When to buy tickets

[csmithmusictheater]

Posted: 7/19/14 at 9:14pm

Sorry to be a pesky yankee, but need some help deciding what tickets to buy before visiting London. We'll be there the 2nd week in August and already have Proms tickets for Saturday night. Want to see War Horse, Wicked and Miss Saigon. Is there a central location to buy tickets the day off? Thanks for any information you can pass on.

[IndyTheatreGeek]

Posted: 7/19/14 at 11:12pm

As a fellow yank West End lover, for the shows you have mentioned probably your best bet is the show's official web sites. There you will be sure of the seats you will receive and avoid outrageous booking fees.

Miss Saigon sells day seats day of, but the line can start quite early so unless you want to stand in line for hours bite the bullet and buy full price. War Horse tickets are pretty available, but rarely at discount - TKTS had them at full price today. There are also day seats for Wicked day of but it can be hard to be successful. War Horse day seats can sometimes be had after the box office opens and other times there are lines an hour or more before the box office opens.

There is a web site called theatremonkey.com that can give you information on day seats including recent experiences. They also sell tickets although I've never used them. It also has seating charts and ratings of seats in the various theatres. Both the Price Edward (Miss Saigon) and Apollo Victoria are quite large theatres so if you have a seating preference, picking exact seats rather than sections such as lastminute.com does may result in a much better experience. I'm sure others will also have advice but For popular shows the box office can be hard to beat. And I hate paying full price for anything.

[ggersten]

Posted: 7/20/14 at 12:25am

Besides the box office themselves (and theatremonkey.com is a must site to visit), there are various ticket booths around Picadilly Circus and Leiceister. Each has a different allotment - they all emphasize "half off" but they are mostly discount. The better ones will tell you and show you where the seats are (we liked the booth at Picadilly just outside of Boots). But you can sometimes get better deals at the box office by asking nicely "do you have any day seats or what can you do for me?". For example, we got a better discount for Mamma Mia at the box office than we were offered at the discount ticket booth. The Pajama Game has been real good about last minute "day seats" or greatly reduced ticket prices.
Wicked may be a tougher ticket than usual as Kerry Ellis is returning to the role of Elphaba the first week of August. There sometimes are flash sales on tickets for shows like Wicked on timeoutlondon.com and whatsonstage.com.
That said, you should go see Let The Right One In - granted, a play, not a musical. Unless you have younger people in your group and/or don't like blood on the stage. It has been relatively easy to get day tix for the show. Curious Incident is a must see - although there will be a Broadway production starting in October.
Also, most theatres are dark on Sunday and have performances on Monday. So, plan accordingly.
For a different experience, venture a little off the West End. There have been some amazing productions recently at Almeida, Donmar, Menier, Union and Hampstead.

[rosscoe(au)]

Posted: 7/20/14 at 1:04am

I agree go to the theatre on the day and ask about discounts, day seats. Saw Woman In Black last time and payed 23.00 pound for a second row seat, I also second Let The Right One In, would pick that over Wicked any day

[csmithmusictheater]

Posted: 7/20/14 at 11:00am

Thank you to all for your fantastic information. Will be sure to catch Let The Right One In based on your recs. Will be in London attending a Horn Conference at which the husband is presenting. The reason we're catching Wicked is because he played in the Pit for the tour production (32 shows in 28 days). Can't blame him for wanting to see what was happening on stage and thought it would be great to see the London production. Will buy tickets from the web site for that and will check TKTS and the booth by Boots for day of tickets for myself while he's attending the conference, along with some of the venues off the West End. Thanks again for the amazing help,

[IndyTheatreGeek]

Posted: 7/21/14 at 2:39am

Let the Right One In is fantastic. Wicked London should make you feel right at home-the set is more like the US touring set than the Broadway set. If you can get stalls seats in front of the dress circle overhang to not miss some of the effects. Enjoy.

[jaqs]

Posted: 7/21/14 at 3:24am

Given that you're coming in high season school holidays I'd check availability online before you leave, if it looks like a fair amount of seats for your days then asking on the day will be fine.
Kids week is running for all of August to get families in too, I don't know how extending it from a week to a month will affect sales.