Purchasing theatre tickets in advance

If there are shows you absolutely want to se use the box office. We have also had good experiences withnAlbemarle If you are prepared to just take a shot on one or two days- the TKTS booth is good

first, I do urge you to book in advance of your trip as you are planning to do. You'll get a better selection especially because you will be in London at a very busy time. I think RS lists www.officiallondontheatre.com as his source for theatre information. There will be a link for tickets. In my case, the tickets were being sold by ticketmaster. I do not think ticketmaster can sell any seat; rather, I think they are limited to given sections, usually, for instance, the back of the stalls (orchestra level). I saw Les Mis and Blithe Spirit and enjoyed them both. good luck with your trip!

If I want to do that I buy directly from the theater box office - you can pick the tickets up at the theater and avoid booking fees. See http://londontheatre.co.uk/ for what's on and theater phone nos. and http://theatremonkey.com/ for seating charts.

I've always bought online in advance directly from the box office. I've done this with National Theatre productions, or something like Waiting for Godot with Ian McKellan and Patrick Stewart. Print off the invoice, bring it along, pick up your tickets. Dead easy.

Hi Karen, We have used this ticket agency several times and never had any problems. They have seating maps for all of the theatres and you can check to be sure your chosen seats don't have obstructed views. I don't know if you can do that if you just call the theatre's box office. http://www.albemarle-london.com/

The website londontheatre.co.uk is a good one. I have used it several times.

http://www.ticketmaster.co.uk/

There's no reason to pay a fee to use ticketmaster when you can buy direct from the box office. Just take the time difference into account when calling, and use a credit card with no/low foreign transaction fees.

theatremonkey.com is really the best resource I've found for planning your theatre visits. In addition to seating recommendations, it will list who is the official agent for the box office and any service fees charged so you can compare. Usually there is a fee for an online purchase. I always choose to pick up at the will call at the theatre (sometimes this is the only option for overseas purchases). I've never had a problem with an online purchase or pick up at box office. Even when you call the box office, some theatres will still charge a service charge (e.g. Wicked ... the box office phone line is operated by ticketmaster and they charge a fee)