Avenue Q - UK Tour

I've seen the Sell a Door production in Greenwich and Brum in 2014 and in Richmond in 2015 and thoroughly enjoyed it.

I thought the puppets looked great - rubbish is the last word that'd come to my mind. Yes, they are slightly different to the original ones, but who cares?
Great cast, especially Stephen Arden who is a fantastic Nicky/Trekkie Monster.

You should definitely go and see it. I even preferred it over the off Broadway production I saw on Monday.

Yeah - I'm in a similar situation to you with regards to giving their production a go. I know it's been doing the rounds long enough now, however I'm still resisting as I know it isn't the same as the original production.

I adore the original production, everything about it was great from the cast to the promotional stuff to the puppet design (I agree there is a stark difference) however, having seem multiple versions of the show now I think that really it's worth catching in any form. Plus I hear the cast is fab (though I've not seen this tour yet)

You won't notice the difference. I've seen the show 9 times now, 5 original and 3 Sell a door and it all just blurs into one.

It played The Grand theatre here in Blackpool two years ago - pretty much a sell out and a great venue.
This year it is playing the huge Opera House and I fear it will be too big a place for the show and the audience it will draw.

I saw their original tour and loved it must admit considering it was much smaller production all performers were excellent ... Saw it in a small theatre and also a large atg theatre was only half full and most were £15 special offer tickets ... But was a good quality show

The size of theatres this is playing is interesting, for example, Blackpool opera house is huge. 2920 seats according to Wikipedia. However I was supposed to be seeing this in Wakefield this evening at a theatre of 499 seats and it got pulled some weeks ago due to poor sales.

It seems that large theatres half empty are OK for this tour but small half empty theatres are not.

Gosh I'm late, but I saw it the final night it was in Southampton. (the 13th)
As much as I adored Sarah as Kate/Lucy when I saw it first time around in Bournemouth, I did a little victory "yes" when Jess was announced to go on. I did have some brief degrees of separation from her at some point although I didn't even realise it at the time, but I really like her. From what I saw at the Olivier's and WEL last year, she makes the best facial expressions and really engages with the puppets and knows her characters well.
Sarah seems to 'fit' the characters better, as in she looks more in character holding them and her voices snap into place, but Jess, although very similar, had her own little quirks too. Her Kate was more possessive of Princeton and Lucy more sly. Her expressions are fabulous too, as I mentioned before, and she even changes stance slightly as Lucy. She didn't lose character at any point-I honestly think she could fit any of the roles. One thing to note, even though this isn't Jess' fault, is that Kate's mouth seems to be a little hard to manoeuvre. Having handled one before I know how stiff your thumb can get, and how hard it is to keep it going, but to me in Row D at some points Kate's mouth was barely opening at all. I'd put this down to the fact that her head is ever so slightly weightier than the mouth (it looks bigger), which can put more pressure on the fingers and prohibit the thumb from moving much.
Richard was lovely as Princeton and Rod, just as good as I've remembered and his puppeteering is spectacular.
Stephen, Richard M and Etisyai(?) were awesome too. Very lively and absolutely perfect for their characters.
Gracie was on for Christmas Eve, too. She seemed a little too young for the part but she fit right in and I cried with laughter when she (spoiler) pulled out her fans during Racist.
There were two new people in the cast. Both men, and one went on as the New Guy (I didn't see him in any other songs). He got a good round of laughter.
The other dude was on for Yellow Bear, which really irked me. It's not his fault, they probably had a shortage of cast and/or wanted to give him some spotlight, but at For Now, he didn't play her and instead was played by the girl playing Mrs T/Right Arm, who had a more fitting voice for Yellow Bear. He totally made the role his own, don't get me wrong, but as far as I remember Yellow's always played by Right Arm/etc. I wonder why this was?
All in all, the Mayflower was packed to the brim. There was a lovely little Labrador guide dog asleep in the aisle that seemed startled during the Money Song. This is a nice change as when I first saw it it was barely scraping 50 people if that, and this was in a theatre that a quick Google search tells me holds 1,458. The Mayflower houses well over 2,000. Although I suppose closing night is a huge attraction, and the Mayflower is a well-established theatre in the South, but I'm glad the cast got to see this many people appreciate this awesome musical.

With the last tours I’m up to 10 times seen, im making 11 times shortly in New York. So glad it’s back!

I see that it’s also going to Dunstable too *shudders* 6th - 11th May. Incidentally where I first saw the show. The theatre is lovely, the town, however...

Any chance this will get to either London or Edinburgh? Would love to see it.