Best place to sit at the theatre?

[Pumpkinstace]

I am planning to go to a musical and I'm looking at the available seats.

I could be down the front about 6 rows back, or on the first upper tier of seats at the front, both are similar price.

I'm not sure what works better, I've never been to a musical or anything more than my local theatre before so any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

It depends on the theatre.

There's a website that gives you the low down on all seats in London theatres, not sure if it includes other places. I think it's called something like theatremonkey.

For me, I generally like to be a few rows back in the stalls.

I think as long as you sit middilish you will be fine wherever you sit. Picking seats is so much pressure

Which musical is it ?

Which theatre/ which show?

The seats on the lowest level are called the stalls. Then it's usually the dress circle above that and then the upper circle above that.

In many older (Victorian) theatres I find the front row of the circle doesn't has poor legroom. I'm 5'6 and if i were much taller I wouldn't choose that row. People often like the circle because you know you cam see the whole stage but you're a bit further away.

The stalls 6 rows back should be better legroom. You will be closer to the action but I'd choose to be as close to the middle of the row as possible.

I like to be bang in the middle of the dress circle.

Few rows back (around row f or g) in the stalls for me every time.

I go to theatre a lot (well I did pre pandemic) and if you are reasonably tall, be sure to take keg room into account when booking seats. Dress circle seats are typically much worse for leg room than stalls.

Urgh apologies for the chaotic typing!

Front row, I mean.

If it is a London theatre you can look online at the view from the seat. We usually prefer front of circle but it depends on the show as there may be action in the stalls.

I always prefer front circle seats - as long as there isn’t a huge light or some other bit of production kit propped right in front of me.

Hate the stalls; so cramped and usually it takes only one tall person to completely ruin your evening.

But as pp said - it really depends on exactly which auditorium you’ll be sitting in.

It depends on how tall you are, how good is your eye sight and do you like loud sounds. I love to be in the stalls usually but not for musical as I don’t like loud music. My DD is not tall so the 6th row won’t be enough for her, too flat, our local theatre starts rising seats from about 9th row.

The website theatre monkey is helpful for this

Have a look at Theatre Monkey. They show the good seats, ok seats and not so great seats for individual theatres.

www.theatremonkey.com/venues/london-palladium-theatre

The last time we went we had seats in the front row of the second block back, so there was a walkway directly in front of us, between the blocks. We picked those seats as we are both tall and they have lots of leg room. Only problem was, an extremely obese woman was sat in the seat next to me, and basically she overflowed into my leg room area to the point where I had to sit sideways, with my back against her, as it was the only way I could sit down. She sat with with a sort of fixed expression staring straight ahead, pretending not to see me, with her legs apart (they were too fat to move together) and I had the impression that if I asked her to move her leg over she would get arsey with me and probably would not be able to do it anyway. I couldn't wait for the interval, as I was hoping she would go to the loo or something, but she never budged. It really marred what would otherwise have been a great night out. Thinking back, I should have been more assertive and if she was difficult maybe I could have got the management involved, to move either her or us.

Anyway, just an example to show that even great seats can be ruined. We have previously had a small side balcony to ourselves, when we went with another couple. There were 4 chairs and room to stand up and stretch your legs if you felt like it, but the drawback is you have a side view of everything.

@UrbanRambler

The last time we went we had seats in the front row of the second block back, so there was a walkway directly in front of us, between the blocks. We picked those seats as we are both tall and they have lots of leg room. Only problem was, an extremely obese woman was sat in the seat next to me, and basically she overflowed into my leg room area to the point where I had to sit sideways, with my back against her, as it was the only way I could sit down. She sat with with a sort of fixed expression staring straight ahead, pretending not to see me, with her legs apart (they were too fat to move together) and I had the impression that if I asked her to move her leg over she would get arsey with me and probably would not be able to do it anyway. I couldn't wait for the interval, as I was hoping she would go to the loo or something, but she never budged. It really marred what would otherwise have been a great night out. Thinking back, I should have been more assertive and if she was difficult maybe I could have got the management involved, to move either her or us.

Anyway, just an example to show that even great seats can be ruined. We have previously had a small side balcony to ourselves, when we went with another couple. There were 4 chairs and room to stand up and stretch your legs if you felt like it, but the drawback is you have a side view of everything.

Well. aren't you lovely,

Dress circle as close to the centre as possible.

Some of it is personal taste.
Personally, I don't like being in the stalls, looking up at the stage, I like to be up above, looking down on the stage.

The first "shelf" generally contains the most expensive seats - as they are considered the best seats, and then there is sometimes an 'Upper Circle' where they start getting a bit cheaper again, but I personally prefer these to the stalls, but a lot don't as they think they are too high up.

The issue with the front row of the dress circle is often there is a railing (to stop people falling over / off the balcony) and in may theatres, it is right in the eyeline. Then the people in the front row tend to lean forwards a bit to stretch their heads so their eyeline isn't blocked, and then the people in Row 2 get their eyeline a bit blocked by the people in Row 1.
This is why the front row or two is sometimes cheaper than a little further back.

It's the back to the future musical at the adelphi theatre.

I'm 5'6 and I'm going with my brother who is 5'11

I should probably add that I wear hearing aids.

Some shows I like to be far back to see the whole spectacle (eg Lion King) as you get to see the whole stage and show and all the colours. Others that are more character driven (eg Hamilton) I would sit near the front as I love to see the expressions, delivery, emotions etc. Once I went to a show in a Saturday (Jacques Brel ...) and was too far back to absorb everything, and rebooked a single seat for a Monday night to be near the front. So ... it depends. (I don’t have great eyesight and I like to ‘feel’ the whole atmosphere.)

I'm 5ft11, so I tend to book an aisle seat in the stalls, so that I can stretch my legs.
My friend booked some seats in the middle of an aisle, I was almost in tears by the end as it was too cramped.

@ChequerBoard Well, what would you have done? I wasn't unkind to her, I didn't make a fuss as the theatre was pretty full and I wasn't sure what could be done, but the tickets were about £50 each and she took up about a third of my space. She must have known when she booked the seats that she would spill over into the next person's space, so I think she should have booked an aisle seat, or possibly 2 seats.

@twilightcafe - I'm a similar height to you, with long legs, so I know what you mean about those seats. I wonder if part of the problem is that when older theatres were built, 100 or more years ago, the average person back then was smaller/shorter than is the case today. People have got larger over the years, so many people find the theatre seats a bit cramped now. Or maybe theatres have deliberately crammed in more seats when they refurbished, to maximise profit, in the same way that airlines have done with plane seats?

Front row, centre of the dress circle.

There is a website called a view from my seat that I used recently to decide on where to sit. People post a photo of the stage from where they are sitting. All the London theatres are on there. I found it really useful.