9 Shows/6 Days (London Trip!)

[JakeTheEscapologist]

Posted: 5/8/17 at 4:09pm

9 Shows in 6 Days (London Trip!)

 

Long time lurker, first time poster! I just returned from my first ever trip to London from NYC, and had an absolute blast. I ended up seeing a ton of shows intermixed with sight seeing and adventuring, and thought to share my opinions here!

 

MONDAY 7:30 - WHISPER HOUSE

I scored a £15 TodayTix rush seat (front row, center) at 11am while waiting in line for Customs! I’m a massive fan of Duncan Sheik (#RIPAmericanPsycho) and was thrilled to be seeing a new one his shows, that I doubt will be making a NYC appearance anytime soon. The Other Palace is a beautiful venue, quite similar to Signature theatre in terms of lobby bar and style. The production value was insane, and the performances were wonderful. Storytelling was a bit misguided in terms of the book, but the music was great! Definitely glad I caught it.

 

TUESDAY 7:30 - WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF?

I again did the TodayTix rush for this! £20 got me a side rear orchestra seat - the view is tight, as you’re far back with the mezzanine overhang, and two nearby poles, but ultimately it was a great unobstructed view. The show itself was sensational. Having not caught the most recent Bway revival, I was thrilled to see a production done with such commitment and grit. Imelda Staunton is an actress of legend - ZERO clue how she manages to give that performance 8x a week. Only qualm of the evening was the terrible American/Southern accents, but I got over it eventually.

 

WEDNESDAY 2:00 & 7:30 - HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD PARTS 1 & 2

After losing the Friday Forty, I was adamant about getting tickets to this, which ended up being shockingly simple. The day before, for £199 (~$250) total, I got their “Premium” 8th row center aisle seats for both Parts. It was the best view I could imagine, and  I am considering it a total steal - there is no way seats these good will be this cheap in NYC. I thought the show was extraordinary. John Tiffany is my favorite director, Steven Hogget my favorite choreographer, and Harry Potter my favorite universe, so I was in heaven. There is no getting over being underwhelmed by the script, but it does play so much better on stage, in context of the performance. The effects were stunning. I thought this would help me be less antsy for when it comes to NYC next year, but now I am even more anxious. For sure one of the best things I’ve ever seen.

 

THURSDAY 7:30 - DREAMGIRLS

Saw this mainly as everyone kept recommending it! I was once a huge Glee fan, so it was wonderful to see Amber perform the hell out of this role. It’s everything you would expect from a Casey Nicholaw production. I don’t think it will land as big in NYC, as the production value is quite similar to Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, and came off as extremely underwhelming. People will go for the performances, though - and if the audience is anywhere near as rowdy as it was on Thursday, it will be insufferable. It’s like when the audience cheered so loud during Cynthia’s “I’m Here” you could never hear her, except this happens dozens of times in Dreamgirls. Oh well. (Also, their program was £8 which I found to be really pretentious lmao)

 

FRIDAY 2:00 - NELL GWYNN at The Globe

All I knew was that I wanted to visit The Globe, but that I wasn’t interested in seeing a production of Romeo and Juliet, so I optioned for Nell Gwynn, and dear god am I glad I did. This show is so remarkable - from the text, to the performances, to the execution in the beautiful space of the Globe, I was stunned by how much I enjoyed it. £5 for a Standing ticket was perfect, and I could’ve kept standing and watched them start again from the top at the end. I do think this would hit well in NYC, a la Something Rotten! which it reminded me of greatly. If you are in London, this is a must see. 

 

FRIDAY 7:30 - SALOME at The National Theatre

I attended Salome solely as I wanted to see something at The National, whose work I’m always a massive fan of when they’ve made their way across the pond. Getting a ticket to Angels wasn’t a top priority, so I happily settled for this. The show, still early in previews, is much more performance art/spectacle than it is a play. It’s visually stunning, and greatly utilized what must have been a massive budget. Even though I knew the story of Salome, I still found myself confused at moments as to what the production was getting at, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. The productions point of view, of Salome being “nameless” and “unremembered” hits home successfully, but not nearly as hard as I think they imagine it does.

 

SATURDAY 2:00 - HALF A SIXPENCE

I hadn’t originally planned on seeing a show at this time, but I was so exhausted from everything else I had been doing, I figured it was worth £25 and try and see something quintessentially British. And holy ****, I loved this show. I thought it was perfection. Charlie Stemp is a star, the choreo was astounding, and the material itself is so lovely! It’s like if She Loves Me, Gentlemen’s Guide, and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang had a baby, it would be Sixpence. I had the dumbest smile on my face throughout. I couldn’t recommend it more. I can imagine this coming over to NYC in a few years and everyone falling in love with it and wondering why they’ve never heard of it before. One can dream. (The live cast recording is amazing btw! It’s on Spotify!)

 

SATURDAY 7:30 - MATILDA THE MUSICAL

Anyone who knows me, knows that Matilda is my favorite, and it was such a pleasure to have it be the last thing I saw on my trip, in it’s West End home! (With the original script intact!) I’ve seen the show on Broadway and Tour more times than I’ll say, and it was a joy to see it again for the first time since closing night on Bway. I was shocked by how different the productions are - the actors in the OBC made so many different choices than the London cast has, it really plays differently. The tempo is certainly much faster in America (both rhythmically and pacing wise), and the jokes landed better in the US. It was still a marvelous production though, and it was so cool to hear all the little words and details they altered to Americanize the show. Notably, the lighting design and sound effects were upgraded/changed for the Broadway production, but some cues weren’t found in the original West End show - I know Wicked has implemented changes throughout the years, so I found it intriguing why Matilda opted not to.

 

 

TL;DR FINAL THOUGHTS


What a glorious trip. London is a beautiful city and I was so glad to get to experience it! Highlights for sure were Cursed Child, Nell Gwynn, and Half a Sixpence!!!


 

Updated On: 5/8/17 at 04:09 PM

[Phantom of London]

Posted: 5/8/17 at 5:30pm

I love reading guests' reports and thank you for taking time here. You saw a great mix of shows.

Also pleased you went off-piste and saw something quintessentially English and left you with a smile on your face.

[BIG BALONEY]

Posted: 5/8/17 at 6:16pm

Thank you for your wonderful assessment of these shows mentioned. I returned last night from my 16 night stay in London and saw all the mentioned shows and boy I do agree with you. As a matter of fact I went to 25 in total. I must add Madame Rubinstein  and The Life as must see also. Managed to see Angels In America both parts and Harry Potter The Cursed Child. The latter was possible just as easy as it was for you. The cost the same and now it is off my bucket list. It is a lot of work getting theatre deals and running around, we probably passed each other a number of times. Thank God for those £15 ticket deals at The National, after paying £198 for Potter.

[rjm516]

Posted: 5/9/17 at 6:41am

Wait, did you just go to the Harry Potter box office and ask if there were any tickets? Or did you do cancellation line? 

[JakeTheEscapologist]

Posted: 5/9/17 at 10:19am

I bought them online with Nimax! You can't select your own seats, but if you refresh the page you can see different options. I did that until I got the best seat they had (F15) and checked out! Took all of about 5 minutes. 

[BIG BALONEY]

Posted: 5/9/17 at 10:59pm

I went with a friend to the box office on Friday two weeks ago. We had a choice of four different dates. Tickets come up all the time but they are usually only stalls and like I said we paid £198 to see both parts. Same with Angels had part II and kept going on line and at 10:30 a.m. London time some became available. Out of no where.