To ask for help deciding on a London theatre show?

[Theda13]

I really can’t decide, the more I look into London shows, the more get added to my wishlist.

So far, I have seen: Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake, Wicked, Nye, Calamity Jane, The Lion King, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Beautiful and Motown: The Musical. There must be others that I’ve forgotten about too.

My top contenders this time round are: The Phantom of the Opera, Hamilton and the Book of Mormon.

Avenue Q is back this year. It’s amazing. I stared in it in my younger years so I may be biased, but it’s hilarious

Book of Mormon is amazing. I've seen it twice and would go a third time. Matilda was good. Not seen Hamilton but everyone raves over it.

Hamilton is brilliant - i think it's worth listening to the soundtrack in advance to see if you fancy it though

Book of Mormon can be a bit marmite i've found - i know loads of people who love it but others who hated it! (i liked it)

As others have said Operation Mincemeat is fantastic! Honestly a brilliant piece of theatre with a wonderful story behind it in terms of being written by a group of young british performers and musicians. Matilda is wonderful too - but both these shows are touring currently so might be on nearer to home.

I saw Hadestown last week which i really enjoyed - the music and staging is great. the story and characters i found a bit weak though.

Everyone raves about Paddington but its very expensive!

I'd love to catch Oliver! as Matthew Bourne has done the choreography and i'm a big fan of Simon Lipkin - i don't think you'd be disappointed if you went for that one.

It was fantastic- great acting and swapping between characters. Had the audience chuckling at many points. The lead was really brilliant

The film is very different to the stage show. I hated the film and I am not a massive fan of musicals, was dragged to see Moulin Rouge and absolutely loved it.

Also @cardibach its different music than the film, aprt from the main Moulin Rouge song, all the numbers are completely different and updated. Honest was very good.

Saw Oliver a few days ago really good. Shivers down the spine at Nancys song.

Nothing gets close to Caberet though. Head and shoulders above everything else we’ve seen.

I felt the exact opposite. Thought the film moulin rouge was excellent. The show had zero depth at all just a lot of shouting and some dancing. We were quite disappointed. Saw it after caberet though which is a different league.

Sorry for derailing the thread, but The National Theatre have posted that there will be a free YouTube premiere of the new production of The Importance of Being Earnest on the 12th of March at 7pm.

I love Oscar Wilde, so I’ll definitely be watching!

Anyone else?

Phantom, hamilton and book of mormon are my order of preference as have seen them all. Book of mormon is 18+ so depends who you are going with?

As so many others have said Operation Mincemeat is brilliant. Plus the Fortune Theatre is a hidden gem with so many original features. Matthew Bourne's The Red Shoes is absolutely beautiful. But now I come to think of it, it may be touring now.

It’ll just be my partner and I.

Hamilton and Book of Mormon are both great for entirely different reasons

neither are as good as Operation Mincemeat IMO. Saw it earlier this week (national tour) and the first time I’ve ever seen a 100% standing ovation

Book of mormon is really good but super offensive.

I’ll be seeing Operation Mincemeat, just not in London though since it’s touring this year. I’ll be watching it close to home.

If I was booking next week;

Back to the future (ends soon)
Hamilton
Hades Town
Les Mis
The Devil Wears Prada

Book Of Mormon - wouldn’t see again, as per pp it’s offensive, dark humour involving horrible subjects. I expected it to more like Monty Python tbh

Hamilton !! Best show I have ever seen

Definitely Book of Mormon. If not, Back to the Future. Haven’t seen it yet but I really want to see Devil Wears Prada.

Ah yes Back to the future was great.

I really enjoyed Mincemeat but I don't really get the hype about it being the best thing ever. Wasn’t a standing ovation (apart from a few pockets) either, though I don’t think that’s necessarily a measure of a show. I’ve seen full standing ovations at lots of shows - for eg Hamilton, Cabaret and most recently Ballad Lines at Southwark Playhouse (Elephant). This last was the easiest stand for me for a very long time.

I happily gave Operation Mincemeat a standing ovation - not because I thought it was the best thing ever (though it was very good) but just due to the sheer energy of the actors!

It’s a good show and the cast are great. Just don’t think it’s better than all of the other things on at the moment which was sort of suggested in the post I responded to.

Back to the future, all day, all night, and all the day after too.

Oh thank heavens- I thought I was the only person who really didn't enjoy Hadestown. I actually had to leave at the interval, which have never done for any other show.