This piece falls under nostalgia for me..Thru the TOUGHPIGS site, a number of us had been discussing a New Broadway play called AVENUE Q.. a satrical adult spoof of Sesame-Street type TV shows and many of us were thinking of seeing it..I had gotten the original soundtrack CD out of curiosity and absolutely fell in love with it! A bunch of us actually decided to get together in New York and take in a performance! For me this meant taking a Greyhound from Boston to New York!
This would be a day to remember..to pass the hours before the performance, TOUGHPIGS founder Danny Horn (Bless you, Danny!) had gotten in touch with CRAIG SHEMIN, Muppets writer, one of the heads of THE JIM HENSON FOUNDATION, and husband of AVENUE Q star STEPHANIE D'ABRUZZO! Graig graciously invited us over to the old Henson photo studios for an afternoon of old behind-the scenes stories and screenings of rare Muppets footage, including a tape of most of MUPPET SHOW LIVE from MUPPETFEST! A GREAT afternoon was had by all, and to say that Craig was a charming , gracious, and funny host would be an understatement!
Wanting to do something special for the occasion, and using the photos from the CD as reference, I drew up the picture shown at the top. We went to the show, and it was funny and brillant. All of it. the songs, the actors, the puppetry...God, yes.
After the show, we managed to go meet the cast outside, where I presented the drawing (On behalf of Toughpigs) to Stephanie. The cast were quite impressed. (Not to brag, but it went over BIG)
Sometimes I wonder if they still have-or who does have the original drawing..
The photos posted here are of me presenting the original drawing to the cast after the show..(I'm the fat ugly guy with the stringy hair and the bald spot) The bottom photo is us with the cast.
If you ever accidentally read this, Craig, thank you for a WONDERFUL time.. and forgive me for saying this, but your wife is VERY talented and beautiful!
