show, most likely before the end of the year, Goodman says.

One of the musical's many beneficiaries has been the small off-Broadway
Vineyard Theatre, where the musical first was presented in early 2003. It
was one of two non-profit theatres - the other being the New Group - which
came aboard as producers.

"The show absolutely helped raise our visibility," says Jennifer
Garvey-Blackwell, the Vineyard's executive director.

"It still does and we've done a lot of musicals since then," she adds, such
as "Miracle Brothers" and "title of show."

The idea for "Avenue Q" was born where many musical-theatre ideas seem to
germinate - the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop for would-be
writers of musicals.

Goodman went to a presentation of three songs - two of which still remain in
the show - written by Marx and Lopez that also included puppeteer Rick Lyon.

"I just fell in love with it," she recalls. "And I approached them and at
the time they were trying to do a TV show" with the material. The television
version never happened. Eventually, with producers Kevin McCollum and
Jeffrey Seller aboard, the musical finally was birthed.

"But we went through many permutations," Goodman explains. "We had to change
script writers at one point. We went up (in 2002) to the Eugene O'Neill
Theatre Centre (in Waterford, Conn.), which was a wonderful place to develop
it. We really took a big step forward. ... That's when we thought we could
actually head toward a New York production."

The producers weren't sure what kind of reaction to expect from the
subscription audience at the Vineyard, a small off-Broadway theatre just
east of Union Square. Would they accept puppets, as well as human actors,
saying and singing four-letter words?

"I think it was like a week into previews that Jeffrey Seller and I turned
to each other and said, 'Oh my God. Maybe this is a Broadway show,'" Goodman
says. "We didn't want to say it out loud because we assumed it was an
off-Broadway show because of the content. Clearly things have changed since
then. But at the time, it was a pretty daring move."

The right Broadway theatre - the intimate, 800-seat Golden - contributed to
the small show's success, Goodman says, as did word of mouth, particularly
among younger people.

"One thing we've learned is young people have to find things themselves -
you can't really sell to them," the producer says. "So we had a lot of
people come during previews for either free or reduced prices. And they
spread the word.

"To this day, when I go to the show, it's really wonderful because it's a
split audience. There are the tourists and there are the young people - and
many of them seeing it for the fifth and sixth time, which I love."

For the show's actors, "Avenue Q" has been a monumental experience. Says Ann
Harada, who plays Christmas Eve in the musical, "The greatest job I ever
had."

Harada has been with "Avenue Q" from its first readings, going on to
off-Broadway, Broadway and the London production before leaving the show.
When the producers asked her to come back this summer and help finish the
run, she jumped at the chance.

"This is a great company and people always are finding new and different
things with the characters," Harada says. "But also, what's weird is that
you are acting with ghosts ... you're doing the scene with an actor on stage
and you're also sort of reliving doing the scene with all the other actors
you've done it with."

Harada has no other jobs lined up after Sept. 13, unlike Jennifer Barnhart,
who will go into the Goodspeed Musicals' puppet-friendly production of "Jim
Henson's Emmet Otter," running Dec. 5-Jan. 3 in East Haddam, Conn. It's
based on the children's book and Henson's television special, "Emmet Otter's
Jug-Band Christmas."

Barnhart, who has handled such diverse "Avenue Q" puppets as Kate, Lucy,
Mrs. T and Bear, has stayed with the show throughout its long run, only
taking time off here and there for projects such as working on the PBS
musical education series for young children, "Lomax, the Hound of Music," in
which she handles a white cat puppet named Delta.

Now, the humans and the puppets are getting ready for closing-night
festivities where a few tears may be shed. But not by Lucy the Slut.

"The party is going to be pretty wild," Lucy predicts. "We're going to tear
the roof off the joint completely. I heard there is going to be a pole, so I
can do some dancing. Again, giving back. It's all about giving back.

"And I've already got a gig at Scores," the puppet revealed. "In these
economic times, there are three industries that never close: hair salons,
movie theatres and strip clubs



AP on AVE Q

Cast albums are NOT "soundtracks."
Live theatre does not use a "soundtrack." If it did, it wouldn't be live theatre!

I host a weekly one-hour radio program featuring cast album selections as well as songs by cabaret, jazz and theatre artists. The program, FRONT ROW CENTRE is heard Sundays 9 to 10 am and also Saturdays from 8 to 9 am (eastern times) on www.proudfm.com

Updated On: 9/5/09 at 06:00 PM

[tking001]

Posted: 9/6/09 at 9:58am

The Prices just went up

[zerose]

Posted: 9/6/09 at 10:36am

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/04/AR2009090401131.html

The AP article, as printed in the Washington Post, includes a slideshow with 3 photos.