London Shows - Theatre ?
 

We will leave soon for two months of endurance travel and will arrive in London around the last week in September ready to relax. We would greatly appreciate any tips / advice on what we should book to see ? Thank you.

Hi
what sorts of theatre interests you?

www.officiallondontheatre.co.uk is a great place to browse

Thank you Elaine. We enjoy musicals, comedy, drama and the unusual. When we travel through the USA we will see Avenue Q and O at Bellagio in Las Vegas. We will also go to a show at Radio City Music Hall and maybe a matinee performance of the original 42nd Street. The last live theatre performance I attended in London was the Graduate about 18 months ago - very good. This visit will be one of the rare occasions that travel is 100% leisure and not business - I hope ! I will review the site you posted with interest.

On the excellent website that Elaine gave you there is a link regarding the 1/2 price TKTS booth in Leicester Square if you are not familiar with it. We've been able to find 1/2 price seats every time we've been in London and the seats are usually pretty good.

I have also found good deals on www.lastminute.com, we are leaving tomorrow and have secured tickets for Blood Brothers at 1/2 price and also Woman in Black.

Kristi. Thanks for your advice. I have seen previous posters make reference to half price tickets that you mentioned. This time we will be happy to go with convenience if we cant get a discount and pay the penalty to try and get the best seats in the best show - our trip spans over two months and London is the second last port of call in the last week of September before travelling back to Australia via Hong Kong. We will check out Blood Brothers and Women in Black reviews. Thanks again.

Here are a couple more theatre sites that hopefully will be helpful:

www.whatsonstage.com
www.theatremonkey.com

Following is a seating guide which you might want to check after you decide which theatre(s) you will be going to:

www.albemarle-london.com

SydneySteve - We were only able to get to see one show this time round, and choose "We will rock you". If it is still on when you are , please don't miss it! We rocked!!
I am rather fussy where I sit so went onto the internet - got a prinout of the theatre seating plan & pre-booked a perfect two perfect seats. If you are coming from any country other than Africa or South America, your seats will be dirt cheap.

PLEASE look at the web site for the OFFICIAL 1/2 Price Ticket Booth (they recently changed their name to TKTS because so many places were using the name to prey on tourists)

This site will help you make sure you are really getting the 1/2 price tickets.

http://www.tkts.co.uk

I have always used TicketmasterUK for theater tickets and have gotten great seats each and everytime. I prefer to book ahead and know what I am getting then to waste alot of time standing in line at a 1/2 price booth (if you want to do that, fine, this is just my opinion). What you get tickets for should reflect your interest in the theater. You may not get great seats for Sept. now, it depends on the show. I normally booked 5-6 months ahead of time. I can recommend Mamma Mia, and Jailhouse Rock if you like musicals. Lion King is a regular favorite of theater goers (not my first choice, but again just my opinion). Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is alot of fun, no matter what your age. Really you need to decide what you are intereted in and take it from there.

I had seen a lot of good recs for Blood Brothers and then a personal rec from a friend. Woman in Black is a long playing one so it can't be too bad :-) I also thought Woman in White looked interesting but alas, it doesn't start until I'm gone.

We recently saw Jerry Springer the Opera, I thought the first 1/2 was a scream, second 1/2 dragged a bit but if you've never seen the actual show, not sure how funny it would be. Lots of profanity and religious jokes so if you're easily offended, it's not for you.

Lastminute.com, BTW, avoids standing in line but honestly I've never stood in line at the TKTS booth more than 15 minutes, it's certainly not as bad as New York. It can be inconvenient to swing through Leicester Square though which is why I'm trying lastminute.com this time.

If you are going to see the larger venue shows such as Mamma Mia or Lion King (neither of which are sold at TKTS anyway), then I would have to agree that it's probably better to get tickets in advance, I don't enjoy seeing shows from the balcony. For smaller productions though, I'd rather save the money. Personal preference.

If you are going to be checking email while you are out, the website Elaine gave you has a signup that will send you updated theatre news

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

The lines at the TKTS booth move quickly. The longest I have stood in line was 10 min. It is worth it to spend a few min waiting to save money. I would rather stand in line in London than at home.

Thank you all for your advice. I will post back what we do and the outcome of what we see.