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MrsKalabash

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Saw this at Yahoo news (excerpted):

Avenue Q's origins began as Lopez and Marx collaborated again in their second year on a project. "We decided to adapt Hamlet for [Jim Henson (news)'s] 'The Muppets' and we came up with a show called Kermit, Prince of Denmark." Accepted to BMI's annual cabaret, the team were asked to present one of the songs from the work. They chose "Off to Denver." Lopez explains "The conceit of Kermit, Prince of Denmark was that Kermit the Frog was going to join all the other Muppets in Denver for a skiing vacation and he gets on the wrong plane and ends up in Denmark."


True showmen, Lopez said "We decided to go out on a limb and try to get a puppeteer to do it for us and that paired us up with Rick Lyon. He's a professional 'Sesame Street' puppeteer and he came in and just bowled over the entire class. We realized we had to work with him again."


Accordingly, they went to work on Avenue Q for a showcase at BMI. At the showcase, they were approached to present the work as a reading at a theatre. "We had Rick grab a couple of his friends and a couple more puppets and put up a reading on its feet. We invited everyone we knew and said if you know anybody at Comedy Central, let us know, tell them about us," said Marx about the TV-hopeful project. "Then a friend urged us to do it on stage as it was without hiding the puppeteers."


Director Jason Moore and choreographer Ken Roberson work out a traffic pattern in which singing puppeteers and actors both inhabit the fictional street dancing and interacting amongst one another. Among the puppet characters are The Odd Couple-like roommates, the unkempt Nicky and clean-cut Rod; the straight-out-of-college nebbishy teacher's assistant Kate Monster; internet-consumed Trekkie Monster; seductress Lucy the ****; and cuddly but alcohol-pushy Bad Idea Bears. The human roles include the shlubby Brian, his Asian-American fiancee Christmas Eve and Gary Coleman.

:confused:
 
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