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Post by sam22 on Jul 1, 2023 6:35:04 GMT
As someone who loves to travel to London to see shows, but needs to book flights, hotel, trains... My main issue with the West End is its prices. I can´t rely on rush tickets/lotteries and need to book in advance. Not only it´s become incredibly expensive to stay in London, but also the ticket prices are atrocious and don´t always represent the quality of the productions. And then, I find there are less and less "intermediate" seats. It´s either the Premium seats at more than 120, the regular Stalls and DC at 65-100, or the cheaper seats with limited view in the nosebleed (usually 25 and then jump to 39,5). Les Mis is the biggest example of this. Yes agree with you. We try and go as much as we can and have a good disposal income but the prices are going up and up. We now usually try and stay over so we can see two shows Sat and one Sunday as there isn't a late enough train back to see an evening show Sat if not and it is cheaper to do it like that rather than go down for three different day trips. To get a reasonable view at many shows now is easily £70 each, our trains are the same price, and the last two times we have been down we stayed at the Premier Inn Hub for £170 and then the Travelodge for £200. Extortionate! Adding food and programmes etc in as well, and you do have to then pause and think that's the price of a holiday!
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Post by sam22 on Jun 26, 2023 22:36:20 GMT
Presumably dynamic pricing has kicked in. My partner just went to book a ticket the day I'm going and the cheapest is £200!
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Post by sam22 on Jun 26, 2023 22:33:31 GMT
Just got home...one word...WOW! What an astounding piece of musical theatre! Hilarious, clever, moving, biting and stunningly original. By far the best thing I have seen since Preludes at the Southwark many moons ago. Is there a harder working leading man on the stage in London than Kylie Ramar Freeman? I think not! What a phenomenal performance! The entire cast were brilliant and the staging and lighting was not only fantastic, but perfectly filled the space! I cannot WAIT to go again!!! 5 HUGE stars from me x Padam Padam
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Post by sam22 on Jun 26, 2023 21:50:21 GMT
Saw this on Saturday night and loved it, albeit not quite 5 stars for me but nearly there.
It was really refreshing to see something so different and I thought quite a few of the songs were excellent on stage (perhaps helped by having listened to the album).
I thought Kyle Ramar Freeman as Usher was fantastic!
I'm not sure I'll get to it again before it closes but would love to. If you're on the fence I'd say go for it!
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Post by sam22 on Jun 24, 2023 17:45:48 GMT
Saw this for the first time tonight, it was good but definitely overhyped by many over the years, and that meant that from the first minute I was waiting for something incredible, but at the end I just got a good show with some great quick changes and effects. It probably took 2/3 of the first act before I really started enjoying it. I couldn’t be sat any further away, so the only reason I’d go again was to sit a lot closer, but other than that I think I got everything I needed from it tonight. I’m glad it wasn’t just me. I was also there tonight and thought it was fine and enjoyed some of it. However, personally, I just never felt emotionally invested or connected with the story or its characters. And the score was pretty bland. I don’t know, maybe I was just expecting something more and I totally get that I’m in a minority, but left feeling pretty underwhelmed. Three stars. I finally got to see the show today at the matinee. I was so excited and absolutely love Tim Minchin but I left disappointed. This review is pretty much how I feel about it. The audience appeared to love it so I'm definitely in the minority but I agree about the score and feeling underwhelmed. 3 stars.
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Post by sam22 on Jun 22, 2023 21:25:25 GMT
If anyone hasn't been able to book yet, I've just tried again now and there was no queue and taken straight to the booking page. Looks like great availability still
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Post by sam22 on Jun 22, 2023 15:08:52 GMT
Ooh my queue went from about 20% to 80% just now and now days an expected arrival time on the website. 11 mins!
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Post by sam22 on Jun 22, 2023 15:06:25 GMT
Mid-week matinees were always predominantly on Wednesdays. Now most of them seem to be Thursday. What's _that_ all about. I work Thursday and Friday so my vision of going to lots of matinees is vanishing fast. I think it depends what you want to see. Next week for example on TodayTix there are 22 shows with Wednesday matinées and 29 shows with Thursday matinées. I presume they started doing different days to attract people on other days of the week. I feel your pain though, there never seems to be a matinee of a show I want to see when I'm down in the week!
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Post by sam22 on Jun 22, 2023 14:55:55 GMT
Smooth as you like once through the gate, but the queuing .. shambles. Obv. doing all the venues at once.
As above, plenty left: stay with.
Looks like it's only London and Edinburgh at the moment.
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Post by sam22 on Jun 22, 2023 13:41:34 GMT
My man has moved slightly. If that progress is accurate, I will reach the front of the queue in 20 hours lollll
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Post by sam22 on Jun 22, 2023 13:40:56 GMT
I've gone practically nowhere in an hour and a half of queuing. By my reckoning I might get in to try for tickets in the early hours of tomorrow morning. Same! Has anyone waited this long in a queue before, I am trying to remember? I think it was when Harry Potter went on sale I was in the queue and forgot but then hours later I went back to it and got tickets.
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Post by sam22 on Jun 22, 2023 13:16:54 GMT
This is painful isn't it!
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Post by sam22 on Jun 22, 2023 7:20:15 GMT
I've lost track of this, it was meant to be a Curve production pre covid wasn't it? Did Curve do it and I've missed it, or after covid did it end up at Bath instead?!
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Post by sam22 on Jun 2, 2023 8:50:36 GMT
Talking of urination has reminded me of one night at A Little Night Music at the Menier. A drunk man went to go to the toilet but instead of heading to the toilets he went behind a curtain at the side of the stage and peed there much to the shock of the cast. Not as bad as that, but we were in the stalls at Book of Mormon and my other half decided he needed the toilet (much to my disapproval), he took the door to the right near the front of the stalls...which took him directly into the alley down the side of the theatre, lol!
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Post by sam22 on May 31, 2023 15:27:44 GMT
The play will run for two hours with no interval. I know I can go way more than two hours without needing to use the bathroom, but why is it whenever it's a show with no interval I panic and think I need to go within minutes 🤣
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Post by sam22 on May 31, 2023 15:25:39 GMT
I just tried and was 6000 something in the queue but it put me through straight away, so if anyone is struggling, might be worth starting again
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Post by sam22 on May 22, 2023 9:00:26 GMT
Seen a few people across social media already purchasing tickets, anyone know if the presale code is bashing about somewhere early or if this is all just through NT memberships? Amex presale. Plus NT Members already I believe And 12pm today if signed up for the presale
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Post by sam22 on May 20, 2023 7:52:06 GMT
Operation Mincemeat 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
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Post by sam22 on May 19, 2023 6:36:04 GMT
Saw the first performance of this in Leicester last night and thought it was absolutely fantastic! It's obviously not got quite as glamorous sets as the Drury Lane production did, but the cast and choreography are absolutely stellar (barring Les Dennis who was bearable).
Was unfortunately not sold very well in the circle but hopefully sales will pick up once reviews start coming in I'm going tomorrow. It's not a show I've seen before so excited for that reason, albeit not necessarily my type of show. Will report back!
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Post by sam22 on May 19, 2023 6:32:12 GMT
I remember loving this at Southwark and scary to think that was ten whole years' ago!!
We went last night in Nottingham. I loved it once again, as did my partner who had never seen it before or heard the music.
I do think a few parts drag slightly and could be condensed, but the songs are fantastic. The cast were uniformly excellent imo, although I agree with the comment about the stoker who was fantastic.
It was nice to see it on a bigger stage but then I actually think I was slightly less overwhelmed in the second half than at Southwark where the small space felt suffocating and added to the tension.
I was wondering if it wouldn't sell well in Nottingham but looked not far off a full house. Audience much better behaved than at Sister Act last week, albeit a few left halfway through the second half.
If anyone is hesitating, it's definitely worth a watch in my humble opinion!
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Post by sam22 on May 17, 2023 15:02:14 GMT
I thought Brannagh is doing King Lear not Macbeth? Yep. Macbeths are David Tennant and Ralph Fiennes
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Post by sam22 on May 16, 2023 23:02:23 GMT
This might be more of a silly 'UK living' amnesty question, but I'm just curious, is getting around the UK by car a bit of a nightmare? I've noticed that discussion here about whether or not getting to a particular show is viable, is usually about the trains. Are roads just off the table as an option most of the time due to traffic or similar? (Of course, particular individuals might avoid driving for a range of reasons if they wish; but I just wondered if there was more to it.) I don't think the roads in the UK are bad generally. Driving into London is a bit of nightmare as it is so busy so I always avoid that and suspect often when people are talking about trains it is travelling from different places in the UK to London for a show. Otherwise I don't think driving is too bad generally. The cities are obviously busier and roads bad on days like Bank Holidays..but I generally drive everywhere else in the UK without much trouble!
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Post by sam22 on May 16, 2023 22:51:04 GMT
I've not seen this since it first opened so thought I might go again. Just seen the prices...jeeeeez.
£288 for some stalls seats!
The nose bleed balcony seats that I paid £15 for are now £55. Guess I'll just keep it in my memory instead of seeing it again lol!
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Post by sam22 on May 16, 2023 22:44:44 GMT
Which announced shows will be playing in late March 2024? I know A LONG DAY'S JOURNEY will be. Off the top of my head: Stranger Things My Neighbour Totoro Sister Act The Time Traveler's Wife Everybody's Talking About Jamie Oh and how did I forget Hadestown
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Post by sam22 on May 16, 2023 22:38:30 GMT
Which announced shows will be playing in late March 2024? I know A LONG DAY'S JOURNEY will be. Off the top of my head: Stranger Things My Neighbour Totoro Sister Act The Time Traveler's Wife Everybody's Talking About Jamie
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