Australian friends loved War Horse.
Blythe Spirit opened last month and is booking until June 18th.
That's pretty British and funny

We're planning on War Horse with our teen son b/c friends saw it and loved it.

I'm not saying book through here but it has an excellent 'What's on' listing by date, and you can choose between 'West End' and 'Fringe and other' shows.

http://www.londontheatre.co.uk

Billy Elliott?
'Ghost stories' looks interesting, depending on their age, it has a not under 15s warning. Should be good though,excellent 'weird' British writers.

Wow, thank you all - flaneruk, you have some great insight and seemed to have nailed my problem. I'll continue to search the theatre site and we will hold off on a decision until we are closer to our departure.

Just an FYI - we will be there in June and we will also be departing from London heading for the Dordogone! Good to know there will be English, albeit the Queen's English speakers in the Dordogne while we are there.

Thank you all again.
Faye

If it helps I saw 39 Steps with my 2 teenage boys 2 weeks ago when visiting London and they loved it. And you will too. A great night out.

I just saw War Horse at Lincoln Center in NEW YORK CITY.
I absolutely love it. Highly reccomend it to you and your family.

My 28 year old son lives in London/daughter lives in Southampton. I work for the airlines and layover in London alot to meet them for dinner and plays.
I am NOT a musical person but my favs have been:
The Lion King
Jersey boys
Priscilla,Queen of the Desert
The above have the energy and fun that your kids would like along with fabulous music and costumes.

39 Steps was a sleeper(too corny) for me along with my 25 and 28 year olds.War Horse is really hard to get tickets for and they are very expensive(I have been trying for the past 6 months) so perhaps if you start now you can get some for a cheaper price.

The Regents Park Open Air Theatre is lovely if the weather's good. In June they're doing 'Lord of the Flies'.

I had no problem gettng tickets for War Horse on the National Theatre website and then picking them up at the box office on the day of performance, They are pricy though but worth every single penny.Performances sell out quickly so as far in advance as you can.Our Thus.matinee was sold out last month

Has anyone seen the Wizard of Oz or Million Dollar Quartet?

Great review on War Horse in NYC today in the Times

http://theater.nytimes.com/2011/04/1...oA5gkL5jZ2HTCA

If you're looking for a West End production (because you want the West End experience even though it's not a "Broadway" play), I would echo the above comments for The 39 Steps or Woman in Black. Both are very good, would be interesting to teenagers (male or female), and are not something that would play in NYC.

I'd also recommend checking what's playing at the Royal National Theatre (http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/) -- sometimes it's a very good Shakespearean interpretation, other times it's something more experimental. War Horse was actually a National Theatre play that was so successful they are continuing its run off-site.

I'd also recommend looking Off-West End ... this is the equivalent of Off-Broadway or "fringe" theatre. Honestly, the quality of some of these productions are hit or miss, but usually they are quite creative, the tickets are inexpensive, and it definitely gets you into a part of the city that tourists likely would not otherwise travel. Comprehensive list of Off-West End shows is here: http://www.offwestend.com/