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Joel Grey Helps Avenue Q's Rod and Ricky Renew Their Wedding Vows

Grey officiated a ceremony at New World Stages.

Joel Grey officiates a vow renewal between Avenue Q characters Ricky and Rod.
Joel Grey officiates a vow renewal between Avenue Q characters Ricky and Rod.
(© Tricia Baron)

Rod and Ricky, the same-sex puppet couple from the long-running musical Avenue Q, renewed their wedding vows on Thursday, June 23, in honor of the 2016 Pride Weekend in New York City. Broadway icon Joel Grey officiated the ceremony at New World Stages.

Ricky and Rod were married on June 24, 2011, in Thomas Paine Park, across the street from the City Clerk's office where hundreds of couples lined up for the first day of legal wedlock for same-sex couples in New York. In Avenue Q, Rod, a Wall Street banker, and Ricky, a "Chelsea boy," meet through an online personal ad placed by Rod's best friend and slacker roommate Nicky.

Avenue Q, written by Robert Lopez, Jeff Marx, and Jeff Whitty, opened off-Broadway at the Vineyard Theatre on March 20, 2003, before moving to Broadway's John Golden Theatre, where it officially opened on July 31 of that year. The show went on to win three 2004 Tony Awards: Best Book, Best Score, and Best Musical. The Broadway production closed on September 13, 2009, and reopened off-Broadway at New World Stages on October 21, 2009.

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Avenue Q

Closed: May 26, 2019