LAUGHS (WITH STRINGS ATTACHED): Theatre Three is currently staging the regional premiere of Avenue Q. And it sounds as if Jac Alder, et. al. have a hit on their hands. “Avenue Q is a rapturously hilarious and fun show in general and pretty hard to screw up,” Kris Noteboom writes on theaterjones.com. “This will be the production that all future DFW Avenue Q‘s will be measured against,” Lindsey Wilson writes on Front Row. “Matt Purvis, who does the Princeton and Rod puppets, is the most skilled with the puppet manipulation and, since the puppeteers are in full view of the audience, reflecting the characters expressions,” Mark Lowry writes on dfw.com. “His singing even reminds of John Tartaglia, who created those roles.” Meanwhile, Lawson Taitte says the smaller basement space where the show is being performed adds to the fun. “This intimate show works much better in the tiny space than it did in the Dallas and Fort Worth opera houses in which the national tours played,” he writes on dallasnews.com. “Accordingly, the ruder moments — of which there are many — are literally in your face, as when two of the puppets had sex on one spectator’s shoulder.” Catch it through July 29.

AND THE WINNERS ARE …: Did you vote for the 15th Annual Fort Worth Weekly Music Awards? If so, you’re probably curious who the big winners are. Well, now you can look through the list of those taking home the hardware. Big congratulations to Quaker City Night Hawks, who walked away with Artist of the Year, Best Band, Rock Album of the Year (¡Torquila Torquila!) and Rock Song of the Year (“Bible Black Lincoln”).

THE BEST OF THE BEST: The classical music magazine Limelight recently gathered some of the world’s best pianists to figure out who are the best players of all time. Topping their list? Sergei Rachmaninov. Also on the list: lots of Europeans (9-of-10!) Not on the list: a certain founder of a pretty important local piano competition.