Good Afternoon

We have a group of 4 that will in London in January and I thought it would be nice to see a show. I was going to surprise everyone with tickets to The Producers showing at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane. Has anyone seen a show there? Is it worth the extra money to have stall seating? There is venue map but it is hard to tell by that how large the place is. Also if we do purchase the stall seating is there still a clear view from the side areas?

What does the "average" person wear to the London Theatre? Would nice slacks be ok, or do people get more dressed up?

And lastly, I was thinking about J. Sheekey's for dinner, it seems to get great reviews. What would be the typical bill be per person for say an average entree with 2 beverages, an appetizer, no dessert? (I know this can very greatly - just looking for a ballpark so I can decide if I want to include dinner in the gift).

Thanks!

We had orchestra stall seats recently but I wasn't aware that we might have paid extra for them since we bought them the morning of the performance at TKTS. The view was great...my husband says especially the view of Ulla!!!


Dresswise ,in London, anything goes , anywhere, anymore!!

Mains at J. Sheekey's start around 15£ and go up to 25 or 30, starters , at 5£ up to around 15£, . I don't know whatt kind of beverage you want..wine, soft drinks, cocktails..?

For the theatre some people dress up but most people go for smart casual.
Nice slacks would be fine.

Drury Lane is a pretty large theatre. I would try to get seats in the front 1/2 of the stalls OR in the Dress Circle. These would cost about the same. The circle hangs out over the stalls so would actually be closer to the stage than the back of the stalls.

We've been to this theater three different times (different shows) and always sat in the Stalls (3rd or 4th rows back from stage) and the seats were great. We did pay more to sit there but we thought it well worth it. The theater is lovely by the way.

Check out www.albemarle-london.com for seating charts - they have the best ones.

As for dress, I always have worn black slacks and either a sweater or blouse/blazer and I was fine. You will see people dressed very well and others dressed as if they were mucking out the stables ...

The J Sheekey menu used to be online via the Caprice Holdings website, the site is 'being redeveloped' at the moment but you could keep an eye on it to get an accurate cost estimate when it's back up. I think we paid about £140 for two courses and wine for three people.

I found seats in the middle of the circle to be fine for The Producers; I haven't been into the stalls of the Theatre Royal but in general stall seats in London have good sightlines.

Slacks will be fine, people rarely get properly dressed up for the theatre.

What is "properly dressed up for the theatre?"

You might want to take a look at Theatremonkey.com, a great website that has a description of "Seats to buy or avoid" at every West End theatre in London. Theatremonkey also has seating charts that are color coded to indciate which seats they think are good, and which are bad.

The Theatremonkey page for the Theatre Royal Drury Lane is
http://www.theatremonkey.com/DRURYLANEbooking.htm

I found a J. Sheekey menu online!

http://www.london-eating.co.uk/menu/87.pdf

Thank you everyone for your help.
I checked out Theatremonkey.com, I will refer back to that when I go to book, that will be a big help.

The J. Sheeky menu looks good, I think we will try it out!

Go here and click on "venues" for seating charts

http://www.londontheatre.co.uk/

You can wear anything. Your choice or pre/post theatre entertainment will usually determine your dress rather than the theatre itself.

As for whether it's worth the extra money... Personally, if you're just going to see a performance for the sake of seeing a performance (rather than any special interest) then I wouldn't pay extra for the stalls. That said, it's not an huge premium extra. So in theory it isn't worth paying, but in practise you may as well book stalls.

I don't know about the stalls, but we went to see The Producers when we were in London (August). Unfortunately, we foolishly assumed we could sit in the seats (ours were up near the back. I'm a size 20, and could barely get into the seat -- it was painful after about two minutes. They are vare narrow. My husband is an ex-football player, and couldn't get into them at all. We were going to watch it standing up behind the seats, but they wouldn't allow us. We had to leave

I can only imagine what the plane ride was like.

London theatre seats are not really for very tall people either.
Perhaps tall and circumferencially challenged folk should try to get aisle seats.

Many london theatres are replacing their seats, as the current ones were put in (and subsequently refurbished) during the 1800s, when everyone was a lot smaller. We’ve all grown a bit since then.

If you’re really big your best bet is a box – then you get to move the seats about.

Oldie:

the plane ride isn't as bad, as we buy an extra seat and the three seats (with the arms up) are fine for us. The theatre seats don't have arms that can come up, and are solid, so they 'squeeze' the excuss butt in