Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, UK Tour for 2022

In August my husband and I went to watch Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at the London Palladium. It was such a great show that I wanted to write about it but it was only there for a short 10-week run in the summer. So I was thrilled to hear that the Palladium production will go on tour in 2022. At the moment there are limited dates announced, starting in the Spring and continuing through the year. At the time of writing, there are sixteen venues agreed with more to be announced. 

You should check the cast list for your chosen venue but it has been confirmed that Jac Yarrow will continue with the lead role of Joseph, Jason Donovan as Pharoh and Alexandra Burke and Linzi Hately sharing the role of the Narrator. In London, we saw Jac, Jason and Linzi in those roles and each was amazing. It was extra special for us as we saw the original production around thirty years ago and Linzi was in that too! 

Covid Measures

When we went to this show in August, it was our first foray back into a large theatre after Covid and all the closures. We had to queue outside the theatre, we're encouraged to use sanitiser as we entered and asked to wear a mask. We had been told to take a lateral flow test in the 48 hours prior to the show but no one asked to see any proof of this. Ushers asked people to wear masks and a placard was taken around the auditorium prior to the show to remind patrons. Most did wear masks, but many wore them below the nose and of course, they are impossible if you are eating or drinking. We're all waiting to see how things develop and whether masks and testing will continue to be required into 2022.

How to Get Bargain Price West End Theatre/ Musical Tickets

9 to 5, the Musical

I absolutely love going to the theatre in London's West End but we all know that it can end up pricey. Before having my children I had seen most every musical that was out and my husband and I would think nothing of spending £80 or a £100 on each ticket. After the children came along, that just wasn't practical anymore and my trips up to London for the theatre became few and far between.

A few years back I realised how much I was missing out and started to find out how I could see some of the big name shows without spending a fortune. I have been lucky enough to see some crackers in the last few years - 42nd Street, Wicked, The School of Rock, Dream Girls, Thriller Live and the Curious Incident, all for a great price.

So I'm going to share with you how you can bag great price tickets too, but don't worry, you won't be sat up in the upper circle, I only like to be in the stalls or front of the Royal Circle, so I always get good seats.

1. Enter the Ticket Lottery for the Show you fancy
Have you heard of a ticket lottery?  I think many people haven't yet and they are great. You can enter online to be part of a lottery (lucky dip) to get one or two top price tickets for a much reduced rate. Of course many times you won't win but it is super easy to enter and costs nothing, so why not give it a go. I've entered a couple of times and won tickets for Matilda once. Sadly I couldn't use them as I got the week wrong, but I was able to pass them on for someone else to enjoy.

Matilda the Musical - up to 2 £25 band A tickets, drawn 3-5 days before the performance.

The School of Rock - up to 2 £15 band A tickets, drawn 3-5 days before the performance.

Hamilton the Musical - up to 2 £10 tickets, drawn the day prior. There is a 22 hour entry window.

Aladdin the Musical - up to 2 £20 tickets, the lottery opens at 11am on Mondays and closes at 11am on Tuesdays. Entrants can select up to 3 choices of performance for the next week

Aladdin

The Book of Mormon - up to 2 £20 tickets, entries accepted from 12 noon each Wednesday for performances the following week. Also there is a daily lottery in person, you can enter 2.5 hours before the performance.

School of Rock Musical - The Most Amazing Show

Kids Week
To celebrate London Theatre Kids Week, which runs for all of August my family were lucky enough to go and see School of Rock, the Musical and boy, was it fantastic!  I wrote about Kids Week earlier this summer, so if you're not sure what it is head over and check out my post, but basically most of the big London shows offer a kids tickets (for up to 16 years of age) for free with each adult ticket purchased. Also, if you have more kids than adults in your family you can then get additional half price tickets for the other kids, so all the family can enjoy a show together and it is more affordable.

I've purchased Kids week theatre tickets before and when booking opens it can be really busy and it is tempting to think that everything you want has sold out. but be patient as tickets release back into general sale after a short while, as people request them to be held via the online system and then never complete the transaction.

I'm writing this post on 16th August and I assumed (wrongly) that everything would be completely gone by now, but it is still worth trying to purchase tickets, as just today I saw there were £15 tickets for 'We're going on a bear hunt' and '42nd Street' is just £45. I saw this show late last year and its phenomenal! And these are just two of the shows I saw there with availability for a number of August dates.

Definitely put Kids week in your diary for next year, even if you can't make it this year. Booking opens in early June normally.

My London Musical Theatre Bucket List

Theatre Chairs Image from VDB Photos, thanks to Shutterstock

If you were to grant me a wish of doing anything I wanted to for the day, I would easily know what to ask for and it would always include a trip to the theatre in London. For years I went regularly and saw all the big shows, some I even saw a number of times. I think the Phantom of the Opera still reigns as my absolute favourite but I did see Blood Brothers around six times as I loved it so much, so that must be a close second.

Then the kids came along and things changed, we had a massive salary cut and of course evenings out then involved costly babysitters too, so I really felt the London theatre scene was passing me by and I missed quite a number of shows that I wanted to see, ones like The Sound of Music and Dirty Dancing.

Then about four years ago things started to change again and I found myself staying in London at least a couple of times a year and of course I wanted to see a good West End show whilst I was there. So in the last few years I've seen Wicked (twice), 42nd Street, Dreamgirls, Mamma Mia and Beautiful - The Carole King Story. Every one different and each with their own merits but the thing I really love about musical theatre is that you can lose yourself for a few hours in a world of bright lights and great songs.

Musical theatre is definitely my preferred genre and I'm so pleased that there are still dozens of shows that I haven't seen yet, so here is my bucket list for the next few years. You never know, if I'm really lucky maybe I'll get to book three sets of tickets for London shows each year and then I can crack this list in just over three years!

London Theatre Kids Week: Tickets on Sale Tomorrow

Have you heard of the Official London Theatre Kids Week before?

No. Really? You need to know about this. If you are a parent who loves going to the theatre in London but finds it hard to afford to take all the family then this is the time of year to get excited because you can get your kids tickets for free!

What is Kids Week?
Yes, totally free. For each adult ticket you buy for one of the 40 eligible shows on offer this year, you can get a child ticket for free (for a child 16 years or under) and if like me you have more children than adults in your family then you can buy up to two additional child tickets for half price.

Kids Week is an amazing initiative from the Society of London Theatre (SOLT) which has been running since 1998 and has reached over 1.2 million families, it is such a great way to make the best London shows available to more families and to open children up to an amazing new cultural experience. Last year we went along to see a show called 13 The Musical which wasn't one I'd heard of before but the kids really enjoyed it and the tickets were super cheap. We had a fab time in London as a family.

Kids Week started as one week but is now so popular that it now runs from 1 - 31 August. Tickets are available subject to availability (especially at weekends)

Review: 42nd Street at Theatre Royal Drury Lane

What a show! I went into 42nd Street having no idea what it was about but assuming that because it was running at a big prestigious theatre like the Theatre Royal Drury Lane it must be a good show and yep, it really was! I'll start by saying, if you're in a hurry you don't even need to read anymore, just go and see it. You won't be disappointed and contrary to what you might believe it's not just for women. My husband loved it too. If you're a fan of musical theatre then it is for you.

From the start this show is spectacular and it's not just one thing that marks it out as exceptional. There's a large cast and a lot of variety. The singing is superb, the dancing is amazing, there are beautiful glittery costumes and the scenery will blow you away.

I don't think it has the strongest story line out of the many shows I've seen but the story felt secondary to the glamour and glitz of the production and that was OK. The show opens with us seeing the chorus line being cast for a new big-money show called Pretty Lady, that will open in Atlanta. The show is being bank-rolled by a rich businessman and for his investment he expects his mistress Dorothy Brock to be cast in the lead role. This frustrates the esteemed director Julian Marsh but he goes with it through no other choice. Dorothy Brock is doing a great job with the singing and the dancers keep her dancing inabilities well hidden but then the new girl from out of town, Peggy Sawyer trips her up accidentally and Dorothy ends up with a broken ankle. No more lead role for Dorothy!

La Petite Soirée - The Most Amazing Family Show

We just had the most amazing time at @lasoireelive, well the Petite version, suitable for all the family. 👄👄 I've honestly never seen anything like it before. We all loved it. My 14 year old was roaring away in laughter along with my 44 year old husband. It's amazing fun for everyone. 👄👄 A little risqué, so much talent, amazing showmanship, the most friendly hosts. It truly is unique. Do book, I want to see the original adult version now. Showing in London at the Aldwych theatre until 3 Feb 2018.

A post shared by Michelle Pannell (@michelletwinmum) on Dec 9, 2017 at 8:32am PST

La Petite Soirée was everything I hoped it would be and more. This extraordinary cabaret show deserves every award and glowing review it has ever received.

Upon arriving at the beautifully refurbished Aldwych theatre in central London my family's expectations were a mixed bag. I'd done some research so I sort of knew what we were heading in to see but my family had no real idea apart from the little I'd told them and you really can't do it justice until you've seen the spectacular for yourself. The girls were up for the ‘posh circus’ as they'd named it and I could see that my husband and 14 year old son were reserving judgement.

We headed in to collect our tickets, not knowing what the PR agency had booked for us and were pleased to find we had ringside seats. These are general admission seats so we were given a wristband and able to take a seat wherever we fancied within the ringside area. Our arrival at 2.40pm (20 minutes before the show started) gave us a good pick of the seats but the closest we could get was 4 rows from the front. I'd imagine you’d need to be at the theatre about another 20 minutes earlier to get front row seats but of course you also need to be prepared to join in and be a good sport if you sit in the front row!

Looking forward to La Petite Soiree at Aldwych Theatre, London

Our family love going to the theatre, especially when it is a show in the West End but to be honest it doesn't happen all that often nowadays as we live a couple of hours outside London and I can't deny it, London theatre can be expensive for a family of five.

But La Petite Soiree has tickets starting from as little as £15 and that is really affordable. Its not even just the Grand Circle that has seats at this great value price either, there is a child price (for age 15 and under) on the higher price seats too and that remains at £15 throughout (excepting what they call the posh seats), which I am very impressed with.

I suspect you might be wondering what La Petite Soiree is though, I certainly was when the press release first arrived in my in-box. This is what they publicise about the show -

"We love the fact that the powers that be have, for some unknown reason, allowed us into London’s Aldwych Theatre to cause some trouble and bring our own brand of mischief to the West End over the festive season. LA SOIRÉE is a show that has created a shorthand with worldwide audiences in understanding what makes a wild and unforgettable night out at the theatre… joyous, celebratory, hilarious, cheeky, irreverent and at times quite saucy. With LA PETITE SOIRÉE we will deliver all of the above, minus the sauce. The spirit of LA SOIRÉE will run deep through the veins of its afternoon offspring but we look forward to welcoming a new audience with a brand new show." Creative Producer, La Soirée