r/TheWestEnd

We're an American family from Colorado coming to London for Christmas. I'm a voice actor, and would see anything, but what I really want is for my family to have a good time and leave thinking "That was low key pretty tough." IYKYK.

The boys are 18, 16 and 14. Stranger Things seems like a good fit, but I'd love advice from parents of London teens who may have the real inside scoop. Thank you so much for any insight!

Tickets taken!

I won’t make it to the show, but if you’re around the Southbank and want to see it at the NT, happy to give away my ticket. It starts at 1.

Edit: updated status

i was at carrie hope fletcher's "ghost light" tour tonight in coventry, and wanted to share the setlist in case anyone was curious!! i'm definitely going to read more about some of these ghosts as the stories were super interesting :)

song: show yourself (frozen 2)

ghost: sir herbert beerbohm tree, his majesty's theatre

link: herbert's grandson, oliver reed, played bill sykes

song: as long as he needs me (oliver!)

ghost: violet melnotte, duke of york theatre (now tom stoppard theatre)

link: sheridan smith, who was in a production of shirley valentine at the duke of york theatre, also played audrey

song: somewhere that's green (little shop of horrors)

ghost: john baldwin buckstone, theatre royal haymarket

link: john's ghost apparently can only be seen if he approves of the current show. patrick stewart reported seeing john's ghost during his run of waiting for godot, but, unfortunately, no-one saw him during the 12 week run of heathers in which carrie played veronica!

song: fight for me (heathers)

ghost: joseph grimaldi, theatre royal drury lane

link: frozen played at the theatre royal drury lane for three years, but carrie thinks the songs in frozen 2 are better

song: all is found (frozen 2)

song: lost in the woods (frozen 2)

ghost: charles macklin, theatre royal drury lane

link: when carrie was young (too young for the show!), her mum took her to see witches of eastwick at the theatre royal drury lane. she doesn't remember any of it but now loves this song which is often cut from performances of witches of eastwick

song: loose ends (witches of eastwick)

ghost: louis bossalina, manhattan palace theatre

ghost: dan leno, theatre royal drury lane

link: dan leno was known for playing pantomime dames and especially for his version of cinderella. carrie was also in a version of cinderella in which she sang this song

song: i know i have a heart (ALW's cinderella)

INTERVAL

ghost: william terriss, adelphi theatre

link: the adelphi was home to waitress for a while a few years ago, carrie was just in waitress as jenna but the tour is still ongoing. if she'd timed it right (which she hoped she did), waitress' second act would have just started and she would be singing this song at the same time as bernadette

song: i didn't plan it (waitress)

ghost: evelyn laye, piccadilly theatre

link: evelyn laye's portrait had always hung in the piccadily theatre except when it was taken down (along with all of the other portraits) during refurbishment. suddenly, poltergeist activity skyrocketed - props flew across rooms and fell off shelves, pieces of costume went missing and turned up in odd places, and leading ladies found themselves locked in their dressing rooms right before they were about to go on stage. a FOH worker remembered there used to be a portrait hanging up and they found it and put it back up - the poltergeist activity promptly stopped again as soon as evelyn's portrait was back on the wall. carrie likes to think evelyn would have sang this to/about those leading ladies

song: little girls (annie)

ghost: sigmund neuberger aka the great lafayette, festival theatre edinburgh

link: when carrie was wednesday in the addams family they spent 3.5 weeks in edinburgh doing tech for the show then starting the tour there. she was in it with her best friend scott paige and loved teasing him, saying they'd perhaps see the light glinting off sigmund's rings in the wings of stage left (he was known for this). when they were doing their costume parade, they arrived stage right and scott let out a bloodcurdling scream saying he saw sigmund - carrie told him that what he was actually seeing was les dennis dressed as uncle fester

song: happy/sad (the addams family)

ghost: arthur bourchier, garrick theatre

link: five years ago (appropriately), the garrick hosted a production of the last five years

song: still hurting (the last five years)

ghost: carrie wonders where her ghost will be in 100 years - perhaps at the gillian lynne throwing glass slippers at people

song: remember me (coco)

ghost: anna pavlova, victoria palace theatre

link: victoria palace theatre is currently home to hamilton

song: you'll be back (hamilton)

anyone selling anything cheap for tonight? i’d be interested in rent, hadestown, phantom, operation mincemeat, les mis, oh mary
only one ticket, my original plan fell through and i’m looking for alternatives last min

Hi everyone!

I was wondering if you guys could give me some advice. My wife and I will be in London from February 1st to 6th. We’ve already bought tickets for most of the shows in the West End we want to see, but we still have room for two or three more performances and we’re not sure which ones to choose.

I’d love to hear your recommendations, whether they’re musicals or plays. And if you also have any suggestions for places to eat after the shows, we’d really appreciate that too!

This is what we’re seeing so far:

February 1st – Hamilton
February 2nd – Cabaret
February 3rd – August: Osage County (matinee) + Mamma Mia! (evening)
February 4th – Les Misérables

We still have time to fit in a show on the afternoon of February 4th and February 5th, as well as a matinee on February 6th before we leave, since our flight isn’t until 9:30 PM.

Thank you so much in advance for your help! We’d really appreciate any recommendations.