News for London Theatregoers
 

The Mayor of London has just announced a special for London theatres -- much like last year's. Special priced tickets to many shows. See www.officiallondontheatre.co.uk for more information.

Patrick,<BR>Thanks. I just bought tickets for my son and me for Les Miserables and Blood Brothers for a total of $82.The tickets usually sell for $60 each.

Great. I always hear about these deals in the middle of winter, but I only go in May or June. Glad someone can get something out of this.

Thank you so much for the information. I booked Bombay Dreams and My Fair Lady.<BR>So much more convenient that trying for the half price booth which I planned to do. A great deal! Thanks again.

Topping- thanks for the great info. Patrick! :)

ttt for this great deal! I would hate for it to be missed.

is there a way obtaining tickets and viewing the seats that one is buying? That would be great! thanks for any info.

I looked at the website and I'm curious as to what seats these tickets are for. It looks like there's just one price for each partipating show. Does anybody understand how this works?<BR><BR>Thanks!

Susan: I had a little trouble finding the Mayor of London deals myself, until I looked at the box on the right side of the home page (we're used to ignoring that part because it's usually advertising banners, right?). It's a large black box and notes the special. Click on it and it will give you a list of shows. Unfortunately, Mamma Mia isn't one of them, but Les Miz is--another favorite of mine. Offering 20GBP for dress stall--excellent! I couldn't, however, find where you get to choose your seat. Perhaps you don't.

I tried calling the telephone number listed. I hung up after being put on hold for several minutes. Finally I just took my chances and ordered on their web site. The seats were automatically assigned. Stall H8 &amp;9 for one show and dress circle G29 &amp; 30 for the other. Considering what I paid I am pleased.<BR>Thanks again Patrick. If you come across any other great deals let us know.

Question - is this offer for people living in Great Britain only?<BR><BR>I tried to order some tickets, but got to the point where they ask for a post code, and the message said tickets can only be ordered for post codes in Great Britain. Am I out of luck?

Mr Livingstone intends this offer especially for Americans. I think you could enter the post code of your intended hotel.<BR><BR>Ben Haines

I would like to order tickets but I won't have a hotel until I arrive. How will I get them? Does anyone know? Will they be held at the box office?

The tickets for most shows seem to be about 20 pounds. The regular price for most shows seems to be about 40 pounds. So if you can get half price tickets on the day of the show for most shows, is there really an advantage to this promotion? I know the really popular shows like momma mia don't have half price tickets available but what about shows like Chicago, My Fair Lady, Phantom of the Opera or Fame. Those are all shows I'd like to see and if I could be fairly sure I could get half price tickets to one of them on the day of the show I would rather wait and get them there. Does this sound reasonable or should I jump at this chance now? Thanks

The main advantage I see in getting them now is that you don't have to schedule your activities in London around getting to Leicester Square in the daytime to get tickets. There are many better things to do with your daytime than to go there and stand in line -- even for a short time.

For Amanda,<BR><BR>Please can you tell me which play or show you are booking for ?<BR><BR>Ben Haines<BR>

I purchased tickets yesterday and there is an option of the theatre holding the tickets. So even though it asks for your post code don't be concerned - that is if you're comfortable having them hold your tickets. I've done this several times with no problem.

I got good stalls tickets D7 &amp; 8 and W16 and 17 for My Fair lady and Bombay Dreams. Very happy with the savings. Will pick up tickets at box prior to show. I though booking a breeze. I looked up my seats on the www.albemarle-london.com site.

by the way it is &quot;The Lord Mayor Of London&quot;....get it right folks

No it isn't, r. The Lord Mayor is the ceremonial head of the (mediaeval) City (i.e., nowadays just the central business district and the corporations that run it): he has lots of dinners, glad-handing and charity fundraising for a year at a time.<BR><BR>The Mayor of London is an executive mayor supposedly responsible for various strategic operations across the whole of the metropolitan area: a new invention in UK local government. And since he's been in dispute with the Government about the terms on which responsibility for the Tube should be transferred to him, he's basically responsible only for other aspects of transport, part responsibility for the police and otherwise trying to get various public and private organisations to work together in the (much more numerous and wide-ranging) areas he doesn't directly run. Hence the prevalence of eye-catching, but not exactly earth-shattering, schemes like this.

Thanks for this tip. Just purchased for Taboo and Blood Brothers, mid-week in March 2003, at GBP 15 per ticket. Beats waiting in line at the half-price booth! As for the questions concerning &quot;postcode,&quot; I simply typed in my zip code and advised that I would be picking up the tickets at the box office the night of each performance. Worked perfectly for me! Again, thanks for this great money- and time-saving tip!

Patrick,<BR>This is wonderful. Thanks for posting the info. Unfortunately we are arriving a few days for it to benefit us (we get there on April 1), but hopefully others can take advantage. For those that haven't gone to the site yet, there is also a deal for restaurants if you buy theatre tickets.

Wow, I often post these tips from things I've seen or been emailed even though I can't take advantage of them. Often the posts seem to sink to the bottom quickly. Looks like this one has been a winner for many fellow travelers. So glad I could help. <BR>Now if they could just do something like this while I'm there for two weeks in June, I'd be grateful.

Thanks Patrick,<BR><BR>I was only able to get tickets to My Fair Lady but I'm going to keep checking back . . . sure beats standing in line at the half-price ticket booth.<BR><BR>Thanks for the tip and keep posting for us!<BR>Sandy

David, or whoever purchased their tickets through the site- was it through First Call?<BR>Can you send them to your hotel?<BR><BR>When looking at seating charts-which are the best seats? Stalls- dress circle-upper circle???<BR><BR>Can you pick your seats when you book at first call?<BR>Thanks for any info.!!<BR>

Thanks to all for the info - I was able to book 2 tickets for Rent - great seats at 15 GBP each. Will pick them up at box office.

In response to Karen's questions, once I began the on-line purchase process, I was automatically linked to First Call (who must be the supplier of the tickets). My wife and I prefer the stalls (who doesn't???), anywhere from 7 to 20 rows back from the stage, and as close to the center as possible, although one of the first rows in the center of the dress circle (mezzanine in the USA) is also generally very good (this is so because the mezzanine usually overhangs the stalls anywhere between approximately the 10th to 20th row of the stalls). Anyway, I'd take a look at theatremonkey.com's seating recommendations and charts. Finally, on this special deal which this fodors.com link is all about, First Call assigns whatever seats they have available, providing you with no opportunity to pick your own seats. It is kind of like a pot luck supper in that you take whatever is available and you are provided seat numbers and rows once you have placed your order. This might not be the case with full-price ticket orders from First Call, however. In any event, we were provided with very good seats (according to theatremonkey.com's recommendations) and feel quite lucky. Best of luck to you and enjoy your trip and theatre experiences! David.

Everyone is saying that this promotion beats standing in line at the half price ticket booth. But since the promotion only goes through March is that really such an advantage? How long are lines at the half priced booth likely to be in March?

I don't think its just the matter of the lines at the booth, its arranging your schedule to get there during the day and then having to return to the theatre district that night. We often take day trips out to the country or suburbs, so if we want to see plays several nights, we'd have to give up other activities just to go buy theatre tickets. I think this is a great idea -- but I'm not going until April. Any chance they'll extend it?

Topping<BR>

If you don't get tickets to the show you want the first time, keep checking back. When I first tried, Chicago was sold out. A few days later, I was able to get tickets so don't give up.<BR><BR>

Thanks for the advice about this. I went to the website and got tickets for 3 plays - Fame , Bombay Dreams and Abigal's Party. We got great seats for all three - stalls that were no more than 13 rows back and some as close as 5 rows.The tickets ranged from 15 to 20 GBP each. I just did this two days ago and we saved so much I didn't feel bad about paying full price plus 25% for Mamma Mia tickets. Thanks so much for the advice. I would never have known about this without Fodor's.