Review of 6 different shows London
 

1. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. An incredible fun show. Great music, great comedy. Quite memorable as was Starlight Express years ago. 2. Bombay Dreams. Magnificent music, dancing, cultural moments of India. 3. Anything Goes. First act was a bit slow and dull. Then it came alive and was fun. 4. Tonights the Night. Music of Rod Stewart songs. An absolute joy to hear and see. 5. Nutcracker. Well, have seen so many. This was just okay, not exciting as other versions. 6. Cinderella, the ballet. First act was a bit dull, but the rest of the performance was great. Well, I would go see all again except for Nutcracker. In addition, the London Eye trip wasn't as exciting as I expected, but it was okay. A trip to Greenwich to see the Cutty Sark and the museum was well worthwhile. All in all, London continues to be our favorite city despite the light rain and drizzle during the Christmas and New Years holidays. We stayed in a flat in Knightsbridge which was quite convenient. And taking the buses is less expensive than taking the tube. Have a good trip.

Hi Thomas, we have tickets for "Anything Goes" for the end of Feb. How slow and dull was it? We are going to do a half price show or two. I don't know if my husband would like Chitty however. London is our favorite city too! Can't wait to go! Judy :-)

I haven't seen the current production of Anything Goes, but within the first five minutes the lead sings "I Get a Kick Out of You". How dull can that be unless she is a real snooze? And within the first act are some of the best Cole Porter songs ever written as well as some very funny dialogue, and some huge dance numbers, including the rowsing title song. I can't imagine what could have happened to make the first act of Anything Goes dull. Are you sure you didn't have a few drinks or too much dinner and you were just in that "drowsy" mood?

Thomas: I appreciate the time and effort that went into your "report." However, as you no doubt know, whether or not a production is "good" can depend on a lot of factors and also how one defines"good." Theatrical producers and production companies, to which I am very closely connected, often define "good" as in "great box office receipts." To paraphrase a line from "Phantom,"..."gossip's worth its weight in gold..." {at the box office}.
A great example is in Patricks' response re Cole Porter {whom he obviously enjoys} whereas there are many who don't care that much for Porter stuff and wouldn't pay a dime to see it even if we managed to resurrect Cole Porter himself to play it.

I recently saw "Bombay Dreams" in London which, from what I hear, after some "significant" re-tooling is coming to Broadway. I enjioyed that show whereas someone else here described it as "missable."
No accounting for taste and also no accounting for audience (or posters on this board) reaction sometimes, either. If there were, then there would be significantly more millions resident in this household I can assure you.
Cheers to you and keep buying those tickets!

When deciding which show to go to in London, I relied on 3 differant factors. critic's reviews, Fodorites opinions(like Patricks and others), and my own likes and dislikes(love Cole Porter). DH did not want to see Thoroughly Modern, cause he saw the movie and did not like it. As for the plays, I will see what is available each day at TKTS 1/2 price booth. Judy :-)

Is there a website that lists the show generally available on the London TKTS line for day to day (or even week to week)? Also, is the line comparable to that in NYC?
Thanks

To Judyrem and others. The Anything Goes music was fine. It was the attempt at a story line that seemed dull to me in the first act. I am quite familiar with the music and can play it. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is so amusing and has incredible car scenes that even senior adults could like it. I would see it again. In fact, I bought the music CD. By the way, the walk up to the Greenwich Museum could be a bit strenuous for some.

A group of us saw "The Rat Pack" which we all thorougly enjoyed and thought it very authentic and slick. You will enjoy this show.

MFNYC, go to this site:
www.officiallondontheatre.com

It is a great listing and source of all information on London Theatre. On the right side of the home page you'll see a box (looking like an ad) for TCKTS. You can click on that and find what is on sale that day at the booth and for what prices.

There was a rather lengthy discussion about the lines just a couple days ago. I mentioned I've probably done that line 50 times over the years, and don't think I've ever stood in it more than a half hour no matter how long it looked --usually it moves quickly and I'm there only 10 or 15 minutes tops. There are separate lines for matinee and for evening -- get in the right one, or split up and one person get in each if you're looking for two shows in one day. My suggestion is don't go at 9:30 before it opens at 10:00 because you'll be standing in line all that time before it opens plus more depending on the length of the line. Mid to late morning or later in the day is better.

By the way, I did the line in NYC once, it took forever, was totally disorganized, and I ended up with horrible seats. I've never done it since. But I think the one in London is great -- also because they generally only have the best category of seats -- not the back row corner or rear balcony which is what I got in NYC.

Thanks, Thomas! I found your reviews very helpful. I checked the TKTS website yesterday (I'm not going till the end of March) and found the tickets for 'Anything Goes' (which I'd heard was a fun show) to be quite affordable. I'll check your top two, also.

Thanks for the website Patrick. It's exactly what I wanted. We're (family of 4) only spending 4 nights in London so I don't know if we'll bother with theater but if the gang is up for it, I want to be as informed as possible. The south Street seaport nyc tkts booth is much more civilized than duffy sq. 20 min waits mid-afternoon (in the summer anyway).

Do you know if there are any sites that offer advance sale discounts (like hitshowclub or playbill)?

Just a day or two ago someone here mentioned getting advance half-price tickets from the visitbritain site. I went there but couldn't get the site to work for me. I questioned if it was a true deal, and she proved it was -- tickets were for Blood Brothers I think. Sometimes there will be notices of specials on that same officiallondontheatre site.


Your Southstreet Seaport comment reminds that I did go to the TKTS line at the World Trade Center -- and it too was so much better than at Times Square. I also liked that you could get tickets to the next day's matinee as well as that night's show!

Hi, I am the person who found the theater deals on the visit Britain site. The deals are 2 for 1's and are offered by Keith Prowse. You can find them on the visit Britain site (albeit buried under "discounts" or "bargains" or just check out the Keith Prowse web site. I got both Blood Brothers and Bombay Dreams for about half price. Another good source of discounts is theatremonkey.com and also check out the UK ticketmaster website, they also list discounts. I find that I have to check these sites every couple of days. I am still searching for more discounts but these are the best sites that I have found so far. Oh, one more, the Mayor of London has announced a few 2 for 1 deals. I found a web site for mayor and the deals are listed there in a paper called the Londoner. Good luck! Susan

MFNYC,

Try http://lastminute.com/

Keith

Keith, my issue with lastminute.com is that you cannot pick your seat. They say that they will give you the best available, but many times those are not great seats. I live by the seating information on theatremonkey.com. They tell you which seats are good value and which are not. Many top seats are not worth the price!

Susan, very true. But the TKTS booth has the same problem. I think that buying the tickets in advance through lastminute.com is a good alternative to making a special trip to Leicester Square.

Keith

TicketmasterUK has a one day sale for Anthing Goes for 20GBP ea. Sale is from 11:00 am Thurs - 11:00 am Fri. London time of course.

JoeG - where did you see this sale? I was just on the site and couldn't find it. My daughter wants to see Thorougly Modern Millie (not my choice at all!) and I am looking for discount tickets? Have you seen any?

Susan56,
Here it is:
http://www.ticketmaster.co.uk/offer/...title=Anything Goes&affiliate=TMNL
JoeG

I just realized that this sale is for performances through Jan.17th only. Regular price is 45GBP.