Carmen at the Royal Opera House?
 

I noticed that this will be showing on our last night in London and the trailer on the official website looks really great.

http://esales.roh.org.uk/tickets/pro....aspx?pid=3391

I'll be honest...I've never experienced opera before. The only three seats together that are available are up in the amphitheatre section (30 pounds each), but according to the website have a pretty good view.

We're also planning on seeing Wicked and The Importance of Being Earnest. Anyone familiar with ROH performances? Should we go for it?

I haven't been to the ROH - but I think that if you can, this would be a great place and a great opera for your first experience! I'm not incredibly into opera, but I really enjoyed Carmen.

(I'm glad you're seeing Wicked - it's amazing!)

I'm totally not an opera fan, or even a classical music fan - I'm virtually tone deaf. But I saw Carmen in London (I was traveling with an opera fan), and really enjoyed it. I think that was the English National Opera, the Royal should be even better.

I am an opera fan, and I can tell you that Carmen is thrilling, dramatic, melodic and therefore very accessible opera, and a wonderful first opera. Go for it!

I'd grab those tickets while you can.
It's a popular opera and will sell out quickly.
Covent Garden has a great atmosphere and the amphitheatre is fine.

We saw the Magic Flute at the ROH a few years ago. The theatre is over-the-top Victorian, and the sets were fabulous!

I agree that you should see Carmen even if you are not usually a fan of opera. The experience is wonderful and I try to go to an opera or ballet in every city I visit. Carmen is especially wonderful.

The Importance of Being Earnest is a fun play; we saw it several years ago at the Savoy Theatre in London, with Patricia Routledge(known for her role as Hyacinth Bucket) in the part of Lady Bracknell.
We are headed for London in May, and will try to catch Wicked.
We always plan in advance for the opera, ballet, and any particular show that is a must see, as tickets do sell out. We also like to go to the TKTS half price booth in Leicester Square to catch bargain seats at least for one night of each trip.
Have fun, the performing arts in London are amazing!

What are your dates? If you're going to be in London between June 23 and July 12, check out Candide at the English National Opera starring Kristin Chenoweth. I saw her do the concert version of this Leonard Bernstein musical two years ago with the New York Philharmonic and it is AMAZINGLY fun, clever, and good.

And I would "kill" to see Patricia Routledge in Importance of Being Earnest.

Okay, I snatched them up! It was a little harry there for a moment as the seats disappeared for a while. Apparently someone was just holding them in their cart, but didn't actually purchase them. I got them in in the end!

Patrick - We'll be there in late March.

a little *hairy* not harry....lol.

I saw Patricia Routledge as Lady Bracknell a while back (may have been the same trip as Carmen). I was really excited to see her, but I have to say I wound up disappointed. I think part of it was that she seemed to be playing more to the audience and less to the other actors.

"I think part of it was that she seemed to be playing more to the audience and less to the other actors."

Hmmm. Sounds about perfect to me. Oscar Wilde's Lady Bracknell playing to the audience and not to the actors? I'd probably love it. This isn't Ibsen or Chekhov after all. Sounds more like it would have been done in the original.