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?

Look at TodayTix. If you want to risk it, you can leave it until nearer the time (and the day itself) to see if cheaper tickets arise.

On 2nd June for the matinee they do have some cheaper seats available for £65 (or even as cheap as £54) up in the circle and even some in the side stalls.

Check TheatreMonkey though to see if the seats are any good though.

Last weekend I went to see 'A Little Life' in London, starring James Norton (TLR in Happy Valley) and Luke Thompson (Benedict Bridgerton in Bridgerton).

I'd booked my ticket months ago, because I'd loved the book, and LONG before they announced the cast. Then they announced the cast, post the finale of Happy Valley, and everyone went nuts.
My stalls ticket was £120... I've recently looked, and the same ticket is now going for £250.

My biggest key to success is to book things as soon as they become available if it's a new show. Producers tend to err on the side of caution with ticket prices for a new show, until they see what the popularity is like. But that only works if you keep on top of theatre news and rumours, and have the finances ready to move quickly if something comes up.

For existing shows, look out for single seats. They are much easier to come across and can sometimes be cheaper.

But really, that's just the cost of London theatre these days. £100+ is very normal for a decent seat. The days of £60 a seat being about the norm are, sadly, long gone.

Yes, it's a joke. The National Theatre is much better value for money usually and regional theatre.

That's the same price as on the main website, so no saving unless there's fees added at the end.

Do be careful with TodayTix as their normal ticket prices are more expensive than buying direct from the theatre due to booking fees.

They are good for Rush Tickets (10am on the day) or special offers. Special offer tickets show as stars on the seating plan rather than circles.

we live in london - we usually get up early on a saturday and pop into the tkts booth in leicister square and just go to something that's affordable in the afternoon or that night

if your not picky then id take the risk

Matilda is in a very small theatre, so the last couple of rows of the stalls still give you an excellent view and are a bit cheaper. Stalls is definitely worth it for Matilda though as things go on in the aisles.

DH bought tickets to Back to the Future recently for my birthday in the West End. He didn’t want me to see the price as it was a birthday treat but I accidentally caught a glimpse. It was £380 for two adults in the stalls!!! I nearly fainted. We also had to pay £30 for a taxi from Canary Wharf as he hadn’t left enough time to get to the theatre on the tube. We were the second to last people in before the close the doors!! Amazing show though. Matinees tend to be a little bit cheaper as well as restricted view seating. When we saw School of Rock many years ago, we were in a box to the side and you kind of had to lean round but you could still see OK. The tickets were fairly cheap though.

Almost impossible to get cheap tickets on a Friday or a Saturday night (for obv reasons). Tips:

• for new theatre productions go when the show is in preview (you need to research and be on the ball eg for broadway transfers). And even if you miss preview, still book early as once a show has had press night and rave reviews, costs will skyrocket
• avoid big names. Big names cost big bucks and bring in big audiences. There will be next to no discounts
• find the theatres that have cheaper seat options. The Old Vic is great
• If a show is going to be a long runner and is selling well, wait a while - prices will come down eventually. Eg Hamilton discounts are now widely available but not a chance in the first 2 years
• gumtree: people with tickets to sell on the day of feb show will usually sell for half price or less for a cash exchange

also make sure you are on tickets for good or concerts for carers if you work in health or social care.

It's also worth joining the theatre access scheme if you have a disability. Some of them are easier then others, but you can get a discounted ticket and often a free or also discounted companion ticket.

The Disney Monday madness, what’s the likelihood of getting tickets via that? I’d like to see Frozen in august but unsure if I can risk waiting until the Monday before to book?

They do lottery tickets for Matilda, definitely worth doing!

Some shows sell their front row seats on the Wednesday before the following week. I bought tickets for Wicked for £25 each this way

The FB group is great. Not sure it has saved me much money long term because if makes me buy more tickets 😆

I went to see Frozen with my ds last year and got tickets for £20 each, said they were restricted view but I just checked on a seat planner beforehand. The only part of the stage you couldn’t see was the very front and they barely went that far forward. Was brilliant and the only way that I could ever afford to take him

Another vote for using seat plan to check out the view for each seat.

I saw Shirley Valentine in the west end a while back and we were at the very top and very back with restricted view but because it was such a small theatre the view was still excellent - you could easily see facial expressions which you often miss out on being up in the gods. I was really surprised and delighted we paid £29 a ticket.

The big shows can be ridiculously expensive but you’ve had great advice here.

I saved this Twitter thread a while back - might be useful!

twitter.com/aeronjamesuk/status/1590732041959919616?s=46&t=RNh6hdWkeU4ux4MJezcwZA

Hope you got some tickets, OP! :)

I've seen well over 100 shows (only a handful were musicals), and rarely did I pay more than £20-£30. Most of these were not booked in advance. What I did was turn up at the door about 15 min before opening and ask if there any decent availabilities, and most of the time there were.

I can count on one hand the times they were sold out or nothing cheap even just before curtains up. Otoh, I bagged royal box seats of Dear Evan Hansen for £25 to name one memorable example.

I managed to grab good seats to Frozen. It had to be weekend as it was for visitors coming to stay with us. I used the Monday madness offer and grabbed row G in the stalls. We were a bit to the side but still brilliant. This was last month. I was offered row P at first and dithered, got timed out but when I logged back in I got G so good result for 4 people. I did notice on Disney that there's better availability for Frozen than Lion King. I've tried it with Lion King and there's sometimes just single seats.

We tend to go on a Monday because then things are so much cheaper

But also booking the cheapest seats and then hoping for an upgrade as they move people out of the higher tiers to fill up the spaces in the stalls

Thanks for your help everyone ! We went in the end (matinee) and got slightly more affordable seats due to the suggestion there. Had a great time x

We go to the ticket booth in Leicester Sq and see whats available. We got 2 good stalls seats for £30 each in February for Noises Off, but they had tickets for most shows that night. No good if you want to see a specific show, but if you are flexible. Its good. There are a number of booths, this was the one next to the Cork and Bottle wine bar, it was cheaper than the big stand alone booth by £20 a ticket.