European Theatre

[Clyde15]

Hey everyone! I’m spending 4 months traveling around Europe this fall and while I travel I really want to see as much theatre as possible. There is of course theatre in the West End but I’m curious where amazing theatre can be found in other parts of Europe. From some of the research I’ve done I see Scotland and Ireland seem to have some good theatre. Where else?

[dramamama611]

Can't help you, but have a great time!

[Call_me_jorge]

There are productions of Anastasia opening in Spain and Germany, but I’m not sure if that’s what you’re looking for. Lol

[Skywalker3]

There is a lot of theatre in The Netherlands. 

Stage Entertainment is the musical producer over here. http://www.stage-entertainment.nl/
But I don't think you want to see the Dutch productions of The Lion King and Mamma Mia.. 

But every city had it's own theatre. So there is a lot more to see. 
In Amsterdam: www.delamar.nl and www.carre.nl 

[dbird]

I've seen shows in a couple countries over here - not sure where you're going but there's certainly quality theatre outside of London too. There are English-speaking theatres in Frankfurt and Vienna for sure but in my experience, most productions are translated and performed in local languages. In the larger cities, you'll certainly get the chance to find at least one musical.

I think apart from the Edinburgh fringe, I wouldn't consider Scotland the most exciting theatre region in the UK - Chichester and Bath are more renowned and Sheffield has produced a few great things in recent years.

Germany has a pretty vibrant musical theatre scene in a number of cities with Hamburg always having a sit-down productions and of course Starlight Express running for ages now in Bochum. Otherwise as others pointed out, Anastasia is opening and I believe Amelie is set for its European premiere in Germany too. Depending on where you go, just check the local theatres' schedules. 

I used to live in Vienna and there are two theatres that always showcase musicals (quite often one has a local production and the other showcases an international title). Quite often there are musicals performed in the smaller opera house (Volksoper) with the remaining theatres doing straight plays in German, usually a split of German-speaking authors and international plays. 

Warsaw has a theatre that tends to do musical theare (Roma) - I saw Les Mis there and it was on par with the London/Broadway productions I've seen. 

Budapest has an amazing musical theatre scene for extremely affordable prices but short-term ticket availability for popular titles could be an issue + tons of theatre doing plays. I've nearly always been very impressed, Billy Elliot being the only notable exception.

Plus as I wrote initially, cities like Barcelona, Madrid, Copenhagen, Paris all tend to have at least one musical running during the theatre season.