Hopped Up on the Q

Recently Broadway lost a golden gem of puppety goodness.  After more than six years and over 2,500 shows, Avenue Q concluded it's Broadway run this past Sunday.  Have no fear, however, it will soon reopen in a new home Off-Broadway at New World Stages!

It is expected to be a pretty close transfer in the production aspect (I guess we will see), but in this version Gary Coleman will actually be portrayed by a man!  If you have no idea why this is news, you NEED to get in gear and dive headfirst into the world of Avenue Q, where puppets are just as messed up as we are!

In my efforts to find more information on the move, I found some other interesting tidbits about Avenue Q...

The first translated version of Avenue Q played in Stockholm, Sweden and has played in at least 15 countries to date!

In fact, Avenue Q won the Israeli Theatre Award for Best Entertainment Show - and was nominated for Best Translator and Best Choreography!

In the lyric "George Bush is only for now!" in the show's final number, some productions have toyed around with alternate lyrics - including "Swine Flu is only for now!" (tee hee!)

In Hungary, they don't have Gary Coleman at all - instead they feature Michael Jackson as the down-on-his-luck lovable martyr... (lost his estate after being sued by two six year old boys)... Hmm... Just check out this promotional video!

I have no words...

Yancy and Obama!

Recently Yancy and I attended a rally at the Target Center in Minneapolis, MN, at which President Obama addressed the health care reform situation.  Seeing as how neither of us had ever been to a political rally, let alone see a real live President, it was a big day for us both.  Being a little guy, Yancy relied on me to hold him for most of the event, which left my other hand to hold the camera... Now think about that!

After figuring out the logistics and having several failed attempts at making smooth videos I finally found a decent procedure that I hope to be able to perfect over the next several months.  As my friend Jonathan Little once told me, "As a puppeteer, you will eventually run out of hands, which is why its nice to have friends."