Theatre Breaks LTB » London

New Musicals for Theatre Breaks

Mon, 18 Jul 2011 09:32:37 +0000

Since the start of this year, 2011 there have been a handful of new musicals for theatre breaks opening in London. The Wizard of Oz began previews back in February with Danielle Hope starring as Dorothy, and has gone from strength to strength ever since. Expect high demand for theatre breaks and tickets around Christmas and early in the new year as families book themselves a winter treat.

With somewhat less of a fanfare, the musical Betty Blue Eyes also opened in March for a limited run and is currently extended unti at least October 2011. Betty Blue Eyes is the story of a household surviving in post World War 2 Yorkshire by raising a pig to avoid the bacon rationing. Betty Blue Blues is in fact the name of the pig!

Ghost The Musical is the big one, just opened in June in London after try out in Manchester and a showcase at West End Live 2011. The dazzling new musical GHOST, is based on the phenomenal Oscar winning Paramount Pictures film of the same name, and features great rock music by Eurythmics writer Dave Stewart with the help of Glenn Ballard. If you only see one new musical this year, go and see Ghost

Lend Me A Tenor is an old fashioned Vaudeville style musical, which transferred from Plymouth and stars Matthew Kelly

London Tube escalators are full of adverts for The Million Dollar Quartet, a story of fame, friendship, discovery, divided loyalties, professional jealousy and incredible music as four of the music industry’s most extraordinary talents, all in their creative prime, made music together for the first and only time in their careers. A true story of the electrifying night in 1956 when Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis came together to make music and ended up making history.

Rock of Ages doesn’t actually start until next month, August 2011, but we had a preview of the soft rock, 1980s style juke box musical at West End Live.

And last but by no means least, we had the opening of Shrek The Musical with Amanda Holden, a major blockbuster of a film and musical which looks set to be a favourite family choice for theatre breaks in London for many years to come.

Les Miserables – Double Misery!

Sat, 18 Sep 2010 17:58:57 +0000

The record breaking musical Les Miserables returns to its original London home at the Barbican theatre on September 18th 2010, as the UK touring version catches up with the original which is still running at the Queens theatre. So London will have two versions of the same show runnig alongside each other in the West End, which is most certainly a world first

But then on Sunday 3rd of October, the day after the end of the Barbican run, a third, star-studded Les Miserables Special with elements from the casts of both London versions, will turn up at the enormous O2 venue in London’s Greenwich peninsula Docklands.

These extra Les Miserables are all part of the show’s 25th birthday celebrations.

Les Miserables Theatre Breaks

Love Never Dies moves into The Adelphi Theatre

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 11:36:50 +0000

Love Never Dies, the new musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber which continues the story from The Phantom Of The Opera, is moving into the Adelphi Theatre in London’s West End.

The show opens in March 2010.

Happy New Year from Theatre Breaks

Thu, 31 Dec 2009 16:25:07 +0000

Happy New Year for 2010 from the Theatre Breaks LTB blog team.

It’s been a great year in London’s West End with some surprise hits and some unfortunate flops as well, and we look forward to 2010 especially with the opening of the Phantom of The Opera sequel Love Never Dies and the new Wizard of Oz.

War Horse Record for National Theatre

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 11:00:09 +0000

The smash-hit success of the play War Horse has helped the National Theatre, South Bank, reach its highest attendance record for seven years.

War Horse at The National

The theatre published its annual report for 2008/09, which showed that its box office reached 93% capacity, with 817,000 paid attendees, the highest total attendance in the last seven years. The theatre staged 25 productions in the year, of which 17 were new.

It achieved a £456,000 surplus for the financial year and turnover increased to £55 million. The biggest earner for the year was the First World War story War Horse, which took £2.7 million at the box office and had a 99% capacity.

War Horse in the West End

War Horse National Theatre

The National Theatre’s smash hit arrived in London’s West End, playing at the New London Theatre from 28 March 2009.

War Horse is based on the celebrated novel by Michael Morpurgo. The First World War is the backdrop for this exciting tale of bravery, and the extraordinary bond between a young recruit and his horse.

Wicked Theatre Breaks

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 14:43:04 +0000

When the girls go on Wicked theatre breaks they know how to have a good time. Often a small group is involved, because Wicked fans are never alone. If you appreciate theatre breaks to see Wicked the the chances are that you’ll know two or three others who’d have a ball of a time there as well so why not all go together and maximise the wickedness?

A lot of people have been posting this video recently and the reason why is clear – Alexia Khadime giving it up for The Wizard And I in a theatre breaks video that was captured at London’s West End Live theatre festival in Leicester Square last Saturday. What’s not to like?

Jerry Springer from Chicago at West End Live Theatre Breaks

Sun, 21 Jun 2009 07:30:08 +0000

Amongst the divas, dancers and troupers performing yesterday at West End Live 2009 was the well known TV personality of Jerry Springer who happens to have a part in the London production of Chicago at present. Here’s the video from youtube theatre breaks

Chicago is one of the most popular shows for theatre breaks in London and manages to keep viable over the years through a mixture of clever promotion, good word of mouth reputation and a succession of stars and cameos to bring fresh interest in each of the cities where Chicago is playing.

West End Live 2009 Order of Appearance

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 08:17:19 +0000

Here’s the order of appearance for the West End Live event in London’s leicester Square this weekend. Something for everybody with all the big musicals on Saturday and some interesting dhws I haven’t seen much of on the Sunday. Definitely the place to be this weekend and don’t forget that Jodie Prenger from Oliver will be making an appearance and so will Jerry Springer who is currently appearing in Chicago.

West End Live 2009 Saturday 20th June

11.05 Hairspray

11.15 Been So Long

11.30 Wicked

11.40 Dirty Dancing

11.55 The King and I

12.05 Oliver!

12.15 Sister Act

12.25 We Will Rock You

12.45 Priscilla Queen of the Desert

12.50 Chicago

13.10 Jersey Boys

13.30 Thriller Live

13.50 Forbidden Broadway

14.05 The Sylvia Young Theatre School

14.25 The South Bank Centre presents ‘Tom Tom Crew’

14.45 Little Big Club

15.10 So Jest End

15.25 Avenue Q

15.45 Zanna Don’t

16.05 The London Gay Men’s Chorus

16.30 Too Close to the Sun

16.50 Faithless Bitches

17.05 The KB Fusionnaires

17.45 La Cage Aux Folles

17.55 Stomp

West End Live Sunday 21st June

12.00 Stomp

12.15 Little Big Club

12.35 West End Kids

12.55 Jersey Boys

13.15 Thriller Live

13.35 Noise Ensemble

13.55 Zanna Don’t

14.10 Honk!

14.20 SOLT – Competition

14.25 Royal Albert Hall presents ‘The Red Stripe Band’

15.05 Chinatown Arts Space Presents ‘TheBathroomGirl’

15.25 Bar Rumba presents ‘Salsateca’

15.40 Players Theatre presents ‘Victorian Music Hall’

15.55 National Youth Music Theatre

16.10 Lord Mayor of Westminster’s West End LIVE presentations

16.20 Octave8 presents ‘Yot.K’

16.50 Dover Street Restaurant and Jazz Bar presents ‘The Blues Engineers’

17.25 Ain’t Nothin But Blues Bar present the ‘West Western Bluesonics’

Hairspray Theatre Breaks

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 14:08:37 +0000

Hairspray Theatre Breaks in London

**Guaranteed best prices on Hairspray theatre breaks in London**

I wasn’t really thinking about theatre breaks in London when I watched Jonathan Ross on Friday night until Michael Ball came on. I thought he was surprisingly interesting and funny. I suppose I hadn’t thought of him as a character actor before and I was struggling to imagine him in the Divine role but I really warmed to him and by the end of the programme I was starting to think I’d quite like to see him in Hairspray.

The original 1988 John Walters film starred Divine and Ricki Lake. Hairspray is set in Baltimore in 1962. It’s the story of Tracy Turnblad, a fat but beautiful girl with really big hair . She wins a spot on a local TV dance programme becomes a teen icon. But will she be able to change the world and win the boy she loves? What do you think?

It became a cult classic film, the musical version has been running on Broadway since 2002 and now it’s available for theatre breaks in London. It’s been a huge hit, won lots of awards and was made into another film recently (with John Travolta as Edna, the Mom – ooh I’ve got to see that!). Now it’s showing in the West End.

Michael Ball is playing Edna and on Friday night with Jonathon Ross he said the secret would be to not play it as drag but to play Edna as a real woman. I like the sound of that so I went and had a look at the official web site. The music sounds great on the website and you can even sneak a peak of the rehearsals ! The production starts on October 11th and it looks like it should be a massive hit.

If you missed Michael he covers much of the same ground in a video on the production blog. Isn’t it great that so many shows are doing this now? I love reading the ups and downs and watching cast behind the scenes footage. It’s like the extras you get with DVDS

I think this one would be great for a ‘girls’ (who are we kidding?!) weekend, a relaxing train ride down, hit the London shops, and a great, girly night out, hopefully with less of a hangover than the last one! I really prefer to book a whole package when I’m organising London theatre breaks like this because it just makes life so much easier and it’s often cheaper too!

**Click here for guaranteed best prices on Hairspray and other Theatre Breaks in London**

Theatre Breaks Magazine

Sat, 30 May 2009 15:33:27 +0000

The Theatre Breaks Magazine is launched and has a lot of useful articles already. Categories include interesting topic such as