Avenue Q Tour

CONAries Profile Photo
CONAries
#1Avenue Q Tour
Posted: 4/9/11 at 10:23am

Hi all Boradwayworld-ers!
Hope you've all been keeping well!
There may already be a thread on this, but after abit of searching I couldnt find one!

Has anyone out there caught the Avenue Q tour yet.
Im going on Thursday and am taking two mates who have never seen the show before, but for my own personal intrest, are there any changes to the tour?
What are the cast like? (Some seem abit young)
Any line changes, and what is the ending to "For Now" in the "George Bush" slot!

The main thing i'm interested in, is the band set-up the same? I was worried they may have adopted the smaller and cheaper off-broadway orchestrations IE, replace any instrument they can with a piano, which sounds dire!!

Anyway, cheers you beautiful people, and if no one out there has caught this yet, I'll report back after Thursday!

Love,
Charles x

turquoisefish Profile Photo
turquoisefish
#2Avenue Q Tour
Posted: 4/9/11 at 1:45pm

I am going on Tuesday, think it will look a bit lost in the Mayflower if it hasn't changed from its London staging!

Eastwickian Profile Photo
Eastwickian
#2Avenue Q Tour
Posted: 4/9/11 at 3:56pm

Short BBC News report on the tour confirms there haven't been any major changes to the show. Can't wait to see it in Bristol next month!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-12999110

luke-h*** Profile Photo
luke-h***
#3Avenue Q Tour
Posted: 4/10/11 at 11:55am

No major changes. I saw it in Bath. Very impressed, but the cast are not great as an ensemble. Singular performances are very strong, especially Chris Thatcher, but things like life outside your apartment are weak because they are quite low energy as a group. Still thoroughly enjoyable. The whole thing just needs a little kick up the backside to be up to the London production's standard.


THEATRE 2016: Grey Gardens; SwkPlayhouse, Cats; London Palladium, Into the Woods; Royal Exchange, Show Boat; Sheffield Crucible, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Prsicilla Queen of the Desert; UK Tour, Narrative; RWCMD, Mojo; RWCMD, The Barber of Seville; WNO, Rabbit Hole; Hampstead, The Marriage of Figaro; WNO, Figaro Gets a Divorce; WNO, Tom: The Musical; UK Tour Upcoming: Anything Can Happen; RWCMD, Cysgy'n Brys'ur, Long Day's Journey Into Night; Bristol Old Vic, Only the Brave, The Caretaker; The Old Vic, People Places and Things, Blue/Orange; Young Vic, Bernadette Peters, Carole King, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Parts I & II

ClapYo'Hands Profile Photo
ClapYo'Hands
#4Avenue Q Tour
Posted: 4/10/11 at 2:48pm

"The whole thing just needs a little kick up the backside to be up to the London production's standard."

Which may, of course, have happened now considering Bath was where it opened, and it has been travelling for some time now.

luke-h*** Profile Photo
luke-h***
#5Avenue Q Tour
Posted: 4/10/11 at 5:04pm

That's what I thought, but I did see the last performance.


THEATRE 2016: Grey Gardens; SwkPlayhouse, Cats; London Palladium, Into the Woods; Royal Exchange, Show Boat; Sheffield Crucible, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Prsicilla Queen of the Desert; UK Tour, Narrative; RWCMD, Mojo; RWCMD, The Barber of Seville; WNO, Rabbit Hole; Hampstead, The Marriage of Figaro; WNO, Figaro Gets a Divorce; WNO, Tom: The Musical; UK Tour Upcoming: Anything Can Happen; RWCMD, Cysgy'n Brys'ur, Long Day's Journey Into Night; Bristol Old Vic, Only the Brave, The Caretaker; The Old Vic, People Places and Things, Blue/Orange; Young Vic, Bernadette Peters, Carole King, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Parts I & II

turquoisefish Profile Photo
turquoisefish
#6Avenue Q Tour
Posted: 4/12/11 at 6:51pm

I saw this tonight and it is pretty much the same as the London production. I do feel it looks rather lost on the Mayflower stage.
The cast are young but I think based on the characters they should be, we are just used to them being older. The only one that seemed too young to me was Edward Judge (Brian) but he was great!
The George Bush line is now Jedward!

The band was tiny but I didn't realise until curtain call. Just 4 people: Keyboard 1, Keyboard 2, Alto sax / flute / clarinet and drums/percussion. Curtain call was one window each plus the 2 understudy Christmas Eves with puppets and small guitars.

We did have an understudy for Gary, Kayi Ushe, who was really good.

The big problem for me was the TV screens, they were dodgy all the way through and we didn't see the animations for purpose-propose and Intermission.

CONAries Profile Photo
CONAries
#7Avenue Q Tour
Posted: 4/15/11 at 4:18am

So, I went last night.

On the whole I thought it was outstanding.

The Pros to start with
-The Cast were incredibly talented
-ESPECIALLY the actress playing Kate and Lucy who has a stunning voice
-They worked well as an ensemble and they made the show comfortably flow
-The band was seriously down-scaled, but unlike the the off-roadway production, you cant tell, with the one exception of during "For Now" there were a few chords that are usually played on guitar that you could clearly hear were being played on a synth, but I can forgive this.
-Everything was there and worked, we had no problems with the TV screens and every single set piece was there from London, without a single detail missing!

The Cons
- The actor playing Gary coleman forgot a line in the opening. He blanked his "Try having people stopping you to ask you...' which left an awkward silence where the cast were looking round like "WTF?" and then he randomly rushed back in with "What ya talking bout willis"
- Jedward is just not a funny line in "For Now"

But that is about it, I loved the way they inserted local references, EG at the end of The Money Song, where the line in London was "Something called a Pound... well that isnt worth very much atall" they has replaced it to (for Southampton) "A Ticket to a Portsmouth Soccer Match..." which recieved a MASSIVE reaction, although my friend did have to explain to me why afterwards! There was one other local reference inserted.... but I cant remember what it was now!
There was also a fair bit of ad-libbing (mainly by Trekie monster) but was genius and not OTT!!

In genral, I would HIGHLY recommend this tour, it is 100% up to the standard of the West End production, but it has really cheap ticket prices in most of its touring venues!!!

If this comes near you, I urge you to go, this was my 6th Avenue Q encounter, and probably the most I have ever laughed at the show!!!

SoonerOrLater Profile Photo
SoonerOrLater
#8Avenue Q Tour
Posted: 4/15/11 at 6:46am

Glad to hear it! I've booked twice for Cardiff (which will total 6 times for me too!)


Maybe I'm on nobody's side http://phdconfessions.blogspot.com/

Phantom of London Profile Photo
Phantom of London
#9Avenue Q Tour
Posted: 4/15/11 at 9:15am

The UK tour dates, listed below.

Avenue Q has played 22 cities, but seems to of missed some places, I missed the tour in Bromley, does anyone think the promoters will announce further dates?

2-12 February
Theatre Royal
Sawclose BATH

14-19 February
Churchill Theatre
High Street BROMLEY

22-26 February
Hall for Cornwall
Back Quay TRURO

28 February-5 March
Richmond Theatre
The Green RICHMOND

8-12 March
His Majesty's Theatre
Rosemount Viaduct ABERDEEN

5-19 March
Theatre Royal
Theatre Street NORWICH

21-26 March
New Victoria Theatre
Peacocks Centre WOKING

28 March-2 April
Lyceum Theatre
Tudor Square SHEFFIELD

4-9 April
Wycombe Swan
St Mary Street HIGH WYCOMBE

12-16 April
The Mayflower
Commercial Road SOUTHAMPTON

18-23 April
Milton Keynes Theatre
Marlborough Gate MILTON KEYNES

26-30 April
Theatre Royal
Theatre Square NOTTINGHAM

2-7 May
Theatre Royal
New Road BRIGHTON

9-14 May
Cambridge Arts Theatre
6 St Edwards Passage CAMBRIDGE

17-21 May
Birmingham Hippodrome
Hurst Street BIRMINGHAM

23-28 May
Bristol Hippodrome
St Augustine's Parade BRISTOL

31 May-4 June
The Lowry
Pier 8 Salford Quays SALFORD

6-11 June
Alhambra Theatre
Morley Street BRADFORD

14-18 June
Wales Millennium Centre
Bute Place CARDIFF

21-25 June
Grand Opera House
Great Victoria Street BELFAST

28 June-2 July
King's Theatre
297 Bath Street GLASGOW

5-9 July
Derngate
Guildhall Road NORTHAMPTON
Box Office 01604 624811

ClapYo'Hands Profile Photo
ClapYo'Hands
#10Avenue Q Tour
Posted: 4/15/11 at 9:44am

I've no idea why Bristol and Cardiff are close together!

ClapYo'Hands Profile Photo
ClapYo'Hands
#11Avenue Q Tour
Posted: 4/15/11 at 10:31am

On the verge of booking for Bristol - £21 tickets for students...great! Avenue Q Tour

CONAries Profile Photo
CONAries
#12Avenue Q Tour
Posted: 4/15/11 at 1:10pm

In Southampton we had top price tickets (I was about 8 rows back in stalls, AMAZING SEATS) for £12.50 each as Students!!! The best value for money show I have EVER seen!!!

Phantom of London Profile Photo
Phantom of London
#13Avenue Q Tour
Posted: 4/15/11 at 7:49pm

Can anyone blag me a student I.D.?

MusicalBoy Profile Photo
MusicalBoy
#14Avenue Q Tour
Posted: 4/16/11 at 6:39pm

Saw this hours ago and LOVED it.

What an amazing, young cast, understudy for Gary was fantastic, too.