To celebrate the milestone, beginning at 10 AM, the first 100 patrons in line can purchase $10 seats (cash only) to the special 7 PM 10th anniversary performance at New World Stages (340 W. 50 St.).
At the beginning of the July 31 performance, Media and Entertainment Commissioner Katherine Oliver will present a Proclamation from the City of New York to the musical's cast, creators and producers declaring July 31 as "Avenue Q Day." Other surprises are in store for the evening, which marks the 4,143rd performance of the ground-breaking musical in New York.
Avenue Q opened on Broadway July 31, 2003, at the John Golden Theatre. The musical won three 2004 Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Score and Best Book of a Musical, and gave 2,556 performances (including 22 previews) prior to its move in October 2009 to New World Stages.
View Playbill.com's special Screening Room celebrating Avenue Q's anniversary.
Avenue Q, according to press notes, is the "hilarious and internationally-acclaimed musical about a group of 20-somethings — people and puppets alike — who move to New York with big dreams and tiny bank accounts. Together they live as neighbors on a street in New York as they try to discover their purpose in life." The musical's characters include Princeton, Kate Monster, Trekkie Monster, Lucy, Nicky, Rod, Gary Coleman, Brian and Christmas Eve. The score includes "Everyone's a Little Bit Racist," "If You Were Gay," "The More You Ruv Someone" and "Schadenfreude." The musical has music and lyrics by Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx, book by Jeff Whitty and direction by Jason Moore. Based on an original concept by Lopez and Marx, with puppets conceived and designed by Rick Lyon, Avenue Q has musical supervision by Stephen Oremus, choreography by Ken Roberson, scenic design by Anna Louizos, costume design by Mirena Rada, lighting design by Howell Binkley and sound design by Acme Sound Partners. Musical director is Rick Bertone.
The original Broadway cast included Jennifer Barnhart, Stephanie D'Abruzzo, Jordan Gelber, Ann Harada, Rick Lyon, John Tartaglia and Natalie Venetian Belcon. The current Off-Broadway cast includes Darren Bluestone, Lexy Fridell, Sala Iwamatsu, Jason Jacoby, Nicholas Kohn, Veronica Kuehn, Danielle K. Thomas, Michael Liscio, Jr., Lisa Helmi Johansen, Seth Rettberg and Trista Dollison.
The musical is produced at New World Stages, as it was on Broadway, by Kevin McCollum, Robyn Goodman, Jeffrey Seller, The Vineyard Theatre and The New Group.
For more information visit avenueq.com.
