After six years on Broadway, the Tony-winning musical Avenue Q will deliver its final performance on Sept. 13, producers announced Monday. The somewhat raunchy puppet-driven show will have played 2,534 performances and 22 previews, becoming the 20th longest running show in Broadway history. (It will pass The Producers on Aug. 13.) The Off Broadway transfer has proven to be an unlikely success story, notoriously beating out Wicked for the Best Musical Tony; the $3.5 million production has also returned $23.5 million to its investors. In addition, Avenue Q spawned a national tour, a short-lived Las Vegas run, and a London production that reopened at the Gielgud Theatre on June 1.
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I hope it comes back through Chicago on tour at some point… It was one of the funniest shows I’ve ever seen!!!
Yawn. How this show won the Tony is so beyond me. The people involved in creating it seem like nice enough people and I get the whole “underdog” thing, but pulease. After listening to the soundtrack once there is no need to listen to it again – the joke is already old.
Hmm looks like the true winner was Wicked, afterall
Which is a shame, seeing as Wicked is a shallow, badly written mess. Thank god the Tony Voters appreciated that.
We liked Avenue Q enough, but once was enough. Sure, it’s pretty hysterical, but how it ever beat Wicked is just beyond me. Avenue Q is funny, but Wicked is brilliant and amazing. We’ve seen it 3 times and could keep going back.
Wow seriously…Avenue Q is unquestionably a far superior show to the horribly written mess that is Wicked. Thank god it won the Tony that year–shows that voters actually picked the artistically deserving show for once instead of the big tourist pleaser. Broadway will miss you, Avenue Q!
Agreed! Finally some sense.
Well, the real winner that year SHOULD have been Caroline, or Change which is possibly the greatest piece of musical theatre in the past 10 years, but Avenue Q was certainly clever and fun. I’ll definitely give the cast album a few more listens before it closes and maybe make it one more time to see the show, especially with original cast member Ann Harada as Christmas Eve.
I can’t believe anyone has the time to comment here. After all, “the Internet is for porn!”
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Unfair! First, Rent. Then Spamalot and Spring Awakening. Now this? What’s next? Wicked?
Wicked is definitely much better. I’ve seen it twice. Avenue Q was okay, but it should not have won a Tony Award, Wicked got cheated out of that.
http://wicked.rooket.com
I agree with a lot of posters here that Avenue Q was a great show, but it doesn’t exactly has a long shelf life as far as repeated soundtrack listenings or repeated theatre visits. I’d go as far as to say that the music suffers from being trite and repetitive–OK, the jokes in the lyrics are funny, but a punchline can only go so far.
I think the reason Ave. Q won as opposed to Wicked is that Wicked was your standard run of the mill musical. Great as it is, it didn’t break new ground for the Broadway Genre. Ave. Q created a new way to see a Broadway show. That’s why it won.
GO to youtube and watch
LITTLE MONKEY BOY CLIMBING
its a hilarius and adorable video!
The reason why you only need to see Avenue Q once is because the story is clear and it makes sense. Wicked was just a mess. It was confusing. Too complicated. I only saw it once, but I need to see it again just to see what the whole point was. Avenue Q completely desereved that Tony. Also, just because Wicked was more “popular” doesn’t mean it deserevd to win. Overall, Avenue Q got better critical review-Wicked go mixed, at best. So…yeah…Avenue Q wins in my heart!
Agreed. Wicked is irritating on a number of levels. Firstly, the songs are all overblown power ballads that trick the audience into thinking they’re seeing something amazing. Secondly, the book is shockingly bad, full of continuity errors and awful jokes. Thirdly, it’s another sad example of a show that’s had more money thrown at it than the more artistically deserving.