London Theatre Breaks

I’m just running through a few options here for a London theatre break. It’s going to be fun and I’m getting excited already at the thought of going back up to the West End for what seems like the first time in ages. The last time we went to see a big musical was around this time last year when we went on a short London theatre break to see Oliver. Jodie Prenger was great and Fagin was good too, I think we caught the show at a good time after they’d all relaxed into their parts and before the Fagins kept changing. Still you can’t blame any of these people for whom the London stage is perhaps not their main sphere of activity for not wanting to carry on and do really long runs. It was definitely the singing and classic song that made the show so I think that makes up my mind which genre I’d like to book up this time around.

Musical London Theatre Break

Much as I do appreciate a bit of Shakespeare , Oscar Wilde, Pinter or Beckett if I’m going to splash out on the whole London theatre break thing with a posh hotel, meal out and everything like that then I like to know with absolute certainty that I’m going to laugh and cry and dance in my seat, and come away with several great chorus lines ringing in my ears so once again it’s going to be a Musical London theatre break this year. Now there would appear to be about 25 musicals on offer in theatreland at present so that doesn’t really narrow down the choice of show very much does it? I’ll list them down, then cross off the ones that aren’t really my cup of tea shall I?

Avenue Q, Billy Elliot, Blood Brothers, Chicago, Dirty Dancing, Dreamboats And Petticoats, Grease, Hairspray, The Jersey Boys, Legally Blonde, Les Miserables, Lion King, Mamma Mia, Oliver, Phantom of the Opera, Priscilla Queen of the Desert, The Rise and Fall of Little Voice, Sister Act, Stomp, Thriller Live, We Will Rock You, Wicked

So what does that look like? Well obviously we can cross out Oliver as we saw that  one last year. Out of the rest, I think it’s got to be either Phantom or Grease. Different ends of the spectrum in some ways, but we know some of the songs from Phantom after hearing the CD whereas Grease is a musical we could perform half of by heart without any mugging up at all! OK, we plumped for Phantom  of the Opera, and if it comes up to expectations then we might just go and see Love Never Dies for next year’s London theatre break, or even earlier if some of my investments come through in time. Next we need to choose a Hotel and dates. That’s the slightly precarious part because it all depends on availabiity.

Choice of  Hotel for a London Theatre Break

I like to be near the City of London, which is a bit further east from the West End but only a short cab ride away, but I’m going to be flexible and if something comes up in Holborn, Westminster or the Strand that’ll be fine for a weekend London theatre break. We are lucky enough to be able to take Mondays or Thursday off too though, or any day really, so access to the City next day would be convenient, if I can get away with it. Right, I’m off to check the online theatre breaks booking sites now, wish me luck!

This was a guest post by a reader from London Theatre Break who wishes to remain anonymous

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’

Theatre breaks in London are going to feature strongly in 2009, what with the pound falling against the Euro and everybody needing a bit of cheering up. The choice of West End musicals and plays is as good as ever and there are always a few new ones I’d love to go and see. Carousel has started already, now there’s a revival from way back! But a good one for theatre breaks because you know you’re going to have a great time with all those fabulous songs. I usually find the tunes still buzzing around my head when I get back to the hotel and especially the morning after over breakfast. Don;t tell anyone, but that’s one of my favourite parts of a theatre break really, especially after staying up at the hotel bar for a few short ones late into the night.

London Theatre breaks by train

After breakfast I might spend the day in London and maybe even book up for another show making it a two night theatre break, but eventually it’s time to check out and take the train home. I always travel by train to London, there’s just no other way that’s convenient for the theatre trips I enjoy, but I admit it takes a bit of an effort for me to get booked up all in advance because I’m a bit of a spontaneous person really. That doesn’t work out so well financially so I just have to get my self organised and plan the dates well ahead to take advantage of the bargain theatre breaks packages. A car is really no use in central London what with the total lack of parking, congestion charge and crazy driving.

Top tips for 2009 Theatre breaks

These are the shows I’ll be choosing from for 2009 theatre breaks, either because I’ll need to be able to talk about them or else they are just my favourites.

Billy Elliot – Just opened in Broadway so worth seeing again in London if you folow my logic…

Sister Act – Whoopi Goldberg brings her stage adaptation of the Sister Act film to London first. Bound to be popular for London theatre breaks from May 2009 onwards

Priscilla – Queen of the Desert. A mature show fresh from Melbourne – can’t fail to win over London theatre audiences.

Les Miserables – An old favourite but I have a special occasion coming up and nothing can beat Les Miz for a sense of occasion.

Theatre Breaks as gifts

I can’t really afford to do this but if I could, I would definitely send a copy of the confirmation email to a few selected loved ones so that they can have the fantastic surprise of going on a pre-booked theatre break to London with everything all paid and organised (with me). Happy New Year!