Musical (2003)


Musique: Jeff Marx • Robert Lopez
Paroles: Jeff Marx • Robert Lopez
Livret: Jeff Whitty
Production à la création:

Avenue Q is an "autobiographical and biographical" coming-of-age parable, addressing and satirizing the issues and anxieties associated with entering adulthood. Its characters lament that as children, they were assured by their parents, and by children's television programs such as PBS's Sesame Street, that they were "special" and "could do anything"; but as adults, they have discovered to their surprise and dismay that in the real world their options are limited, and they are no more "special" than anyone else.

Version 4

Avenue Q (2006-06-London Run)

Type de série: Original London
Théâtre: London Run (Londres - Angleterre)
Durée : 4 ans 4 mois
Nombre : 1725 représentations
Première Preview : jeudi 01 juin 2006
Première : mercredi 28 juin 2006
Dernière : samedi 30 octobre 2010
Mise en scène : Jason Moore
Chorégraphie : Ken Roberson
Producteur :
Commentaires : Ce London Run se jouera dans trois théâtres: le Noel Coward Theatre (1 Juin 2006 au 28 Mars 2009), le Gielgud Theatre (1/6/2009 au 13/3/2010) et enfin le Wyndham's Theatre (19/3/2010 au 30/10/2010).
Commentaires longs: The novelty of this show was several of the characters being puppets – puppets bearing a similarity to the children’s TV series “Sesame Street”, but this time with very adult themes of racism, homosexuality and pornography. The puppets are “worked” by actors in full sight, but the other characters react only to the puppets. The show premiered off-Broadway in 2002, and quickly moved to Broadway itself in July 2003 where it ran until September 2009 – 2,534 performances. Within a few weeks of its closure, a smaller version of the show was revived at the West 50th Street off-Broadway complex, and is still running (as of December 2011)

Several changes were made for the London production, including the portrayal of the Gary Coleman character by a male actor. The production was very successful and developed a cult following, transferring to other theatres in the course of its five-year run. It finally closed on September 25th 2010. The Independent critic noted: “. . .the spirit of Avenue Q is humane and healthy. After all, it’s not every show that manages to be tongue-in-cheek and hand-on-heart, while having its arm up a puppet’s bum.”
Presse : MICHAEL BILLINGTON du THE GUARDIAN: "It had delighted me sufficiently...Much of the show's charm lies in the easy interaction of people and puppets...There is more wit than whimsy in the delightful Lopez-Marx numbers."
PAUL TAYLOR du THE INDEPENDENT: "What's appealing about the piece and Jason Moore's bouncy, enjoyable production is the total absence of jaded cynicism. What's less attractive is the lack of real bite...Avenue Q is about as genuinely subversive as Friends...All the same, I found it, intermittently, a lot of fun."
DOMINIC CAVENDISH du THE DAILY TELEGRAPH; "Light-weight affair."
BENEDICT NIGHTINGALE du THE TIMES: "There’s something almost refreshing in several of the jaunty-sounding songs."
NICK CURTIS du THE EVENING STANDARD: "Avenue Q's puppets tell racist jokes, screw around, download porn and generally get depressed by their crappy lives...very well executed and sporadically hilarious "
BRIAN LOGAN du TIME OUT: "Very easy to enjoy."
LISA MARTLAND du THE STAGE: "Clever and saucy libretto...Within an extraordinarily talented ensemble Julie Atherton and Jon Robyns are quite brilliant in creating these puppet personalities."
SUSANNAH CLAP du THE OBSERVER: "It's a little bit smart , fairly shrewd and self-parodying , constantly perky, sometimes funny and basically mushy."

Avenue Q” : où comment les humains comme les marionnettes affrontent les affres de la vie moderne. Cette comédie hilarante raconte l’arrivée à New York de Princeton avec ses grands rêves et son petit compte en banque, il s’installe alors Avenue Q et découvre un voisinage plutôt sympathique. Princeton se fait rapidement des amis , Brian le comédien au chômage et sa fiancé thérapeute Christmas Eve, Nicky la flemmarde au grand cœur et son colocataire Rod, un banquier républicain, Trekkie Monster l’accro à internet, et enfin Kate la ravissante maîtresse d’école. Princeton et ses nouveaux amis se retrouvent confrontés aux problèmes de la vie : trouver un emploi, l’amour ainsi que leur but dans la vie…
Une comédie plusieurs fois récompensée aux Etats-Unis !

Synopsis complet

Avenue Q est un spectacle de marrionnettes. Surprenant ? Et pourtant ce n'est pas un spectacle pour les enfants, l'étiquette "Parental advisory, explicit content / Strong language, sexual content" collée sur le CD est de rigueur. Sans vulgarité mais avec beaucoup d'humour et de justesse, les acteurs/marionnetistes jouent à merveille.

1 Avenue Q est un musical abordant de manière centrale l'homosexualité.



Acte I
"The Avenue Q Theme" – Company
"What Do You Do with a B.A. in English?" – Princeton
"It Sucks to Be Me" – Brian, Kate Monster, Rod, Nicky, Christmas Eve, Gary Coleman, and Princeton
"If You Were Gay" – Nicky with Rod
"Purpose" – Princeton and Company (via "singing boxes
"Everyone's a Little Bit Racist" – Princeton, Kate, Gary, Brian, and Christmas Eve
"The Internet Is for Porn" – Kate, Trekkie Monster, Brian, Gary Coleman, Rod, and Princeton
"Mix Tape" – Kate and Princeton
"I'm Not Wearing Underwear Today" – Brian
"Special" – Lucy
"You Can Be as Loud as the Hell You Want (When You're Makin' Love)" – Gary, The Bad Idea Bears, Princeton, Kate, and Company
"Fantasies Come True" – Rod, Kate, Nicky and Princeton
"My Girlfriend, Who Lives in Canada" – Rod
"There's a Fine, Fine Line" – Kate

Acte II
"It Sucks to Be Me (Reprise)"‡ – Princeton
"There is Life Outside Your Apartment" – Brian, Princeton, Christmas Eve, Gary, Nicky, Trekkie Monster, Lucy, and Company
"The More You Ruv Someone" – Christmas Eve and Kate
"Schadenfreude" – Gary and Nicky
"I Wish I Could Go Back to College" – Kate, Nicky and Princeton
"The Money Song" – Nicky, Princeton, Gary, Brian and Christmas Eve
"School for Monsters" – Trekkie Monster and Company
"The Money Song (Reprise)" – Nicky, Princeton, Gary, Brian and Christmas Eve
"There's a Fine, Fine Line (Reprise)" – Princeton and Kate
"What Do You Do With a B.A. in English? (Reprise)" – Newcomer
"For Now" – Company

Aucun dossier informatif complémentaire concernant Avenue Q

Avenue Q's unique presentation requires substantially more suspension of disbelief by audience members than normal. The cast consists of three human characters and eleven puppet characters who interact as if human, Sesame Street-style. The puppets are animated and voiced by actor/puppeteers who are present, unconcealed, onstage, but remain "invisible" relative to the storyline. That is, the puppets and human characters completely ignore the puppeteers, and the audience is expected to do so as well. This can be a challenge, as puppeteering mechanics are at times complex: the same puppet may be operated by different puppeteers in different scenes, and the actor voicing the puppet may not be the one animating it. One puppeteer sometimes voices two or more puppets simultaneously. Conversely, the so-called "live-hands" puppets (see Puppets, below) require two puppeteers – again, in full view of the audience.
The show draws considerable inspiration from Sesame Street, and substantially imitates its format. Marx interned at the program early in his career, and four of the original cast members—John Tartaglia, Stephanie D'Abruzzo, Jennifer Barnhart and Rick Lyon—were Sesame Street performers. (D'Abruzzo returned to Sesame Street after leaving Avenue Q.[6]) Three of the puppet characters are direct, recognizable parodies of classic Sesame Street puppets: the roommates Rod and Nicky are a riff on Bert and Ernie, while Trekkie Monster bears the distinctive voice and disposition of Cookie Monster (though not his obsession with baked goods). (The production officially disclaims any connection with either Sesame Workshop or The Jim Henson Company.)
All of the characters, puppet and human, represent "amalgamations of things and feelings [Marx and Lopez had been] going through personally." The characters are young adults, searching for their "purpose" in life, and facing real-world adult problems with uncertain outcomes, as opposed to the simplistic problems and invariably happy resolutions faced by characters on children's television programming. Much of the show's ironic humor arises from its contrasts with Sesame Street, a metaphor of the contrasts between childhood and adulthood, and between the children's TV world and the real world. The story line presupposes the existence of "monsters" and talking animals; and human actors sing, dance, and interact with puppets, both human and non-human, as if they were sentient beings, in a light-hearted, quasi-fantasy environment. (No attempt is made to explain why seven of the human characters are played by puppets, while the other three are played by actual humans.) However, the characters face real-world problems; they use abundant profanity in dialogue and musical lyrics; there are episodes of "full puppet nudity" (and puppet sex); and many songs and sub-plots address decidedly adult themes, such as racism, pornography, homosexuality, and schadenfreude.
The show also employs a highly unusual plot device: a real-life, present-day celebrity inserted as a character in a fictional situation within the story. Gary Coleman, the juvenile actor who played Arnold Jackson in the 1980s American sitcom Diff'rent Strokes, and later famously sued his parents and business advisers over misappropriation of his assets,[9] is portrayed (by a woman in most productions) as an adult, forced to accept a job as a building superintendent in the run-down Avenue Q neighborhood due to his dire financial situation. The show's creators have explained this trope as an illustration of "one of the most important themes in Avenue Q...that life isn't as easy as we've been led to believe...and who better to symbolize the oh-so-special-as-a-kid/but-not-so-special-as-an-adult thing we all faced than Gary Coleman? He's practically the poster child."
Marx and Lopez have also said they originally intended to offer the Gary Coleman role to Coleman himself, and he expressed interest in accepting it. However, he never showed up for a meeting scheduled to discuss it. Coleman later threatened repeatedly to sue Avenue Q producers for their depiction of him, but ultimately did not.
When Coleman died on May 28, 2010, casts of both the Off Broadway production in New York City and the second national tour in Dallas dedicated that evening's performances to his memory. The Coleman character remains in the show with modified dialogue.


Version 1

Avenue Q (2003-03-Vineyard Theatre-Off Broadway)

Type de série: Original
Théâtre: Vineyard Theatre (Broadway (Off) - Etats-Unis)
Durée : 1 mois 2 semaines
Nombre :
Première Preview : samedi 22 février 2003
Première : jeudi 20 mars 2003
Dernière : dimanche 04 mai 2003
Mise en scène : Jason Moore
Chorégraphie : Ken Roberson
Producteur :
Commentaires longs: AVENUE Q est le résultat d’une merveilleuse collaboration entre Robert Lopez et Jeff Marx. Ils commencèrent à écrire AVENUE Q en 1999, en pensant que ça pourrait faire une bonne série télé, un hybride entre Rue Sésame et South Park, mais chanté...

Trois ans plus tard, c’était la première Off-Broadway et après quatre prolongations au Vineyard Theatre, suite à des critiques dithyrambiques, la production a déménagé sur Broadway, au Golden Theatre en 2003. Le spectacle rafle le Lucille Lortel Award de la Nouvelle Comédie Musicale la Plus Surprenante en 2003 et enchaîne en 2004 avec 3 Tony Awards dont celui de la Meilleure Comédie Musicale.

Version 2

Avenue Q (2003-07-John Golden Theatre-Broadway)

Type de série: Original Broadway
Théâtre: John Golden Theatre (Broadway - Etats-Unis)
Durée : 6 ans 1 mois 2 semaines
Nombre : 22 previews - 2534 représentations
Première Preview : jeudi 10 juillet 2003
Première : jeudi 31 juillet 2003
Dernière : dimanche 13 septembre 2009
Mise en scène : Jason Moore
Chorégraphie : Ken Roberson
Producteur :
Commentaires longs: AVENUE Q est le résultat d’une merveilleuse collaboration entre Robert Lopez et Jeff Marx. Ils commencèrent à écrire AVENUE Q en 1999, en pensant que ça pourrait faire une bonne série télé, un hybride entre Rue Sésame et South Park, mais chanté...

Trois ans plus tard, c’était la première Off-Broadway et après quatre prolongations au Vineyard Theatre, suite à des critiques dithyrambiques, la production a déménagé sur Broadway, au Golden Theatre en 2003. Le spectacle rafle le Lucille Lortel Award de la Nouvelle Comédie Musicale la Plus Surprenante en 2003 et enchaîne en 2004 avec 3 Tony Awards dont celui de la Meilleure Comédie Musicale.

Version 3

Avenue Q (2005-09-Wynn Hotel-Las Vegas)

Type de série: Revival
Théâtre: Wynn Las Vegas hotel (Las Vegas - Etats-Unis)
Durée :
Nombre :
Première Preview : Inconnu
Première : jeudi 08 septembre 2005
Dernière : dimanche 28 mai 2006
Mise en scène :
Chorégraphie :
Producteur :
Commentaires longs: Las Vegas est le seul endroit où 'Aveenue Q' a été un flop! Une salle de spectacle de 1,200 places (soit 400 de plus qu'à Bway) a été construite pour cvette version, ce qui s'est avéré trop grand. A la mi-janvier 2006, le spectacle a été raccourci pour ne plus durer que 90 minutes sans entracte.

Version 4

Avenue Q (2006-06-London Run)

Type de série: Original London
Théâtre: London Run (Londres - Angleterre)
Durée : 4 ans 4 mois
Nombre : 1725 représentations
Première Preview : jeudi 01 juin 2006
Première : mercredi 28 juin 2006
Dernière : samedi 30 octobre 2010
Mise en scène : Jason Moore
Chorégraphie : Ken Roberson
Producteur :
Commentaires : Ce London Run se jouera dans trois théâtres: le Noel Coward Theatre (1 Juin 2006 au 28 Mars 2009), le Gielgud Theatre (1/6/2009 au 13/3/2010) et enfin le Wyndham's Theatre (19/3/2010 au 30/10/2010).
Commentaires longs: The novelty of this show was several of the characters being puppets – puppets bearing a similarity to the children’s TV series “Sesame Street”, but this time with very adult themes of racism, homosexuality and pornography. The puppets are “worked” by actors in full sight, but the other characters react only to the puppets. The show premiered off-Broadway in 2002, and quickly moved to Broadway itself in July 2003 where it ran until September 2009 – 2,534 performances. Within a few weeks of its closure, a smaller version of the show was revived at the West 50th Street off-Broadway complex, and is still running (as of December 2011)

Several changes were made for the London production, including the portrayal of the Gary Coleman character by a male actor. The production was very successful and developed a cult following, transferring to other theatres in the course of its five-year run. It finally closed on September 25th 2010. The Independent critic noted: “. . .the spirit of Avenue Q is humane and healthy. After all, it’s not every show that manages to be tongue-in-cheek and hand-on-heart, while having its arm up a puppet’s bum.”
Presse : MICHAEL BILLINGTON du THE GUARDIAN: "It had delighted me sufficiently...Much of the show's charm lies in the easy interaction of people and puppets...There is more wit than whimsy in the delightful Lopez-Marx numbers."
PAUL TAYLOR du THE INDEPENDENT: "What's appealing about the piece and Jason Moore's bouncy, enjoyable production is the total absence of jaded cynicism. What's less attractive is the lack of real bite...Avenue Q is about as genuinely subversive as Friends...All the same, I found it, intermittently, a lot of fun."
DOMINIC CAVENDISH du THE DAILY TELEGRAPH; "Light-weight affair."
BENEDICT NIGHTINGALE du THE TIMES: "There’s something almost refreshing in several of the jaunty-sounding songs."
NICK CURTIS du THE EVENING STANDARD: "Avenue Q's puppets tell racist jokes, screw around, download porn and generally get depressed by their crappy lives...very well executed and sporadically hilarious "
BRIAN LOGAN du TIME OUT: "Very easy to enjoy."
LISA MARTLAND du THE STAGE: "Clever and saucy libretto...Within an extraordinarily talented ensemble Julie Atherton and Jon Robyns are quite brilliant in creating these puppet personalities."
SUSANNAH CLAP du THE OBSERVER: "It's a little bit smart , fairly shrewd and self-parodying , constantly perky, sometimes funny and basically mushy."

Version 5

Avenue Q (2007-02-Maxim Teatern-Stockholm)

Type de série: Revival
Théâtre: Maxim Teatern (Stockholm - Suède)
Durée :
Nombre :
Première Preview : Inconnu
Première : vendredi 16 février 2007
Dernière : samedi 28 avril 2007
Mise en scène :
Chorégraphie :
Producteur :
Commentaires longs: La version suédoise est la première version jouée dans une langue autre que l'anglais. Avec Jakob Stadell (Princeton/Rod) et Cecilia Wrangel (Kate Monster/Lucy the Slut).

Version 6

Avenue Q (2007-02-Savoy Theatre-Helsinki)

Type de série: Revival
Théâtre: Savoy Theatre (Helsinki - Finlande)
Durée :
Nombre :
Première Preview : Inconnu
Première : vendredi 23 février 2007
Dernière : samedi 19 mai 2007
Mise en scène :
Chorégraphie :
Producteur :

Version 7

Avenue Q (2007-02-US Tour)

Type de série: US Tour
Théâtre: US Tour ( - Etats-Unis)
Durée :
Nombre :
Première Preview : Inconnu
Première : samedi 30 juin 2007
Dernière : Inconnu
Mise en scène :
Chorégraphie :
Producteur :

Version 8

Avenue Q (2007-09-Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium-Manille)

Type de série: Revival
Théâtre: Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium (Manille - Philippines)
Durée :
Nombre :
Première Preview : Inconnu
Première : vendredi 07 septembre 2007
Dernière : dimanche 23 septembre 2007
Mise en scène :
Chorégraphie :
Producteur :
Commentaires longs: Reprise du 15 au 23 décembre 2007

Version 9

Avenue Q (2007-10-Beth Lessin Theatre-Tel Aviv)

Type de série: Revival
Théâtre: Beth Lessin Theatre (Tel Aviv - Israel)
Durée :
Nombre :
Première Preview : Inconnu
Première : mardi 23 octobre 2007
Dernière : Inconnu
Mise en scène :
Chorégraphie :
Producteur :
Commentaires longs: Avec Michal Yannai, Idan Alterman, Roy Bar-Natan, Tali Oren, Nicky Goldstein, Elinor Aharon, et Michal Muchtar.

Version 10

Avenue Q (2009-05-Australian Tour)

Type de série: Revival
Théâtre: Australian Tour ( - Australie)
Durée : 9 mois 1 semaine
Nombre :
Première Preview : Inconnu
Première : vendredi 29 mai 2009
Dernière : dimanche 07 mars 2010
Mise en scène : Jonathan Biggins
Chorégraphie : Aucun
Producteur :
Commentaires longs: 29/5/2009 - 2/8/2009: Comedy Theatre - Melbourne | 8/8/2009 - 6/9/2009: Theatre Royal - Sydney | 23/10/2209 - 8/11/2009: Canberra Theatre - Canberra | 17/11/2009 - 5/12/2009: The Regal Theatre - Perth | 1/1/2010 - 7/2/2010: Her Majesty's Theatre (Adelaide Festival Centre) Adelaide | 20/2/2010 - 7/3/2010: Queensland Performing Arts Centre, Playhouse - Brisbane

Version 11

Avenue Q (2009-10-New World Stages Stage III-Off Broadway)

Type de série: Revival
Théâtre: New World Stages Stage III (Broadway (Off) - Etats-Unis)
Durée : 7 ans 4 mois 1 semaine Se joue actuellement
Nombre :
Première Preview : vendredi 09 octobre 2009
Première : mercredi 21 octobre 2009
Dernière : Open end, ouvert actuellement jusqu'au dim. 26 février 2017
Mise en scène : Jason Moore
Chorégraphie : Ken Roberson
Producteur :
Avec : Ben Durocher (Princeton/Rod), Elizabeth Ann Berg (Kate Monster/Lucy the Slut), Nicholas Kohn (Brian), Danielle K. Thomas (Gary Coleman), Jason Jacoby (Nicky/Trekkie Monster), Grace Choi (Christmas Eve)
Presse : "They may have no legs of their own, but darned if those fuzzy creatures aren’t still standing, long after more full-bodied competition has bitten the dust." Ben Brantley for the New York Times

"Avenue Q is still one of the hippest theatrical destinations in New York" David Sheward for Back Stage

"Returning to its Off Broadway origins, the 2004 Tony winner shows no discernible signs of downsizing and no loss of heart." David Rooney for Variety

 Pas encore de video disponible pour ce spectacle


1) 2003-07-Original Broadway Cast