Is Avenue Q Over rated??- Page 3

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 10/18/05 at 5:15pm

They lied and promised touring theaters they would come to their town if they voted, already knowing they had signed a contract with Wynn in Vegas. If that's not a lie, I dont know what is.

[Fosse76]

Posted: 10/18/05 at 5:20pm

I think he means the deceit by Avenue Q wasn't a choice between touring and a sit-down in Vegas. Right before the Tony voters were able to cast their votes, Avenue Q announced it would indeed go on a National Tour. It courted Road presenters, (many of whom voted in the Tonys) and campaigned vigorously, and kept enforcing the fact that it would tour. Then, the day after it won the Tony, the producers said that they will be going to Vegas instead. The deceit comes because they gave Vegas an exclusivity deal preventing any other productions of the show while it is playing in Vegas. Essentially, Avenue Q bribed the Road presenters with "see, this small little musical beat out the behemouth Wicked, so it must be good" type of potential advertising. Now, should Avenue Q ever tour, it will most likely flop. Who's to say how it would have been received.

[FOAnatic]

Posted: 10/18/05 at 5:29pm

Excuse you.

I have spoken with Jeff Marx on this very subject and his response is as follows...verbatim:

"While the show's playing in Vegas & NY, those will be exclusive - no tour. We made the choice to go to Vegas for a sit-down in a theater tailor made to the show instead of touring everywhere to huge theaters which wouldn't be appropriate for our intimate show (plus dealing with local idiots wanting us to tone down some of the racier & political content...)"

If the show went on tour...it would not have been successful do to theatre sizes and how locals in certain cities would perhaps protest the show's racy subjects and demand they tone them down.

The Q producers didn't lie to anyone. They considered touring, but when they were offered a better alternative that would insure the financial success of the show...they went with the better option. It was not their intent to mislead the TONY voters. And, if the TONY voters voted for Q based solely on the fact that it would tour...then the TONY voters aren't doing their jobs correctly. Nothing was done decietfully. No one made false promises. A tour was announced AFTER the award was given out...and THEN the decision was changed. The tour was NOT announced before the show. SO, wherever you got that information...it's false.

Updated On: 10/18/05 at 05:29 PM

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 10/18/05 at 5:32pm

Oh, so my information from 2 Tony voters whom I know is wrong? If you say so.

[FOAnatic]

Posted: 10/18/05 at 5:34pm

And my information from the Q creators is wrong?

Yea...right.

[FOAnatic]

Posted: 10/18/05 at 5:38pm

From tonyawards.com:

"...today there are approximately 750 eligible voters."

Hmmm. 2 out of 750? Wow. Quite the solid arguement.

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 10/18/05 at 5:46pm

Why are you being such an ass seriously. There was a better way to approach what I said. Just because you dont think Q is overrated and I do doesnt mean u can be so snappy. Seriously...

[Tir Na Nog]

Posted: 10/18/05 at 5:47pm

The show has thr triple crown. Amazing Music, Lyrics and book. Can't ask for much more than that.

[FOAnatic]

Posted: 10/18/05 at 6:00pm

I'm not being an ass.

You are the one who attacked the Q creative team basically saying that they were decietful and conniving in their means of winning the TONY.

I tried to stand up for them and you basically said everything I said was wrong because you know two tony voters.

If I have an arguement...I'm going to support it.

[pab]

Posted: 10/18/05 at 6:06pm

"Yes, I expected Wicked to win, but if they were going to pick a show and actually base their choice on quality, it seems completely illogical to me to pick Q."

I really think that Quality, when it comes to awards, is based on the taste and experience of individual who is voting. It's all about how that individual voter feels about the shows that they see and which one of those show moved them the most or the one that gave them the most pleasure. People experience different things when they go to shows and what you experience will differ from others.

You would be incorrect to say that they did not base their choice on quality. They may not have based their choice on what you consider quality but you are not the person who decides what quality is. That is not a decision for any one person to make.

I'm sure that one can go back and look at numerous awards shows and say this one deserved the award over this one and that would be based on how that person was feeling about the show when they saw it and what kind of shows they liked.

I would have picked "All the President's Men", "Network" and "Taxi Driver" over "Rocky" for best picture back in 1976 but "Rocky" apparently moved more of the voting members of the Academy and it won. I'm really not sure how many people would look back on that vote today and say that it was a better picture than the other three movies mentioned and some might even say that "Bound for Glory" , another contender that year, was also better. I'm sure there are some people would probably still pick "Rocky" but again it all comes down to a matter of OPINION and as it has been said on many occasions, "opinions are like assholes, everybody has one".

[Tir Na Nog]

Posted: 10/18/05 at 6:07pm

****Oh, so my information from 2 Tony voters whom I know is wrong? If you say so.****

My father is a Tony voter and he never heard any of this.

People voted for "Avenue Q" because "Wicked" SUCKS!! It is a big glitzy dumb theme park ride with no substance.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 10/18/05 at 6:17pm

After listening to the CD, which I enjoyed, I did not expect to get much more out of seeing the show. I was wrong. Half the fun is watching the puppetry and the creative use of the set as well as some of the priceless deliveries of the lines. Remeber, the CD is only 50% of the material represented in the show and there were enough surprises to keep me in stitches from beginning to end. I'm not sure how a show as unique as Ave Q could be considered overrated because there is very little to compare it to. Either you like that sort of humor or you don't. The songs are not incredibly complex because they don't need to be. It's not a show about showing off vocal range or intricate compositions and rhyme schemes. It's a show about a very specific style of parody that reaches out to most of the American population. It sings out loud what we think in our heads and it allows us to laugh at these characters while we are (knowingly) laughing at ourselves. It's more biting than Spamalot, but not quite as crude as South Park (though I do love South Park). It walks that fine fine line between highbrow and lowbrow humor while adding a bit a heart. It took a lot of creativity and a huge amount of guts to get the show to Broadway and the risk paid off.

That is why it won the Tony for Best Musical. Or at least, why I like to think it did. Too bad the voters didn't recognize the similar golden qualities found in Urinetown over the rather pedestrian-but-cute Millie. If the producers of Ave Q chose not to tour in the end, then the any Tony voters would voted for Q strictly on the promise to tour got a very well-deserved slap in the face. Another reason to love Q.

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 10/18/05 at 6:24pm

"Wicked" SUCKS!! It is a big glitzy dumb theme park ride with no substance.

The Wicked bashing is old. And pointless. We understand there are people who don't like it but I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that there are very few people on here who think Wicked sucks. They may not like it because of it's huge fan base which is somewhat understandable, but if you think Wicked is the worst Broadway has to offer, I feel sorry for you.

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 10/18/05 at 6:26pm

And, sorry, FOA. I understand that you are arguing about something you feel strongly about as am I and I should've respected that.

[DickonDefysGravity]

Posted: 10/18/05 at 7:09pm

Deceitful and Overrated = Avenue Q.

[FOAnatic]

Posted: 10/18/05 at 7:11pm

Oh lord.

[Tir Na Nog]

Posted: 10/18/05 at 7:15pm

****
The Wicked bashing is old. And pointless. We understand there are people who don't like it but I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that there are very few people on here who think Wicked sucks. They may not like it because of it's huge fan base which is somewhat understandable, but if you think Wicked is the worst Broadway has to offer, I feel sorry for you.****

I have been going to the theater all my life. I know good theater. Wicked is flawed in music, lyric and especially book. The choreography sucks and Mantello's direction was lackluster. The character of Elphaba is completely confused and totally boring. The only reason Galinda shines at all is because supposedly Chenoweth insisted on all sorts or re-writes.

I am not bashing "Wicked" just to bas it, believe me. I think Idina is a wonderful actress and Chenoweth is just amazing. I just recognize a flawed show when I see one.

Also, I never said "Wicked" was the worst Broadway had to offer. I was implying it cannot hold a candle to "Avenue Q"

[willact4food]

Posted: 10/18/05 at 7:18pm

avenue q = one of the best shows on Bway right now!

[smartpenguin78]

Posted: 10/18/05 at 7:22pm

I just want to say WickedRocks in your first post on this thread you quoted me out of context. I was refering to the people who think that Q is better than Wicked and why, not implying that more people like Q. Wicked obviously has a larger following, although it is not amoung the established "theatre community."
I don't say that is a bad thing, but it is the case.

As far as the current arguement. I enjoyed both shows, both shows are flawed and fall short of fully satisfying me. The reason why Q won the Tony simply cannot be known for sure, there were obviously flaws in both communication and execution.

[YessicaB]

Posted: 10/18/05 at 7:33pm

Not that you probably care... I LOVED Avenue Q, it's smart, very funny and has wonderful music and lyrics.

[SweetQintheLights]

Posted: 10/18/05 at 10:56pm

I am not gonna stop people from arguing but honestly- how long ago were the Tony Awards for this specific time? Umm...like 15 months ago??

Have we not talked about this enough? I think this subject has been talked about down to the core. It's becoming a bottomles pit.

People are always going to have different opinions...it's a fact of life.

Whether we beat this subject to death (Which I think has been done), nothing is going to change.

And just as a side note- If someone has information that is said to be accurate, would you mind sharing the source too please? Thanks

[Caroline-Q-or-TBoo]

Posted: 10/18/05 at 11:02pm

it's a very funny, very creative show that i enjoyed very much- boundry breaking: probably not (in the scheme of things) but i liked it alot

[wickedwitchofthechest]

Posted: 10/18/05 at 11:15pm

I haven't seen this addressed, so I thought I'd go for it:

As far as the music goes, I find Avenue Q very difficult. True, it sounds simple, but if you try to sing it, especially unaccompanied, the harmonies are extremely tight and the intervals are unusual, to say the least. I found it quite brilliant, the way the music echoes that of children's television shows, but is in actuality much more complex than it may seem to be.

So musically, not overrated at all.

[Fosse76]

Posted: 10/19/05 at 1:48am

The producers did lie. They actually announced a national tour. It wasn't until after they won the Tony that they announced that they had an exclusive deal with Vegas. They shouldn't have included the exclusivity agreement and went ahead with a tour as well. Now, if the show ever goes out on tour, it will flop. Too many shows have opened that have high appeal and buzz and Avenue Q's will be long gone.

[Urban]

Posted: 10/19/05 at 5:31am

I doubt Avenue Q would've lost the Best Tony Award regardless of whether it said it was going on a national tour or not. To say it would is grasping at straws.

kasim - I apologise if I sounded snotty, I didn't mean to be that way to you, I was just trying to give an example of why the show wasn't simplistic. :)