Avenue Q Swings!

Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx, the co-creators of the Tony Award-winning musical Avenue Q, are hosting Avenue Q Swings!, at the Lucille Lortel Theatre. Proceeds from the one-night-only performance benefit Greenwich House Music School’s Piano Fund, replacing two well-worn Steinway grand pianos.

Avenue Q Swings! features very special guest stars singing songs from Avenue Q in jazz, classical, and other surprising arrangements. At press time, the cast includes Broadway performers Karen Mason, Sally Mayes, Christine Pedi, Billy Porter, The Q Trio (Greenwich House Music School string trio), Sherie Rene Scott, Mark Shaiman, Billy Stritch, Toxic Audio, and Tom Wopat. The musical director for the show is composer/arranger Mary Ann McSweeney, who plays bass each night in the Avenue Q orchestra on Broadway.

Greenwich House Music School has a longstanding and very special relationship with Bobby and Jeff. Long before the duo created Avenue Q, which won the 2004 Tony Awards for Best Original Score, Best Book of a Musical, and Best Musical, Bobby studied piano at Greenwich House for over 15 years. When he began collaborating with Jeff, the two would often meet at the School to compose, working on writing many Avenue Q songs on the Greenwich House Music School’s pianos. That’s when they noticed the need to replace the two fifty-year-old Steinway pianos, which Bobby played in his childhood recitals. Now, the two writers have returned, with their talented friends and colleagues in tow, to lend their support to the School.