Newsies - Troubadour Wembley Park

I saw this on Sunday afternoon and enjoyed it, but didn't love it. I thought the large ensemble numbers were excellent, particularly the tap dancing scene at the start of Act 2.

But I did find the singing from the leads close to inaudible at times - the mix seemed very unbalanced. And I couldn't escape the fact that it felt like I was watching a very temporary show in a warehouse.

Still, an entertaining afternoon - 3.5/5.

George seems to be doing the Thursday matinee most weeks (but not the evening performance).

Just a quick review of last Saturday evening (4 March) and Wednesday's (8 March) shows. 4 March front row Flushing in restricted view seat, but more than made up for by almost being on the stage, and very little of the action is missed. Only slight downside was the sound was a bit variable - probably a trade off between that and the sometimes near overwhelming spectacle in these seats!

Wednesday's show I was in front row left of Manhattan in a normally top price seat but priced at about half that for the Mastercard Priceless promotion. I actually felt the view was often less good than my restricted view seat on Saturday, mainly as some tall gents were in back row of Brooklyn so obscuring the front of stage for me. Still it was a new angle and good to see "Once and for all" from here. And big thumbs up to the cast members who did an end Q&A as part of the Priceless promotion!

I think they have a new female swing, yes, but also one of the male swings has just left. Or at least that's my interpretation of the occasional Twitter posts I see as I scroll!

Imogen Bailey's latest vlog includes the new swing (Lucy) near the start: plus much else. Waiting to hear what the exciting news is (mentioned about 15 minutes in)...

Does that mean you've tried all the other ways to have fun in Wembley on a Friday night? 😉

Possible help for non Londoners travel to the venue.
On a Sunday from Waterloo to Wembley park took about 35 mins on a very packed at the start train. Using the jubilee line note that several trains stop before Wembley so would recommend giving time for that
At the station when you get out you go straight down some steep steps and onto Olympic avenue which as you walk down there are lots of signs for the Wembley theatre and you do see it on the right as you go down. The directions on the newsies site would have you going down a different road. But the theatre is a few minutes away from the station.
Seats look to be all the same style. No arm rests and while ok leg room if you don't have bags you will need to stand to let people pass. In Brooklyn all seats seem to only be from the centre so you could be bobbing up and down a lot. This section also has the cast stomping up and down the stairs a lot which causes some wobble to the seating.
Ok weather when I went so warm enough but can see why others said it was cold earlier in the run. There is a cloakroom but this seemed to have big queue at the end for collection
Despite it being Sunday afternoon the area was very busy with people and worth checking the concerts or stadium schedule if you are going. Good luck to anyone going this Sunday the 26th with the stadium hosting the England match at 5.

Some good travel advice here. I often change from the Jubilee to Metropolitan Line between Finchley Road and Wembley Park as the latter is non stop. Cross platform interchange and almost always faster unless there is a long gap in service of 8 or more minutes. At Wembley Park Tube, if you're in a rush or want to avoid steps do take the side entrance to the left of ticket barriers out to use the short cut via Wembley Park Drive, you get the added bonus of walking past the stage door too.

I thought the earlier comments on it being cold turned out to be the performance rather than the actual temperature, but could be wrong! Certainly when I was in Flushing front row a few weeks back there was some very powerful heating coming from somewhere (not just from the actors!). Though yesterday in Manhattan front row there was a cooling breeze instead, so either this is a change in the seasons or depends on where you seat.

Note there seems to be a full house for this evening's performance despite or because of the match! Maybe families are splitting for their evening entertainment between the match and Newsies?

I had Thursday afternoon free, so managed to catch the matinee with George Crawford on as Jack Kelly (and also caught Zack track #4 as he was on as Morris, although I don't remember the Delancey Brothers being so Scottish at other performances).

George is very good vocally. He plays a much harder Jack, and plays down the humour and the flirting. It is odd seeing him at that role though, as I'm just so used to Michael.

The audience was rather full for a mid-week matinee. The seats at the front centre that are often empty were taken by wheelchair users, so perhaps that is why they are kept off sale.

We had both very slow and very fast! The very slow was the zip wire entrance at the start, where it took Matt a lot of work to get to the bottom. The very fast was the girl next to me, who as soon as the lights went down for the interval shot about 20 seats down the front row to grab the stray newspapers. I'm expecting to see her in the Olympics 100m next year!

Band A tickets for £35 in May except for Saturday and Sunday.
Discount code: MAYMADNESS

Not from my experience. Every time I have been its been an all out battle to get a paper.