Booking London Theatre tickets
 

I read here that you can call the theatre directly to book tickets and thus avoid booking fees and choose the seats you want. We'd like to see Wicked and Billy Elliot in August when we're in London. Does anybody know where I can find the direct phone number for the theatres playing these shows? Thank you.

You might try looking on www.londontheatre.co.uk for theater listings. It has the address and telephone number for each theater. In addition, it also has seating charts for each theater, which is a help, since most theaters in London are quite old and some areas of the theater may be slightly obstructed.

If you call the theatre directly, you will pay full price, which is not fun. With really new, popular shows, this may be necessary, but usually is not. Also, are you atlking about calling from the US to London(expensive), or calling after you're there(risky, last minute)?
You can easily book all your tickets online and very rarely, if ever, will you have to buy tix without knowing what seats you're getting.
Try www.theatremania.com
www.broadwaybox.com
www.londontown.com
and/or www.lastminute.com

Craig's list is a possibility, but do NOT google the show you want and look for tickets, as you will get tons of ticket brokers with outrageous prices.
How successful you will be at getting a discount and how far out you need to buy depends partly on how many tix you're looking for.
Cheers!

Calling the UK is not expensive. Use a 10-10 number and it costs just pennies a minute.

DO NOT buy tickets off Craig's list or other private sellers.

Most theatres have direct booking - but for some, when you phone the box office you get diverted to Ticketmaster.

The phone # for the Victoria Palace (Billy Elliot) is (0) 844 248 5000. Drop the leading zero.

For the Apollo Victoria (Wicked) I'm pretty sure they do not do telephone bookings and there is a substantial fee. Unless you are going on a weekend, I'd wait until you are in London and go directly to teh theate and buy tix from the box office. Wicked is still very popular - but it is not a total sell out most days so tix are available.

I always book with the Offical London Theatre site. You can also see what might be available at the Half price ticket booth. Lately I've just been buying tickets on the day of performance at the actual theatre. The prices are usually half off for concessions ( older people)

http://www.officiallondontheatre.co.uk/

I would book Billy Elliot in advance though.

chcl:

In May, we set our minds to see Billy Elliot, and on a Monday we walked up to a half-price tix counter in Leicester Square and bought tix for the next night at £35 each....and also got to choose our seats. Albeit they were on the upper balcony, but for a dance musical we felt the view was near perfect, especially for these type of stage numbers.

Be aware that the theater (Victoria) has very tight seating at that level. Your knees will be up against the seat in front of you. If you're very tall it can be quite uncomfortable, but at our average heights we managed well...and more importantly, we thorughly enjoyed this masterpiece of musical theater...thank you Elton John. In todays vernacular...'twas awesome!

Last night we rented the movie, though we had seen it when it first came out, and it was such a pleasure watching it again after seeing the play.(wife used up half a box of kleenex at her side!)

Go and enjoy...but you may want to book in advance for August. I might suggest Prezzo's (Italian) for early dinner before the show, just across the street. Fairly reasonable by current London standards...excellent offerings.

stu t.

Thanks for your replies.

Unfortunately for Wicked all the phone numbers I tried and some of the web sites led to one road - TicketMaster. So unless I go up to the Box Office ticket window, I will have to pay to pay TM's 4.5%/per ticket booking fee and £1.5 processing fee.

Thanks Janis for the Victoria Palace number. I can buy tickets from them direct with only a £2.50 fee regardless of price and number of tickets.

I checked TKTS and for today it seems Billy Elliot is still selling at full price and they don't have tickets for Wicked.

I just want to pre-buy our tickets, especially if I'm paying the same price, as it's one less thing for me to worry once we're in London. It's our first time in London so I wanted to be as prepared as possible.

One other thing - if the theatre is not full, do they allow you to move seats for a better view?

Thanks.

Unfortunately, tower's tale is a good example why to avoid the "half price" ticket resellers ringing Leicester Sq. The tix they paid £35 for in the Upper Circle, have a face value of £17.50. So even if one paid a booking fee to a legit ticket broker, they would still cost less than £20 a ticket. If you want to see a hit show in London, book w/ the theatre or even ticketmaster - not a re-sale agency

For most shows though you can get discount tickets at TKTS in the square, which is the official 1/2 price booth for London theatre. ONLY use TKTS - not those other 1/2 price shops.

&quot;<i>if the theatre is not full, do they allow you to move seats for a better view?</i>&quot;

Not such a good idea. Very often folks arrive late and then you are embarrassed - not to say disrupting to those around you - having to faff about w/ collecting your bags/programs/coat, file out a very narrow row stepping over others feet/bags etc, getting shusshed, and then go find your own seats.

Did I read this right? Stu you paid &pound;35/per ticket at Leicester Square and the ticket really had a face value of &pound;17.50! Did you question them about it?

Thanks for the Prezzio recommendation. I'll keep that in my list.

Did I read this right? Stu you paid &pound;35/per ticket at Leicester Square and the ticket really had a face value of &pound;17.50! Did you question them about it?

Thanks for the Prezzio recommendation. I'll keep that in my list.

Thanks again Janis - Ok, we won't move - hate to bring attention to us at any cost! ;-)

I should have said &quot;the face value for those seats in the Upper Circle was <i>probably</i> &pound;17.50&quot;. Actually there are some Upper Circle seats at &pound;35, but &pound;17.50 covers most of them. The top tickets in the Stalls and Dress Circle for Billy Elliot run &pound;60.

This is how the 1/2 price ticket agencies around Leicester Sq work. They have these huge signs that say &quot;Half Price Tickets to Phantom, Wicked&quot; etc. And they DO sell some tix at half price. But invariably they are obstructed view or something else like that. The majority of their stock is sold at over face value. They are the same as ticket agencies/legal scalpers in the States. Nothing illegal - but the signs are definitely misleading.

Thanks for the clarification, Janis.

I know London theatres are very different than here in the US as they allow you to eat in your seat even during the performance. But do they also allow late-comers to come in at anytime?

I was just telling someone that we were going to see Spamalot when we are in London and how happy I am with the seats. (Through ticket master - checked with theatremonkey.com for best seats first). They told me that when they were in London they also saw Spamalot but got their tickets that were supposed to be prime seats at a half price booth and paid top price. The seats were terrible behind a post etc so they went back the next day and demanded their money back. They did indeed get the refund but would rather have had good seats in the first place.

chcl: There goes Janis again...calling me a bloomin' idiot for the second time in two weeks. Well, perhaps I am for paying face value (and it was at TKTS), but
we had second row seats in the Upper Circle, for excellent viewing as I stated to chcl above...and they may have been faced at &pound;35. We were happy to get them because Tuesday was our only chance and there were only 9 seats left on the &quot;seat map&quot;. When we saw the show, there wasn an empty seat in Upper Circle.

Obviously Janis, you enjoy sharpshooting as you so often do. Your 'tude shows every time.

Some people on this forum might agree that you are a valuable expert source...for the most part I agree with that (while you sit at your computer closely perusing tube, train and bus schedules, restaurant prices...a veritable human encyclopedic guide book).

That doesn't excuse your unbecoming, uppity demeanor.

stu t.

tower -

Without your clarification in your second post (about where your seats were located), your FIRST post was misleading. You wrote:

&lt;&lt; In May, we set our minds to see Billy Elliot, and on a Monday we walked up to a half-price tix counter in Leicester Square and bought tix for the next night at &pound;35 each....and also got to choose our seats. &gt;&gt;

When I read this, my interpretation is that your &pound;35 tix were bought at half-price; that they were originally sold as &pound;70.

The only official half-price ticket counter in Leicester Square is the TKTS booth.
http://www.officiallondontheatre.co.uk/tkts/

This is what the Official London Theatre Guide has to say about the &quot;1/2 price imposters&quot; in Leicester Square:
http://www.officiallondontheatre.co.uk/tkts/touts/

yk:


We bought tix.
We enjoyed the show immensely.
We pay far more for decent shows and seats in L.A.

I merely wanted to let the OP know that yes, we did see Billy, and yes, we paid &pound;35, had good seats ...now she can do whatever she wants. The fact is, what I paid, and where I got the tix is not germane to my friendly letter to the OP...though I elected to impart this information to her...meanwhile, the usual suspects sit ready to snipe.

I have made numerous contributions to this forum over the years...and have truly appreciated all of the thoughtful advice I've received...but I have sadly noticed that the nastiness, the sniping, the senseless rancor, have greatly increased over that time. I imagine that some OP's have been turned off by this. The forum seems to have lost its way in this regard.

But during my twice- a- day visits I will continue to ask questions from time to time if I need answers, and will continue to answer questions from other posters if I can, with a friendly, helpful attitude. It's a pleasure for me, and there is nothing that any sniper can do to stop this.

I suggest you look over some of my past postings if you care to.

tower- Don't take me the wrong way. I appreciate you posting your experience, and in fact, I will be noting down your Brugge restaurants recommendations.

But back to this particular thread with chcl asking about buying London Theatre tickets. It sounds like you bought your tickets from a reliable &quot;1/2 price&quot; agent, perhaps a member of the STAR (see http://www.officiallondontheatre.co.uk/tkts/touts/). You got your tickets at face value with no mark-up; yet no discount either.

But the fact of the matter is, there are many &quot;1/2 price&quot; agents in Leicester Sq that scheme on unsuspecting tourists by selling them tix at inflated prices. Unless you can recall the name of YOUR 1/2 price agent, it's risky to recommend other readers to use those unofficial 1/2 price agents in Leicester Sq.

From the website I listed above:

&lt;&lt; Don't be misled by imposters! The success of tkts Leicester Square (formally known as the Half Price Ticket Booth) has led to many other discount theatre ticket operations springing up around the Square, all loudly advertising Half Price and cheap West End theatre tickets. You will almost certainly get a poorer deal, less choice of shows, worse seats plus a large booking fee at many of these outlets. &gt;&gt;

Whoa tower! I have absolutely NO idea what set you off. Please re-read both of my posts. I did not call you an idiot or anything even remotely close.

I have NEVER called you (or anyone else) an idiot. I do notice that whenever someone disagrees, you do take it VERY personally.

Your post indicated you &quot;walked up to a half-price tix counter&quot; - If you had in fact used TKTS, most folks would have said so.

I do not sit at the computer looking up fares/schedules. I have never looked up a tube schedule on-line in my life. If I don't know the answer, I don't post. Forgive me if I don't agree it is me who has the &quot;unbecoming, uppity behavior&quot;

Your implications were quite clear last week when I made an honest mistake between a shuttle and private car...a 2 x 4 upside the head? Really?

&gt;&gt;&gt; I do notice that whenever someone disagrees, you do take it VERY personally&lt;&lt;&lt;

No, only when it comes from you dear.

Now your implications are even clearer..how could I buy tix for Billy Elliot for twice face value...then, you go on to readily admit that perhaps the &pound; 35 could be the right &quot;face&quot; for seats in the first few rows, unobstructed, in the Upper Circle.

Maybe I just don't care...but as I said to yk, we thoroughly enjoyed the show and I merely wanted to tell the OP about it...she doesn't have to use any of my tix statements as a guideline. I'm sure that chcl will work it our right for her own benefit.

The TKTS office..yes, call it what you want..but that is exactly where we purchased the tix... and the bottom line is, a very resounding &quot;So What!&quot;

We can each now go our own way...you can go back to your resident expert position with your piles of data, proving to all Fodor's posters that you are, indeed, the last word on London, and all of the UK, for that matter.

I seriously applaud you for that as I think you are certainly most helpful to posters in this regard.

I will, as I stated to yk, continue to ask for advice on this forum, always in a civil manner, and also give it, when asked, in a similar manner as I always have....during the two fun visits a day on my break from my work, that is.(And admitting errors as I did in the shuttle-private car thread).

No need for me to use a 2 x 4, ever.

(Editor: Kathy, please take note)

Please Correct me if I am wrong but I was under the impression that the &quot;official&quot; TKS booth in Leicester Square only sold tickets to that day's(or night's) performance (most 1/2 off, a couple full price). I wasn't aware that you could buy advance tickets(next day) as &quot;tower&quot; idicated in their post.

chcl, do buy tickets for &quot;Wicked, and do enjoy yourself! I just got back from London, and had a fine time at the show. I bought a ticket on-line (through ticketmaster), and paid 60 GBP (plus a fee) for a front row seat in the circle. Some of the action was blocked, but, especially for a musical, sitting up top is great.

The Theatremonkey website will give you good advice on which seats are best. The Ticketmaster.co.uk site will offer up the best seats available in each category. You might fiddle around with the website, and see if there's better tickets for a particular day. The show was not sold out when I was there (Wednesday matinee in June).

I was glad I booked ahead, just because it was one more detail taken care of before I left home.

I never have stood in line for tickets at the half-price booth. I've done enough ticket chasing here at home, I guess.

London theatre is some of the finest theatre you will see. There's top talent, and I'm sure you will enjoy the show. (P.S., I saw &quot;Billy Elliott&quot; last time I was in the U.K. That's a good show, as well.)

cbo86: You are correct, TKTS only sells same-day tickets.

Ya know, I've been posting here for a while myself and have seen 100s of posts from janis. I've always thought they were insightful and helpful and not negative. I can see that tower may feel bad about potentially having been taken or at least not have gotten a great deal, but I think it's good that janis stepped in to help others not make a similar mistake. That is exactly what this board is intended for.

On a side note, I (and my wife) are among a tiny minority, but i thought Wicked was terrible. Awkward melodies and I can't imagine a goofier story ... the ending was so silly, I was actually laughing. But that is clearly just me as the other folks in theater were beside themselves with joy and all the 11-13 yo girls (pointy hats and all) were all aquiver. Oh, the sets and performances were fine. I mentioned this to a fellow that does theater and he won't speak to me anymore. Apparently, I'm an idiot.

Bill

cbo86 and janis:

&gt;&gt;&gt;cbo86: You are correct, TKTS only sells same-day tickets.&lt;&lt;&lt;

I immediately scurried to the web site for tkts, saw the location diagram and realized that we must have bought our Billy Elliot tix from what we thought was the offical tkts..never having used tkts in several prior visits to London. Chagrined? Yes.

BUT, as I stated, so what? We were happy with the tickets, especially happy with our second row Upper Circle seating, and Billy Elliott was superb in every way. So, as they say, sue me...and as I said to yk :

&gt;&gt;&gt;We bought tix.
We enjoyed the show immensely.
We pay far more for decent shows and seats in L.A.&lt;&lt;&lt;

wojazz3:
...if you noticed, I did write:

&gt;&gt;&gt;I seriously applaud you (janis)for that as I think you are certainly most helpful to posters in this regard&lt;&lt;.

Now, what do you want me to write on the blackboard 500 times?

yes, please do.

Wojazz:

done...

Tower - I don't see anything that Janis wrote that could possibly infer you were an idiot in anyway. She has been most helpful to me in planning our London visit. It seems to me the only negative comments on this board were made by you. I for one and very grateful to Janis for her help. The problem with the written word as opposed to in person is you can't pick up the tone in which it was given. I am sure there was absolutley no &quot;attitude&quot; in her comments.

Thanks all for the replies.

I think I'll just get our Wicked tickets thru TicketMater. I compared most websites and it seems they are all about the same as far as charging processing fees. Incidentally, I think it's 9% per ticket that Ticketmaster charges not 4.5 that I originally posted.

I only have one other night available to go to the theatre and right now it's a toss-up between The Lion King and Billy Elliot. So maybe I'll wait awhile for that one.

Tower:
I was just confused about the mention of the TKTS kiosk and getting tickets for an advance performance. So what if you didn't use the &quot;official&quot; booth. I'd say you were darn lucky to get tickets to Billy Elliot for the price you paid on such short notice, AND the main thing is that you thoroughly enjoyed the show. That's priceless. I would have jumped on those at that price when I was on vacation in London instead of falling asleep at LOTR(nice effects but too long).

cbo86:

Thank you, thank you, your being the only poster who understood....I kept saying &quot;so what&quot;, and that's precisely the point. We got the tix, great seats, and we enjoyed...everything else is &quot;so what&quot;...that's not a bad attitude to carry...it's gotten me to nearly 80 years, so what the hell.

Traveler 69: Perhaps reading cbo's post you'll have a slightly different reaction...certainly not a 100%, but how about 5 or 10%. If not, so be it...how many mea culpas must an old man chant?

and chcl...still try to see Billy...you'll love it.(Of course, I won't blame you if you mistrust everything coming from me...but dear wife Roz loved it too.)

Above all, enjoy your visit to London...everything else is &quot;so what&quot;....and when you look at the right hand side of the menus, remember, it's only money...so what!

stu

Thanks, Stu. I loved the film so I'm sure I'll also enjoy the theatre version.

Tower I am glad you got to see Billy Elliot and I am glad you enjoyed it. I just was defending janis as I have found her to be nothing but helpful and just didn't read a negative tone in her response. All I know is that I am looking forward to Spamalot!!!

I understand traveler...we'll all just keep on truckin'....as we count down for our next travel adventure.

stu t.