Opera at Covent Garden
 

Hello,

I will be in London after Christmas through New Year's and would like to see an opera there. Do you have a suggestion on how to buy 'cheap' opera tickets (apart from the standing room only section)? Also, what is the attire for London theater? Thanks.

"Cheap" is an interesting word to use for Covent Garden.

Apart from standing in the Gods, discounted tickets are pretty unusual - at least for operas with tunes. Actually, getting tickets for proper operas at Covent Garden at all can usually be tricky, so I'd get on the web right away.

You might try Broadway Box, but they've currently got offers on tickets only at ENO. Covent Garden is far from being the only opera house in town, and there are usually a number of other - by definition more accessibly priced - operas on around the place. Get Time Out when you arrive and see what else there's on.

With one exception, there is <b> absolutely no dress code at all </b> for theatres. This seems to faze some foreign visitors, so it's worth repeating: we wear precisely what we want, and that's usually whatever we happen to have been wearing during the day. Jeans and office suits are both equally fine.

The exception is Covent Garden. In the better (say &pound;100 and over) seats, it's usual to wear either a full lounge suit or to dress interestingly smart. Black tie is acceptable. In the cheaper (&pound;20-&pound;100) seats, usual London rules (ie none) apply. However my sense is that, while &quot;what you've been wearing all dsay&quot; applies on working days, more and more people, apart from in the gods, are making some kind of effort to look stylish on non-working days. This need not mean collar and tie: but it does mean looking as if you've tried.

In the gods, student scruff is fine, though eccentric smart has a certain cachet.

go to english national opera instead

We attended at performance at Covent Garden this past September; there was all manner of dress from coat and tie on down. We bought our tickets at the opera house website.

As previously posted,your choice is basically Royal Opera House at Covent Garden and English National Opera (ENO). Note both have ballets, but I reckon you're looking for an opera specifically.

For the week you'll be visiting, many venues host more family/kiddie-friendly Christmas production (eg Nutcracker). ROH has Carmen that week.

For some shows, the Royal Opera sells unsold tickets at half-price a few hours before the show. Of course, that's a little risky because the opera you want may sell out. But there are also some websites that sell Royal Opera tickets. You could try http://inspireddiversions.com/eventf...cfm?id_eve=214
They sell tickets in US dollars.