Operation Mincemeat - New Diorama/SWP/Riverside/Fortune

Controversial...... But I've found the marketing and pricing structure from them actually really clever. It's turned me into an unintentional fan of the show when I had no strong intentions to go in the first place. I've now ended up going 6 times this year through their various ballots etc. Always try and take a new friend to see it, who inevitably gets hooked and starts doing the same as me. The pricing structure and short extensions creating demand also means you have to book in advance to ensure you get your money's worth for the ticket - advanced sales is what the west end has really struggled with post pandemic and the rise of Today Tix etc...

Not so. I agree. Though I've only been there once with another person who indeed did go on to book again with someone else and probably continued the chain.

Only ever attended on a Monday or Tuesday, just Mondays are still £39.50 which is fantastic value and has to be booked as soon as put on sale to get first choice of seat (which unusually for me is second or third row stalls for OM). Ballot is great for people who can only attend later in the week and while much harder to win than in the past it's much easier than the Today Tix ones.

Something funny is that they are using the exact same ballot & lottery tactics with the Taskmaster Live Experience.

Being a perpetual member of the lottery list is nice and has resulted in a few impulse trips - but it also means I wouldn't dream of paying £89 for a ticket when I can wait a few weeks and eventually get a £25 ticket. So the result of the lottery is I've seen the show more, but I don't think Avalon have made any more money off me than they would otherwise.

I don't think I said that £39.50 was fantastic value for every seat in the house on a Monday, rather that it is for the seats I and many other fans of OM book on the day they are released. I also acknowledged that it's only on Mondays that price now applies, though £49.50 Tuesday matinee and £59.50 evening is a good deal for a lot of the seats. Some of what appear to be the worst seats for OM still get booked at the weekend for up to £89.50. The fortnightly lottery releases some of those seats and may be the only way a weekender can afford to see the show on a day they can go.

I see a lot of amateur musicals which mostly have the same price for all seats. Invariably there are people sitting  at the back even when there's plenty of availability further forward. At Mamma Mia (which I see multiple times each year thanks to their senior matinee pricing) the front row of the stalls is C which not everyone realises. While the more common reaction is pleasure to be in the front row I've occasionally observed requests to be moved further back.  My personal best seat - stalls front row centre - may be someone else's  too-close-for-comfort nightmare !

Rightly or wrongly, plenty of business people are shameless when it comes to making money and don't hesitate to price as high as they think the market will bear  - think Oasis including the hotels when/where they are playing for instance.  The same people, eg OM producers/backers, are perhaps the sort who will risk losing a hell of a lotm of money by taking their show to Broadway rather than the much safer option of a UK tour. They might make millions - I truly hope they do - or they may lose every penny. Good luck to everyone involved.

I can only assess a situation and form a view based on what's in the public domain and my own experience. You apparently have some insider knowledge which I guess paints a different picture. Fair enough.

Honestly I'd listen to the cast album. Especially if you're planning to know roughly the plot from watching the Colin Firth film (or if you just know the history). There are some quick songs and imo it's better to be able to understand them (native English speaker or otherwise!) than try to preserve experiencing it for the first time on stage and missing things. Knowing the real history isn't going to help with the accents or the quick lyrics. Although it should be noted that the main characters speak in RP, so not as potentially difficult to understand for non-native English speakers as some of the secondary/tertiary characters with regional accents.

Thank you both for the tips! I usually go blind, but this time I’ll probably go through the music with lyrics .

I've lost track. When is this actually extended until now please?

There are auditions happening now in NYC, presumably for local covers/understudies.

I was back at the Fortune for the Saturday matinee, bringing along some friends who hadn't seen it before.

Pleased to report that it's still a 5 star show, I had worried that the parts being so 'married' to the likes of Natasha Hodgson et al would mean that anyone following would feel watered down, but I needn't have worried. We're well into their run now and they've made the characters their own. I had seen Christian before and he is my favourite Hester, his committment to every part he plays is unbelievable. Great, great performer.

My first timer friends enjoyed it too, nice to hear the different bits that stood out to them that I hadn't really considered.

I check every time there’s a drawing and honestly at this point I have not had a successful draw in over a year. I don’t know about the success rate of other lottery systems but it feels like a pointless exercise at this point

It is when everything goes in the first few minutes after the superfans take them all!