Avenue Q Won't Tour Despite Campaign Promise
"We thought we were [going on tour] at that point," Goodman told Broadway.com about the May 12 display. She then explained that while negotiations had begun with Las Vegas impressario Steve Wynn, the arrangements did not become finalized until June 3. "When you make a deal with somebody, you have a lot of problems along the way," Goodman said. "At that luncheon we thought, 'We're probably going to go out on tour.' And we weren't sure they wanted us! So it works both ways."
However some road presenters question the timing of the announcement. "I love the show," Kimmel Center Director of Theatrical Presentations Jordan Fiksenbaum told Broadway.com. "They made a good economic decision, and I can't fault them for it. But I wonder if they had made this public on Thursday, if it would have swayed votes." [Tony ballots were due at 6pm on June 4.]
The only non-New York production of Avenue Q will now reside in a special $40 million, 1,200-seat theater in his under-construction casino, Wynn Las Vegas Resort and Country Club, where performances are expected to start Labor Day 2005. After seeing the show in February, Wynn first contacted McCollum with the idea, which Goodman originally said was "crazy." But as Wynn persisted, the producing team became interested and serious talks began in late April. The theater will have no more than 800 seats on the floor, preserving the intimate feel the show has at the Golden. Goodman also noted that the musical will be presented in its entirety. "It's not going to be the Evelyn Wood version of the show," Goodman joked, referring to the famous speed-reading course.
By being exclusively in Vegas, which was a condition of the deal, Avenue Q, a musical featuring puppet sex and foul language, will not have to deal with playing in Peoria. "I think it's deliciously clever and wonderful, but I think it's the sort of thing Midwesterners in our market would feel more comfortable going to New York to see rather than having it in their own backyard," Malcolm Cumming, president of the Broadway Theatre Guild in Grand Rapids, Michigan, said. "If someone asks you, it's about puppets doing the f-word onstage. There is obviously a lot more to it, but that's an impression that comes away from it."
The viability of a tour was in question even before the May 12 pizza party for road voters. "I was very interested in presenting the show, we did have it on our books as a pencil hold as a possibility," Fiksenbaum said. "But the big question was always, in large venues, are people even going to be able to see the puppets?"
The producers promoted their tour as part of the big Avenue Q Tony "campaign," which broke new ground with its overt nature. There were signs and buttons, some of which read "America Needs Avenue Q." Many consider this campaign to be one of the deciding reasons the show won the Tony Award for Best Musical. "The tricky thing about Las Vegas is America comes to Vegas," Goodman stated in her defense. "People from all over the country come to Vegas, so you actually get a very large demographic."
One road presenter, who asked to remain anonymous, had a different point of view. "We were led to believe it was coming," he said. "We voted according to the fact that it was coming. It's now not coming to America. Vegas is a different market."
Did the promise of the tour changed the Tony race? "I have no idea," Goodman said. "I am sure not all the road people voted for Avenue Q--I am sure a lot of them voted for other shows. Would it have changed the Tony race? I don't know. I like to think not, I like to think that people voted for our show because they liked it. Not for any other reasons--not for economic reasons, not for road reasons, but because people have affection for Avenue Q. You could feel it the night of the Tonys."