Broadway’s ‘Avenue Q’ Follows Obama’s Marching Orders
by Larry O'Connor
Back in February, my Big Hollywood colleague and super-funny-dude Tim Slagle wrote a series of posts on the Broadway musical “Avenue Q”. The show was going through a mini-crisis/publicity stunt because one of the big punch lines to the song “For Now” was no longer valid:
A song called “For Now” has the puppets reassure each other that most things in life are temporary, like hair and sex. Until recently, one of those temporary things was “George Bush.” Knowing that Obama was to be shortly inaugurated, the producers and writers were perplexed for a replacement. I know it should be obvious to everyone else, but Broadway producers don’t think like you and I. So they threw a contest to decide a better verse.
Two weeks later, Slagle followed up with the big announcement of the new lyric:
So what did they decide to use? The winning lyric is: ”George Bush WAS only for now.” Brilliant. I guess like “South Pacific” and “Bye-Bye Birdie,” some vintage musical theater is better when presented in the time frame that it was originally written. “Avenue Q” will now be forever remembered as a Bush-era production, although the impact has noticeably waned. ”We now know that although George Bush’s presidency was only for now,” show creator, Robert Lopez noted, ”the comic potential of ‘George Bush’ seems like it may last forever.”
Not so fast. This week, “Avenue Q” did something that Broadway shows rarely do. They closed their production and re-located to an Off-Broadway house. During the process of re-opening the show in a smaller venue, the writers took the time to really give some thought to the “George Bush WAS for now” lyric and they have finally found their perfect replacement.
It seems that the real purpose of this line is not to get a huge laugh. No, it seems that the real purpose is to find the worst possible, evil, racist, homo-phobic, war-mongering, lying, right-wing boogie man and insert their name into the lyric to ridicule and diminish them. Circa 2004 that person was President Bush. Today, the only person that fits that description is, well, not really a person at all. You see, the writers of “Avenue Q” have apparently been paying very close attention to the White House’s latest full-court press against… the press! The new lyric is:
“Fox News is only for now.”
I’m waiting for you to stop the hysterical laughter and applause at this brilliant, Sondheim-like lyric.
Fox News, the highest rated news outlet for over a decade. Fox News, the network whose 3 AM show out-ranks CNN’s prime time fare. Fox News is only “for now.” But “Avenue Q” is forever. Uh, huh. I expect that Glenn Beck and Bill O’Reilly will be reporting on the tenth anniversary of “Avenue Q”’s closing.
Let’s face it folks, after having to close its Tony Award-winning production on Broadway, revamping the financial structure of the show, begging the actors’ union to allow them to reduce the performers’ salaries (which the spineless union allowed) and moving to a theatre half the size of the tiny little Golden which housed the show for the last five years, I think it is clear that “Avenue Q” is only for now…. BARELY!
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55 Comments
This show is about as relevant as "Blue man Group," save for the fact that the latter is at least entertaining…
When ever something is failing, ie, a career, a show etc all one has to do is throw George Bush into the mix and PRESTO you're back on top again. It's like magic.
…..whatever happened to entertaining your audience versus lectruing to them?
is the extent of the abilities of these writers? Pathetic is hardly the word. I'd be embarassed to call myself a playwright if this was the best I could muster.
I don't think you'll have to, but remind me never to see this show. Thanks!
BMG threw in with the global warming people. To their credit, that's the only remotely political statement they've ever made… but still, f_ck 'em.
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Ah, the good old days, they seem gone forever.
There's better writing at erotic story sites in the web.
After reading this post*, one word comes to mind "yawn."
*Reference to the subject matter, not the authors.
If you are concerned about our Country and the direction it is going, please sign our "common sense" petition
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Thank you for your support if you have already signed. Also sorry to post off topic!
If you are concerned about our Country and the direction it is going, please sign our "common sense" petition
http://myfreepress.net/petitions/dont-tread-on-me
Thank you for your support if you have already signed. Also sorry to post off topic!
I will admit I did find that musical quite funny… but that line is the only line I didn't like from that show and I wonder what they would do after Bush left office….
I didn't figure I would like it now either…
Video: Sesame Street's Elmo interviews President Obama, with unhappy results: http://optoons.blogspot.com/2009/10/seeking-to-av...
These people (including the womenfolk) have testicles the size of grapefruits, minimum.
They're failing financially and they have time to worry about a shopworn phrase?
Not to mention, they're not insulting Fox News, they're only attempting to do so. Anyone they targeted, assuming that anyone had half a brain, minimum (again), would feel complimented to have earned their ineffectual hatred.
The other point is, they hated Bush for all the wrong reasons. Conservatives are unhappy with him, also, because he expanded government and failed to address some problems, and failed to communicate his efforts to address other problems (social security and banking for instance).
I think Ken Jennings is only for now. Or is it Valerie Jarrett? Anita Dunn?
"Avenue Q" is only for now.
Another example of an entertainment production not only ignoring the right half of the audience, but taking a financial loss to spit in their face. Until recently, I found this unexplainable. But, unfortunately, the notion that the left not only thinks the right is wrong, but that it's EVIL explains it rather neatly.
Boy, with the J-School Rappers and now Avenue Q, the White House is really bringing out the big guns in their war on Fox News!
I can just see Glenn Beck wringing the little felt neck of one of those Avenue Q puppets on his next show.
I haven't seen this musical. Don't necessarily care to.
But, it is funny how (by many accounts) it's not necessarily a political all-left-leaning production… and, yet, they feel perfectly fine throwing in this little jibe which is blatantly partisan.
I could understand if the whole thing was liberal gibberish, all the way through. But, to just throw in a pointless, off-the-beaten-path comment…
Why?
(Of course, we all know the answer don't we.)
It's the same reason major motion pictures can be perfectly entertaining… and yet the crazy antagonist has to identify herself as a Republican while spitting on a homeless person, or as a Bible-believing Christian who tells everyone else they're going to Hell…
*sigh*
Eagerly awaiting the New Hollywood.
Looking around at the plummeting revenues in all of the lefty media venues from print to Hollywood and these vacuous fools still refuse to understand that content and character counts. You offend people and they remove their eyeballs and shut their wallets.
I pay for the WSJ. I'll pay for a quality movie or play that doesn't insult my intelligence or values. I'll buy a quality book. I think I speak for most of us, it's a vast wasteland of their making. The good news is my kids in their early thirties are sick of the slop too.
It's as if Hollywood and Broadway writers have Leftist Tourettes' Syndrome. They can suppress it for just so long and *Bush Sucks* then it appears.
Ok Ed, where's the link?
Meh… the more the left lambasts Fox News the more viewers it attracts… *shrugs*
This failing play is angling for an N.E.A. grant. In addition to their Fox bashing, expect new storylines promoting service, green energy, and the glory that is Obama.
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A gentleman never tells…..
And yet the artists involved all probably think of themselves as "free spirits." There's no delusion like self-delusion.
They lost it after sending away all the felines and the guy with the weird mask…
Guess social commentary is more important than entertainment…
All in all, I'd rather ignore the criticism I get for free, rather than pay an exorbitant price to get it live…
One of puppeteers appeared on Red Eye a few times a while back.
That's a shame because the play is actually really really funny. I saw in March and they still had the George Bush line in there and I thought it was funny that they were still clinging to it.
Liberals would rather buy a pleasing lie, than hear the truth for free.
For fear of incurring the wrath of Mssrs. Henley and Campbell, those days are gone forever (in lib-land), we should just let 'em go…
Eh, Dave Chappelle's Avenue Q parody Knee-High Park was/is much funnier anyway.
I was thinking they would realize how mistaken they were. Listening to the current administration, George Bush does go on forever. Or is it only their blaming him that goes on forever?
We hated Bush for the wrong reasons? Fascinating… So what ARE the right reasons to hate Bush?
So I guess that Trekkie Monster won't be appearing on Red Eye anytime soon.
Never seen this play but I've heard about it. It reminds me of a review I saw on TV. The reviewer was talking about some indie movie. She said this movie felt like it was by a bunch of clever high school kids who are constantly told by their parents how clever and witty they are. They really think their being clever and witty with this stuff. Look we're making fun of Bush and Fox news. But the truely funny things is they would never consider making fun of the the Dear Leader and the fact they would honestly tell you nothing is funny about Obama he's just wonderful, that's funny and scary.
It was funny when it was George Bush. Calling out Fox News is just desperation on the part of the production. I love Avenue Q, and they could earn quite a lot of respect if they would stick with the "current president" thing.
But they won't. Where liberalism is concerned, even the puppeteers must bow.
[...] about Bill O’Reilly as of October 27, 2009 Broadway’s ‘Avenue Q’ Follows Obama’s Marching Orders – bighollywood.breitbart.com 10/27/2009 Back in February, my Big Hollywood colleague and [...]
Mike, you asked, cleverly (in your mind): "…So what are the right reasons to hate Bush?
The answer: If you're a stinking liberal, you have no reason whatever to hate Bush. You just need to cower down and give obeisance for the fact that he kept your lame ass safe for eight years.
If you're a conservative… Wait! Any conservative already knows what Bush did wrong, and wouldn't ask such a dumb question. Think, Mike, think! Think and read, Mike. I'm sure that, within a decade or two, the answers will be apparent.
I am sure when the production closes they will blame George Bush for it.
That's why hobbies like tatting are making a comeback. Anything! is better than watching 'entertainment'.
I don't think you meant to say Ken Jennings, Jeopardy master, rather you meant to say Kevin Jennings. Or maybe not!
How did you manage to get a group photo of all the Czars?
Maybe your right, but in this case they took Bush OUT, not put him in, you idiot.
"No, it seems that the real purpose is to find the worst possible, evil, racist, homo-phobic, war-mongering, lying, right-wing boogie man and insert their name into the lyric to ridicule and diminish them. Circa 2004 that person was President Bush."
I was speaking in generalities not necessarily curent events. There now don't you feel like a moron for calling me an idiot.
I think you're nitpicking a little. To crow that Avenue Q is on its last legs after a record run seems a little misplaced. All shows peter out eventually, and 2500 Broadway perfs is pretty good tally for a puppet show. (longer than "Annie," "Oklahoma" and "Evita.") Considering that Sesame Street is probably crewed up through the 22nd century, the puppeteer performers were probably glad to keep their jobs, even with a pay cut, as many workers in the current economy would be. If I recall, this is also the show that asserts that the internet is for porn, and we're all a little racist, so it seems to me they spread the 'dings' around a bit.
Their play, their script, their humour, their political leaning. You don't like it, then don't watch it. Or better yet – write your own play to counter it.
Until then, shudddupabowdit
WAIT doesn't the entertainment industry get large tax breaks ?
I just saw this this past weekend. I thought, in most cases, it was fairly funny. However, I was watching it in the context of my Christian and conservative world view. There were definitely things I found to be not funny and actually offensive. But, there's two interesting things I came across today that prove Aveune Q wrong: 1) Mark Steyn has a piece on 'Edelweiss' (Sound of Music celebrated 50 years this year). He point out the final word of that song are "forever" and certainly it will outlast Aveune Q. 2) Breitbart has a link to a CNN video regarding the porn industry feeling the recession. What do you think of that, Trekkie Monster??!!
As one involved behind the scenes on the last couple of years of the show, I have to say: we're falling into the same trap that liberals do: having no sense of humor about ourselves. I never minded the Bush line, myself, because they also poked fun at gay stereotypes, racial sensitivities, etc.
But it was interesting watching them scramble for a suitable replacement for a line that had been there since 2003. (The show opened actually the night that we began bombing Iraq, BTW.) I actually was able to listen to replacement lines "swine flu" and "your mother in law" and they tried dozens more, and none got the laugh that Fox News did when they finally tried it. And the audience is tourist based now, so I can't chalk it up to NYC liberal sensitivities.
And I think if they'd tried "Air America" the audience would have just said, "What's that?!"
Must be another stupid NYC thing that only appeals to loser liberals. Tsk, tsk.
Thank you for the correction! I'll take "Czarface for $100!"
Broadway. Does. Not. Suck. TThhbbbt!
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