London Theatre suggestions

Was there last July. Hamilton, Witness for The Prosecution and Jerusalem.

Be sure to also research what’s on at the Richmond Theatre ( Richmond) the Park Theatre in Finsbury Park, the National Theatre and The Globe.

Many of the older theatres do not have elevators. So stairs, lots of stairs. Most likely restrooms will be downstairs.

I went to Mousetrap and Witness for the Prosecution, so the most touristy theater possible. I loved them both! But unless you’re a huge theater or Agatha Christie nerd, I’d go with Witness. The “theater” is an old city government room in a horseshoe shape around the stage, which they set up to look like a courtroom. You can even opt to sit in the jury box. It’s also very casual so no need to dress up if you’re not inclined to that. But Mousetrap is historic- it’s now in its 71st year!

Friend and I saw SIX in September. We loved its high energy and music. All women cast and band on stage the whole 90 minutes so non-stop action. It’s playing at the Vaudeville Theater. Henry VIII’s wives: “Divorced, Beheaded, Died. Divorced, Beheaded, Survived.”
The next day we went to Hampton Court.

Highly recommend both.

My sister-in-law and I was in London last May, it was her first time in the UK. We went to see Hamilton, Get Up, Stand Up! The Bob Marley musical, and (I have seen it before) The Lion King all three was fabulous. We are going back in May for another month, we are going to see Moulin Rouge and Mama Mia.

Thank you all for the fabulous recommendations. My first trip to London and I am so excited!

Its a great city to explore. I throughly enjoy London. It never disappoints.

After the tour is over and before you leave for home be sure to visit Spitalfields. Nice market to meander about. The gift shops at the British Library, V & A museum,

If looking for something different tube to Shoreditch to look at the street art wall murals.

OR

Tube to Richmond and walk into and around Richmond Park. Hopefully you’ll get to see the fallow deer.

OR

Meander about Battersea Park

OR

Visit Kew Gardens

OR

Tour the Highgate cemetery to see Karl Marks grave.

OR

Have lunch at the Art Cafe in the Courtland Gallery.

Research the Lady in London. LondonxLondon, Eater in London and The Londonist websites.

Lastly, have a GREAT time!

I can also recommend Six. It’s really good fun. No interval. It’s quite short.

But Mousetrap is historic- it’s now in its 71st year!

That's on my list for next trip. Just because it's in its 71st year. My daughter has tickets for Moulin Rouge in May. The movie was so over-the-top, I wonder how they'll pull it off live?

Hamilton is a great show and the theatre it plays in is quite pretty and lovely. I had seen Hamilton here in the US on Broadway before, but it was fun to see how some of the lines/songs would go over in London.

My partner and I will be in London at the beginning of April and have purchased tickets to see A Winter's Tale - part of the play is in a playhouse and part is at The Globe Theater which was really interesting and appealing to us. I would definitely recommend seeing what is playing at the Globe in mid April.

Last September/October we saw Come From Away, Hamilton and Jersey Boys. Hamilton was fabulous, Come From Away was a close second and Jersey Boys was very entertaining.

I was a drama major in college and I always check out what is playing at the National Theatre when I’m in London. I’ve seen some amazing work. If I was going in April, I would definitely try to get tickets to Dancing at Lughnasa. Siobhán McSweeny (Derry Girls) and Ardal O’Hanlon (Derry Girls and Death in Paradise) are both in the cast.

Thanks to Kim and Horsewoofie, I bought my theatre tickets to Six and Dancing at Lughnasa! I will be in London for a few days before my RS tour, the Best of South England. I love the National Theatre and I was so happy to get tickets for Dancing. Both of these plays will be terrific.
I saw The Mousetrap in 2017 and really enjoyed it.

Love this topic! I'll be in London in mid-April, and have been looking at the shows. Has anyone seen Back to the Future-the Musical? I thought that might be fun. Moulin Rouge also looks lively.

https://www.theatremonkey.com/
Theatre Monkey covers the shows and also offers advice on theatre seating, possible deals etc.

Kim and Judy, We saw Dancing at Lughnasa in London in 1992 on our way home after 2 weeks in Ireland. Loved it!

We saw "The Play That Goes Wrong" in December – the perfect show for our arrival day, as the non-stop shenanigans kept us awake. (A Shakespeare tragedy would have been a different story ... :-) )
Highly recommended! Watch the writers' appearance on Fallon for an idea of the hilarious mayhem.
Note: the Duchess Theatre is tiny, and there are no bad seats. We were in the front row of the balcony, but the people behind us had fine views also.

Next month we are seeing "Mamma Mia!" (surprisingly, this was my husband's idea – another 'light' show). I was voting for "Oklahoma!" and may go see GBBO the next day (Great British Bakeoff Musical – quintessentially British, unlike, say, Oklahoma, or Hamilton, which I also saw in London and loved) while my husband is at the IWM (Imperial War Museum) :-)

I've also seen "Witness for the Prosecution" and "Mousetrap", and both are highly recommended also.

Enjoy!!

I saw "Back to the Future: The Musical" last May and really enjoyed myself. Some really fun numbers, excellent performances from the actors playing Marty, Doc and George (could be different actors now), and very, very 80s. I stood in line afterward to buy the programme, which is something I never do, and a guy behind me in line kept saying, "I'm definitely seeing that again! It took me right back to 1985!"

Well, I just bought a ticket to The Great British Bake-off musical. Opens later this month I think. It sounds fun! I like matinees cuz you know my bedtime is about 830, lol!!

My London stay last September included going to see "SIX" and I loved it. If you are not a Tudor nerd like me, read up on Henry and the history of his marriages. I have also seen Hamilton and Mousetrap and enjoyed both. Mousetrap is an iconic week-end party at a mansion set in the 1930s I think with interesting characters.

I'd like to tack a question onto Marie's thread. Would someone weigh in on whether musicals are as over-amplified in London as they are in the U.S.?

Pam, I'd love to know what you think of GBBO. I'm excited you're going! My SIL is urging me to buy a ticket for the Sunday matinée (there are some very cheap seats near the back) but I also really want to go to evensong at St Bride's, and I calculate that even if I am the first person out the theater (not likely, with cheap seats, haha) and RUN to the church, I'll still arrive a few minutes late ...

oh, and then there's jet lag ... a nap may seem more appealing than a show, my first full day in London ...

Ohhh, Laura....you are a better traveler than I if you can sit thru a theater show on your arrival day.

I'll be there the end of April so I'll post a TR. If I think of it I'll also drop you a PM. When are you traveling?

Oh wow! You are all such a fabulous group of responders! So far I have booked Six and I will probably book a couple more.
My second solo RS tour!
I never thought I could do it but I had such a FABULOUS adventure last year in Greece going solo. People on the tour were so friendly and I was never lonely. I have already booked the Southern Italy tour at the end of August as well. Yay!

Have a great week good people!

My observations of London theatres, especially the older ones, are:
A lot of stairs inside, as someone already mentioned.
Not much legroom at your seat, so dress comfortably so as not to feel cramped/restricted.
Long lines for bathrooms at the interval.
Long lines for expensive drinks and snacks at small bar areas in the interval.
Take a small bottle of water and your own bar of chocolate with you to avoid that!

Apart from that, there is just nothing like going to live theatre in London…..you will love it!

We were in London in April and saw 4 shows, each of which was so special in their own ways.

We saw:

Matilda the Musical
Come From Away
Dear Evan Hansen
and, my personal favorite, WICKED.

They were all incredibly well done and I'd pick them again.

If you have to pick one, Wicked will always be my top choice. I've now seen it in NYC and London and both times I ended up in tears from the sheer power behind the message and the awe inspiring way it is delivered. It is about so much more than a wizard and a witch!

I'm sure you will enjoy whatever you choose.

Happy planning !

PQ

Come From Away is an amazing story, and a wonderful play. Bring plenty of tissues if you go, I sobbed through the whole thing. As my friend said, they should have a table set up in the lobby afterwards for people to apply for Canadian citizenship.

SJ's notes on theaters are correct. A bit cramped and lots of stairs if you have accessibility issues. As I noted previously, if you decide to use the TKTS store in Leicester Square it's fairly well hidden behind construction but use Google maps if you can't see it.

I saw Book of Mormon which is an odd choice to see in London but the theater was packed for a midweek performance and they loved it, me not so much.