Theatres and Shows, London

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London is renowned worldwide for its theatre especially musicals. Most of the theatres include The Royal Opera House and The Coliseum are in the London's West End. You can go and see opera or ballet at The Coliseum; or a play at The Globe or at The Barbican Centre; or a musical at one of the West End's theatres.

In June 2010: I saw English National Opera's "The Pearl Fishers" (The Coliseum) which was excellent.
In July 2010: I saw the musicals, "The Phantom of the Opera" (Her Majesty's Theatre) and "Love Never Dies" (The Adelphi) which were excellent and are a couple of my favourite musicals.
In August 2010: I saw "Love Never Dies" again (The Adelphi). This musical is growing on me and I plan to see it again in October.
In October 2010: I saw English National Opera's "Faust" (The Coliseum) which I thoroughly enjoyed. I also saw again "The Phantom of the Opera" (Her Majesty's Theatre) and "Love Never Dies" (The Adelphi).
In November 2010: I saw English National Opera's "Don Giovanni" (The Coliseum) which was probably the company's best production I ever seen! I also saw again "Love Never Dies" (The Adelphi).
In January 2011: I saw English National Ballet's "Romeo & Juliet" (The Coliseum) and saw again "The Phantom of the Opera" (Her Majesty's Theatre) and "Love Never Dies" (The Adelphi).
In March 2011: I saw Agatha Christie's "The Mousetrap" (St Martin's Theatre) and "Love Never Dies" (The Adelphi). At the end of the month, Mum and I saw "The Lion King" (The Lyceum).
In June 2011: I saw the play "Pygmallion" (Garrick Theatre) and "Les Miserables" (Queen's Theatre).
In July 2011: I saw "The Phantom of the Opera" (Her Majesty's Theatre) twice; "Love Never Dies' (The Adelphi) twice; and "Priscilla" (Palace Theatre).
In August 2011: I saw "Love Never Dies" (including the final show) (The Adelphi), "The War Horse" (New London Theatre), "The Phantom of the Opera" (Her Majesty's Theatre) and "The Wizard of Oz" (London Palladium).
In September 2011: I saw "The Wizard of Oz" (London Palladium)
In December 2011: I saw English National Opera's "Tosca" (The Coliseum)
In January 2012: I saw "Wicked" (Apollo Victoria)

You pay an average of 60 GBP (for a top price ticket) to see a musical in The West End and around 70-80 GBP (for a top price ticket) to see an opera at The Coliseum. You can, however, purchase discounted tickets on the day either at the theatres themselves of at The Society of London's Half Price Ticket Booth at Leicester Square (Please see separate tip) or day tickets at selected shows.

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We did and we had a great time. We saw an evening performance of 'Priscilla, Queen of the Desert - The Musical at the Palace Theatre. We really enjoyed just wandering around the district in the early afternoon trying to decide which show to see that evening. Tickets range from about $20 pound to over a hundred. There were still plenty of seats available at various prices for most shows even at the last minute. As a plus, the theater district is right next to the SOHO district and London Chinatown, so it's easy to explore all three areas in one afternoon.

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Who can’t do anything with Monty Phyton, please kindly skip this tip as it would not mean the slightest thing to you. Who can, please feel free to continue reading and please listen to the links I added (I hope they stay on youtube, as they seem to be official ones) :-)

Yes – I have added this intentionally as to-do tip as opposed to nightlife, where it might belong to, but:
for all of you Monty Phython’s fans out there in the world, I would not only recommend to go and see it while you are in London, but even say go on a pilgrimage to London just to see Spamalot, the musical. Of course you might say that it is a hard if almost impossible task to transform their original humour and spirit into a musical without having at least one of them on stage. But Eric Idle wrote book, lyrics and music and John Cleese is with us as he lends god his voice.
When I realised that Spamalot is running in London’s Palace Theatre I knew I MUST see this and was happy that Sarah and Chris wanted to join me. Thanks to Chris for booking the tickets for fantastic seats in the Grand Circle (£ 40). Of course I was a bit sceptical as of how I would perceive it given that I adore the movie – but to bring it to a point: I would go again and again and again.
So, Spamalot is based on Monty Python and the Holy Grail, but contains also parts of the Dead Parrot, the Lumberjack and the famous song from Life of Brian. And it follows the movie sequence pretty close – even the famous opening which is hijacked several times by trouble making crewmembers who add subtitles for the Vikings and mention the bad møøse that bite their sister lately is featuring as the opening song – or möösical – with reference to the Fish Slapping Dance of the Flying Circus. And also the other ones like the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch, the Killer Rabbit, the Black Knight (“let’s call it a draw”), Bring Out the Dead, Tim the Enchanter and the famous French Taunts and the flying cow are there! In addition to the movie they have introduced the Lady of the Lake (well, she is mentioned in the film but appears as a person on stage) and her Laker Girls. This is especially funny, as anytime she appears, the musical burlesques the typical musicals and you will immediately realise that the songs then get very much “Andrew Lloyd Webberish”.
Edit, November 2009:
I found the "Finland opening" on youtube, but I am not sure if it will stay on youtube or has to be removed. But as long as it is there - look and... have many tissue paper for the tears that shoot right from your eyes: Finland

Now what can I say more then - GO!

If you are still sceptical, please read what Wikipedia writes (very interesting article) or listen to this youtube video:
London cast rehearsal with Tim Curry as King Arthur and almost the complete “Not Yet Dead” scene,
(the others I have have once linked here are sadly no longer available)

During the time it was running in London, Sanjeev Bhaskar is King Arthur (photo 1).

GO NOW, as according to Wikipedia, Spamalot willl terminate in London January 3, 2009. But at least I’ve read that it will be running in the Musical Dome, Cologne from January 2009 on. Hurray!! Well, erm... nice, as they... one cannot believe it... perform it... in German :-(( (idiots... none of any Monty Python sketches, movies or this möösical is translatable into any other language but British).

Performances in the Palace Theatre are Monday to Thursday at 8 pm, Friday at 5:15 and 8:30 p.m. and Saturday at 3 and 8 p.m.

Oh and I especially loved the devotional things which were on sale, lovingly called “The Olde Rippey Offey Shoppe” (see photo 3) where you can buy almost everything, included the Killer Rabbit (15 £ for the one in photo 2 and 10 £ for the one in Sarah's photo 5) and the cow as stress reliever toy (photo 4, 5 £). The cow in the photo lives now in my home and we have named her Ethelbertée (thanks Christine.j. for this splendid suggestion).

One note on the side which I didn’t know before, but isn’t all life long learning? The use of the word spam for… well, what we use it for today, is originated in Monty Phyton’s Spam sketch, referring to the famous US origin canned processed meat. No need to mention that a can of Spam also sneaks into the musical and can be bought as devotionalia, with stinkin’ French garlic of course (see where the Killer Rabbit sits on in my photo).

PS: I found a review on Ciao Shopping Intelligence which is fantastic and funny to read:
Spamalot review

Oh my, how grateful I am for the 10.000 characters..... lol

Coordinates on GoogleEarth:
51°30’47,63’’N; 00°07’46,42’’W

Footsteps to the Moon is a musical about some escaped lunatics caught in the middle of a war and how the world around them is acutally madder than they are. The subject is dark yet lightened by humour and the music is also quite uplifting.. It is extremely slick and very professionally presented by actors normally working in the West End on such successes as Bombay Dreams and others. The nature of the venue is such that the audience feels as if we are part of the show, part of the experience. It is incredible.

The American actor/Director Sam Wanamaker campaigned to build this re-construction of the Globe Theatre close to the site of the original.

The Theatre is situated on the south bank of the River Thames at Bankside, next to the Tate Modern.

The Royal Shakespeare Company's production of Hamlet at the Barbican Theatre was truly a surprise. We knew we wanted to see a Shakespearean play on our trip to London - at only 10 pounds (back row, small theater), the RSC's production was, of course, the obvious choice. Hamlet has always been my favorite play, but I was surprised at the RSC take on it - very modernized, in a corporate world rather than old Denmark.

UPDATE : APRIL 2007. Now closed on the covent garden site, but much of the collection is now exhibited at the main V & A site in South Kensington.

Dear luvvies,

The Theatre Museum is spin-off of the V&A (Victoria and Albert). Because of this it is free!

It has some excellent collections - if you have any passing interest in the theatre then it is a must. The exhibibtions are very well done, but pehaps lack 'impact' to some extent.

There are original costumes, playbills and other paraphanlia to see as well as a magnificent 'box' saved from a theatre in Glasgow and a tribute to that most famous of English acting dynasties : the Redgraves.

They also do performances, make-up demo's & other acting-type things.

You don't need to be luvvie to understand it all - it's very well presented and it made me realise something....when you give a performance that is stunning in live theatre, only a few hundred people will ever see it, and the moment is gone. Give one on film and you will be immortalised. Deep eh ?

I remember Guilgud said to me one fine evening in rep...trails off into longwinded story about as interesting as a guided tour of my shed.

London was quite a bit behind other major cities in getting an IMAX cinema but it arrived eventually. It replaced the old bullring (aka cardboard city) where all the tramps used to reside at Waterloo.
I don't think I need to explain what the IMAX cinema experience is like. See attached web site link for a list of films showing and the daily schedule.