BROADWAY RECALL: AVENUE Q Plays WICKED Politics

Welcome to BROADWAY RECALL, a bi-monthly column where BroadwayWorld.com's Chief Theatre Critic, Michael Dale, delves into the archives and explores the stories behind the well-known and the not so well-known videos and photographs of Broadway's past. Look for BROADWAY RECALL on the 1^st and 15^th of every month.

Some years, there's not a lot of drama involved when it's time to choose the season's Tony Award winner for Best Musical and the telecast becomes less of a competition and more of a coronation.  Though the current Broadway revival of Chicago has had audiences relishing Bob Fosse's cynical razzle dazzle for nearly 15 years, there was never any question that on Tony night '76, the original production would be no match for the optimistic sincerity of A Chorus Line.  Likewise, in 1981 few would have imagined that David Merrick wouldn't be taking the stage at the end of the evening, accepting accolades for his production of Gower Champion's spectacular song-and-dance swan song, 42^nd Street.

And then there's Wicked...

Now approaching its 8^th year of sold-out houses in one of Broadway's largest theatres (the video above shows scenes with both original and replacement cast members), Wicked, under normal circumstances, would be considered the likely winner of the 2004 Best Musical Tony.  It's a traditional book musical that gives a new twist to a beloved story, with a score by Broadway favorite Stephen Schwartz (Pippin, Godspell, The Magic Show) whose musicals had never taken the top prize.  The design is colorful and elaborate and its original company combined up-and-coming stars (Kristin Chenoweth, Idina Menzel, Norbert Leo Butz, Christopher Fitzgerald) with old favorites (Joel Grey, Carole Shelley).

Having won the Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for Best Musical, one would think Wicked would easily carry that momentum to the Tonys, but in both of those earlier victories there was one missing element... Avenue Q.

The Jeff Marx/Robert Lopez/Jeff Whitty spoof, which imagined a television program where twentysomethings would learn the valuable lessons of post-college life using Sesame Street style puppets, songs and stories, played Off-Broadway the previous season, and won the Lucille Lortel Award for Best Musical and was nominated for Best Musical by the Drama Desk (losing to Hairspray) and Best Off-Broadway Musical by the Outer Critics Circle (losing to A Man of No Importance).  After moving to Broadway, Q received far more positive reviews than Wicked, and was also selling out regularly, though in a much smaller house.  But Avenue Q was quirky and off-beat and Tony voters, many of whom have a commercial interest in the winning musical, tend to avoid quirky and off-beat.  Just ask the gang at Urinetown, who, a couple of years earlier, had taken the prizes for Best Book, Best Score and Best Director, but saw the Best Musical Tony go to the traditional and family-friendly Thoroughly Modern Millie.

Wicked and Avenue Q both received Best Musical nominations, as expected, along with the racially-charged musical drama, Caroline, or Change, and the flashy Hugh Jackman vehicle, The Boy From Oz.  Next came the voting period, which usually meant meet-and-greet events for voters, luncheons, and gifts of CDs and other souvenirs.

But the folks at Avenue Q then started doing something that no other Broadway show had ever done at Tony time.  They started campaigning.  Being a parody of children's programming with humor lying in tongue-in-cheek innocence, the producers recognized they could use that same tongue-in-cheek innocence to win over voters.  So the Golden Theatre was draped in red, white and blue and audience members were greeted with signs proclaiming, "Yes, Q Can!" and "America Needs Avenue Q!"

But the secret weapon was unveiled at a pizza party where voters were handed copies of a CD called "Rod's Dilemma."  Marx, Lopez and Whitty had written a sketch and song concerning their show's closeted gay Republican puppet, Rod.  It seems Rod's Rotary Club was electing new officers and he didn't know who to vote for.  The candidates included a really cute guy (suggesting Hugh Jackman), a really rich guy (suggesting Wicked) and one of Rod's old friends (suggesting The Public Theater, producers of Caroline, Or Change).  The other characters convince him to simply vote for the best candidate, using a catchy song called, "Vote Your Heart."

(CLICK THIS PHOTO TO PLAY THE VIDEO!)

With "Vote Your Heart," Avenue Q was suggesting the radical notion that the best musical wasn't necessarily the one with the most commercial potential, emphasizing that it's a secret ballot so nobody has to know who you voted for.  The song never directly suggested voting for Avenue Q, but the demand for copies of the CD and the frequent sighting of Broadway celebs wearing "Vote Your Heart" badges (see Michael Riedel in photo) meant things were getting interesting.

And it worked.  Avenue Q took home Tonys for Best Book, Best Score and Best Musical of the Season.

But it wasn't over.

Before the champagne had a chance to lose its fizz the producers of Avenue Q shocked and angered tour producers and regional theatre owners by announcing they were foregoing the traditional national tour route and had signed an exclusive contract with hotel and casino owner Steve Wynn, who would build a 1,200 seat theatre to house Avenue Q in Las Vegas.  Anonymous voters reacted by telling the press that they wouldn't have voted for Avenue Q if they knew that was going to happen; a sentiment that wasn't exactly in the spirit of voting your heart.

Eventually, the Tony Rules Committee placed restrictions on campaigning for awards, limiting promotional material to scripts and cast recordings and forbidding any type of communication that could cast a negative light on any aspect of a competing production.

But perhaps the clearest sign that Broadway was back to business as usual came in May of '05, when Eric Idle, author of the Tony-nominated Spamalot, was seen at a meet-and-greet waving his billfold in the air, encouraging guests to "Vote your wallet!"

Photos by Jeff Marx.

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