Advice for Tickets to West End London Plays?

With regard to where to buy tickets and what seats to choose, look at http://www.theatremonkey.com/#
Theatremonkey will list the agent that operates the Official Box Office (usually lowest fees and best seat selection) and will show seating charts with opinions on which seats are best.

If you have your heart set on a specific show, then go ahead and buy in advance.

There will also be some shows available at a discount at the TKTS booth in Leicester Square. You can get an idea of what might be on offer on this website, but keep in mind what is available changes daily.
https://officiallondontheatre.com/tkts/

Curt

Our experience was ... we waited to buy at the Leichester Square TKTS official discount ticket office ... and saved ½ the street price. We saw 42nd Street (no longer running) and saved a ton $$$. oh, pronounced "Lester", Square, BTW.

Has its own Tube stop of the same name.

The Agatha Christy thing is "The Mousetrap", yes? The discount office sells tickets for it, also - but since it has been running for about 50 years (really), they don't need to cut prices (didn't when we were there 15 months ago), but TKTS is convenient for legit cut price tickets to many shows. Not all shows are represented ... but you'd probably be OK w/ Phantom & White Christmas (you can check their www site for what's for sale).
You must buy at the TKTS site, that's the rub - no far advance sales I know of from them.

I'd think that unless you wanted tickets to something "Super Hot & Hard To Get" - like Hamilton, maybe - you could wait until you're on the ground in London ... and buy there ... I believe you can buy for several days in advance, so you' only have to make one stop.

Buyer Alert !! There is only ONE official discount ticket building on the Square ... but there are a lot of non-offical places that say they are official - they are not.

Take a peek at the street view of what the building looks like ... once you've seen it, you won't miss it.
Check them out - - -

https://officiallondontheatre.com/tkts/

enjoy

Terry

In the immortal words of Dirty Harry-are you feeling lucky? When it comes to theater tickets I want to see the shows I want to see seated where I want to sit. So I go to the theater site (not always easy to see through the consolidators who look like the official site) and I buy the tickets I want. I don’t use the last minute kiosks. But, if you are willing to roll the dice you may save some pounds. The troubling thing is your comment “I don’t see us not going”. You’d better be sure as theater tickets are solidly non-refundable, and costly

Playbill.com is a resource I use for Broadway, Off Broadway and London show directories and tickets. Some of the links for the shows will take you directly to the theater websites. I saw The Inheritance and Network last year as well as Cursed Child, the two part Harry Potter play.

I agree with Alan. If you don’t really care what you see, or where you sit, then waiting until you get there works well. If you do care, i’d definitely get them now.

I just bought tickets for October to The Mousetrap online from the theater directly. Got them in the mail today. Saw it 18 yrs ago and absolutely loved it.

I saw "Come from Away" last month and throughly enjoyed it. Very innovative and uplifting. I bought my tickets in advance. I like to reduce stress when I am on vacation. Why set yourself up? If you know you want to see these shows, buy the tickets and relax.

I prefer buying them in advance, directly from the theaters (beware online "discount" sites) - I can then plan my sightseeing for the day, pre-theater meal, etc. around those locked-in dates and times and seats.

Others like to be more flexible, trying for half price or rush tickets on the day of the show as available, which can certainly mean quite significant savings - IF you get in (forget about it for very in-demand shows.)

It's all up to what sort of approach works for you.

If you are buying in advance, it is important to buy only from the official ticket seller. These will be linked in the listings on Playbill http://www.playbill.com/productions?venue-type=london or Theatremonkey http://www.theatremonkey.com/. If you can't find the official ticket website, Google "NAME OF SHOW London official website" (for instance, "Hamilton London official website"). Other websites will add even more markup than the official ones like Ticketmaster, and for a really popular show like Hamilton, some might even be selling counterfeit tickets.

December is a busy month for Brits going to the Theater. If there is something you really want to see then book it. Don't go all the way to London to be disappointed that you can't get to see the show you really wanted to see. I booked my Tina Turner Westend musical tickets 6 months ago. If its a popular show book it now or at least three-four months out.

Margaret, Missouri

I just attended three shows in London and enjoyed every minute. I do see a lot of plays and musicals in NY and was very interested in the differences. I went in late April and early May so there may be a difference in availability in December. First of all, I purchased two tickets about a month in advance and on the tickets and credit card bill it lists "Encore tickets." I purchased the tickets just like I would at home on the internet. I picked the tickets up at the box office. I would highly recommend "Come from Away" if you have not seen it. I tried on two separate trips to see it in NY and couldn't get even a single ticket. The production was excellent. The second show I saw was "Admissions" and it was also very good but is closing or already has. I decided to add "Mousetrap" on a Tuesday afternoon and walked up to the TKTS booth (avoid other discount theatre ticket sources in that square) and purchased a ticket at noon for a 3:00 performance, for the second row, for $40. It was also very good. As far as the TKTS booth, you can see daily on the internet what shows are on sale for that particular day. Closer to the time of your trip, you can check out what was for sale on thay day or maybe the next day. Just like in NY, you're not going to get "Hamilton" tickets but you might find something you want. In comparison to NY, I found the tickets much less expensive--I saw "Come from Away" for $109 for an orchestra (or as they call it "stall") ticket and "Admissions" for $66 for another orchestra type seat. Also, the theatre checks your bags but also allows in (and lets you drink) water and soft drinks in plastic bottles. You will not get a free Playbill, which has upset me in the past, but you can buy a similar program for around $7. They were made for each particular show, unlike Playbills, and had lots of interesting information in them. Also, at your hotel, there may be a b-weekly theatre guide and it lists and describes all the West End shows and the closest tube stations and includes a helpful map.

In addition to the previous post, the company I bought "Come From Away" and "Admissions" from, allowed you to choose to add a small fee that appeared to let you change the date of the performance. I didn't have to use it, but for the price it seemed like good "insurance."

For some people (me!) going to the TKTS booth day-of is part of the adventure -- used to do that on business trips to NYC. Didn't see the "hot" shows on Broadway but I got to see some big-name musicals (Sweeney Todd, Evita) later in their run and a number of lesser-known performances. In London I saw Les Miserables in 1992 from nosebleed seats bought day-of.
Whatever makes you comfortable.

I just bought tickets to Mousetrap from the theater for June. The reason I did it instead of wAiting to see what I could get discounted on the day of the performance was my experience the only time I was in London. A friend and I could not find anything we really wanted to see being sold but settled on something which in the end I thought was just ok.

That said I saw 42nd street in New York some years ago half price and was delighted.

The day-of-performance ticket booth sometimes offers front-row seats. These may not be as good a deal as they seem. The seats can be so close to the edge of the stage that the occupant spends the show staring at the performers' kneecaps.

I'm a big fan of day tickets (what we call rush seats in the U.S.) - you can get awesome seats for very good prices and no fees. Often, you can get tickets for shows this way even when TKTS doesn't have them. For these, you queue ate theater before it opens. Theatremonket has a whole page with the info: http://www.theatremonkey.com/dayseatfinder.htm# Last November, I got a 2nd row dress circle ticket (what we call mezzanine) to "Company" for £25. Can't beat that!

Hamilton tickets for December should go on sale in a few months. They are currently on sale through the end of September. You can get tickets for as little as 10 pounds. Buy directly on the Ticketmaster.uk site. It's an excellent cast!