Theatre in London's West EndApollo Victoria Theatre: 
Taking elements from both Frank L Baum's classic novel and the much-loved film The Wizard of Oz, Wicked is an adaptation of a book by Gregory Maguire that re-imagines the back story behind the witches of Oz. Set in the years prior to Dorothy's house crash-landing in Oz, Wicked takes us back to the magical
education of two young witched at Shiz University, Elphaba and Galinda. The two are put together as roommates but immediately take a disliking to each other, with the pretty and popular Galinda feeling herself incompatible with green-skinned Elphaba.
However as time goes on a friendship is formed that will be tested by love, ambition and tyranny as the two are drawn into the political troubles behind Oz and form their own loyalties and friendships, ultimately revealing how they get their reputations as Glinda the Good and the Wicked Witch of the West.
Since opening at the Apollo Victoria Theatre in 2006 Wicked London has received great reviews and an especially fantastic reception from the public, who have repeatedly voted it as Best Musical and Most Popular Show - in addition the musical has smashed box office records worldwide, including in London where it still holds the record for most advance sales for opening weekend at over £100,000.
Victoria Palace:  Theatres in London's West End should definitely be on your wish list and London Day Trips can help you discover the very best of London's Theatre-Land. For example - The Billy Elliot production is a great performance with a score complete with the music of Elton John playing which helps the production of Billy Elliot thrill the London West End ordiance! Don’t miss the chance to review this somewhat working-class dance story! The Musical Billy Elliot in London is based on the film with music by Sir. Elton John. Discount tickets for Billy Elliot are available. As I said, the sensational stage performance with the music by Elton John is just unbelievable and a must see event. Incidentally, Billy Elliot is based on the film of the same name and is showing at London's West End Victoria Palace Theatre. Phoenix Theatre: Blood Brothers the musical has been showing at the  since 1991 and is the theatre’s longest-running show. The theatre is located on Charing Cross Road and was designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, Bertie Crewe and Cecil Masey. It opened in 1930 with play ‘Private Lives’ starring Oscar-winning actor Laurence Olivier, and has since hosted numerous successful shows.Blood Brothers, written by playwright Willy Russell, is the most successful show ever performed at the Phoenix Theatre, and continues to play to packed audiences night after night. The show has won numerous awards and has seen high-profile stars play the lead role of Mrs. Johnstone such as Kiki Dee, the Nolan sisters and more recently, Melanie C. The story tells the heart breaking tale of twin brothers from Liverpool, separated and brought up in different worlds, whose destinies ultimately lead them to each other, with tragic consequences. Fortune Theatre:  The Woman in Black is another great performance and is now playing at the Fortune on Russell Street London WC2. Eel Marsh House stands tall and isolated and looks over the ever endless flat salt marshes and beyond the Nine Lives Causeway, somewhere on England's bleak East Coast. Here Mrs Alice Drablow lived and died alone. Young Arthur Kipps, a junior solicitor, is ordered by his firm's senior partner to travel up from London to attend her funeral and then sort out all her papers. His task is a lonely one, and as you can imagine Kipps is quite unaware of the tragic secrets which lie behind the house's shuttered windows. He only has a terrible sense of unease. And then, he glimpses at a young woman with a wasted face, dressed all in black, at the back of the church during Mrs Drablow's funeral, and later, in the graveyard to one side of Eel Marsh House. Who is she? Why is she there? He asks questions, but the locals not only cannot or will not give him answers - they refuse to talk about the woman in black, or even to acknowledge her existence, at all. So, Arthur Kipps has to wait until he sees her again, and she slowly reveals her identity to him - and her terrible purpose. If you haven't been to this West End Show in London, this is a must see performance. The Woman In Black treads in the footsteps of the classic ghost story, following the tradition of Charles Dickens and M.R James, of Henry James and Edith Wharton. It is not a horror story or a tale of terror, yet the events build up to a horrifying climax and it does instil a sense of horror. It relies on atmosphere, a vivid sense of place, on hints and glimpses and suggestions, on what is shadowy, heard and sometimes only half-seen, to chill the reader's blood to the marrow and make reading the book alone at night inadvisable for the faint-hearted. Stephen Mallatratt's adaptation for the stage remains entirely true to the book itself and uses much of Susan Hill's own descriptive writing and dialogue, while transforming the novel into a totally gripping piece of drama. Just Brilliant! St Martins Theatre:: 
The world's longest-running play of any kind, is without doubt Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap now in it's 58th year!
Opening at the Ambassadors in 1952, and moving to its current home in 1974, Agatha Christie's classic thriller "The Mouse Trap" continues to be the world's longest theatre run. The story follows a group of people that gather together in a remote part of the countryside, who discover that there is a murderer in their midst. The question "The Mouse Trap" poses of course, is which one of them is the guilty party. You'd think audiences would know whodunnit by now, but over forty years later and they're still asking! Her Majestys Theatre: 
Her Majesty's where you'll see Phantom of the Opera, a West End theatre production in the City of Westminster, London. You might be interested to know that the present building was designed by Charles J. Phipps and was originally constructed in 1897 for actor-manager Herbert Beerbohm Tree, who established the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art at the Her Majesty's. In the early 20th century, many produced spectacular productions of Shakespeare and other classical works, and Her Majesty's hosted premières by major playwrights such as George Bernard Shaw, J. M. Synge, Noël Coward and J. B. Priestley and a few more. Since World War I, the wide flat stage has made the arena suitable for large-scale musical productions, and ths particular stage has specialised in hosting many musicals. The theatre has been home to record-setting musical runs, notably the World War I sensation Chu Chin Chow and the current production, Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera, which has played continuously at Her Majesty's since 1986. The Queens Theatre: 
The musical’s reception in London almost exactly reflected that of the original publication in Paris of Hugo’s novel. The people and not the critics who made Les Misérables a hit.
This show opened at the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) to initially mixed reviews in the British press, but audiences reacted with great enthusiasm. As a result, the entire RSC run was sold out. Night after night and the audience always responded with standing ovations. In December 1985, the show moved to London’s Palace Theatre where it ran for 18 years, transferring to the Queen’s Theatre in April 2004. Les Miserables originally opened in London at the Barbican Theatre in October 1985 directed by Trevor Nunn and John Caird. The performance transferred to the Palace on 4 December 1985 and moved to its current home at the Queen’s on 3 April 2004 where it continues to play to packed houses and is booking through 2011. In October 2006 “LES MISÉRABLES”, took over the title of World’s Longest Running Musical from “CATS”, another Cameron Mackintosh production. During its 21st year Les Miz was acclaimed as the British nation’s favourite musical by the listeners. Lyceum Theatre: 
Set against the majesty of the Serengeti Plains and to the evocative rhythms of Africa, Disney’s multi award-winning musical "The Lion King" will redefine your expectations of drama.
The Lyceum is a 2,000-seat West End theatre located in the City of Westminster, on Wellington Street, just off the Strand. There has been a theatre with this name in the locality since 1765, and the present site opened 14 July 1834 to a design by Samuel Beazley. The building was unique in that it had a balcony overhanging the circle. It was built by the professional partnership of Peto & Grissell. The present building retains Beazley's façade and grand portico, but the building behind is substantially to the 1904 design of Bertie Crewe, restored to original use in 1996 by Holohan Architects, after a long period of use as a Mecca Ballroom. A spectacular visual feast, this adaptation of Disney’s much-loved film The Lion King, transports audiences to a dazzling world that explodes with glorious colours, stunning effects and enchanting music. At its heart is the powerful and moving story of Simba - the epic adventure of his journey from wide-eyed cub to his destined role as King of the Pridelands. Experience for yourself this ‘astonishing triumph of theatrical imagination’. Evening Standard. Prince of Wales Theatre: 
Mamma Mia has timeless songs such as Dancing Queen, plus I Have a Dream, Voulez-Vous, and Take a Chance on Me, are ingeniously woven into an enchanting tale of love, laughter and friendship. On the eve of her wedding a daughter's request to discover the identity of her father brings three men from her mothers past back to the Greek Island of paradise they last visited 20 years earlier. On the eve of her wedding, a daughter's quest to discover the identity of her father brings 3 men from her mother's past back to the Greek island paradise they last visited 20 years ago. Night after night audiences are having the time of their lives at this irresistible musical, isn’t it about time you did too? The Sound of Music Theatre: 
Austria on the verge of the Anschluss to Hitler's Third Reich was a troubled country, already tattered by internal political tensions. This era has been subject of various contemporary witnesses' descriptions and historians' analysis, mostly grim and drab.
However, rarely has a story combining private and political events so touched the world as the tale of novice Maria and the von Trapp family. Maria employed as governess to the seven motherless children, led the family with energy and courage into the safe of haven of exil, singing as they went. A successful blend of fact and fiction, The Sound of music premiered in 1959 and has since enchanted generations with its memorable Richard Rodgers melodies. Now this piece of "living history" is to be performed for the first time in Graz. I first saw this fabulous Musical in London's West End Dominion Theatre at Tottenham Court Road, what a great experience and tribute to the performing arts. Music by: Richard Rodgers, Lyrics by: Oscar Hammerstein, Book by: Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. Director: Marius Burkert & Massimo Parise, Producer: Renaud Doucet, Choreographer: Rudolf Klaban, Designer: André Barbe, Lighting Designer: Guy Simard, Dramaturgy: Birgit Amlinger, Chorus: Georgi Mladenov. Hairspray: (The Musical)  Based on John Waters's hilarious 1988 film, the musical comedy Hairspray stars Marissa Jaret Winokur as Tracy Turnblad, and Harvey Fierstein, as her irresistible stage mother, Edna. The musical features an original score by Marc Shaiman (who co-wrote the music and lyrics for the acclaimed animated musical, South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut) and Scott Wittman. Their songs take Tracy from the dance floor of an "American Bandstand"-style show to the streets of Baltimore to a downtown rhythm and blues record shop. The smash hit award-winning musical HAIRSPRAY at the Shaftesbury in London recouped its entire capitalisation in a record-breaking 29 weeks. The show opened in October 2007 to universal critical acclaim and smash hit business. At the 2008 Olivier Awards, HAIRSPRAY won Best Musical, as well as Best Actor in a musical for Michael Ball. The show has also won Best Musical at the Evening Standard Awards, the Whatsonstage.com Theatre goers Choice awards, the Critics’ Circle Awards and the Variety Club Showbiz Awards. Further afield the show has played at locations around the world and won more than 40 major theatre awards. Olivier Award winner Michael Ball, who originated the role of larger than life heroine ‘Edna Turnblad’ in the London production, opened the tour at the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff on Wednesday 7 April 2010 before continuing across the UK. Popular entertainer Brian Conley and TV drama star Michael Starke will then alternate....... Starring Michael Ball in the role of his life as Edna and The Monkees' Micky Dolenz as the loveable Wilbur, Hairspray tells the story of Tracy Turnblad, a big girl with big hair and an even bigger heart as she sets out to follow her extraordinary dreams, inspire her mum and win the boy she loves. Hairspray is the musical with everything – the ultimate feel-good show which has played to sold out houses in London, on Broadway and theatres around the globe. Book now! ‘The ultimate feel-good show’Guardian ‘The most happy, funny, sunny show in town’Sunday Express ‘The musical with everything - a triumph!’Observer |
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