Free Hotel offer on theatre breaks http://www.show-and-stay.co.uk/free-hotel-offer.html?agent=WQ213

Man in the Middle theatre breaks http://theatrebreaks.co/wiki/Man_in_the_Middle

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The Rise and Fall of Little Voice – a theatre review

This article titled “The Rise and Fall of Little Voice – review” was written by Alfred Hickling, for The Guardian on Friday 1st April 2011 20.45 UTC Jim Cartwright’s 1992 comedy has matured into an enjoyable period piece – just how much so becomes apparent in the first scene when Mari, a noisy northern housewife, is beside herself with excitement over the acquisition of a new phone. It takes two engineers to install it and plug it into the wall. It’s a minor miracle that the play has had any kind of continued production history at all, having specifically been tailored to expose Jane Horrocks’s uncanny ability to impersonate the great popular divas from Gracie Fields to Judy Garland. Yet it was successfully revived in the West End with X-Factor contestant Diana Vickers; and here it is the remarkable Rebecca Hutchinson who proves capable of switching from Bassey to Piaf and back again in a single breath. Cartwright’s drama has an archetypal quality – it’s essentially the Tale of the Ugly Duckling in reverse – and might be said to have invented its own genre of glittery northern realism. Director Amy Leach points out that it’s hard to conceive of Shameless or The Royle Family without it; though Cartwright’s language remains one of a kind. When Eithne Browne’s Mari rhapsodises over a “real pronto lip-lapping snog”, it’s hard not to picture exactly what she means. The downside of such loquacity is that it leaves little room for subtext. It’s a good job Hutchinson’s Little Voice and Sue McCormick’s amiable, roly-poly Sadie are practically mute or else the play would go on all night. Leach’s production is long enough, but the young, Bolton-born director has had an impressive run at the Dukes, suggesting that hers is another significant little voice on the rise.

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Arts Council cuts have hit many of this week’s theatre companies, from Shared Experience to Manchester’s Greenroom. All the more important to go on theatre breaks and see them – now.

This article titled “What to see: Lyn Gardner’s theatre tips” was written by Lyn Gardner, for guardian.co.uk on Friday 1st April 2011 14.06 UTC There’s plenty of great theatre around this week, but the question after this week’s cuts is whether the same will be true in five years’ time – or even a year. The Arts Council is not to blame for the hand it’s been dealt by the government, but has it really done enough to realign the landscape and redirect money away from the haves to the have-nots? Most importantly, has ACE’s strategic thinking been as robust as it needs to be to ensure that theatre continues to thrive and audiences grow both in numbers and diversity? So let’s start What to see this week with fine companies who have been unlucky in the recent funding round. Shared Experience have been excluded from the National Portfolio but who – as their multi-layered production Brontë confirms – can deliver probing and beautiful work. Catch it at Oxford Playhouse until tomorrow, and then at London’s Tricycle Theatre from next Tuesday. Another casualty – and one of several small touring companies who have been cut, including Northumberland Theatre Company and Oxfordshire Theatre Co – is Forest Forge, which is out on the road playing village halls and venues with Peeling (tonight at the Lighthouse, Poole). Then there’s Manchester’s Greenroom, which for 28 years has been supporting artists making performance and live art in a city dominated by the Royal Exchange, and who are this week playing host to Kings of England and Levantes Dance Theatre through their Method Lab, a scheme that previously helped nurture Nic Green’s Trilogy and Drunken Chorus. Remove the venue, and where do the artists find the support they need? Despite an 11% cut for many organisations, regional theatre buildings are going to have to do a great deal more to nurture talent, support companies and present work. Feeling the pinch will be no excuse and it can’t be business as usual. Every bit of theatre is now reliant on collaboration. This week Coventry’s Belgrade theatre, which took almost a 15% hit, has a new version of Uncle Vanya, which will then transfer to London’s Arcola (which, with an 82% rise, was one of the day’s big winners). North in Bolton, the Octagon opens its tale of local hero and steeplejack Fred Dibnah, The Demolition Man, in the same week that its highly acclaimed revival of The Price transfers to the Stephen Joseph, which says goodbye to Paines Plough’s touring show, Love Love Love, which in turns is heading into the West Yorkshire Playhouse. It’s all connected, and my hunch is that it will have to be more so in the years ahead. Staying in the north, Birmingham Rep’s teenage drama of life and death, Notes to Future Self, goes into the Royal Exchange Studio, the excellent Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf continues at Sheffield Crucible before heading to Northern Stage, and Alan Bennett’s tale of the woman who took up residence in his garden, Lady in the Van, is revived at Hull Truck. While we’re in Yorkshire, do think about booking for Harrogate’s Two’s Company Festival in May, a mini version of BAC’s brilliant One-on-One Festival, which features Laura Mugridge’s delightful camper van show, Running on Air, a new piece by Analogue, and Tea is an Evening Meal, a collaboration between Northern Stage and Third Angel, (the latter very mysteriously cut by ACE). Two successes in the funding round are Freedom Studios who are behind Mill – City of Dreams in Bradford, and Theatre in the Mill, which this weekend offers the interactive thriller, The Falling Sickness, and follows it with Instant Dissidence’s One on One, When Night Falls, from Tuesday. Let’s head further south to the Royal and Derngate in Northampton, where Rattigan’s In Praise of Love opens next week, and from there into London, where the lively young Colombian circus, Circolombia, which is made up of former street kids, returns to the Roundhouse (another funding winner). Looking ahead, at the Roundhouse you should be booking for The Fat Girl Gets a Haircut and Other Stories, Mark Storor’s participatory show made with teenagers. The Almeida may have suffered a substantial 39% funding cut, but it still gets £704,000, which should be more than enough to ensure that it continues projects such as Crawling in the Dark, a new play for young people inspired by the current main house hit, David Eldridge’s addiction drama, The Knot of the Heart. Soho Theatre – another significant loser but with new artistic director Steve Marmion at the helm – has Bryony Kimmings’ Sex Idiot, a tale of STDs and pubic hair. Ireland’s Abbey Theatre bring Mark O’Rowe’s play about Dublin life Terminus to the Young Vic, which has a small uplift in funding. Cheek by Jowl take their Russian Tempest into the Barbican. Tim Etchells and Ant Hampton collaborate on The Quiet Volume, a unique experience in a library as part of the London Word Festival and check out Chisenhale Art Club, which always happens on the first Wednesday of the month. I rather like the sound of Hotel Confessions, too, which is performed in a Bermondsey hotel. Just outside London, Lee Hall’s terrific The Pitmen Painters sets off from the Theatre Royal in Windsor on a nationwide tour. Derek Jacobi’s King Lear is at the Theatre Royal in Bath. Fevered Sleep’s delightful children’s show And the Rain Falls Down goes into Bristol Old Vic, Comedy of Errors continues at the Tobacco Factory, Journey’s End goes into the Theatre Royal in Brighton and at the Basement choreographer Ivana Muller considers her place on the stage in 60 Minutes of Opportunism. Circus did well in the funding shake-up and its happy birthday to Circomedia in Bristol who are celebrating in style. Marivaux’s A Game of Love and Chance opens at Salisbury Playhouse. In Scotland – which is, of course, unaffected by ACE funding decisions – Liz Lochhead’s Educating Agnes, a version of Molière’s School for Wives, is at the Royal Lyceum in Edinburgh. Elsewhere in the capital, the Jimmy Boyle-inspired The Hard Man is at the King’s, and Catherine Wheels’ new version of Beauty and the Beast, Caged, is at the Traverse today before moving to Aberdeen’s Lemon Tree tomorrow, with more tour dates to follow. Head to The Arches in Glasgow from Tuesday for a double showcase of award-winning work, which includes Me and the Machine’s dislocating love story When We Meet Again, Claire Duffy’s Money… the Game Show, Thickskin’s tale of teenage catastrophe, Blackout, and Gareth Nicholls’ Pause With a Smile, which lingers on everyday coincidences.

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Theatre breaks review of   “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg” by The Guardian’s Michael Billington

This article titled “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg – review” was written by Michael Billington, for The Guardian on Wednesday 23rd March 2011 00.24 UTC “Charmingly attenuated” was how the New Yorker’s Pauline Kael described the original 1964 Jacques Demy movie. Suspiciously thin would be my verdict on this stage version adapted and directed by Emma Rice for Kneehigh. The Michel Legrand score still offers its fitful pleasures, and the bittersweet ending is retained; but it seems an oddly gratuitous translation of a highly successful film into theatrical terms. Rice is faithful to the story: Genevieve, a naive teenager, falling for Guy, a Cherbourg garagiste; and then, when he is drafted into the Algerian war, being ardently wooed by a rich jeweller. But, one has to ask, what exactly is gained by the stage transfer? Rice heightens aspects such as the jealous pangs felt by Genevieve’s mum, who has her own eyes on the jeweller’s assets. Lest we miss the fact this is an essentially French story, Rice has also imported a roguish compere in the shape of a cabaret diva called Meow Meow, and adds a chorus of matelots in striped vests. I suppose we should consider ourselves lucky she stopped short of an itinerant onion seller. What is lost are the very things that made the film so original. One is the way in which the fluid camera movement matched the seamless recitative of the Legrand score: take that away, and you are left with a show that, with the exception of I Will Wait for You, seems strangely lacking in musical or dramatic highlights. The other missing ingredient is the candy-coloured artifice of the film, in which even the wallpaper matched the characters’ costumes. Watching the stage version is like seeing a Technicolor film rendered in black and white: Lez Brotherston’s set, with its partitioned steel structures, seems determined to evoke the reality of Cherbourg, whereas the point of the story is that it is a romantic fairytale. The performances themselves are fine. Carly Bawden conveys Genevieve’s innocence, Andrew Durand shows Guy plausibly embittered by both the war and his lover’s desertion, and Joanna Riding as Genevieve’s mum has the right flighty desperation. Nigel Lilley’s musical direction is tireless. And there are one or two striking images, such as that of a lovelorn Guy marooned in the midst of the Algerian conflict. But when you recall how ingeniously Kneehigh interwove film and live action in Brief Encounter, this seems a strangely prosaic attempt to capture the elusive poetry of the Demy original.

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The near-bankrupt country of Portugal hopes a new festival of British musical theatre acts will draw the tourists it needs to recover. The Phantom of the Opera, Evita and Jesus Christ Superstar head the bill. Maybe other versions top London shows will follow.

This article titled “Portugal’s new tourism draws are Phantom Of The Opera and Evita” was written by Vanessa Thorpe, for The Observer on Sunday 20th March 2011 00.05 UTC The songs of Andrew Lloyd Webber have moved audiences to tears and set box office tills ringing in London’s West End for more than 30 years, but can they help to shore up the Portuguese economy? As the country struggles this weekend to play down new fears about an impending bailout by the International Monetary Fund, the national tourist agency has announced a plan to draw a stream of British tourists into Portuguese resorts this summer by booking a succession of popular British entertainment shows and acts. At the top of the bill are The Phantom of the Opera, Evita and Jesus Christ Superstar. The British band Morcheeba is already booked, as is jazz singer Norma Winstone. There are also plans to bring in Lamb, the electronic trip-hop musicians from Manchester. The entertainment scheme, called Allgarve Nations, aims to celebrate the culture of one of the favourite visiting nations each year in turn. “For this first edition we have chosen the United Kingdom, which is our main tourism market, with a programme that includes British artists as well as national ones,” said Augusto Miranda, the co-ordinator of the campaign. “The cherry on the cake is that we are still working on the programme and there are more surprises to come,” he added, announcing the programme of events in Faro last week. Despite his country’s economic crisis, Miranda said he hopes to secure the normal budget of €3m for promotional schemes this year. A reliable flow of holidaymakers from Britain has been crucial to Portuguese finances for some years, but the heavy burden of the economic crash means it is no time for complacency. The influential credit ratings agency Moody’s downgraded Portugal’s financial standing by two notches last week in view of the country’s weak growth prospects. The move prompted damaging speculation that a bailout similar to those handed out last year to Ireland and Greece cannot be far away. The rating agency said “subdued growth prospects and productivity gains” over the near- to medium-term were behind their decision, as was concern that reforms to the labour market and the justice system had yet to “bear fruit”. On Friday the Portuguese prime minister, José Sócrates, urged his parliament to back new austerity measures. “I will do what it takes to avoid a bailout,” he said, emphasising his determination to go to the EU summit this week with a solid plan. His minority socialist-leaning government has staked its reputation on avoiding a bailout and it claims its new programme of spending cuts – the fourth in a year – will restore market faith in the economy. Opposition parties are calling for more, including a pensions freeze. Another glimmer of hope for the Portuguese tourist economy comes from plans for more low-cost flights to the Algarve. A budget airline, Jet2, has announced that it will be adding two new British routes to and from Faro from next month. Property professionals believe the news will help to revive the plummeting local property market by encouraging investors who want to buy second homes and let them to holidaymakers. Prince Charles and Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, are due to make an official visit to Portugal next week as part of a tour also taking in Spain and Morocco. Their visit will begin in Lisbon and will, according to Clarence House, “celebrate long-standing co-operation between the Portuguese and British navies, support British trade and investment opportunities and highlight the work of the substantial resident British community”.

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Legally Blonde, Wicked, Les Miserables, Love Never Dies mentioned. This article titled “Legally Blonde and Wicked dominate Whatsonstage.com awards” was written by Mark Brown, for The Guardian on Sunday 20th February 2011 19.00 UTC They are both West End productions which appeal to teenage girls and young women and they were both crowned big winners at the only major theatre awards voted on exclusively by the public. The 11th Whatsonstage.com awards were handed out in central London with Legally Blonde the Musical winning the most. The feelgood show, about a pink-obsessed society girl who astounds and dazzles everybody at law school, won four prizes including best new musical and best choreography. Sheridan Smith, who co-hosted the ceremony, was named best actress in a musical for her portrayal of Elle Woods and Jill Halfpenny, the one time Geordie police officer turned nail salon owner in EastEnders, won best supporting actress in a musical for her role as a sassy hairdresser, Paulette. Wicked the Musical, with its enormous social networking savvy fanbase, always does well in any public vote and it won best West End show for the second year running. It has been dropped from this year’s Olivier prize public vote to give someone else a chance. Rachel Tucker also won best takeover in a role for her performance as green witch Elphaba. Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical Love Never Dies, which got off to a rocky critical start but this month extended its run into 2012, won two prizes for best actor (Ramin Karimloo) and best supporting actor (Joseph Millson). Les Miserables’ 25th birthday celebrations were celebrated. The anniversary concert at the O2 was event of the year and best ensemble performance and the production at its first home, the Barbican, was best musical revival. In the straight play categories, the all-black cast Cat on a Hot Tin Roof won best play revival, Howard Brenton’s Anne Boleyn at Shakespeare’s Globe was best new play, Yes, Prime Minister was best new comedy and the National Theatre’s Hamlet was named best Shakespearean production. Zoe Wanamaker and David Suchet were named best actress and actor in a play for All My Sons, with Tamsin Greig named best supporting actress for The Little Dog Laughed and Nigel Lindsay best supporting actor for Broken Glass at the Tricycle. Glee star Jonathan Groff was named newcomer of the year for Deathtrap. Terri Paddock, whatsonstage.com’s editorial director, said the awards were different to the Oliviers, where theatres such as the Donmar Warehouse and Royal Court routinely dominated. “Our 45,000-plus theatregoer votes have instead, once again, concentrated their accolades on the strong work produced by the commercial sector. “It’s fantastic to see crowd-pleasers like Legally Blonde, Les Miserables and Yes, Prime Minister receive the recognition they deserve, alongside smaller but equally worthwhile productions like Broken Glass and Anne Boleyn.”

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A new addition to the range of musicals on offer for London theatre breaks The Donmar Warehouse has announced full casting for its British premiere production of The 25th Annual County Spelling Bee, beginning performances February 11th 2011, with an official opening on February 21st, for a run through until April 2nd 2011. “If you win the Spelling Bee, one’s life improves from A to Z.” Music & Lyrics by William Finn. Book by Rachel Sheinkin 11 February – 2 April 2011 Only those blessed with an extraordinary ability and love of language qualify for the Putnam County Spelling Bee. But there can only be one winner and with a place in the national final at stake, emotions run high, hopes are quashed and dreams are broken. Dust off your dictionary and prepare yourselves for the spelling challenge of a lifetime in William Finn and Rachel Sheinkin’s hilarious Tony Award-winning musical. This riotous musical comedy is guaranteed to have you cachinnating (use it in a sentence, request a definition?). The Spelling Bee cast will feature Chris Carswell (as Leaf Coneybear/Carl Dad), David Flynn (William Barfee), Hayley Gallivan (Olive Ostrovksy), Harry Hepple (Chip Tolentino/Jesus), Katherine Kingsley (Rona Lisa Perretti/Olive’s Mum), Maria Lawson (Marcy Park), Ako Mitchell (Mitch Mahoney/Dan Dad/Olive’s Dad), Steve Pemberton (Vice Principal Douglas Panch) and Iris Roberts (Logainne Schwatzandgrubenniere), under the direction of Jamie Lloyd. Read more: http://theatrebreaks.co/wiki/The_25th_Annual_Putnam_County_Spelling_Bee

“Like Grease and Legally Blonde, it has a vaguely academic context.”

This article titled “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee – review” was written by Michael Billington, for The Guardian on Tuesday 22nd February 2011 02.09 UTC Given the Donmar’s exemplary musical track record, it is a bit of a shock to find them importing this flimsy, vacuous diversion. Like Grease and Legally Blonde, it has a vaguely academic context. But William Finn’s music and lyrics and Rachel Sheinkin’s book have little of the brio of those shows and seem unsure whether they are satirising or celebrating a peculiarly American institution. The pretence is that we are in a high school gym watching a competitive spelling bee. To add verisimilitude we are asked to stand and recite the pledge of allegiance and four audience members are invited to join the contest. It says much for the bravery of my colleague, the Evening Standard’s Henry Hitchings, that he agreed to participate and he acquitted himself with dignity and style. But much of the spontaneity and fun goes out of the proceedings when the four volunteers are eliminated and all we are left with is a remorseless whittling away of the survivors: it’s a bit like The Weakest Link without the laughs. I presume the intention is to show that spelling bees are a way for American kids to shed their hangups by exhibiting their verbal prowess. So we have the unloved fat boy, the disconsolate over-achiever, the poor kid pining for her mum on a spiritual trek to India and the guy with uncontrollable lusts who at one point sings “my unfortunate protuberance seems to have its own exuberance”. But the highly forgettable songs seem to be imposed on the action rather than arising organically from it and many of the jokes are just as arbitrary. In a heavily American show, that assumes we know the difference between the Red Sox and the Yankees, it seems implausible for a high school kid to tell us that “Nick Clegg is after the alternative vote – but what about the straights?” The best one can say is that the cast in Jamie Lloyd’s production works with unremitting energy. Katherine Kingsley, who made a big impression in Aspects of Love, lends the contest’s co-host a honey blonde vivacity and Steve Pemberton as her colleague has the fake omniscience of the smug quizmaster. And, among the contestants, David Fynn as the bumptious know-all, Hayley Gallivan as a lovelorn loser and Harry Hepple as the guy with the erectile issues make their mark. But it’s hard to warm to a show that, for all its would-be scholasticism, embodies the progressive infantilising of the American musical. And, when Christ appears in a vision to one of the struggling contestants and declares “this isn’t the kind of thing I care about”, he speaks for a good many of us.

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I tend to bang on about rail travel as preferable to driving, but theatre breaks by coach offer a different kind of experience altogether. People over a certain age may well have bad memories of coach journeys back in the bad old days when there were no onboard facilities, long uncomfortable journeys around bendy trunk roads with groups of badly behaved people and children. I know I do. But modern coaches have air conditioning, plush comfortable seating, traffic news by radio and sat nav, personal entertainment and are a fast and relaxing way to travel hundreds of miles from city centre to city centre. When you arrive in London on a theatre break by coach, you are not left to yourself to find the hotel and the theatre because you are part of a coach party who are all going to the same show and you usually get picked up outside the theatre by the coach which then drives you all directly to the hotel after the show. That can make the whole stopover a lot more manageable for some people. Theatre Breaks by Coach - Theatre Breaks Magazine Another thing I’m really excited about being able to offer now that we have Coach Theatre Breaks available through the Magazine Readers Offers is the opportunity to book a theatre break for one. Yes, there is a single room supplement to cover the extra hotel costs, but it’s a lot better than being confronted with a booking form that asks you to select the number of tickets required starting at two! And if you go on a coach trip to London’s West End as a single person then you have the perfect choice as to whether you want to keep yourself to yourself or socialise a bit with other people who are coming from the same town as yourself and will be around at the hotel and on the coach journey home again after having seen the same show.

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Love Never Dies By the time many people read this the free tickets competition will be over, so I’ll write about why I think you might like to consider Love Never Dies theatre breaks anyway. I guess you may have already seen The Phantom of The Opera ? The most successful piece of live entertainment ever, it’s been on long enough. Or maybe your parents enjoyed it thirty years ago when Michael Crawford played the Phantom. Well Love Never Dies is a continuation of the story, but with completely new twists. The scene is set ten years after the incident at the Paris Opera House, and the Phantom is now presiding over a huge entertainment complex at Coney Island, New York. He manages to manipulate Christine and Raoul into sailing across the Atlantic and into his lair. But there’s much more than that…

Some of the music in Love Never Dies comes from the operetta genre, some from light entertainment and some even from a rock background. This is the fusion which Andrew Lloyd Webber does so well. The staging, sets and costumes are magnificent, so you really do see a big musical theatre event up there on the big stage. This is certainly not one of your small cast and minimalist aesthetics plays, like many even in the West End, not that there’s anything wrong with that. Ramin Karimloo and Sierra Boggess are both star quality singers in the lead roles and it’s nice to hear the full orchestra getting a proper work out. Did I mention the free tickets? Love Never Dies Tickets Competition One pair of top price tickets have been donated. That’s worth around £180 normally. Now, you’d need to be able to get to the London Adelphi Theatre for tomorrow night, Saturday 9th October 2010. So if you are in London anyway, and can clear out all of your prior engagements to be free then you’d do well to nip over and quickly enter the simple competition on the Love Never Dies blog. The odds are not against you! Here’s the link again… http://www.loveneverdiesphantom.co.uk Love Never Dies Theatre Breaks If you don’t have easy access to the capital then buying London theatre breaks packages with the tickets and convenient hotel room plus optional discount rail travel is nearly always the best way to go.

Other London Theatre Breaks to see West End Musicals

Theatre Breaks The Wizard of Oz The Phantom Of The Opera Les Miserables Ghost

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I’m going to see a play called “Enlightenment” at the Hampstead Theatre in London on Monday. I don’t really know much about the play “Enlightenment” apart from the slightly worrying description “a mesmeric psychological thriller” and this trailer video here:

I’ll probably come back here and let you know how the play went next week. Trailer videos for plays are becoming quite the thing, but I wonder how apt it is to make a very filmic piece of media to represent live theatre, which is a very different kind of thing entirely. Another example is the poster campaign for Deathtrap , another thriller play but also a comedy, which includes showing the outdoor gravedigging scene on camera, when the live stage play takes place entirely indoors in one room. Deathtrap Yes, that’s Simon Russel Beale, The current Home Secretary in Spooks, pushing the wheelbarrow with Jonathan Groff in it.

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London Weekend Breaks can be organised in the same way as midweek theatre breaks with just one night in a central London hotel, the big evening at the show and then return home the next day, whether it's a...

The Jersey boys and girls in the London West End production are totally committed to playing their parts full time and living the roles. One of all time favourite shows on the West End stage the past couple...

Love Never Dies has been confirmed as the title of a new musical opening first in London's West End which is to be a sequel to the highly popular show The Phantom of The Opera. The story takes place ten...

London Theatre Breaks London Theatre breaks involve short breaks to London to see a top West End show and stay in a smart hotel close to London theatreland. Top tickets to the most popular shows are hard to get hold of, especially for a Saturday night or close to holidays but the hotel and theatre packages hold block tickets in reserve so it’s often the best way to secure the dates you want and also make sure you don’t have to worry about getting back home again after a great theatre night out. Theatre breaks can also be extended to include discount rail fare from any UK railway station, and arriving in London by train is a very sensible plan by the way, and also London attractions such as the London Eye, Thames river trips, Madame Tussaud’s etc. If you’re one of those people who always like to know where you are going to be eating you can get a good deal booking pre-theatre restaurant meal at the same time too. Here is a selection of 7 from the current top musicals on offer: Les Miserables Theatre Breaks Les Miserables (or Les Miz) has remained one of the most popular London theatre breaks after becoming the longest running musical with a 25 years unbroken run. This spectacular musical show with a highly emotional score tells of the epic story of Jean Val Jean, an ex-convict who could not escape his past, all against the background of turmoil sweeping through 19th century France. Sales of tickets for Les Miserables went up by 46 per cent after Susan Boyle sang I Dreamed a Dream in the first round of Britain’s Got Talent. Grease West End Theatre Breaks

“Grease is the word” Come on, haven’t you always wanted to get up and sing like Sandy or Danny? The songs are so familiar that with a Grease theatre break in London, you know exactly what kind of fun you’re going to get. The super line up for the West End staging makes sure this is the most professionally stunning production of Grease you’ve ever seen. Oliver! “Can I have some more please?” Oliver the musical is the famous Lionel Bart staging from the Oliver Twist story by Dickens. Jodie Prenger the leading lady confounded sceptics by holding down the part she won in a TV competion and will continue to delight audiences with her powerful voice and dedication to the hard West End lifestyle well into 2010. The part of Fagin has been played by big names Rowan Atkinson and Omid Djali and after December 14th is taken over by Griff Rhys Jones. Legendry classic musical songs such as “Food glorious food”, “Consider yourself” and “You’ve got to pick a pocket or two” are all part of the timeless Oliver theatre breaks experience. Mamma Mia! Did you see the movie with Meryl Streep? I loved it. This is the stage musical the film was based on and they do turn the inside of the theatre into a fabulous sunny Greek island. It’s both funny and fun. Mamma Mia theatre breaks with the enormous feel good factor are great for parties, groups, couples young and old and if you do drag somebody along who thinks they dislike Abba songs they still end up having a brilliant time. Priscilla Queen of the Desert Another musical that has its origins in a film of the same name, Priscilla Queen of the Desert on stage has taken on a life of its own. After years of success in Australia, Priscilla finally arrived on the London West End scene in spring 2009 with Jason Donavon and Tony Sheldon. The costumes and sets are completely mad and Stephen Fry said “It’s one of the most fantastic evenings I’ve ever had in a theatre. It’s just simply infectious.” Phantom of The Opera

The Phantom of The Opera is another very long running musical which relates more towards the classical side of musical theatre, having superbly visual gothic scenes and a big soaring orchestral musical score. Worth seeing more than once, Phantom of the Opera theatre breaks are appreciated for anniversaries and smart city breaks. With the impending launch of an unusual sequel musical, called “Love Never Dies“, there is likely to be more interest in the Phantom than ever. Dirty Dancing Nobody seems to be able to explain quite why Dirty Dancing theatre breaks attract such enthusiastic devotees, but Saturday night tickets are always scarce and the glitzy young people who do turn up are usually all set for a big night out. You have to be impressed by spectacular dancing and expect to get caught up in the music and romance. Other Theatre breaks in London Of course there are plenty of other choices for theatre breaks in London if none of these top musicals are exactly your cup of tea. How could I leave out “We Will Rock You” for example, the only British rock musical currently in the West End ( but not for long we hope ). And if it’s a good play that does more for you than musicals then there’s an opportunity to see Lenny Henry’s powerful Othello, The Shawshank Redemption and of course long term favourites such as The Mousetrap and Woman in Black. For information about the logistics of planning London theatre breaks you can also browse the theatre breaks magazine or join the theatre breaks facebook page.

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Theatre Breaks Magazine A couple of months ago Linda and I quietly launched the Theatre Breaks Magazine to supplement the London Theatre Breaks blog. The idea is to have a place where there’s less of the news about individual theatre shows, extension dates and cast changes, but much more of the general information for people thinking about going on theatre breaks to London. Using the magazine metaphor with a Wordpress magazine styled blog theme, we can distinguish between the more timely news orientated short posts on the blog, and the longer lasting, more in-depth advice and tips we are able to explore on the magazine. Underneath it’s still the industry standard WordPress platform of course, just being used for a slightly different purpose.

So far we’ve covered subjects such as how to get get hold of your tickets, internet security, issues concerning motorists, theatre breaks with children, and a wide variety of things to do in London. Further answers to legitimate questions are building up into a Theatre Breaks FAQ.

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I just had a thought, which is that you might have read one of my posts here on DARnet about theatre breaks in London, thinking I’d be putting some special offers in here. I don’t think I’ll be doing that here though, this is the DARnet blog about odds and ends related to distributed research, wikis, Andy Roberts music, epidemiologoy, CoPs, social objects, London, web tools and all sorts of randomness. A hotch potch of themes really, which is just way it’s evolved over the years. If you were looking for the theatre breaks newsletter, (and it will become more and more worthwhile in the coming months), then that’s over on the theatre breaks blog where I’m an editor: http://usefulwiki.com/londontheatre/newsletter

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London Theatre Breaks in Summer Do you head for the beach in the summer or enjoy the city life at its best? Are you a Sun lizard or a culture vulture? Newquay rave parties or London theatre breaks? Well I like both really, always have done. Wide open skies, summer breezes and casual attire are not only to be found at the coast though. Modern London is full of outdoor seating, cafe terraces and the numerous parks and green spaces are appreciated by people of all ages just enjoying the warm sunshine, with city workers on their lunch breaks joining the tourists, families and digital nomads. ** book London Theatre Breaks **

Riverside Theatre Breaks I know I tend to bang on about the riverside quite a lot but that’s because it’s such a cool place to be and nearly everything happens within a half mile or so or the Thames in London. The Thames is big, and it’s tidal and salty.

The National Theatre is on the Southbank for example, next to the Royal Festival Hall within a short riverside stroll of London’s Tate Modern and Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. Maritime Greenwich is always worth a visit and so is the London Bridge, Borough Market, County Hall and Tower Bridge area. You’re in a huge metropolis but Ice-creams, picnics and sitting on the sea wall are the things to do, as well as people watching and Pimms. Theatreland in Summer In the theatreland area of London, around Soho, you can have a restaurant meal or drinks served at a little pavement table, just like in Paris or Barcelona and the choice of cuisine is actually wider. For the real night birds there’s at least one street where the bars and clubs stay open all night. You can easily get away from all the fuss if you want though, just dive down a side street and walk ten minutes and you will often find yourself in a quiet mews area with with a leafy square and shady benches. Top Shows for Summer Theatre Breaks

Musical Theatre Breaks London theatre break deals combine top tickets to one of the big West end musicals or a play, with at least one night’s hotel stay plus any optional extras such as discount rail fare, London Eye reservation etc. So the first question is which show to choose. The chances are, you already have something in mind that you’ve always wanted to see on the London stage such as Les Miserables, Grease, Chicago or Phantom of The Opera. Perhaps the new Oliver or Wicked. There are a couple of less well known show you could also pick, such as Sister Act ready for the sumer season, and Spring Awakening which has been throughly recommended. For something that’s already been proven elsewhere you might go for Priscilla the musical, if you like that sort of thing - and who doesn’t? Favourite musicals are probably going to be Hairspray, We Will Rock You, Dirty Dancing and Jersey Boys. West End Plays

Musicals dominate the West End but there are a few more plays to choose from this year, although usually for shorter runs so it depends more on your possible dates for drama theatre breaks. Look out for short runs of Alan Bennet plays, Harold Pinter, Shakespeare’s Othello with Lenny Henry and Samual Becket’s Godot. Calendar Girls runs until September 19th 2009 while Woman in Black, The 39 Steps and The Mousetrap seem to run and run forever. Check Theatre Breaks Availability Select the show and choose a date first, then enter the hotel details and rail travel.

When you press “check availability” you’ll be taken to the results on the Show and Stay site, from which you can make further searches if necessary until the perfect package is made up for you. Or use the following link to begin a new search from London Theatre Breaks: ** book London Theatre Breaks **

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