John Tartaglia to Host 2026 Children’s & Family Emmy Awards with Special AVENUE Q Reunion

An Avenue Q reunion will take place next week at the 2026 Children’s & Family Emmy Awards in New York City. Host John Tartaglia will be joined onstage by fellow Avenue Q Broadway cast members Stephanie d’Abruzzo and Jennifer Barnhart to present an award at the ceremony. All three starred in the original cast of the Broadway production, which took home the Tony Award for Best Musical in 2004.

Now in its fourth year and presented in New York for the first time, the competition spotlights creativity and innovation in children’s entertainment. The ceremonies will also be streamed live on watch.theemmys.tv and through The Emmys apps. 

With Tartaglia as host, the 4th Annual Children’s & Family Emmy Awards (CAFE) will take place on Monday, March 2, at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall, Broadway at 60th Street, New York City. 

Among the notable nominees is Tony Award-winning Wicked star Cynthia Erivo, who received a nomination for Outstanding Single Role Voice Performer for her voice work in RoboGobo. Spellbound, the animated Netflix musical from Alan Menken and Glenn Slater, received five nominations, including the song "The Way It Was Before," as well as a nod for John Lithgow as Bolinar. Other nominated Broadway alums include Ana Gasteyer, Joe Locke, and June Squibb. Check out the full list of nominees here.

Award-winning actor, Robert Picardo (Star Trek: Voyager), will present the Lifetime Achievement Award to previously announced honoree,  Emmy Award-winning television presenter and science educator, Bill Nye, at the CAFE Honors Ceremony on March 1.

Presenters at CAFE include Rachel and Aron Accurso (Ms. Rachel), Jennifer Barnhart and "Zoe” (Sesame Street), Monique Coleman (High School Musical), Frankie Cordero and “Purple Panda” (Donkey Hodie), Stephanie d'Abruzzo and “Duck Duck” (Donkey Hodie), Ava Joyce McCarthy (The Primrose Railway Children), Bill Nye (Lifetime Achievement Honoree), Tori Prentice and Adrianna Walker (Harlem Ice), Chanel Stewart (Win or Lose), June Squibb (Storyline Online) and Kari Wahlgren (Legends of Evergreen Hills). Critically acclaimed singer Regina Spektor will perform and Alyssa Tucker (Live From Snacktime) is the special red carpet correspondent.   

About John Tartaglia 

John Tartaglia is a multi-award-winning actor, director, writer, puppeteer, producer, and creator for television and theater. He is currently the creative supervisor & director of the “Fraggle Rock” franchise for the Jim Henson Company, which includes the Emmy Award-winning series “Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock” (streaming on Apple TV), for which he serves as an executive producer, writer and puppet captain. He also performs the roles of Gobo Fraggle, Architect Doozer, Gunge, Barry Blueberry and Sprocket the Dog. In addition to his work on “Fraggle Rock,” he maintains an overall creative development deal at the Jim Henson Company, developing and producing new television and live experience and theatrical projects. John hosts “Sunday Funday with John Tartaglia, a 6 hour broadcast for Sirius XM’s On Broadway channel every week.

Broadway theater audiences know John Best for his acclaimed starring performance as Princeton and Rod in “Avenue Q,” for which he received a Tony Award nomination and won a Theater World Award and Clarence Derwent Award. His other Broadway credits include “Beauty and the Beast” (Lumiere) and the original cast of “Shrek the Musical” (Pinocchio and the Magic Mirror). Off-Broadway, he created, wrote and voiced several characters in John Tartaglia's “ImaginOcean,” which was nominated for a Drama Desk Award and went on to have a hit international tour. 

John has voiced hundreds of puppets and animated characters over the past 25 years, including for many seasons of “Sesame Street,” where he got his first job and made history as the show’s youngest regular puppeteer at age 16. John was also the creator, executive producer and star of the Disney Junior series “Johnny and the Sprites,” which received Emmy Award nominations for his performance and for the show, and PBS’ “Splash and Bubbles” (based on his theatrical piece “ImaginOcean”), which also received multiple Emmy nominations. His countless other television acting, voice and puppeteering credits include “Ugly Betty,” “Bear in the Big Blue House,” “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy,” “The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss,” “Animal Jam,” “Blues Room,” “Sesame English” and “JoJo's Circus.” He also voiced Mr. Bluelight for Kmart and Extreme the Goldfish for Pepperidge Farm’s Goldfish Crackers campaigns.

Among John’s many theatrical directing credits across the country are Stephen Schwartz’s “The Secret Silk” and Jim Henson’s “Inspired Silliness” (both for Princess Cruises), “Kinky Boots” (3D Theatricals), Jim Henson's “Musical World” (Carnegie Hall), “Beauty and the Beast” (Maltz Jupiter Theatre), “Shrek the Halls” (DreamWorks Theatricals), “Because of Winn-Dixie” (Arkansas Rep; Goodspeed Opera House development) and several productions at The Muny in St. Louis, including “Shrek the Musical,” “The Wizard of Oz,” “Tarzan,” “Annie,” “Matilda,” Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast,” Disney’s “The Little Mermaid,” and Disney and Cameron Mackintosh’s “Mary Poppins.” He directed national tours of “Blue’s Clues Live!,” Jim Henson's “Dinosaur Train Live” and Jim Henson's “Sid the Science Kid Live,” as well as multiple shows for Sesame Place in Pennsylvania. John also directed and wrote the book for the Olivier Award-winning “Blippi Live!”