London Theatre
 

Hello,

My wife and I will be in London for approximately 5 days in the end of July, and would like to see a theatrical performance – preferably something very unique/typical to Britain – if there is such thing.

We’ve already seen Mamma Mia, Producers, Lion King, Les Mis, Chicago and Phantom on Broadway. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Another question that I have is what’s the most economical way of buying tickets? I’ve seen hyperlinks from Playbill, Londontown and Ticketmaster. If there are better ways to purchase tickets as far as getting discounts and avoiding service charges, could you please share?

Thank you.

for cut price tickets - go to the half price TCKTS booth in Leicester Square on the day of a performance and get what's available. Don't go to one of the booths round the edge of the square - you want to small square building in the middle.

For something typically British - how about the MouseTrap, longest running play in the West End. Good old fashioned Who Dunnit.

Jerry Springer the Opera is a hit - Jerry was born in London - how much more Brit can it get?

A couple of years ago we saw Blood Brothers in London.

Recommended by our daughter the infamous Kimberley.

Got 1/2 price tickets at TKTS.

Extremely small theater.
Excellent show.

I second the recommendation for Blood Brothers.

I second the Mousetrap, as that was the first play I saw in London and loved it. I think Blood Brothers would be great to see in London - I saw it in a community theatre and even then thought it was one of the best plays I've ever seen.

Without intending to start a political debate about what "typical to Britain" means, I'll mention a new musical called The Big Life, which is about the experiences of West Indian immigrants to London in the late 1940's, and which recently opened to generally good reviews (see http://www.londontheatre.co.uk/londo.../biglife05.htm). (I haven't seen it, so this isn't a first-hand recommendation, but, based on the reviews, I'm considering seeing it when I'm in London later this month.) A musical version of The Far Pavilions, based on M.M. Kaye's novel set in 19th-century India, which opened a couple of months ago, got less enthusiastic reviews (see http://www.londontheatre.co.uk/londo...avilions05.htm), but it might be fun if you're in the mood for spectacle. Both shows are available at the Leicester Square half-price ticket booth today, according to http://www.officiallondontheatre.co.uk/tkts/today (which of course doesn't necessarily mean they'll be available in July). Jerry Springer: the Opera, which a previous poster mentioned, has closed.

I'm assuming you're primarily interested in musicals, since you mentioned only musicals in your post, but I would think that a performance of a Shakespeare play at the Globe would also qualify as "typical to Britain".

You could go see something Shakespeare at the Globe Theater, I don't think the discounters will have tickets for those performances, I think I bought straight through the Globe box office.

We Will Rock You, based on the music of Queen, was a lot of fun. I picked up tickets at the 1/2 price TKTS booth. Unlike NYC, the lines are never very long and the seats I've received have always been good. You can see what they typically have available, and which shows they never sell, at http://www.officiallondontheatre.co.uk/tkts

Another website if you'd like to buy discounted tickets ahead of time is www.lastminute.com, I bought tickets for Blood Brothers and the Woman in Black through them and was pleased with our seats.

Here's another vote for Blood Brothers.

Woody

And another vote for We Will Rock You. I saw it a couple of weeks ago while in London. A lot of fun! My husband, not a Queen or theater fan, came away loving it and wanting to buy Queen CDs.

Thank you for your advice.