October 1 .2QQ4
hen a gay guy from a small town wins
a Tony Award, you’d naturally expect
him to move on to higger and better
places and never lixik hack.
Not Jeff Whitty. In fact, the Q x » Bay
native is delighted ft) he hearing from old
friends ever since he took home the Best Btxik
of a Musical trophy
for
Avenue Q which,
on the surface,
W
i p | \ - . u s I t ) h e .1 n o \ '
elty Muppet show
for adults hut deep
i
down
is a sincere
story about regaining
idealism and finding
one’s purpose in life.
The G-year-old
spiike with Just ( )iit
ah' "it his past life as
a University of Ore
gon flat hoy, ho
upcoming benefit
t. ir the V >on (.< m-
stitutional Amend-
nit 1 it s(i t. amp iien
and the “ a i ranged
mair iag e
w id esp re ad
that led to
It I I . H i l l
#
Tony Award winner returns
to Oregon for No on 36 benefit
by
J im R a ix ) sta
t
W
p
f
|||
realize I had major philo
sophical differences with
these people. Then 1 came
out.
JR : Did your family
take that OK?
JW: Yeah, they tixrk it
really well. My little broth
er is gay, tex), and came out
shortly after me, so they
&
r t S P 'i , / ?• £
sort of had a double wham
my. It tixik them maybe a
Jeff Whitty w ill discuss Avenue Q Oct. 3 at day to adjust, and they’ve
Theater Theatre
been really supportive ever
since There was a PFLAG
contingent in this year’s G x)s Bay Fun Festival
parade, and they were in it.
^ Jj
4
JR : How did you come up with the con
cept of Avenue Q?
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JW : I was just winding down
my 20s, and .it that M.igc m life
yon expect everything to be
resolving itself, and instead
you’re still faced with more ques-
funis than you’ve ever had It
was just a lot of hanging im heac
against tin u ill. kind
going
cra:\ heiau-el wasn't getting.!
break.
The [Avenue Q] songwriters
had written a T V pilot, and the producers of
the show saw it and wanted to make ir into a
stage musical, so then I came on hoard to work
on the hook— the libretto aspect of the show'.
I didn’t know them beforehand, so it was a very
interesting experience creatively.
JR : Did you guys work closely together
from there on out?
JW : It was this funny arranged marriage.
We laugh about it now, hut we really did not
get along terribly well. We all had different
things we needed out of the show, and it kind
of became a hybrid of what everyone wanted—
in a gixxJ way. But I wasn’t used to collaborat
ing as a playwright, and they’d never written a
full-length stage musical before. People see the
show and say, “Gosh, it must’ve been so much
fun to write,” and it wasn’t, really. [Laughs] It’s
really hard to make something seem simple.
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JR : How does it feel to be returning to
Oregon amid this contentious time politically?
JW : Well, I’ m sea glad to he able to come
hack and help fight this ballot measure. I was
knocking on dex>rs in Springfield about (1992’sJ
Measure 9. You feel helpless in New York,
where there’s a sense that those battles have
been fought already, and I don’t think there’s
quite an awareness that it’s very much alive in
other parts of the country and that
there’s...th is amazing group of people that cir
cle their wagons and fight it every year.
JR : What’s been the highlight of all the
acclaim you’ve received?
JW : When I moved here 11 years ago,
1 used to always walk through the Broadway
theater district and Ux>k at the marquees and
see who was in what show, and it’s still sort of
mind-blowing that I have a marquee of some
thing I wrote that’s up there.
And then with the whole Tony thing, the
coolest parr was all the people that I’d lost
touch with that I thought I’d probably never
talk to again— so many people reappeared in
my life, and they’re just so warm and support
ive. Even people from the fraternity. It was
really great because I got to reconnect with the
past a hit. J H
AVENUE Q & A , featuring a conversation uith
Jeff Whitty and performances from his Tony-
winning musical, starts 5 p.m. Oct. 3 at Theater
Theatre, 3430 S.E. Belrrumt St. Tickets are $50
when you mentitm Just Out from 9 7 l-2 4 4 'l3 9 9 .
A limited number of discounted tickets for students
and starving actors are available for $25 and a
pledge of 25 volunteer lurnrs with the No on 36
campaign.
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