I am a self-admitted musical zealot. I sing, laugh, yell, and weep along with the actors, as if I was a part of their magical world. I took part in drama clubs and performing groups throughout high school, and I guess I never really lost the passion for the stage. I actually considered studying musical theatre in university, but the practical part of my mind told me no way- go for a more certain career. Thus, education. Luckily for me, teaching is performing, sometimes even with singing and dancing!
Anyway, back to the trip. On Saturday, we went to the theatre, specifically, to see Wicked at the Apollo Victoria Theatre. The tickets were a gift from my wonderful brother (thanks Chris!). If you have been considering seeing a production of Wicked- DO IT! Especially if you are a fraction of the Oz fan I am. It is of course, nothing like the classic film, though it ties in quite well (just with a different point of view). And of course it is no where near similar to the newest Oz movie (which I also adored). So, as long as you are not trying to compare them, you'll love it.
Now, the London theatre environment is almost indistinguishable from Broadway. Mostly the same shows and amazing quality of perfmorance and production, just with some funny accents added in. If you are a person who lives in a big city and often goes to the theatre, I'm not sure I can say that it would be worth it for you to attend a show while experiencing a once-in-a-lifetime trip to London. The prices are quite high, and the shows are always crowded. However, for people from small towns like me, it is a great treat. Sure, I've seen lots of shows, and a show does not have to be in a huge auditorium to be good (some of the best shows I've ever seen were performed locally!). But, it is wonderful to get dressed up and have a classy night out on the town.
In this instance, the "getting dressed up" part was tricky. See, we had to take my man's motorcycle into the city. Taking it reduced the time of travel by 15 minutes, which was fabulous, but also introduced an issue- clothes. Riding on a bike requires padding and protection.. not something you would want to wear to the theatre.
Now, obviously one does not have to be dressed up to attend the theater. Many people don't. However, I was raised that you should dress up, and personally, I love it. If I was just planning on spending a night in jeans, I could have gone to the local cinema and paid $10. No, this is the London Theater! A night of glamour and prestige, a place to see and be seen! So yeah, motorcycle gear was a no-go.
However, this was easily rectified when we took into account the services most theaters offer: cloakrooms. For just £1 ($1.50) a bag, we were able to easily store a backpack and our gear. Doesn't work out much better than that!
So, thanks to a backpack and a place to store our things, I was able to go from this..
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| The bike is hiding it, but I am wearing pants and boots. |
to this!
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| High heels, a dress, and hose- I am ready for the show! |
So feeling all classy and ladylike, I was able to enjoy the show to it's fullest!
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| The Wonderful Land of Oz! |
Tips for Visiting the Theater in London
1. Drinks
When we booked our tickets on Ticketmaster, it gave us the option to "Have a drink waiting for us when we arrived"... uhm, yes please!! Well, it turns out the program is still in it's infancy, and when we got to the theater, most of the employees had no idea what were talking about, or where to get the drinks. And just as we were saying "Well that was a waste", we got our drinks and saw the prices for drinks at the bar. See, to preorder a drink was £5, but at the bar, the same drink was £6 or £7! So long story short, preorder a drink, and while you might have to do a little work to get it, you will save a little money.2. Theaters
The area where most of the well-known theaters are located in London is called The West End. However, for the 50 or so in the West End, there are even more in other areas of the city. Yeah, it's a big city. So when planning your trip, make sure to take the location of the theater into account.As for the theaters themselves, most of them are historical protected buildings. This means older architecture, which for some means a building not conducive to the large crowds of a theater. For example, the theater we were in for Wicked. The theater itself was large and spacious. But the lobby was tiny and crowded. We arrived 45 minutes before the show began and, due to the fact that the doors were not open yet, we were soon squished against the walls because of the crowd. People who arrived closer to the start time had to wait outside the building until the people in the lobby filed in. The lesson we learned? Get in early, get a drink, then post up near the entrance to the seating area.
3. Bags
As mentioned before, take advantage of the cloakroom. You can take a small purse to your seat. But don't risk any enjoyment of the show because you are concerned about your stuff falling out, etc. I mean, if you don't feel safe with it being in a cloakroom, then you probably shouldn't be walking around a major city with it anyway.4. Attire
Also as mentioned before, there isn't really a dress code. Matinees during the week are going to be pretty casual, evening shows on the weekend a bit more dressy. I saw people in jeans and gowns, sneakers and heels. If you are paying upwards of $40 a ticket, I'd think you'd want to get a little snazzy. If you are worried about travelling by train or walking or something, take a bag, leave it in the cloakroom. See how everything is connected here? Pretty much, you can look like a slob, but there is no excuse to!5. Tickets
When you walk around London, you will see advertisements galore for "cheap theater tickets". Well, sometimes they are. But sometimes they are not. And they are not always real tickets. We booked our tickets on Ticketmaster, and they actually ended up being cheaper than some of the "cheap ticket" websites. So where is the best place to get them? Well, if you want to be 100% sure you are getting real tickets, then use Ticketmaster. If you want to go with the flow, and try to get a cheap one, then stop into one of the shops in the West End area, and see what they have. You might not get to go to the show you want, at the time you want, but hey, it'll be quite the adventure!Questions, comments? Love me some love below!
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