Avenue Q Picketer
Avenue Q Picketer
#1Avenue Q Picketer
Posted: 5/8/07 at 11:29pm
Did anyone run into the AVE Q picketer today?
I went to the box office to see if I could get a Playbill and before I went in this guy yells "Hey, you going to see Avenue Q? Can I tell you something?"
Generally I just keep on walking, assuming he's trying to scalp a ticket, but for some reason I stopped and made eye contact.
"I just want to tell you quickly what happened to me over the weekend. I saw the show and left in the first 10 minutes because it's not what I thought the show was. I asked for a refund and the box office told me to come back today to get it. The manager today denied me my refund after I was told I would be getting one. Just thought you would like to know the type of people you're dealing with before you buy a ticket."
"What did you think the show was?," I asked.
"NOT that. The material was, you know, very inappropriate for me and my wife. Not what we were expecting."
So I go inside, get a playbill, and ask the manager if he knows about the picketer. "Yes," he says. "We are aware. What did he tell you?" I told him and he said "No, that's not the reason he told us originally. He told us he wanted a refund because he didn't know the show had muppets in it." Then the manager and I laughed for a good minute.
After I exited the box office, I told the picketer "Best of luck with your future theatre-going experiences!" and went to see the horrible SPIDER-MAN 3.
"The Spectacle has, indeed, an emotional attraction of its own, but, of all the parts, it is the least artistic, and connected least with the art of poetry. For the power of Tragedy, we may be sure, is felt even apart from representation and actors. Besides, the production of spectacular effects depends more on the art of the stage machinist than on that of the poet."
--Aristotle
--Aristotle
#2re: Avenue Q Picketer
Posted: 5/8/07 at 11:39pmThat's odd.
I am a firm believer in serendipity- all the random pieces coming together in one wonderful moment, when suddenly you see what their purpose was all along.
#2re: Avenue Q Picketer
Posted: 5/8/07 at 11:41pmHe'll enjoy the HS edition, then!
"This thread reads like a series of White House memos." — Mister Matt
NathanLaneStalker
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/11/06
#3re: Avenue Q Picketer
Posted: 5/8/07 at 11:41pm
Huh. Oh well.
OT: Spider-Man 3 was good. It wasn't as good as the first and sadly, I have yet to see the second one, but I liked the third...just sayin'. 
"I'm tellin' you, the only times I really feel the presence of God are when I'm having sex and during a great Broadway musical." - Nathan Lane - Jeffrey
CurtainPullDowner
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/4/04
SweetQintheLights
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/12/05
#5re: Avenue Q Picketer
Posted: 5/8/07 at 11:49pm
muppets or puppets? 
"How bout a little black dress?"~hannahshule
"I have a penis, not a vagina." ~munkustrap178
#6re: Avenue Q Picketer
Posted: 5/8/07 at 11:54pm
oh that's funny- Q is what, three years old now? And I guess he must have missed all of those posters of puppets lining the wall outside.
It's like the old couple sitting next to me and my cousin at Rent last year, who left during intermission because they didn't know that the show had 'omg teh gheys' in it. Must be nice living in the kind of bubble where you don't catch a clue that Q has puppets until you've bought tickets and are already seated in the theatre.
millie_dillmount
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/22/04
#7re: Avenue Q Picketer
Posted: 5/9/07 at 12:00am
Let this be a lesson learned: do your research on shows, people!
P.S. You can just walk up to the box office and get Playbills?
"We like to snark around here. Sometimes we actually talk about theater...but we try not to let that get in our way." - dramamama611
neddyfrank2
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/23/05
*thinkpink18*
Stand-by Joined: 2/14/07
#9re: Avenue Q Picketer
Posted: 5/9/07 at 12:06amlmao that's great... you'd think he would have at least had a general idea about what he was going to see.
SweetQintheLights
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/12/05
#10re: Avenue Q Picketer
Posted: 5/9/07 at 12:08am
And why didn't the guy (and his wife) want to see the show if it had muppets in it? Did he have a bad muppet experience? lol
That's the last thing I'd think people would want to leave for.
I wonder if they even gave it a chance.
"How bout a little black dress?"~hannahshule
"I have a penis, not a vagina." ~munkustrap178
#11re: Avenue Q Picketer
Posted: 5/9/07 at 12:11ammuppets. ha.
for fierce, fabulous and fun times visit eric mathew's world.
http://ericmathew.blogspot.com/
#12re: Avenue Q Picketer
Posted: 5/9/07 at 12:13am
And why didn't the guy (and his wife) want to see the show if it had muppets in it? Did he have a bad muppet experience? lol
Maybe a muppet ran over his dog or something.
Or maybe he had a childhood full of evil muppets, like "Stephen King's It."
:)
#13re: Avenue Q Picketer
Posted: 5/9/07 at 12:32amI didn't know you could just walk up to the box office and get Playbills either. Do they usually want a "good" reason?
"What was the name of that cheese that I like?"
"you can't run away forever...but there's nothing wrong with getting a good head start"
"well I hope and I pray, that maybe someday, you'll walk in the room with my heart"
#14re: Avenue Q Picketer
Posted: 5/9/07 at 12:45amminorly o/t...I THOUGHT about going and asking for playbills!! WHY DIDN'T I!?!
and all that I could do because of you was talk of love...
#15re: Avenue Q Picketer
Posted: 5/9/07 at 7:02amIf you didn't like Spiderman 3 you should have demanded a refund. Just tell them you didn't know it had Spiders, Men or 3 in it.
"I have got to have some professional music!" - Big Edie
jordangirl
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/1/06
#16re: Avenue Q Picketer
Posted: 5/9/07 at 7:06amGotta wonder if they were among the people gathered around for the lottery Saturday night. There were several older couples who didn't really seem to be the Avenue Q demographic, and I had to wonder if they knew what they were going to see.
Experience live theater. Experience paintings. Experience books. Live, look and listen like artists! ~ imaginethis
LIVE THAT LESSON!!!!!!
LIVE THAT LESSON!!!!!!
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/31/69
#17re: Avenue Q Picketer
Posted: 5/9/07 at 10:47amAS Homer Simpson once explained it "A Muppet....not quite a puppet and not quite a mop..."
#18re: Avenue Q Picketer
Posted: 5/9/07 at 11:24am
Hey don't automatically count the old folks out! I finally got around to seeing Avenue Q a few months ago and we were sitting next to an older couple (probably late 60s, early 70s in age). We were in the middle of the row and I figured we'd be halfway through the first act before they stormed out, disgusted.
Nope, they (the man in particular) laughed and seemed to thoroughly enjoy the show. He even turned to my husband at intermission and started chatting about how hysterical he thought it was.
Don't be too sure I'm as crooked as I'm supposed to be.
#19re: Avenue Q Picketer
Posted: 5/9/07 at 11:29am
So did this guy leave because he thought it was offensive or because he thought it was a children's show? I immediately assumed it was the former, but the objection to "Muppets" sounds like he thought it was for kids.
Updated On: 5/9/07 at 11:29 AM
#20re: Avenue Q Picketer
Posted: 5/9/07 at 11:31am
In all fairness, the Avenue Q demographic is pretty much "has a sense of humour" and "not easily offended", which covers pretty much every age group, social group, both genders, whatever. Apart from the humourless and easily offended group. :3
#21re: Avenue Q Picketer
Posted: 5/9/07 at 11:32am
oh theatre people.
can't live with them, can't live without their hilarious stories.
<--- the set of A Midsummer Night's Dream that I was assistant stage manager for during the 2007 season at the STNJ outdoor stage.
-Dre- You must remember all the same that at the crux of every game is knowing when it's time to leave the table... And it's important to be artful in your exit. No turning back, you must accept the con is done... It was a ball, it was a blast. And it's a shame it couldn't last. But every chapter has to end, you must agree.
~Dirty Rotten Scoundrels~
There's a special kind of people known as show people. We live in a world full of dreams. Sometimes we're not too certain what's false and what's real. But we're seldom in doubt about what we feel.
~Curtains~
It is a far, far better thing I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest I go to, than I have ever known.
~A Tale of Two Cities ~
~Dirty Rotten Scoundrels~
~Curtains~
~A Tale of Two Cities ~
#22re: Avenue Q Picketer
Posted: 5/9/07 at 12:05pm
Hey don't automatically count the old folks out! I finally got around to seeing Avenue Q a few months ago and we were sitting next to an older couple (probably late 60s, early 70s in age). We were in the middle of the row and I figured we'd be halfway through the first act before they stormed out, disgusted.
Nope, they (the man in particular) laughed and seemed to thoroughly enjoy the show. He even turned to my husband at intermission and started chatting about how hysterical he thought it was.
That's awesome...there were a *lot* of older (in their 60s+) couples at the Spelling Bee adult night on Sunday, and someone from the show (not sure if she was a house manager or box office person or what) was standing in the lobby 'warning' everyone that is was adult night, and they can get exchanged for another night if they think they'll be offended by adult night, etc, and all of the older couple especially were all telling her things along the lines of "oh we know it's adult night, dear, that's why we're here!"
I totally plan on being one of those folks when I'm that age- "Oh yes dear, we know it's possibly offensive and sexual and politically incorrect- that's why we're here!" :)
#23re: Avenue Q Picketer
Posted: 5/9/07 at 12:09pm
I think the main question is...How could you not know?
The exterior of the theatre is PLASTERED with photos of the actors with the puppets. Were these people legally blind or just plain stupid?
"I love talking about nothing. It is the only thing I know anything about." - Oscar Wilde
mirramar
Broadway Star Joined: 2/3/05
#24re: Avenue Q Picketer
Posted: 5/9/07 at 1:19pmAs an aside - my grandparents are in their 80's and LOVED Avenue Q.
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