West end tickets - HOW MUCH?

[Bearpawk]

Aibu to ask about any tricks or ways of obtaining cheaper theatre tickets ?going to London on a Friday and wanted to book one of the big shows for an evening. The main websites are showing £100 each (£75 for crappy seats)
That's more than the hotel! Who can afford that?
Is this normal?
Are they cheaper on the day or do they sell out?

Which show? What date?

YANBU.
Following because I would also like to know if there are tricks to getting cheaper tickets.

It's all going to depend on which show it is, they all have different ticketing systems. Some have day seats, some don't. Do you uave a specific show in mind?

TodayTix is a good app to get cheap(er) seats.

Also. Yes. Top price are normally £100+ but a lot of places start at about £35 for the cheap seats. Further away but still enjoyable.

Yep - sad to me that theatre and concerts are now so expensive- it really does create such a social divide.
yes you can get cheaper tickets for a Wednesday behind a bollard, booking on the day- otherwise not really!

It’s always been expensive to go to the theatre.

Alas, the main answer was probably to have booked months ago! I love a bargain and have theatre booked up until next March.

Besides TodayTix and the Half price ticket booth, I did find this list of ideas (mostly helpful if you are young or a keyworker though...). Seat filling might work?

https://redbuslondinium.uk/how-to-afford-the-theatre/

I was shocked at the price for lion king!

It does cost alot to put on a show, even well established as costume needs to be made or changed, set, lighting, sound needs fixing and maintaining. The backstage crew, the technicians, front of house staff, building maintaince, the actors especially if they are a or b listers, but even with that the pricing is ridiculous.

I am sure Andrew L Webber did a piece on it and how it was causing a social divide and something needed to be done

TodayTix have a 25 shows for £25 campaign right now:

So would I! I really wanted to go and see Cabaret for my birthday but even the tickets so far away from the stage they were practically in the next street were insanely prices (although I did go to see a Matthew Bourne ballet instead at Sadlers Wells, so I didn't miss out 😊).

There are loads of ways to get cheaper seats. I go to the theatre a lot and rarely pay more than £25 a ticket. If it's a Disney show you can book tickets for £29.50 with their magical Mondays offer. There is also Twickets, Today Tix and TKTS website.

Ticketswap has cheap seats sometimes

Lots of people can afford it, seats are selling every night. There are cheaper seats available, unfortunately with most things in life you have to go with what you can afford so if that's a 5 year old car instead of a brand new one then so be it. Same with theatre tickets. It's just different budgets.

@SocksAndTheCity We sat in front of upper circle for Cabaret for £50 each i think and it was wonderful, really good seats and we didnt feel out of it at all. The theatre has been rebuilt specially for the show and all the seats have a great view. Hope you can go and see it at some point!

Pre kids I practically lived in the west end, some months went every week now I just can’t afford it at all.
My daughter would love to see Matilda, she’s adores the book and latest film too, but I just can’t afford it, not for decent seats which she’d be able to see in, by the time travel is factored in (I don’t live in London anymore) it’s be at least £300, and that’s what we pay for a holiday for all of us, genuinely feel so sad my children won’t get to experience it, I always imagined taking them to shows regularly. And I know it’s always been expensive but again pre kids, I never paid more then £50 a for a good seat and only £20 for fairly decent ones, ok for best in house it’s always been circa £90-100 but there used to be plenty of deals to be had, now there just isn’t any and I look hard!

@Houseofpainjumparound for Lion King, front of the upper circle says its restricted view but there's a really low bar, it doesnt get in the way at all. We went a couple of years ago and 'restricted' seats were £25 each, the kids could see everything brilliantly as well

That site I posted before has loads of ideas for children's discounts... https://redbuslondinium.uk/how-to-afford-the-theatre/young-person-discounts/

Some won't work but you can go to the EYO for free and once they are 16 there are loads of options.

Kidsweek is now all of August too, which might help some?

Agree. It is worth looking on SeatPlan or TheatreMonkey - you can get a really good idea of which seats will / won't work.

That's really helpful @AllTheBooks ; I didn't realise that 😀

I have terrible eyesight and am a shortarse so I always try to get towards the front of the dress circle, but you've convinced me to have another look 😊👍

If you're able to go earlier in the week you'd stand more chance of finding an offer. There aren't generally many bargains to be had on a Friday.

I know it’s not the same but the west end shows tour and the regional tickets are a fraction of the price. @Brainfogmcfogface DD and I saw Matilda outside of London. We also saw Lion King when it went on tour. OP If you are booking hotels, you must be from outside London. Check if the show you want to see is touring.

Book of Mormon Friday 2nd June x

Thank you @OchreDandelion

We have gone to this in the Loge seats before LG4.3 and LG4.4 - they were not bad as you have a free moving chair so could kind of wiggle it round to be able to see.

They are still on sale for that night.

I find hyped shows that have just come over from the US the worst for cheap tickets.

I often just go to the box office 5 mins before the show starts and ask what they've got. Only works for shows that aren't selling out (although even then you can get lucky. I once had to return a ticket for a sold out performance due to train cancellations so someone got lucky).

Some shows run lotteries.

Go in January/February when "Get in to London Theatre" runs its promo.