Theatre Tours

I booked the Royal Court tour, then when I arrived was told the tour guide was off, so they were going to refund our ticket money, but we could have a mini-tour anyway. It was pretty interesting, saw backstage areas, got explanations about various building aesthetics. It probaby would have been even better if the actual tour guide had been there.

I signed up to the ENO access membership, and they've emailed me about the tour for the London Coliseum tour and I'm rather intrigued in going one day.

If you don't take the Drury Lane tour on this trip Elle, you may not get another chance. When the theatre goes dark for its extensive refurbishment, all the very historical machinery under the stage is going to be removed and placed in storage.

Definitely do, there are only a couple of stories for information, no tricks or shocks or anything to frighten. The tour is very much worth it 😁

You make a very good point, thank you for the info. So it's pretty much decided then that 42nd Street will not last beyond this year? If that's the case, that's a real pity.



That's exactly what I was thinking, that they would try and scare us on purpose. Thank you for clearing that up. 👍

Thanks for the info. Missed that when on the site! 

Im surprised they don’t offer tours of the Palladium as it’s such an iconic theatre and I’m sure there are plenty of people (myself included) who would love to have a behind the scenes look at the theatre itself.

Doing the Drury Lane tour this afternoon. Really looking forward to it!

Really interesting tour, loved going under the stage and seeing all the workings. Also fascinating to see the tech crew testing all the sets and lights for the evenings performance. I think it helped seeing behind the scenes at a show I know well and love. An excellent guide as well. Struck lucky with having a small group as it meant we could go under the stage - apparently they don’t always do that if there are too many people.

Its entirely dependant on the group your with and how long you want to spend taking photos. I've read reports of groups taking 1-1.5hrs, conversely I was on my own didn't stop to take photos and we got through it in 45mins. So worth doing though.

It was an hour when I did it, it felt like it's planned and scripted to be done within the hour

Yeah just head to the box office 5-10mins before the tour is due to start and they'll give you your printed RUG ticket.

Sort of related

Someone in our extended family was Mrs Snows Secret Santa. Someone had thought about her interests and purchased a Walking Tour of West End Theatres for 2.

www.musicaltheatrewalkingtour.com/


So while half of London punished the pavements a small group of 4 of us joined Neil Maxfield for a jaunt round Soho and Covent Garden. Neil is a genial host and a real enthusiast for his subject, but not in a heavy academic way. He likes to sing a song relevant at many stops and interacted with all of us. (Apparently without the London Marathon as competition, groups can be much larger). The pace was easy and we had a lovely time in the sunshine.

Architecture isn’t really the point of it but I liked the history of each theatre and the reference to some of the shows presented before even I was born, through to the current shows.

For the real aficionado many of the tales are well worn but I’m sure he’d vary the content depending on the interests of the group.

I would recommend as a pleasant Sunday activity for someone who was introducing someone else to musicals and we found enough to make it worthwhile.