Hello. We are going to London in May and would like to spend at least on evening at the theatre. What is the best way to reserve seats? Is it UK Ticketmaster, the box office directly when we get there, or is it worth waiting in line at the half price booth? Has anyone used the half priced booth and does it generally have a good selection of plays? Also, does it have a long line? Any imput would be apprecited.

If a specific show and/or good seats are more important than money, then one good option is to get access to a London newspaper with theater listings and call the theater directly and ASAP. You can pay with a credit card and the theater will hold the tickets for pick-up. You probably will need to show the credit card with which you made the reservations when you call at the pick-up window. A second option is to use a booking agency -- a reliable one that we have used for Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals in the US is "TheaterDirect" -- I'm not sure of the exact name, but they have a web site that can be located with a reasonable search pattern -- they are in NYC and seem to specialize in Webber musicals, but they also book into some London theaters. Our experience with them has been very good.

Some of the shows have very few tickets left for the "half priced" booth. It only sells tickets for the day of the showing. If you have a real hankering to see a specific show, I'd book them before leaving. If you want to make sure of your exact seat and don't ming paying a fee, see "ticketmaster.co.uk" and you can search shows by $$ you are willing to pay....also, timeout.com sells tickets I believe.

Fodors <BR> <BR>To know what's on ffer you can buy at a newsagents in the concourse of your rrival airport a lisatings magazine, "Time Ou" or "What's On", and read it on the dull journey towards your hotel. No website covetrs all London theatres, as several Fringe managers fail to send their details in. Newspaper lists, too, are inconmplete, and unannotated. <BR> <BR>Fore West End shows there are lists on the web: two examples are <BR>the Evening Standard on http://www.thisislondon.com <BR>and http://www.officiallondontheatre.co.uk/main.html <BR> <BR>Now that transatlantic phone calls are cheap, for tourist blockbusters, the Globe, and the National Theatre it is cheaper to avoid agents and simply phone the theatre, holding a credit card. For real plays other than Globe and National Theatre you can buy by phone when you reach London. <BR> <BR>Please write if I can help further. Welcome to London. <BR> <BR>Ben Haines <BR>

I used these folks last spring. They were terrific. The service was excellent, the seats were sensational and they were mailed to my home in the US--no pick-up.: http://www.albemarle-london.com/opera.html

Sondra, <BR>We've used UK Ticketmaster with no trouble at all, I've also called theaters directly and booked and have used Edwards&Edwards (Global Tickets) as well. If you are planning on trying to see a top show in May, i.e. Lion King, Momma Mia, I don't think I'd waste time at the 1/2 price booth, in fact I am not sure they'd even have them - the theaters may not have much available either, try a ticket agency, you will pay more but if you want to go it may be the best alternative at this late date. I booked about 8 months ago for April/Lion King and got front row seats directly from the theater, likewise Momma Mia and Fosse (3rd & 4th rows respectively) but I did this a long time back! We bought concert tickets on line via Ticketmaster a couple of months back for April as well and also got good seats, I think the trick is having some lead time if you are interested in a specific show. In your case, if you really want to see a particular show I'd contact an agency as May is pretty close! (Personal thought - I do not find standing in line or waiting around for ticket returns a good use of my vacation time, but that is a personal opinion).

If you are trying to get into a current blockbuster and are told it is sold out, call the theatre at 3:00pm. Tour groups book huge blocks of tickets and they cancel their overbookings by 3:00 so sometimes you can get lucky. Years ago when cats was booked, we scored fifth row aisle seats this way.

When I was there last year, I had no trouble getting any seats from the box office, plus London theatre is so much less expensive than that in New York. The Leicester Sq. booth was great too, but the prices were comparable to box office tix (London theatres have a large price spectrum as opposed to New York ones where it's either $80 or $50).

Have bought tickets for probably 25 or 30 shows in London at the half price ticket booth over the last 5 or 6 years. I don't get the last posting about the prices being similar to the box office-- all tickets there are exactly half price (plus a small fee per ticket), although they only sell the top price tickets -- which also means you never get a bad seat there. I have never stood in line more than a half hour, they are organized and it moves quickly, even when the line is half way around the square. No they don't have a few of the really big hit musicals, but they have really good tickets for most shows. I have had super luck at the box office the day of show for the blockbusters. By the way, you sometimes need to pay cash for those last minute returns even at the box office. And the half price booth at Leicester Square only takes cash. By the way, make sure you don't use the other stands around Leicester Square where they often sell the cheapest seats for shows claiming it's up to half price off-- yes, it's half the price of the top priced tickets, but the same seats at the box office are often less than those gyp joints. The official booth is in a freestanding building at the south side of the actual square.