Choosing a play in London
 

We are travelling to London for our first time from the end of march to the beginning of April. I'm having a difficult time choosing what play to take in. This is a first trip to London. Any suggestions on which to choose or where to get information. Any help is greatly appreciated!!!

Well it depends on if you are into musicals or plays. I have this theory with stage plays. When in London, I like to see plays performed by great, I mean great British STAGE actors.. nothing against Lion King or Les Miz, (which are both fantastic by the way), but you will see the roughly the same Lion King in New York, L.A, or Berlin, that you see in London, soo.... when we were in London last month I saw Derek Jacobi the the Tempest at the Old Vic and Judy Dench and Maggie Smith in Breath of Life at the Haymarket.. both so amazing, to hear great scripts acted by once in a generation actors with true command of the language is priceless! (like seeing rock stars before they pass on).. lol.. anyway, I read a review today of Dance of Death with Ian McKellan, that was completly stellar.. supposedly one of the best productions running right now, I've seen Sir Ian before, and I can tell you, if you are interested in a non-musical you couldn't go wrong seeing him.

I like the londontheatre.co.uk website for info on what's playing, reviews, ticket info, etc.

I agree wholeheartedly with Thyra. But if you are the type that prefers musicals, I can't imagine a better one to see in London than My Fair Lady. There's something about the idea of walking through Covent Garden Market past the opera house and sitting down in the Royal Drury Lane and when the curtain goes up, there you are at Covent Garden Market in front of the opera. Gives me chills just to think of it.

I agree with Patrick about "My Fair Lady" and I adore the music, it is superb! "On the street where you live" is wonderful. I love plays where you can hum the tunes!

My kids and I are still humming the tunes to "My Fair Lady" which we saw 2 weeks ago. The sets and costumes were also spectacular. And, you walk through Covent Garden to get to the theater...right where Eliza sold her flowers.(It looks a lot different in modern times!) We got our tix through londontown.com. I'm sure they weren't the cheapest, but we didn't have much time in London and wanted to be sure we got in. I'm sure you can't go wrong with whatever you choose to see.

Is My Fair Lady one of the plays that you can get 1/2 price tix to?<BR><BR>Thanks!<BR>Jamie

The season for the Globe Theatre does not start until May, but if you are at all interested in Shakespeare I would suggest a tour of the theatre and visit to their very interesting museum. We finished with tea in the cafe over looking the Thames. A nice afternoon activity. Their web site is: http://www.shakespeares-globe.org/<BR>Also, if you are a Shakepeare fan you may see a performance by the acclaimed Royal Shakepeare Company, http://www.rsc.org.uk/ . They have different venues. The web site lists the plays and dates.

Yes, you should be able to get half price tickets for My Fair Lady for most performances. Be sure to go to the Official half price booth which is the free standing building at the south side of the park in Leicester Square, not one of the &quot;rip-off&quot; places lining the street with their &quot;half-price&quot; signs. The Official booth will likely only have the top price tickets available, normally selling for 40 pounds, but at 22.50 pounds including the extra fee. They were available there for tonight's perfomance. <BR><BR>You can go to www.officiallondontheatre.co.uk and follow the links (look up in the upper right hand corner of the home page for tckts.booth info) and see what is available on any given day there and at what price.

kenanddavid,<BR>Take note of Patrick's comments -- I'm betting its the same Patrick that gave me great theatre advice for my recent trip to London! (Here's my overdue BIG THANK YOU Patrick!) If you like fun, upbeat shows -- I'd suggest Aida or Mama Mia (although I didn't see Mama Mia in London, rather in the US.) I'd also recommend that you spluge on getting good seats -- it's worth it if you only have time for one show.

Ooops, I meant to recommend Bombay Dreams and not Aida (although Aida in NY was excellent and probably good in London too.) Bombay Dreams was a great show in London though and I'm sure you would thoroughly enjoy it. The audience was nearly dancing in the aisles!

My favorite part of London was going to the plays! We didn't buy any tickets until we got there.<BR><BR>I like both musicals and plays. We went to see &quot;Spend, Spend, Spend&quot; which is inherently British as it is based on a true story of an English couple that wins the lottery. We just loved it. I don't know if it is still playing.<BR><BR>We also went to see Les Mis because it is very famous and neither of us had seen it before. This one is always playing, I believe. It was good, but not the best.<BR><BR>I would also highly recommend the Globe. We had the best &quot;seats&quot; in the house. We arrived early and stood in the one of the front rows the entire time. The acting was phenomenal. We saw The Tempest, a play I knew little about... but the humor was amazing and it was very well done.<BR><BR>Hope this helps and HAPPY TRAVELS!

If I may suggest a slightly different direction, neither monumental actors nor musicals, it is that you keep an evening or two free for plays on the fringe. No web site covers these in full, so the trick is to buy at your arrival airport a copy of Time Out or What?s On, read it on the boring rail trip to your hotel, and phone from a call box with a credit card, to book a play (or two) that sounds good to you. When you phone you can ask about supper, as they are often near places with good food, or have their own buffet. The Almeida, Lyric Hammersmith, and Tricycle are especially string just now, but good work pops up anywhere.<BR><BR>Welcome to London<BR><BR>[email protected]<BR>

Saw CHICAGO in January at the Adelphi. It was brilliant. Still humming &quot;She had it comin'&quot; Adelphi seemed a little run down though. Got same day tickets at Leicester Square for about &pound;22.

Blood Brothers is an oldie but a goodie, a bittersweet musical with an English setting. I think it is always available at the half price booth.

I need to know the dress code for Bombay Nights and Mama Mia. Is it formal or tourist casual? Also, My Fair Lady?

We have tickets for Mama Mia in May and the ticket agency web site, Albemarle of London, suggests smart/casual.

Had difficulty finding advance tickets for My Fair Lady so went for &quot;Le Mis&quot;. Lousy seats but theater is small and sound system so great. We had a ball.<BR><BR>The high light of our trip was seeing A Sleeping Beauty at the Royal Opera House. Very expensive... but what a night!