Avenue Q

Avenue Q is a Tony award-winning musical that was conceived by Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx, who wrote the music and lyrics. The book is by Jeff Whitty. The show is largely inspired by (and is in the style of) Sesame Street: Most of the characters in the show are puppets (operated by actors onstage), the set depicts several tenements on a rundown street in an "outer borough" of New York City, both the live characters and puppet characters sing, and short animated video clips are played as part of the story.

Also, several characters are recognizably parodies of classic Muppet characters: for example, the roommates Rod and Nicky are versions of Sesame Street's Bert and Ernie, and Trekkie Monster is based on Cookie Monster. However, the characters are in their twenties and thirties and face adult problems instead of those faced by pre-schoolers. The characters use profanity, and the songs concern adult themes. A recurring theme is the central character's search for a "purpose."

After an Off-Broadway opening, directed by Jason Moore, the production moved to Broadway in 2003 and won several Tony Awards, including the award for Best Musical. It is still running on Broadway and currently holds the position of 30th longest running musical in Broadway history. The show has spawned a 2005 Las Vegas production, a 2006 West End production and various international productions. A U.S. national tour began in July 2007.

Background
The show is explicitly a homage to the PBS children's television program Sesame Street. Both Marx and puppet designer/original cast member, Rick Lyon, have worked for Sesame Street, as have the other puppeteers in the original cast. Unlike Sesame Street, Avenue Q openly addresses adult topics such as racism, pornography, and homosexuality; in fact, because of its adult language and content and "full puppet nudity" (including simulated sex between puppets), the show specifically disclaims any connection to the Children's Television Workshop or The Jim Henson Company. In an interview with Britain's The Times, addressing the question of potential conflicts with Henson, Marx claimed, “During early previews in the States we invited Jim Henson's widow and children and they could see that what we were doing was a homage and love letter to 'Sesame Street.'"

The characters who are not puppets relate to the puppets, rather than to the actors holding them. The puppets also speak directly to each other and never to the actors operating them. During the course of the show, a puppet character may be operated by more than one of the actor-operators, although the same actor creates the voice for a particular puppet even if he or she is not holding the puppet at the time.

Setting
As stated in the Broadway Playbill, the scene is a fictional street located "in an outer borough of New York City." Manhattan, the center of New York City, has Avenues A, B, C, and D, making up the Alphabet City neighborhood (now considered part of the East Village). Some say Avenue Q is the hypothetical extension of that sequence: far from Manhattan, where the rents are actually affordable for recent college graduates.

Alternately, Avenue Q could be in the Midwood and Gravesend area of Brooklyn, where there are also Avenues A, B, C, etc. all the way up to Avenue Z, with a few exceptions. One of the exceptions is Avenue Q; the street between Avenue P and Avenue R is known as Quentin Road, named for Quentin Roosevelt, the youngest son of President Theodore Roosevelt. The Q subway train, whose symbol used to be a Q in an orange circle resembling the Avenue Q logo, travels through this neighborhood. However, the authors have stated that Avenue Q is fictional and is not related to this or any other particular street.

Act One

Princeton, a recent college graduate, is looking for an affordable apartment in New York City ("What Do You Do with a BA in English"). At Avenue Q, he meets a group of neighbors: Kate Monster, a single assistant kindergarten teacher; Nicky and Rod, two long-time roommates; Brian, an unemployed comedian; Christmas Eve, Brian's Japanese fiancée, who is a therapist but has no clients; and Gary Coleman, former child star of the TV show Diff'rent Strokes, now the apartment superintendent. They all complain about their lives ("It Sucks to Be Me"), and all agree that Gary's life sucks the most. Princeton takes an apartment, and everyone welcomes him to the block.

Rod is reading a book about "Broadway musicals of the 1940s," when he is interrupted by Nicky, who wants to share a story about a gay man he met on the subway. Rod gets defensive at the mention of homosexuality, and Nicky assures his roommate that he would have no problem accepting Rod ("If You Were Gay"). Rod mentions two musicals, High Button Shoes and Pal Joey.

The job that Princeton had lined up is eliminated and he needs a purpose in life. He finds a penny minted in his birthyear — a lucky omen ("Purpose"). Everyone explains their purpose in life. Gary is afraid he has already fulfilled his purpose. Kate says that she wants to open a school especially for monsters. When Princeton asks whether she and Trekkie Monster are related, Kate is offended at the implication that all monsters must be related, calling him racist. Princeton notes that her dream of a monster school is also exclusionary. Everyone comes in to join the song and all agree that "Everyone's a Little Bit Racist". In the American production Gary laughs about Polacks (but in the UK version, he laughs about the French). Princeton is approached by the Bad Idea Bears, two innocent-looking cuddly teddy bears who distract him from finding his purpose and encourage him to spend his money on beer.

Kate receives a phone call from her boss, the unpleasant, humorless Mrs. Thistletwat, telling her that she has heart replacement surgery the next day and needs Kate to teach the morning class, and that Kate may teach on whatever subject she likes. Kate plans to teach about the Internet. Trekkie Monster and the other men frustrate her attempts at a lesson plan by telling her that "The Internet is for Porn." Princeton comes over to deliver a "Mix Tape", confirming her suspicions that he has a crush on her. Princeton invites Kate to the Around the Clock Café (a well known East Village haunt) that night.

At the café, Brian performs the opening act ("I'm Not Wearing Underwear Today") and introduces Lucy the Slut, who sings "Special". Kate refrains from drinking, as she has the important teaching assignment in the morning. Kate and Princeton are ready to go home, but the Bad Idea Bears suggest that they have some harmless Long Island Iced Teas (Absinthe Daiquiris in the London show) and play drinking games. While Kate retrieves a round of drinks, Lucy tells Princeton that when he's ready for a real woman, she'll be around. The Bad Idea Bears convince the tipsy Kate and Princeton to go home together and have sex. The tenants ask Gary Coleman to tell the wild lovers to quiet down, but Coleman says "You Can Be as Loud as the Hell You Want [When You're Making Love]". A sleepless Rod hears Nicky talking in his sleep about his attraction to Rod, who is jubilant that his secret crush is mutual. However, he wakes to discover that it was he who had been dreaming and is crushed to find out. Meanwhile, Kate and Princeton lie in bed happily. Princeton gives Kate his lucky penny to let her know how much she means to him ("Fantasies Come True").

The next day, Mrs. Thistletwat calls: Kate has missed the morning class that she was supposed to teach. Mrs. Thistletwat calls Monsters lazy. Angry, Kate quits her job. Princeton asks Kate to be his girlfriend and to accompany him to Brian and Christmas Eve's wedding. At the wedding, the neighbors ask Nicky whether Rod is gay. Nicky confirms that Rod is a "closeted homosexual"; Rod overhears him and vehemently denies this – they simply have not met "My Girlfriend Who Lives in Canada". Rod throws Nicky out of their apartment. Princeton, scared of commitment after witnessing the wedding, breaks up with Kate, asking her to be friends. Kate is hurt and defiant: "There's a Fine, Fine Line" between love and a waste of time.

Act Two

Princeton sits alone in his apartment two weeks later. He is in debt, unemployed, alone, and still purposeless ("It Sucks to Be Me" [Reprise]). The Bad Idea Bears suggest hanging himself. The neighbors take Princeton outside to remind him that "There is Life Outside Your Apartment". Princeton decides to take Lucy the Slut home with him. Kate is jealous, and Christmas Eve explains that Kate is angry because she actually loves Princeton ("The More You Ruv Someone"), which pays homage to "I Have a Love" from "West Side Story". Kate stops by to give Princeton an invitation to meet her at the top of the Empire State Building. He is in the shower, so she leaves the letter, which Lucy promptly destroys. Nicky has stayed with neighbors since he was kicked out, but they are all fed up with his sloppiness and throw him out on the street. Nicky begs for money. Gary Coleman admits that he cannot help feeling a sense of "Schadenfreude" at Nicky's painful situation.

Princeton looks for Lucy, who has left without saying goodbye. Kate, angry that Princeton seems to have stood her up, throws the penny that he gave her from the top of the Empire State Building. Far below, Lucy, passing by, is hit in the head by the penny and knocked into a coma. At the hospital, Kate and Princeton attempt to work out their problems, but Princeton is still not ready for commitment. Rod, depressed, consults with Christmas Eve, who comforts him. Everyone ponders what it would be like to return to happier times ("I Wish I Could Go Back to College").

Nicky, begging in the street, tells Princeton that he should be thinking about other people ("The Money Song"). Struck with inspiration, he determines to raise the money to build Kate's monster school. Nicky likewise realizes that, to get back to his apartment, he needs to help Rod by finding him a boyfriend. The neighbors raise some money ("The Money Song" [Reprise]), but not much. Trekkie Monster, finding out what the appeal is for, remembers his hellish school days and donates ten million dollars that he earned by investing in pornography ("School for Monsters").

Kate is delighted with the new school. Brian has a new job and Christmas Eve has a steady client (Rod), so they are leaving Avenue Q for the Lower East Side (In some performances, they move to Hell's Kitchen). Rod reveals, to no one's surprise, that he is gay. He invites Nicky back in. Nicky has found a boyfriend for Rod named Ricky, who looks just like Nicky, only more muscular. Meanwhile, the Bad Idea Bears have found Scientology, and Lucy has recovered to become a born-again Christian. Kate is impressed that Princeton has made her monster school a reality. Princeton asks her for a second chance, and Kate says they'll take it a day at a time ("There's a Fine, Fine Line" [Reprise]).

A new kid, just out of college with a BA in English, comes to look at Brian and Christmas Eve's for-rent apartment, and Princeton has a revelation: he must pass on everything he's learned. His purpose may be to put all his knowledge into a show. Everyone shoots the idea down, and the kid does not want Princeton's wisdom. Princeton worries that he may never find his purpose, but the others encourage him to cheer up. Life may be bad at the moment, but everything in life is only "For Now."

source: www.wikipedia.com