Theater in London

[ts548]

I seem to recall reading a post with a great link to research available London tickets. We are going next July 1st & wanted to see our options. Anyone have a suggestion for the best priced tickets?

 

Also...what is the dress code for the theater in London?? Anyone have an idea??

[MavisMarie]

Try LondonTown :http://www.londontown.com/

 

They have a great selection of West End plays and I found their booking engine to be a lot easier to use than Ticketmaster. We just booked Dirty Dancing through them for next April. With the way the GBP vs USD is going lately, I thought it was better to pay now as everything is so expensive.

[murphysmum]

I always use Albemarle-London.com.

 

The web site will tell you which shows are current, which ones will be starting, which will be ending and when and they cover all forms of entertainment in London.

 

I've never had a bad experience with them.

 

Enjoy!

 

murphysmum;)

[sailingkiwi]

http://www.theatremonkey.com is a must check website for reviews of theatres and seats. It is fantastic for working out whether the seat you are looking at is good value or not.

 

Don't rule out booking directly through the theatre. We did this for Wicked last Friday and had fantastic seats for £15 (used Theatre Monkey to research them).

 

Dress code - people are normally dressed smart casual, unless it is a premier. If you are going on a weeknight then you will see people in work dress. You will also see people in jeans. Opera and concerts at the Royal Albert are normally slightly more formal (ie you probably would see fewer jeans).

[Spikesgirl]

An insider's tip - if you want the best price, shop the Internet - if you want the best seat, call the theater box office directly. If you are more of a gambler, wait until you get to London, then go down to the half off ticket sales office(it's just around the corner from the tube Leicester Square station on the Picadilly line). They will have the cheapest tickets anywhere, but you have to be willing to compromise ocassionally on seating. This isn't always the case, we've gotten really fabulous seats there.

 

One of the best sites I've found to keep up with the West End shows is a site called whatsonstage.com. They offer reviews, tickets, upcoming looks at new shows. Definietly worth a looksee even if you don't get tickets through them.

 

Dress was definitely resort casual, but you will find that folks are inclined to dress up more for evening shows rather than matinees.

 

If you're interested in good dining options, go to the theater beforehand and ask the box office what they recommend.

 

Charlie

[MavisMarie]

www.theatremonkey.com is a must check website for reviews of theatres and seats. It is fantastic for working out whether the seat you are looking at is good value or not

 

I just found that site yesterday from a post on another thread. You are SO RIGHT!!! Fantastic site.... especially enjoyed being able to watch video of the shows. I think I've invested about 2 hours of my time.

I did, however, find their ticket offerings to be lacking. When I did a "test run", I found their "best" tickets to be many, many rows back from what LondonTown had to offer. Because of this, I would not book with them.

[SelectSys]

... Don't rule out booking directly through the theatre. We did this for Wicked last Friday and had fantastic seats for £15 (used Theatre Monkey to research them)

 

Did you buy your tickets the day of the show from the theatre box office at a discount? At what time of day are tickets made available. You certainly got a good deal as I paid considerably more booking on line via Ticket Master (no discount here).

[sailingkiwi]

Did you buy your tickets the day of the show from the theatre box office at a discount? At what time of day are tickets made available. You certainly got a good deal as I paid considerably more booking on line via Ticket Master (no discount here).

 

We bought them through the show's own website. They were in the upper circle (so quite high up), but totally unobstructed and you could see the entire stage. I think they were row S.

 

If you go the day of the show, you get tickets in the first two rows. I have heard people say that these are not bad seats either.

 

Re: buying tickets through Theatre Monkey - I have never done this, just use it for research. Any time you are buying tickets at a cheaper price (which would be anything under £40) you are not going to get the best seats in the house.

[stbk1998]

wait until you get to London, then go down to the half off ticket sales office(it's just around the corner from the tube Leicester Square station on the Picadilly line). They will have the cheapest tickets anywhere, but you have to be willing to compromise ocassionally on seating. This isn't always the case, we've gotten really fabulous seats there.

Charlie

 

I've never purchased tickets in advance for West End shows and have gotten sweet deals through the vendors at Leicester Square.

[Spikesgirl]

As have we, but there are times when you need to go directly to the horse's mouth, as it were. We picked up fabulous tickets for "Wicked" that way, but I didn't want to run the risk of getting shot down for "Spamalot," so I went through the box office. We got good seats, but there were enough empty seats to have suggested that the half price booth would have been a better choice. Ah, well, the show's the thing.

 

Charlie

[Denverite]

We booked through http://www.seetickets.com recommended in Rick Steves London book. We found the best seats through the site (5th row center for Billy Elliott on a Saturday night). I searched a few sites and the seats were further back, so went with this one. We really enjoyed Billy Elliott!