 "Photo: Courtesy of Avenue Q")
"Avenue Q," the hit Broadway musical performed with puppets, has stirred controversy in Colorado Springs as its creators prepare for the show's debut March 16.
Hailed by The New York Times and Entertainment Weekly, the triple Tony Award winner of 2004 captures real adult situations with puppets in a smart and risque fashion that Springs advertisers believe to be too raunchy for residents' eyes. "Avenue Q" covers adult issues like sex and surfing the web for porn.
Lamar Advertising, which manages Colorado Springs' billboards, thought proposed posters for "Avenue Q" were too vulgar for the notoriously conservative city's taste. Lamar refused to hang bus stop posters featuring a close-up of fuzzy pink puppet cleavage.
Lamar refuses only two or three proposals annually due to moral reasons, and Avenue Q fit the bill this year.
"It's our billboard and we're particular about what we display on our billboards, and we like to display what is acceptable to the community," Hal Ward, Vice-President and General Manager of Lamar Advertising, told a local television station. "It is not within the moral standards of the community."
"Avenue Q" tells the story of a young college grad who moves to New York City with big dreams of getting a decent job and a stable beginning at life.
With many UCCS students about to graduate, the story of a recent Princeton grad captures that awkward moment after graduation when everyone is looking for a "purpose" in life. When the main character moves to the only apartment he can afford on "Avenue Q," he meets other people just like him searching for a good-paying job and stable relationships at the threshold of adulthood.
"Avenue Q" has been on Broadway for six years now, and covers real-life issues in a fun, no-holds-barred kind of way. Creators Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx based the story on their own real life experiences after college. The heavily audience-oriented musical is geared towards people like teens and adults (but definitely not children) who can enjoy the real-life approach to the puppet musical.
Pikes Peak Center
March 16, 17
Student Tickets: $15
Tickets: $32 to $55
Call (719)520-SHOW or pikespeakcenter.com
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