AVENUE Q

Cover to original Broadway Cast Recording

Music & Lyrics by Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx. Book by Jeff Whitty. Based on an original concept by Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx

Vineyard Theatre (off-Broadway) March 2003, (72 perfs)

Winner of the 2003 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding New Musical, as well as a nomination for the 2003 Outer Critics Circle Outstanding Off-Broadway Musical award.

John Golden Theatre, New York - previews July 11th, 2003, with a July 31, 2003 opening.

SYNOPSIS

ACT 1

At the opening we meet Princeton, in a graduation cap and gown, who wonders what he is now going to do after graduation.

On a dilapidated street in an outer-outer borough of the city, Brian and Kate Monster both agree that life is not treating them fairly. He is unemployed; she is single. Joining in the chorus are embattled room-mates, Nicky and Rod; Brian's Japanese fiancée, Christmas Eve; and finally Gary Coleman — yes, that Gary Coleman — who's the neighbourhood's superintendant. He helps new arrival Princeton get an apartment.

Nicky swears he'd stand by Rod though Rod protests he's not gay. Meanwhile, Princeton decides to find his role in life. He runs into Kate Monster, who declares that her purpose is to open a school devoted to Monsters. Princeton makes a racist statement about Monsters, and he and Kate explore the notion that everyone's a little bit racist.

At her teaching job, Kate is assigned an important lesson. She decides to teach the kids about the Internet, but neighbour Trekkie Monster upstages her by insisting that the internet is for porn!

Princeton asks Kate for a date that night. They go to a club, where Brian warms up the crowd. Chanteuse, Lucy The Slut, then sings that she can make anyone feel special. The trouble-making Bad Idea Bears get Kate and Princeton drunk and send them home, where they "get it on" noisily.

Meanwhile, a sleeping Rod dreams that Nicky is in love with him; in real life, Kate expresses her fondness for Princeton and he gives her a lucky penny.

Brian and Christmas Eve get married. At the reception, Nicky suggests that Rod is gay. Rod overhears and defensively brags about his girlfriend in Canada. He kicks Nicky out of the apartment. Princeton realises he's forgotten his purpose in life, and he breaks up with Kate, who recognises the fine line between love and a waste of time.

ACT 2

A few weeks later, Princeton is in a funk. In the city, Princeton hooks up with Lucy. Kate Monster sees them together and gets upset, so Christmas Eve helpfully explains the hatred that arises. Kate writes Princeton a note asking him to meet her on top of the Empire State building. Lucy reads the note and destroys it.

Meanwhile, Nicky has no place to live, and asks Gary for help. Gary explains the concept of taking pleasure in other people's pain.

Kate waits in vain for Princeton atop the Empire State Building. She throws his lucky penny off the side, and it lands in Lucy's skull 102 stories below. Princeton, Nicky, and Kate all remember a simpler time.

Meeting homeless Nicky on the street, Princeton decides to help Kate open her Monster school, and they enlist others to help raise money. Falling very short, they turn to Trekkie Monster, who saves the day. A thrilled Kate gets her school. Rod appears and comes triumphantly out of the closet. He asks Nicky to move back in, and in return Nicky brings out someone who looks just like himself: a boyfriend he found for Rod! Meanwhile Kate, touched by Princeton's generous action, agrees to try a relationship again.

A newcomer to the street makes Princeton finally realiSe his purpose: to put on a show about struggling through your twenties! Everyone agrees that it's a bad idea. Seeing his sadness and frustration, his friends console him, teaching him that everything in life, good and bad, is only for now.

Musical Numbers

  1. The Avenue Q Theme - Company
  2. What Do You Do with a B.A. in English? - Princeton
  3. It Sucks To Be Me - Brian, Kate Monster, Princeton, Nicky, Christmas Eve, Gary Coleman, Mrs T.
  4. If You Were Gay - Nicky with Princeton
  5. Purpose - Princeton & Company
  6. Everyone's A Little Bit Racist - Princeton, Kate Monster, Gary Coleman, Brian, Christmas Eve
  7. The Internet Is For Porn - Kate Monster, Nicky & the Guys
  8. Mix Tape - Kate Monster, Princeton
  9. I'm Not Wearing Underwear Today - Brian with Christmas Eve
  10. Special - Lucy the Slut with the Guys
  11. You Can Be as Loud as the Hell You Want (When You're Makin' Love) - Gary Coleman, Nicky, Mrs T. & Ensemble with Kate Monster, Princeton, Brian, Christmas Eve
  12. Fantasies Come True - Rod, Lucy with Nicky
  13. My Girlfriend, Who Lives in Canada - Rod
  14. There's a Fine, Fine Line - Kate Monster
  15. There Is Life Outside Your Apartment - Brian; Princeton & Company
  16. The More You Ruv Someone - Christmas Eve, Kate Monster
  17. Schadenfreude - Gary Coleman, Nicky
  18. I Wish I Could Go Back to College - Kate Monster, Nicky, Princeton
  19. The Money Song - Nicky, Princeton, Gary Coleman with Brian, Christmas Eve, Mrs T.
  20. School for Monsters - Trekkie Monsters
  21. The Money Song Reprise - Nicky & Company
  22. There's A Fine, Fine Line (Reprise) - Princeton, Kate with Christmas Eve
  23. What Do You Do With A B.A. In English? (Reprise) Nicky with Gary Coleman, Princeton, Kate Monster, Brian & Mrs T.
  24. For Now - Kate Monster, Brian, Gary Coleman, Christmas Eve, Nicky, Princeton, Mrs T.

ORIGINAL CAST (in order of appearance)

Ensemble JODI EICHELBERGER, PETER LINZ

Instrumentation

Piano/Synthesizer, Alto Sax, Flute, Clarinet, Guitar, Banjo, Acoustic & Electric Bass, Drums & Percussion

Original London Cast Recording