ALAN SEALES: Hey, everybody.
I'm Alan Seales with the Talks at Google program.
Thank you for coming out on this wonderful move and movie day.
Can't beat live theater.
This is wonderful.
So without further ado, winner of the Tony triple crown
for best musical, best score, and best book,
"Avenue Q" is part flesh, part felt, and packed with heart.
Please welcome the cast of "Avenue Q."
ROD: Ah.
An afternoon alone with my favorite book,
"Broadway Musicals of the 1940s."
No roommate to bother me.
How could it get any better than this?
NICKY: Oh.
Hi, Rod.
ROD: Hi, Nicky.
NICKY: Hey, Rod.
You'll never guess what happened to me on the subway
this morning.
This guy was smiling at me and talking to me.
ROD: Mm, that's very interesting.
NICKY: Mm-hm.
He was being real friendly.
And, you know, I think he was coming onto me.
I think he might have thought I was gay.
Ha.
ROD: So why are you telling me?
Why should I care?
I don't care.
What'd you have for lunch today?
NICKY: Oh, Rod, there's no need to get all defensive.
ROD: I'm not getting defensive.
What do I care about some gay guy you met, hm?
I am trying to read.
NICKY: I didn't mean anything by it, Rod.
I just think it's something we should be able to talk about.
ROD: Well, I do not want to talk about it, OK, Nicky?
This conversation is over.
NICKY: Yeah, but Rod--
ROD: Over!
[MUSIC_-_"IF_YOU_WERE_GAY"]
ROD: Nicky, please.
I am trying to read.
What?
[MUSIC_-_"IF_YOU_WERE_GAY"]
ROD: I am not listening.
La la la la.
[MUSIC_-_"IF_YOU_WERE_GAY"]
NICKY: Ow.
OK, bye, everyone.
I have to go this way.
ROD: I'll be back.
VERONICA KUEHN: Hi, everybody.
I'm Veronica Kuehn and I play Kate Monster.
And this next song is about Kate,
who has become a kindergarten teaching assistant.
She's about to teach her very first class by herself.
She would like to talk about the internet,
and Trekkie Monster has some other ideas.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
KATE MONSTER: Finally, I get to teach a whole lesson
all by myself.
And I'm going to teach something modern, something relevant.
The internet.
[MUSIC - "THE INTERNET IS FOR PORN"]
KATE MONSTER: Trekkie Monster.
TREKKIE MONSTER: Uh, what?
KATE MONSTER: Get over here.
TREKKIE MONSTER: Yeah, yeah.
KATE MONSTER: You are ruining my song.
TREKKIE MONSTER: Oh, me sorry.
Me know mean to.
KATE MONSTER: Well, if you wouldn't mind
please being quiet for a minute so I can finish?
TREKKIE MONSTER: Okey dokey.
KATE MONSTER: Good.
[MUSIC - "THE INTERNET IS FOR PORN"]
KATE MONSTER: That is gross.
You're a pervert.
TREKKIE MONSTER: Sticks and stones, Kate Monster.
KATE MONSTER: No, really.
You're a pervert.
Normal people don't sit at home and look at porn
on the internet.
What?
TREKKIE MONSTER: You have no idea.
Ready, normal people?
OTHERS: Ready.
[MUSIC - "THE INTERNET IS FOR PORN"]
KATE MONSTER: Wait on a second.
Now, I happen to know for a fact that you, Rod, check
your portfolio and trade stocks online.
ROD: That's correct.
KATE MONSTER: And Brian, you buy things on amazon.com.
BRIAN: Sure.
KATE MONSTER: And Gary, you keep selling your possessions
on eBay.
GARY: Yes, I do.
KATE MONSTER: And Princeton, you sent me
that sweet online birthday card.
PRINCETON: True.
TREKKIE MONSTER: Ah, but Kate, what you think he do after?
Hm?
KATE MONSTER: Ew.
[MUSIC - "THE INTERNET IS FOR PORN"]
SALA IWAMATSU: In this part of the show,
Kate Monster, who has just broken up with her boyfriend,
asks my character, Christmas Eve,
who is a Japanese therapist, for love advice.
KATE MONSTER: Why can't people get along and love
each other, Christmas Eve?
CHRISTMAS EVE: You think getting along same as loving?
Sometimes love right where you hating most, Kate Monster.
KATE MONSTER: Huh?
[MUSIC - "THE MORE YOU RUV SOMEONE"]
ALAN SEALES: Kate Monster.
KATE MONSTER: Hi.
ALAN SEALES: Can I speak with you for a second?
KATE MONSTER: Sure.
ALAN SEALES: OK.
KATE MONSTER: Should I come over there?
ALAN SEALES: Yes please.
They can set up our chairs for us.
So in this show, if you guys have not seen,
there is a seductress who comes and steals
your man at one point?
KATE MONSTER: She does.
ALAN SEALES: How do you feel about Lucy coming and taking
your man?
KATE MONSTER: Well, she's a slut.
Did you know that?
That her full name is "Lucy the Slut?"
ALAN SEALES: I did not, no.
KATE MONSTER: That's her full name, Lucy the Slut.
And that's how I feel about that.
ALAN SEALES: OK, so-- thank you.
The love scene that you have with Princeton on stage--
KATE MONSTER: Oh, yes.
The first time you had to have sex with Princeton on stage,
were you nervous?
KATE MONSTER: Well, I was a little nervous.
But we were drinking a lot, so that actually made it better.
We had some Long Island iced teas.
We did.
ALAN SEALES: Lucy was not there for that, right?
KATE MONSTER: No, she wasn't.
We saw her perform earlier, and then we had some drinks.
And I took Princeton home with me.
ALAN SEALES: OK.
Outside of the show, are your friends
with all the other monsters?
Oh, yes.
Yes, all the monsters.
Trekkie, but also there's Rod and Nicky and Princeton,
and everybody.
But we are.
We are all friends.
We live on Avenue Q.
ALAN SEALES: Well, very nice.
Well, thank you.
KATE MONSTER: Thank you.
Nice to meet everyone.
ALAN SEALES: Rod, can I speak with you for a second?
ROD: Absolutely.
ALAN SEALES: So you and Ricky, the other gentleman
in the show, you were among the first couples
to be married outside City Hall with the passage
of the same-sex marriage laws in New York state, correct?
ROD: That's correct.
ALAN SEALES: So what this experience like for you?
ROD: Well, groundbreaking, to say the least.
As one of the first gay couples in New York City to be married,
we were also the first couple to be married too.
So that felt like we were really groundbreaking for that
as well.
ALAN SEALES: So do you think now that be openly gay
helps others come out and deal with their own sexuality?
ROD: Absolutely.
And I hope that other puppets come out too.
You know, it's very hard in the puppet world to come out.
ALAN SEALES: OK, thank you very much.
Trekkie, can I speak with you?
TREKKIE MONSTER: Careful.
ALAN SEALES: Oh, careful.
Careful.
Trekkie, do you ever have moments
where you feel like you are beside yourself?
TREKKIE MONSTER: Yes.
Sometimes back stage, it feels like there's five or six of me.
ALAN SEALES: And you happen to pop out at the same time.
Do you ever have freak out moments
where you look to your left or your right
and one of your hands just doesn't work?
TREKKIE MONSTER: What-- the-- nope-- this one or this one.
No, my hands do exactly what me want them to do.
ALAN SEALES: Very good.
And so you are a very good investor-- a businessman,
correct?
TREKKIE MONSTER: Oh, yes.
ALAN SEALES: And what is your primary investment?
TREKKIE MONSTER: Porn.
ALAN SEALES: Good, thank you.
All right, thank you.
All right, everybody.
Please excuse the puppets.
They have to be someone else.
And now, human-skin people, feel free to come up and join me.
Human skin.
Can you guys go down the line and just introduce
yourself and what characters you play?
DARREN BLUESTONE: Sure.
I'm Darren Bluestone, and I play Princeton and Rod.
DANIELLE THOMAS: I'm Danielle Thomas,
and I play Gary Coleman.
Yes, that Gary Coleman.
NICHOLAS KOHN: Nicholas Kohn, and I play Brian.
SALA IWAMATSU: My name is Sala Iwamatsu,
and I play Christmas Eve.
VERONICA KUEHN: Veronica Kuehn.
I play Kate Mosnter and Lucy the Slut.
JASON JACOBY: I'm Jason Jacoby.
I play Nicky, Trekkie Monster, and a couple other characters
that are not here today.
JENNIFER BARNHART: I'm Jennifer Barnhart.
I'm sort of the puppet utility girl.
I right hand pretty much everybody.
But I also play a school teacher, Kate Monster's boss,
and her name is Mrs. Thistletwat.
Thank you.
JED RESNICK: I'm Jed Resnick and I am the ensemble,
and I understudy all the boys in the show.
And I have two mics.
ALAN SEALES: So congratulations on reaching 10 years.
The show hit 10 years back in July, correct?
Yes.
So what's the run on the shos-- six years on Broadway
and now four years off Broadway.
What's the difference between-- what makes on versus off?
DANIELLE THOMAS: Well, there's absolutely
no difference in the show.
It's--
SALA IWAMATSU: Same set.
DANIELLE THOMAS: Same set.
Jenn Barnhart, original Broadway cast member, is here again.
And the three of us closed it on Broadway, reopened it
off Broadway, and we're still here.
So it's the same cast, same puppets.
NICHOLAS KOHN: The real difference
is this the seat numbers.
Difference between Broadway and off Broadway, 500 seats
and above is Broadway.
499 and below is off Broadway.
SALA IWAMATSU: We have 498.
NICHOLAS KOHN: We do.
And every night, we think about plugging two more seats
from there.
But yeah, that's pretty much the main difference.
ALAN SEALES: So in the very beginning, back
in the initial days, it was going
through-- the show goes through workshops and picks up steam.
Like, what-- I guess Jenn is the only original cast member.
Do you remember that far back, 10 years ago,
like when the show picked up steam?
And when did you really feel like this
was going to be something?
JENNIFER BARNHART: When the reviews first came out.
I mean-- well, I had, first of all,
seen the show in a reading in the basement
at the York Theater, even two years before I was in the show,
and thought, this is brilliant.
I think one of the things that makes the show so strong
is that it took so long to develop.
It was about 2 and 1/2 years in development
before we did the original off-Broadway run.
But when I was doing it, I thought, this is hilarious.
This is brilliant.
I hope people get it.
And audiences loved it.
And New York theater-going audiences,
specifically, adored it.
And it became the thing to see.
So the tourists didn't know who we were, but New York theater
people were going, oh my god, have you seen "Avenue Q?"
You have to see it.
It's brilliant.
And we got a love letter from Ben Brantley
in the "New York Times."
And that was when we sort of thought,
hey, I think we got something here.
And shortly thereafter, we announced
we were moving uptown to Broadway.
So it was pretty great.
ALAN SEALES: So what changed between the workshops,
the initial rehearsals and opening?
JENNIFER BARNHART: Believe it or not, not a whole heck of a lot.
Some of the strongest songs in the show
were the first written.
"Gay" was written very early on. "Racist"
was written very early on.
You know.
Having said that, I mean, once we got it to that stage,
the original opening night gift when we transferred uptown
to Broadway from the book writer was a collection
of all of the scenes and material and song snippets
that had been cut from the show, and that was 126 pages.
So once we got it to that place, then we were off and running.
But yeah, now that I say that, I go, yeah, actually,
we did have a lot of changes.
It just is a blur.
Because when you're in previews, you're
rehearsing during the day and then doing the show at night.
And then you go in and say, OK, that didn't work.
We've got a whole bunch of pages for you to learn.
So they'd throw new material at us
and then we'd do it in the show that night,
and then the same process over and over again, so.
ALAN SEALES: OK, so you human skin actors-- Nick, Danielle,
Sala-- what was it like getting used
to interacting with the puppets directly?
You look at them on stage, right-- not
the actors holding them.
DANIELLE THOMAS: Well, the funny thing
is, now it's actually the complete opposite.
If you ever look at a person, you're
like, that's weird to look at a person.
You're used to looking at the puppets.
And Kate is my favorite.
Gary and Kate, we're really close.
I think she kind of likes me.
She hasn't had a black man yet, but I'm
going to change that, really.
What?
Yeah, I mean at first you're like, uh-- person, puppet?
But then after a while, because the puppet--
we have amazing, amazing puppeteers.
They go through a lot of work to learn
how to make these puppets come to life.
And they are.
They're alive and they're real, and so you can't help
but feel for these inanimate objects.
So you play to the puppets.
And the people, eh.
NICHOLAS KOHN: I remember initially it
was a little strange being in rehearsals
and talking to a puppet and having-- I mean,
the puppets are so gorgeous, and they have such expression.
It's not that hard for that long.
But it was a little bit like, oh, my.
This is a thing that's in my face.
And it's really, like, got big guys.
And they're gorgeous, but it is a different transition,
I think, talking.
SALA IWAMATSU: No, I thought the opposite.
I thought they were-- the puppets
were the best actors I've ever worked with.
Sorry.
It's almost like looking at a puppy.
They look at you with these eyes and there's just
unconditional love.
There's not judgment.
So when I joined the company, I came into the company
and other people were like, oh, let's see
if this girl can do it, whereas the puppets were like,
oh-- you know, so supportive.
I have some problems, but, you know.
NICHOLAS KOHN: No judgment, right?
SALA IWAMATSU: No judgment.
ALAN SEALES: So for the puppeteers,
what was it like for you guys?
Because you're looking at the live actors,
but everybody is playing back to what's in your hands.
DARREN BLUESTONE: Yeah.
Yeah, that was a big change for me
at first, because I've never done any puppetry
before doing "Avenue Q."
Most of us didn't.
And then through the audition process,
you learn how to puppeteer.
And so I went to school for musical theater,
and generally looking at someone in the eyes.
And so all of a sudden, you're looking at them in the eyes
and they're looking at your right hand.
And it's disorienting at first, but then you kind of just
get it, and it-- because you can feel the energy.
The puppet and the person become one entire entity.
And then you can feed off of their energy.
It doesn't matter if they're exactly looking in your pupils.
You can still feel for them.
VERONICA KUEHN: Yeah.
I will say, it's really strange if there's ever
a moment where we by accidentally bump into-- there
will be human contact all of a sudden by accident.
Like, someone bumped me and I was like, oh-- so strange.
But yeah.
ALAN SEALES: Do you think it's weird for the audience
to be watching the puppets versus you,
or do you find that the audience watches one versus the other?
DANIELLE THOMAS: I can answer that question
as a person who saw the show.
I didn't want to see "Avenue Q."
Well before I was in it, I had some friends coming in town.
They wanted to see-- I'm like, any Broadway show.
"Avenue Q," the show with the puppets?
Come on.
We're in New York, we'll see any show.
And we went to see "Avenue Q" and I
laughed from the first word on, from "BA in English"
to all the way through.
And at first, you're like, wait, what's going on?
You look at the puppets, you kind of look at the people.
And it's amazing, especially when the puppet
is right beside the person's face.
And you see the same expression on the person and the puppet.
And by "Gay," I think, for me-- I
don't even remember when it switched, but I
started looking at the puppet.
Maybe every now and again, you would look at the person,
but they really do become one thing.
So in the beginning, you're like, I don't know.
But early on in the show, it just all melts
and it's amazing.
JENNIFER BARNHART: Rick Lyon, the original designer
and original Nicky/Trekkie, the puppets,
had a great metaphor for it.
He said, watching the first five minutes
of "Avenue Q" is very much like watching
a foreign film with subtitles.
Because for the first five minutes,
you're very aware of doing this.
And then after a while, it just becomes
part of the storytelling and you don't notice it, so.
DANIELLE THOMAS: That's perfect.
DARREN BLUESTONE: I like that.
ALAN SEALES: So why do you think the show works so well--
this is the first puppeteering show
that I've seen, or shows with puppets,
where the puppeteers are in complete, full view, and part
of the show.
Why does that work here?
NICHOLAS KOHN: Well, Jenn might actually have more--
JENNIFER BARNHART: Yeah.
The first time I started doing the show as a puppeteer,
I remembered asking the puppeteers on the first day
of rehearsal, by the way, how are we doing this?
Are we doing this, or are we doing this?
Because as a puppeteer-- because I have a puppetry background as
well as an acting background-- I'm used to the puppeteer
having to be somewhat neutral, and not being seen.
And they said, no, no, no.
We want this, because we want it to be, you know, sort of open
to interpretation.
Your face is the subtle expression
of what's happening with the puppet.
But since I'm second-handing somebody, I thought,
well, I can't be upstaging them and doing crazy stuff
with my face, because the person doing the voice is there,
and they're acting, and they're doing that.
So I'm just going to do my thing.
So I was just trying to be as neutral as I could be.
And when we were still off Broadway, one of the audience
members who was a friend of our stage manager came up to me
and said, are you having fun?
And I said, I'm a great time.
Why?
And they said, because I was so distracted
by looking at your face.
You didn't seem like you were emotionally
connecting with what was happening.
I was like, oh.
OK.
I guess I have to up my face game and become part of it.
So it was definitely a transition
from that puppetry world.
But it's so liberating, because I also
puppeteer on Sesame Street, and we end up
using TV monitors down on the ground,
and we're used to puppeteering like this.
Actually, we're usually on the floor.
And you've got to tilt your head sideways to get your head out
of the shot, and you're looking at the monitor.
And this is generally how we puppeteer.
So being able to do it from here and not
having to worry about getting me out of the shot-- oh,
it was heaven.
It was wonderful.
But then I had to learn how to coordinate
what was happening with my feet with my hands.
And that was a whole other challenge.
Lip syncing in one rhythm and dancing
in another, that's a lot.
ALAN SEALES: So what's the weirdest thing
that any of you with the puppets have
had to learn to do with the puppets?
What was the most challenging?
DARREN BLUESTONE: Uh, Sex Yeah.
Because-- I mean, that was the most fun for me to figure out.
VERONICA KUEHN: It's really-- I mean,
it's arm choreography, essentially.
DARREN BLUESTONE: But there's so much choreography.
NICHOLAS KOHN: There's a part in the show where
they're having sex.
He's not having sex with a puppet.
VERONICA KUEHN: Puppet sex, we should clarify.
DARREN BLUESTONE: Oh, yeah.
NICHOLAS KOHN: Very important distinction.
ALAN SEALES: I think we should clarify that right now.
DARREN BLUESTONE: I thought that was understood in the question,
but apparently not.
ALAN SEALES: Some people may have not seen it yet.
SALA IWAMATSU: At one point-- when I first joined the show,
I was in the ensemble as well.
And I had to puppeteer Trekkie Monster's silhouette
in a window.
And he is-- can I say it?
OK.
He's masturbating.
And I had to practice and practice and practice.
They were like, it's not believable.
And I was like, I don't know how to do this.
I was like, it's so hard.
I mean, it is hard.
But that was my weird moment.
ALAN SEALES: Only practice bating until you master it.
DANIELLE THOMAS: I will say, as a person acting with a puppet,
the weirdest thing is getting the hair out of their eyes
and they don't even notice.
Anybody else?
They don't notice that hair is in their eyes.
ALAN SEALES: Oh, you brush the hair out of their eyes?
DANIELLE THOMAS: I'm like, you don't feel that in your--
VERONICA KUEHN: I'm constantly doing that to Kate.
I mean, the way that Kate's hair is, it's always getting--
DANIELLE THOMAS: Well, it's usually Trekkie.
I help him out.
JENNIFER BARNHART: I actually have a question
for Jason, because as far as tag-team partnering--
now, had you puppeteered prior to the show?
JASON JACOBY: No.
JENNIFER BARNHART: So how was that process for you?
JASON JACOBY: That's been a very interesting process, actually.
Doing two-- I guess I don't need this.
I did two regional productions before joining the company
here.
So that was like my training to puppeteer.
And the first production I did was
directed by Rick Lyon, who originated these roles
and is the puppet designer.
So that was like my real training as a puppeteer.
And since then, and now that you're here,
I guess I've done the show-- including swings and whatnot--
I've done the show with nine different second handers.
And it's a real-- it's so much fun, really.
It's kind of exhilarating having new people,
because everyone-- even though it's just a hand,
there's so much more than just a hand.
ALAN SEALES: Is everybody different?
The second-hand people are different?
JASON JACOBY: Oh, yeah.
I mean, everything we do, as you saw in the numbers--
there's a lot of it that's very set and choreographed.
But people bring-- people are different,
and people bring different energies to the work.
And the way that Jenn and I do a sort of gesture like this
is different than how me and others would do it.
And it's kind of exhilarating to work with different people
and have that different energy.
And to do the same material-- and that
may look exactly the same, I guess, from an audience
standpoint-- but in it, feels very different.
ALAN SEALES: So do the puppets themselves ever make mistakes?
NICHOLAS KOHN: Occasionally, an eye will pop off
or something like that.
It happened once in Vegas, and it was the most disturbing
ever.
The audience is just like [GASPS] because you really
kind of fall in love with these puppets as people,
and their characters are so well written
that, like, all of a sudden-- oh, this is bad.
DARREN BLUESTONE: Or the rods.
NICHOLAS KOHN: Or the arm.
DARREN BLUESTONE: The rods will come off sometimes.
DANIELLE THOMAS: Those are the best.
JENNIFER BARNHART: The Bad Idea Bear's arm came off one time,
and Christian, who was puppeteering it,
just sort of flung it away.
And then he had his bear just rub the stump.
DANIELLE THOMAS: Wow.
ALAN SEALES: I want to switch to the audition process, I guess.
So most of you-- all of you except one are new.
So the audition process for this, how different was it
from the other shows that you've auditioned for?
VERONICA KUEHN: Who's going?
Am I going?
DARREN BLUESTONE: Yeah, go ahead.
VERONICA KUEHN: I mean, it was one of the longer audition
processes I've ever been through.
I auditioned for the first time in 2007,
and then I ended up joining this company in 2011.
So I think I went in a total of seven different times,
and had done what they call puppet camp, which is something
that they do-- is if you've been through a couple
of different callbacks and the casting office has said,
oh, they'd probably be good at this,
they put you through sort of a week-long puppet boot camp
to see if you can pick up some of the basic skills that
would have to be really focused on.
So I did that in 2007.
ALAN SEALES: What are the basic skills?
VERONICA KUEHN: Your eye focus.
Your neutral-- the positions that your puppet hands
should be resting in when they're not gesturing.
They always have to come back to a neutral.
Focus.
DARREN BLUESTONE: Keeping it straight.
VERONICA KUEHN: The position.
Yeah, the sync.
Oh, there it is.
Jenn taught me how to puppeteer.
And the sync-- the lip sync that you're working on
with matching the puppet's mouth to your mouth.
JENNIFER BARNHART: Basically, focus, gravity, and breath.
VERONICA KUEHN: There it is.
JENNIFER BARNHART: Focus Is where the puppet's looking.
Gravity has to do with their posture, where ground is,
and breath also includes lip sync,
but also [SIGHING HEAVILY] a sigh
like Rob does so beautifully at the top of "Gay."
Thank you.
ALAN SEALES: Do any of you-- like,
did you get any practice puppets?
Or do you go home and sit in a mirror with a sock?
DARREN BLUESTONE: You know, for the actual audition,
they give you two little ping-pong balls
with little eyes on them.
And then you can bring those home.
And so I started-- it's like a little elastic around that.
And then you just focus on trying
to just move your thumb instead of your whole-- like,
the top part of your hand, so that the puppet doesn't
do this weird thing with its head.
So you practice that.
And then I actually-- when I first booked the job,
I was a vacation swing.
And they allowed me to take home one of the old, old Princetons.
And so I was practicing with an old Princeton
at home for the months leading up
to going back in for Princeton Rod
and finally booking that job.
ALAN SEALES: How many different sets of puppets are there?
You said old Rod-- or old Princeton.
VERONICA KUEHN: They've been retired.
DARREN BLUESTONE: It's very tired, yeah.
NICHOLAS KOHN: There's 44 working puppets in the show,
and then there's a bunch of old puppets
that are used for different things-- practice, press
events-- rehearsal, things like that.
ALAN SEALES: So they get cosmetic face lifts
every now and then?
NICHOLAS KOHN: Yeah, he comes in-- I'm
sure you know more about that.
ALAN SEALES: New felt?
JENNIFER BARNHART: Actually, no.
I don't know what his schedule is for refurbishing them,
or what--
VERONICA KUEHN: They do get refurbished.
NICHOLAS KOHN: He makes them very well.
Rarely do they need anything, but--
VERONICA KUEHN: Well, like Lucy--
Bible Lucy just got a new wig recently.
JASON JACOBY: The Trekkie you saw
today is new as of a couple-- a few months ago.
He's a brand-new Trekkie.
That was an exciting day for us.
VERONICA KUEHN: Their fur is fluffier-- you know, things--
they get worn a lot from being in the show,
but every now and then.
JENNIFER BARNHART: But it's kind of astonishing
that after 10 years, we're really
on only third generation of these puppets, because they are
made-- and each one of them takes about 120 man hours.
They're all crafted by hand, and they
cost thousands and thousands of dollars.
JED RESNICK: That's the genius of Rick Lyon.
JENNIFER BARNHART: Yeah.
ALAN SEALES: So what's on the inside?
JENNIFER BARNHART: Everybody assumes
that you can make a puppet for, like, $100.
And it's like no, sorry.
ALAN SEALES: All you need is a sock and ping-pong balls.
That's pretty cheap, right.
So what's on the inside, though?
You said it's elastic, so the mouth closes on its own.
Is that neutral?
JASON JACOBY: No, that was the ping-pong balls.
VERONICA KUEHN: No, that's just the practice.
ALAN SEALES: Oh, the ping-pong balls.
DARREN BLUESTONE: That was the practice thing
that they gave you for the audition,
was just ping-pong balls and an elastic band.
ALAN SEALES: So unless you were there--
DARREN BLUESTONE: But an actual puppet
is made up of so many different materials.
JENNIFER BARNHART: Foam and fleece and rubber gaskets
inside the mouth for the palate-- for the hard palate.
So there's a hard palate that's shaped like a "v," then
there's a ring that your thumb fits in.
And there's occasionally a little bridge,
sort of like the fret of a guitar that's
on the top palate, that helps anchor your hand in there.
And then there's a brain inside.
I mean it's, architecturally--
SALA IWAMATSU: We have three different types of puppets.
We have some that have rods.
So that they have arms that come out,
and they have rods like how Rod is so that you can do this.
Then there's the--
NICHOLAS KOHN: Live hands.
SALA IWAMATSU: Live-hand puppets.
And then we have boxes at one point that come to life.
And that's like a trigger gun, and they do that.
DARREN BLUESTONE: Which you see in "Lion King," and stuff
like that.
That has a lot of trigger puppets.
So boxes are the only trigger puppets, right,
that are in our show?
SALA IWAMATSU: I think so.
ALAN SEALES: You can see the triggers too.
It's all completely out there, exposed, yeah.
So during the audition process, was there
anything-- any mistakes that you made during the audition
process that you take with you to your future auditions--
if you're auditioning.
I don't want to get anyone in trouble.
DARREN BLUESTONE: Well, my whole experience with "Avenue Q"
started when I first saw the show, back when
I was a sophomore in high school.
And I remember putting this awful video
on YouTube of me singing "Purpose," which
is the main song that I guess Princeton sings in the show.
And I put it on YouTube, and I got information back
on Facebook by Jeff Marx, who's one of the writers of the show.
And we started Facebooking, and we
were talking throughout my high school career.
And then we stopped talking after a while.
And we just lost touch.
And then randomly, I got the show.
And I hadn't talked to him in forever.
And I got the show, and I Facebooked him again,
and I was like, just so you know,
I'm, like, the lead in your show.
I'm going to be in "Avenue Q."
And he was like, what?
That's crazy.
And he came back and saw me and we had this big reunion.
Because I'd actually never met him.
We were just Facebooking.
I don't know how that happened-- how
that has anything to do with that.
ALAN SEALES: That wasn't my question at all, but--
DARREN BLUESTONE: But it was a good story,
I wanted to tell it.
NICHOLAS KOHN: No, we've actually-- they've
actually queued up that video, Darren.
We're going to watch it.
DARREN BLUESTONE: Yeah.
ALAN SEALES: Oh, I wish we had that.
VERONICA KUEHN: High school!
ALAN SEALES: So let's talk about racism.
DANIELLE THOMAS: I'll help.
Just kidding.
ALAN SEALES: So obviously the show deals
with racism and sexuality, and bringing a lot of issues
to the surface and then putting them right there comically
in people's faces.
I mean, do you think there's a bigger meaning to the show,
or is it all just for fun?
DANIELLE THOMAS: Definitely.
NICHOLAS KOHN: There's tons of-- this show, I think,
is one of the rare times it's-- I could say,
this is a perfect musical.
It's written from top to bottom.
And the life lessons that you learn in life
are kind of portrayed on the stage.
And it's stuff that nobody really talks about sometimes.
And when they come to the show, I
think-- sometimes people get a little offended, especially
with "Racist."
And then they laugh despite themselves, and they're like,
oh, it's OK.
We're OK.
Everyone's a little bit racist, and it's fine.
And I think that's the joy of the show.
It does put real life in front of you.
And then you--
ALAN SEALES: So you think people walk out
of the show with a greater awareness
or appreciation for things.
NICHOLAS KOHN: Oh, sure.
ALAN SEALES: Yeah?
Has the show ever gotten any blowback-- or you
got any blowback from anything?
You remember, I guess, initially if the songs
were too offensive?
People have gotten up and left.
NICHOLAS KOHN: We had a busload of people that were from
a church-- came--
SALA IWAMATSU: Yeah, we had nones in the audience.
NICHOLAS KOHN: Yeah.
And they did not stay for act two.
DANIELLE THOMAS: Or if we have children-- I mean,
you never know.
It's always exciting to see when we're going to lose them,
if we're going to lose-- ah, there we go.
If we don't lose them by "Porn," then,
we're going to say, oh, we'll get them with [INAUDIBLE].
We've had moments where there'll be kids right, front,
and center.
And we're like, oh, God, I'm so sorry.
You're going to have so many questions for your mom
when you go home.
Here it is.
NICHOLAS KOHN: Like, two-year-olds.
DANIELLE THOMAS: Yeah.
DARREN BLUESTONE: There was a woman who left, I think,
two weeks ago.
And our sound guy Josh, was like, when she left half-way
through act one, she was like, this place
needs to be burned to the ground.
And walked out.
And he thought it was hysterical.
He's like, I'll see you there.
ALAN SEALES: So the death of Gary Coleman--
the real-life death-- how did you
deal with that within the show?
DANIELLE THOMAS: You know, it's funny.
I started the show with the first national tour.
I did the entire tour.
And we would all make jokes like-- because he
had gotten sick before he passed.
And we're like, oh my god, Gary.
Hold on, I need a job.
You know-- oh my god.
What will happen?
And then it really happened.
And I was Gary Coleman the day that he died.
And you would think that I would be nervous on my job,
but I was just so nervous and so afraid.
And a lot of the producers and Jeff Whitty, the writer,
called me.
And he said, well, we've released a statement,
and we're going to say something at the end of the show.
And so I was just talking to him and telling him
about how I felt about the show.
And he was like, OK, I'm not going to write anything.
You can just say what you just said.
And I'm like, what?
And Sala was doing the show.
JENNIFER BARNHART: And it was beautiful.
DANIELLE THOMAS: And we get to the theater and I'm like,
I'm so nervous.
I'm so scared.
And I'm in the bathroom crying, trying
to figure out what I want to say.
And I'm nervous because as soon as I come out,
I'm going to say, "that's Gary Coleman-- yes, I am."
And I'm like, are they going to boo me?
And I was shaking so much.
And I come out on the fire escape and I say, yes, I am.
And the audience applauds.
And I'm like, it's OK.
It's OK.
And so we just say-- which is honestly the truth--
Gary's had a really bad deal.
And he never came to see the show.
We tried to get him to come see the show.
I understand why he wouldn't, but I wish that he would have,
because Gary is depicted in such a great way
on the avenue of "Avenue Q."
He has friends.
He has people who have become his family.
And he has a lot of advice to give the younger people.
And so we just said that-- and we
will continue to honor his legacy by making people laugh,
and do what he loved to do every day.
So it was kind of weird, but it ended up being OK.
And so I did that speech for the week after he died.
And so he still lives.
And I think it's a good--
NICHOLAS KOHN: He's also got the most life
experience in the show.
And no one's had it harder than Gary Coleman.
So he has probably a lot of the-- save for the therapist--
but he has a lot of good advice for the young kids coming
to New York, so.
DANIELLE THOMAS: Yeah.
ALAN SEALES: So Jennifer, you were
in the show in its original six-year run on Broadway,
correct?
And then you left and then came back, right?
So what made you come back?
JENNIFER BARNHART: Well, part of it was-- first of all,
we didn't know until closing night on Broadway
that we weren't really closing-- that we were just
moving across the street to New World stages.
We didn't know that.
So I'd already booked another job.
Because I was like, well, this gig's over.
It's been a lovely six years.
I better figure out what the heck is next.
So I already had a gig.
So I was doing that.
And in the years since, I've been exploring other horizons.
I've been doing things just as a human.
I got to do a season down at Alabama Shakespeare
Festival in their spring rep doing some Shakespeare
without puppets, which was fun and challenging and exciting.
And it's nice-- I've been very fortunate
to be able to come back and join the company at times
when they're either between cast members,
or if a cast member books another job that she can go
leave town to do that for a little while,
or if somebody needs a medical cover--
like a medical leave, that kind of thing.
And so I get to swing back into the show every now and again.
Actually, every calendar year since the transfer
I have been there for anywhere between a couple of weeks
and a couple of months.
And it's just lovely.
It's like coming home again.
DANIELLE THOMAS: What I will say about "Avenue Q"
is because it's so well written and there's so much
heart in the show, that all of us who have ever done it before
feel that.
It bleeds out throughout.
Granted, we do say some things that are inappropriate
and aren't realized because it's what we do on stage.
But we also really love each other and the company
from top to bottom-- crew, stage managers,
producers-- it's a family.
And so we are family.
So you go and you come back for the holidays.
You go and you come back.
JENNIFER BARNHART: The reunion.
DANIELLE THOMAS: That's what "Avenue Q" is.
It really is a show with heart.
And the people that are involved, the company that
are involved, we have heart.
And we are a family, really, on "Avenue Q."
It's not even a joke.
It's the honest to God truth.
NICHOLAS KOHN: It takes a certain specific weirdo
to be in this show, but we're very lovable, happy weirdos.
And we have a good time.
ALAN SEALES: Now, Jenn, you go around--
you teach regional productions of the show, right?
You teach them the puppetry?
JENNIFER BARNHART: Yeah, I have actually started doing that.
I've been going around and coaching different-- mostly
university productions, but I got
to direct a production of the show
for the first time earlier this year at the Adirondack Theater
Festival up in Glens Falls, New York which
was a whole other experience, and challenging and fun.
I love working with new puppeteers,
and watching them-- first of all,
discover how hard it is, because everyone that you
see here is at a level where they make it look so easy
that people just assume that anybody can do it.
But really, it's like learning a foreign language.
And when people do that boot camp
that Veronica was talking about, by the end
of one week of working for six hours a day, if they're lucky,
they've learned how to say, hello, my name
is, where's the bathroom in this foreign language.
The vocabulary may not be right.
The conjugation may not be right.
But at least they're communicating an idea.
So it is like you're taking an immersion class.
And I love watching puppeteers first of all discover
that, but then discover their own potential within it.
And then watch them translate from,
what is this foreign object on my arm to being
able to make acting choices through the puppet.
And watching that open up things in them
that they wouldn't have been able to tap, necessarily, just
as a human.
ALAN SEALES: So the regional productions or the university
productions, do they make their own puppets?
Or do they license, or-- how does that work.
JENNIFER BARNHART: There's a couple of different things.
The production I directed, I ended up
renting a set from Rick Lyon, who
has a set that he rents out.
MTI, Musical Theatre International,
who does the rights for the show,
they have their own set of puppets that somebody built.
And so there's that set available.
And actually, the one that I just did-- the one that I just
coached out at University of Utah, the costume designer who
works there-- she's the costume professor--
she and I worked together in Alabama at Alabama Shakespeare
Festival, and she knew what I did.
She said, hey, I'm actually designing puppets.
So the fall semester of this past academic year, they
actually put the show on, but the previous spring
semester, the costume designers crafts
class and costume classic made these puppets based
on her designs, and had another puppeteer friend of mine
and colleague, a woman by the name of Honey Goodenough-- that
is her name, and I believe she has it
trademarked because it's a great name--
but she went out and helped them learn how to build them.
So there's a bunch of different ways to do it.
It's mostly-- and there are other companies out there.
I think Swazzle Puppet Company out in California rents sets.
I think it's a little dicey in terms of rights and designs
and all of that.
And I honestly can't speak to the legality
and logistics and issues of that.
But I would recommend to anyone who's considering doing it
that they might want to start by contacting Rick Lyon
and see if his set of puppets are available,
because they're the original designs, so.
ALAN SEALES: Very nice.
JENNIFER BARNHART: And they're very puppeteerable.
Because you can make a puppet look good,
but if you haven't worked out the inner mechanics of it,
it won't move very well.
So anyway, just a plug for people
who know how to design and build puppets.
Because it's not easy.
ALAN SEALES: We've got all sorts of groups and internal
interests, so I'm sure there's-- there's some puppeteers here,
I'm sure.
We've got jugglers clubs and everything else, so.
Yeah.
ALAN SEALES: Darren, congratulations.
This is your off Broadway debut, right?
DARREN BLUESTONE: It is, yes.
Thank you.
ALAN SEALES: So I mean, this kind of goes back a little bit
to the audition process we were talking about.
How long did it take for you to get
used to sharing the stage, I guess--
or not being just yourself up there,
of having people not look at you all the time?
Does that make sense?
DARREN BLUESTONE: Like having the puppet along with me?
ALAN SEALES: Yeah, yeah.
DARREN BLUESTONE: Yeah, that was interesting.
But for some reason, having a puppet next to me
allowed me to get in my body a little bit more
for some reason.
I don't know, I think--
ALAN SEALES: While being in his.
DARREN BLUESTONE: While being in his, right.
Because I can look at like this external piece and visually
dissect it and whatever, and figure out
which way-- which things kind of look better,
and how to find some emotion in it.
But that allows me to connect that from this external thing
into the rest of my body for some reason.
Because I'm just a very lanky person.
I have long arms.
My wingspan is longer than how tall I am.
And so having, I guess, this all connected allowed
me to not worry about how much space I was taking up,
and allow the puppet to take up the space.
And then that transferred into the rest of my body.
ALAN SEALES: Cool.
So, OK, Veronica-- Kate Monster and Lucy
the Slut-- how much fun for you is
it to be able to play both the innocent ingenue
and the sex-crazed sultress?
VERONICA KUEHN: It's really fun.
I get to use two completely different facets of my voice.
Both of their voices are very different.
But it's probably one of the most challenging parts
of the show for me.
There are several scenes where I am both voicing Kate and Lucy
in the same scene talking to each other,
and then Jenn will be either puppeting Kate or Lucy.
So I will literally have conversations with myself.
So that can get a little challenging.
It's a little brain teaser for yourself.
So if there's ever a moment where I'm not
completely focused, I'll notice that I've
started to say the wrong thing.
But yeah.
JENNIFER BARNHART: Keeps me on my toes.
VERONICA KUEHN: Yeah, me too.
It's really fun, though.
It's nice.
It's nice to be able to switch it up.
ALAN SEALES: So are you more like Kate or Lucy in real life?
VERONICA KUEHN: Um, probably mostly Kate.
She's the heart character.
I think I have a little sass in me as well, from Lucy,
but generally, I think Kate.
ALAN SEALES: So did you ever feel slightly silly at first,
having puppets have sex?
VERONICA KUEHN: Oh, yeah.
I still feel a little wonky sometimes.
I mean, I don't completely, 100% confident with my puppeteering
ever, and I've been doing it for 2 and 1/2 years now.
I still am always checking, where is she looking?
What's going on?
What's happening?
I have to be focused the entire time.
Otherwise, something will go wrong.
ALAN SEALES: So for-- oh, go ahead.
JENNIFER BARNHART: I was going to say, but to be fair,
I have to too.
I've been doing this for a long, long time,
and I still am checking and then going, OK, uh,
am I looking in the right place?
No, I'm not.
Oh, it sank, uh-- so that's a continuous process.
VERONICA KUEHN: Well, that's good to know.
ALAN SEALES: So for the two of you
that do the two-handed puppets, do you
find it more enjoyable or easier to have literally somebody
to lean on, or do you prefer to have just your own puppet?
Or what's the difference for you?
JASON JACOBY: That's a really good question.
I mean, being alone with a puppet gives you more freedom,
certainly, because there's less that is set and choreographed--
and that you have to do this move on this line or something.
But there's still freedom within choreography, obviously.
I don't know if I could say what I would prefer,
because it's-- it actually almost feels
there's-- specifically with Trekkie.
Nicky's a little different.
I think maybe it's just because if she's not with me,
Nicky's hand gets stuffed and pinned to his side
so that he looks like Kate and Princeton,
or whomever that just has one hand available.
Trekkie, just the nature of the sack of fur that he is,
doesn't get that.
His arm just hangs limp-- from over-use, I like to say.
But there's actually times-- especially when I first
started the show, we'd rehearse and rehearse
doing regional productions.
And we'd rehearse for, like, four weeks,
always with this person with me doing "The Internet's For Porn"
and whatever.
And then I'd come out into a scene like Lucy's number
in the cafe and I'm by myself because the second hander's
doing Kate Monster while she's doing Lucy.
And so I'm sitting there on a bench by myself,
and it almost feels half empty because you're
used to another person bringing this extra life,
and filling in the rest of this character.
JED RESNICK: And then you're kind of just there--
JASON JACOBY: Solo-- flying solo.
And it almost feels-- at the beginning,
at least-- feels a little weird.
There's a moment of, oh, I can do
whatever the hell I want now.
I'm not held down by the other person.
But then it's like, oh, I miss my other person.
I wish my other person were here to help me.
JED RESNICK: I will say, as an understudy,
I've gone on for these roles hundreds of times
at this point.
But when I was first going on for Trekkie Monster,
it was really, really nice to have the second person
next to you to calm your nerves because you're freaking out
because you haven't done the role in three months
or whatever, but also to push you around the stage
to make sure you're going to the right spot.
So it was always really comforting to have
a person behind you.
ALAN SEALES: How much rehearsal goes
into the two-handed puppets?
JENNIFER BARNHART: A lot.
A lot, a lot, alot.
ALAN SEALES: More than the single?
JENNIFER BARNHART: Well, I can't say that, per se.
It's just a different kind of rehearsal.
When I came back into the show-- and having
done this show for as long as I have,
you'd think that it's like, oh, well
you don't really need rehearsal.
You just need to pick up and go.
But because I'd never worked with Jason before-- and I've
worked with probably about 20 different people
in that partnership, if I include vacations and covers
and understudies and everything-- and everybody's
gestural language is so different that I need
to-- especially because of what I do in the show, where I'm
supporting the person who's doing the voice,
I'm supporting that performance.
So what's nice is the best partnerships
are when I get to have a little input too
and we sort of create it together.
But very often, I just have to sort of go
with what the other person's doing.
So when I start with the new Nicky/Trekkie,
if I haven't had a chance to watch them,
sometimes I'll say, let me just step out and watch you.
Or better still, give me the puppet and let me
see how you would move as a human doing this scene so
that I can observe your gestural language
and try to help translate it into the puppet
and distill it into its essence of how I can do that,
and match it.
So there's a lot of that kind of rehearsal.
But as for the individual puppets, especially when people
are starting to learn, that's just
the intensity of all those three basic
principles, and being in a mirror.
And then you have to get away from the mirror.
And so it's a heck of a process.
It really is.
ALAN SEALES: Danielle, why do you
think the creators of the show chose your character
to be Gary Coleman specifically?
DANIELLE THOMAS: You don't see the resemblance?
Well, "Avenue Q" is loosely based on "Sesame Street."
And on "Sesame Street," sometimes you
have celebrity guests who come on and help the puppets
teach the children about life lessons.
So of course on "Avenue Q," the celebrity would be washed up
and Gary Coleman.
And so it's funny at first, but eventually, Gary has a point.
And I believe at first they wanted
to have-- I believe in the reading it was
a white woman that played-- who read it,
a friend of one of the creators.
And I think they may have wanted to have
different kind of celebrities come in and out.
But Gary Coleman just stuck because he's pretty awesome,
and an awesome character.
But it's like having a guest celebrity help teach these life
lessons, but not really the best celebrity status.
JENNIFER BARNHART: And that was also-- back
when this was originally created,
the idea was that it would be a television show.
So there would be different guests
that came onto each episode.
But I think part of the reason, too,
why Gary Coleman specifically is the show basically
was created-- the creators said, look.
When you're a kid and you're watching children's television
and "Sesame Street," you learn that you're special
and you should dream big and all of your dreams will come true,
and isn't that wonderful?
And then you go to college and you graduate,
and you're living back at home with your parents
and you're temping.
And you're going, well, where's the "Sesame Street" for me now?
Because I'm sort of disillusioned
by the earlier "Sesame Street" that I had watched.
So you're-- it's a little sadder but wiser kind of idea.
It's about a bit of lost innocence.
And I think that Gary, being a child star,
and then growing out of that into, well,
what happens after that is in the same track as the people
who grew up watching Sesame Street
and then are faced with that reality of,
well, what happens now?
DANIELLE THOMAS: And that's why he can teach so many lessons
to Princeton and everybody else, because he's
been there and back, and then some.
And still looks at it positively.
Sometimes, you know, Gary has his moments.
But for the most part, life lesson.
We have a song called "Schadenfreude," you know.
Gary was pretty much living that, you
know-- taking pleasure in other people's pain, you know?
And we have a purpose.
So that's pretty much it.
ALAN SEALES: If you could do one of the puppeted characters,
who would you be?
DANIELLE THOMAS: Well, I love Kate Monster
and I think I'm a little bit of Lucy on the inside.
So I think if it was a puppet-- don't, don't.
Don't do it.
So if it were, it would be Kate and Lucy.
But I must be very honest, my favorite character in this show
is Christmas Eve.
And it is my dream to be Christmas Evening in one
of these shows.
(In Caribbean accent) Because I think that Christmas Eve has
a sister from the West Indies whose
name is Christmas evening.
And she could come and teach people
on "Avenue Q" lessons too.
JENNIFER BARNHART: I smell spin-off.
ALAN SEALES: So I'm going to ask a few more questions.
If, again, in the audience, you guys have anything,
line up at the mics here.
So I don't think there's a single person that
goes on stage with one puppet, correct?
Everybody plays multiple ones.
I guess this is similar to a swing, or-- puppety swing
or something-- but how hard is it
to switch between the puppet characters?
And some of you in the same scene?
DARREN BLUESTONE: I think when you are learning it at first,
it's difficult to figure out.
But then once you kind of get it in your body,
the puppets themselves feel so different.
Like Rod, the way that he's built,
he just feels a lot different than Princeton.
So the voices just come out differently.
And you just kind of get it.
It's like messing up a regular line for someone else.
At that point, it would be like, after doing it
for a year and a half, you know, you
don't really mess up a lot of lines.
Unless you're me.
ALAN SEALES: Question.
AUDIENCE: Hi.
Saw the show twice.
It was just completely amazing.
I'm curious about the evolution of the show.
This is obviously a very polished show
after all this time, but are their elements that are still
being dropped or things that just happen spontaneously
that then become part of the show?
Could you comment a little bit about that,
and maybe give us some stories of things that didn't used to--
SALA IWAMATSU: We have one line at the end of the show
that we will switch out depending
on what's going on in world news or politics and things
like that.
The line used to be, when it first started,
was George Bush is only for now.
So obviously, we had to change that.
And we've tried other things.
Now you have to come to the show to see what we [INAUDIBLE].
DANIELLE THOMAS: And obviously we
made a few changes when Gary Coleman died.
So we just switched a couple of lines, but.
VERONICA KUEHN: Yeah, I think--
NICHOLAS KOHN: And then-- yeah.
VERONICA KUEHN: Sorry.
I was going to say, generally, most things-- I
mean, there's no major changes that have been made.
But as new cast members come in, they
are pretty great about allowing your own personal choices
as an actor to change and shape the scene-- different
beats that you would take that are pretty flexible.
JENNIFER BARNHART: Generally speaking, though,
once the show is opened, it's technically locked.
And there-- because in the preview process,
it's changing all the time.
Once opening night happens, the show is technically locked.
So for the first four years that we were on Broadway,
the script was pretty much exactly the same.
Then after the Las Vegas company opened and they made changes
to fit that space and everything,
I think the creative team just said, hey, you know what?
Now we've had a chance to revisit this material.
We have some things we like better.
So we actually re-teched the show
and incorporated 53 changes from the Las Vegas show.
We had new lighting, new orchestrations, new lines--
but that's rare.
And from that standpoint, that doesn't happen very often.
But within the confines of the show, as Veronica said,
there is some play.
SALA IWAMATSU: There's one song called "Mix Tape"
where Princeton makes a mix tape for Kate.
And it used to be a cassette.
But now it's a decade later, so-- it probably shouldn't even
be a CD anymore.
VERONICA KUEHN: It should be--
SALA IWAMATSU: It's a little behind,
but that's the closest they could get.
NICHOLAS KOHN: And especially with long-running shows,
there's definitely going to be-- if you're
in a long-running show, you want to find new ways to explore,
and find new laughs and new moments.
I think it's inevitable with long-running shows that we have
to find some way to keep it fresh and keep it moving
forward, and--
VERONICA KUEHN: We will have rehearsals.
There are consistent understudy rehearsals,
but also, our resident director, John Tartaglia,
who originated the role of Princeton and Rod,
will come in to sort of do a brush-up,
and sort of work on-- he'll take notes
at the show the night before.
And if there's any scenes that he's like,
this if falling a little flat.
We're going to have to work on this,
just tjuz it up a little bit-- minor, minor changes,
mostly about us and acting choices and stuff like that.
NICHOLAS KOHN: A lot of times, it's reminders.
JED RESNICK: VERONICA KUEHN: Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
NICHOLAS KOHN: Just like, remember,
this is what the scene is about.
VERONICA KUEHN: Right.
Something we talked about a year ago, let's re-implement that.
NICHOLAS KOHN: Yeah.
JASON JACOBY: We usually have some freedom when
a new second hander comes in, or even a second hander that's
been in for a while, if things start to feel stale,
to think, oh, well, let's try-- we
could do this little move here.
We could try this little move.
And Johnny's been very generous with me
about that, especially things with the double live hands
puppets, because it's all very set and choreographed.
It's like a game of telephone.
It's passed down from 20 Nicky/Trekkies ago,
and it doesn't necessarily fit what I'm doing with the role.
So Johnny's been very good about, go look in the mirror
and go come up with something else.
And next time I come see the show,
I'll let you know if it works or if you have to go look
in the mirror and come up with something else again.
ALAN SEALES: All right, so final question.
AUDIENCE: Why did the Vegas show have such a short run?
Do you guys know?
NICHOLAS KOHN: There was a couple reasons.
I think it was initially-- we were selling actually
pretty well in Vegas.
It was hard for them to figure out
how to market our show in Vegas, specifically
because it was a New York-themed show and things like that.
And they had some very creative things.
But it was one of those things that-- Vegas is very transient
and there's a lot of people coming in and out.
And most of the shows are an hour and a half in Vegas.
Ours was two hours.
And so we ended up shortening it.
And the other thing is, I believe
Steve Wynn had already put in play Spamalot
to come into his theater.
And so they had to get that theater ready for Spamalot.
And so we were there for about nine months.
I think-- from what I understand, we sold very well.
And the local people in Vegas loved us.
And they came to see it multiple times.
And I think the theater was-- I think it was like 1,200 seats.
So it was a big theater, and I'd like
to think our run in Vegas was pretty successful, even
though we were only there for about nine months.
I mean, to be honest, to be an actor
and have a nine-month job anywhere is amazing.
And then all the perks we had out there with housing
and-- we were celebrities in Vegas.
Everywhere we went, we'd have bottle service everywhere.
And they'd be like, oh, you're in "Avenue Q."
Let's bring you over here.
We want you to meet these people.
It was like living the life of a celebrity.
It was an amazing job.
But it was a lot of fun.
And it brought me into the "Avenue Q" family,
and I've been with it almost ever since, so.
Well, again, thank you guys very much for coming out.
And that's it.
That's a wrap.
NICHOLAS KOHN: Thank you.
DANIELLE THOMAS: Thank you.
VERONICA KUEHN: Thanks for coming.