Theatre Breaks In London » West End

New Season Theatre Breaks In London

Thu, 09 Sep 2010 15:04:28 +0000

The first of a new season of plays and musicals for theatre breaks in London opened last night at the Noel Coward theatre in London’s St Martin’s Lane. The play is called “Deathtrap” and it’s a revival of a comedy thriller that was hugely successful on Broadway in the 1970s and 1980s. Later in the autumn there will quite a few new plays being staged in and around London’s West End and there are some remarkable events on the musicals scene as well. For example, you may have heard that Whoopi Goldberg was sadly forced to abandon Sister Act recently due ultimately to a bereavement. Well she’s back for five nights later in October, so if you’ve always fancied seeing Whoopi live on the West End Stage then you could organise theatre breaks in London around those dates. Hang on, I’ll go get them for you … “Goldberg, who left the musical after learning that her mother had fallen ill in the US, will star in five shows between October 22 and October 25 at the London Palladium”. After those dates, the theatre will be dark in preparation for The Wizard of Oz.

The Noel Coward Theatre in London

Sweet Charity

Sat, 22 May 2010 23:27:08 +0000

I went to see Sweet Charity in the West End a couple of weeks ago. It was a superb production and Tamzin Outhwaite was quite stunning in the title role. The show transfered from the Mernier Chocolate Factory after a very successful run.
You can’t help but be impressed by Tamzin’s performance. She is on stage for most of the show and she is never still. Her energy is amazing and the set piece numbers like If They Could See Me Now are brilliant. It is her comic timing that really surprised me, I’d no idea she was such a good comedy actress. After all she’s played so many dramatic roles in soaps and other TV productions who’d have guessed she’d be such a great singer, dancer and all round entertainer?
The rest of the cast are great too of course. Tamzin’s co star Mark Umbers plays all Charity’s male interests, a grand total of 4 roles! I particularly like him as the weedy, insecure Oscar. I won’t spoil the lift scene for you but it’s hysterical!
The chorus of dancers sing what is probably the most menacing version of Hey Big Spender you are ever likely to hear and generally give excellent performances with some lovely comic touches. They also give a spirited and spaced out performance of The Rhythm of Life which is guaranteed to get your toes tapping!

I can’t recommend this production enough and I think it’s perfect for theatre breaks.

Kylie – the musical?

Thu, 20 May 2010 18:12:47 +0000

Kylie Minogue, the pocket-sized pop diva yesterday confirmed that there will be a musical of her greatest hits. What’s more it is likely to be coming to the West End. In an interview in the Daily Mail she says:

“It’s definitely happening. We’ve brought a scriptwriter in and are working on a few synopses now.

“And the critics … music critics are one thing but theatre critics are something else. I suppose if it doesn’t work then that’s it — it’s a closed book. I need to get through this album launch first, and then I’m probably touring, but we’ll get to it after that. It’s early days but it’s very exciting.”

Kylie is writing the production with her stylist William Baker. It will be based on her back catalogue of hits and she hopes it will be rather like Abba’s Mamma Mia! She’ll need quite a strong story line for that to work out! So rather than tell the story of Kylie’s own rise to fame it will tell another tale. I think it’s a shame that more performers haven’t learned the lesson of Jersey Boys. I’d be quite interested to see the story of her rise to mega stardom told against the backdrop of her greatest hits.

Happy New Year Theatre Breaks In London

Thu, 31 Dec 2009 16:12:42 +0000

Happy New Year for 2010 from the Theatre Breaks in London blog team.

It’s been a great year in London’s West End with some surprise hits and some unfortunate flops as well, and we look forward to 2010 especially with the opening of the Phantom of The Opera continuation Love Never Dies and the new Wizard of Oz.

January is a busy tine for the travel and entertainments industries so we hope you all manage to find the best theatre breaks in London bargains out of all the new deals and offers floating about at this time of year.

Breaks in London

Sat, 12 Dec 2009 21:34:44 +0000

Breaks in London

London seems such an industrious city with working people rushing about all the time and yet on any one single day there are probably tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of visitors taking some kind of breaks in London. In this blog we mainly concentrate on theatre breaks in London because that’s the name of the blog but within that whole idea of city breaks with a hotel and theatre show combined in one package, there are many different ways of putting it all together, so that comes down in the end mainly to individual choice.

Hotel breaks in London

Hotel breaks in London can of course come with or without theatre tickets, and the attraction of a top musical show isn’t what brings everybody to the West end even. Some might come for sporting, shopping or concert breaks in London. And then there’s the question of whether weekend breaks are better than midweek breaks in London when the show tickets might be for better seats but the hotel room have less availability. The same parent might choose to bring the kids for family breaks in London to meet one purpose but on another occasion just a partner for romantic breaks in London with a fantastic meal at one of the numerous smart restaurants in the city.

Comedy Theatre Breaks in London

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 09:38:54 +0000

In the run up to Christmas some of the West End theatres stop running plays and musicals and instead offer top name comedians live on stage, which makes an opportunity for people from out of town to visit London on what we cal “Comedy Theatre Breaks in London”. A comedy theatre breaks will include tickest to the theatre for a great night out comedy show, and a room on teh night of the show in a smart hotel in central London.

Last year, in 2008 for example we had Bill Baily’s comedy and music Tinselworm show and also Eddie Izzard’s amazing standup performance, both in Shaftesbury avenue theatres.

This year, 2009 we have Dylan Moran, the surrealist Irish comedian who starred in cult TV sitcom “Black Books” among other things.

Dylan Moran Theatre Breaks in London

Dylan Moran

Eddie Izzard is back this year but only for one night so it’s at the O2, where there;s a Russel Brand show too.

O2 comedy breaks – Eddie Izzard , Russel Brand

Chicago Theatre Breaks

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 05:26:58 +0000

Chicago is simply one of the best known musicals for theatre breaks in London and despite being a bit long in the tooth it’s a perrenial favourite. The promotors of this international hit show manage to keep on coming up with unlikely special guest stars who always bring a new lease of life and interest to the show, for example this summer in London you can see Jerry Springer in the role of Flynn the lawayer. Here’s a video of Jerry helping to publicise Chicago at West End Live in London’s Leicester Square back in June 2009.

YouTube Video by Theatre breaks

Wicked Theatre Breaks In London

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 13:58:35 +0000

Wicked theatre breaks in London might be centered around the Victoria area, with the huge Apollo theatre for Wicked being located near London Victoria station as well as several top quality hotels nearby. Go before December and you’ll have a chance to see the new Elphaba, wicked witch perfoermed by Alexia Khadime who is surely making for a superb replacement for Kerry Ellis. This video is from the West End Live show last weekend, and gives a low key idea of what Alexia can do I think.

While in the Victoria area for a Wicked theatre break, I’d head south down to the riverbank and take a look at the Tate Britain art museum if that’s your kind of thing. It makes a nice change from the more popular Tate modern these days. On the day of the show why not have an enjoyable bar snack style lunch at Chimes of Pimlico Restaurant

Mamma Mia Theatre Breaks in London

Sat, 30 May 2009 12:06:17 +0000

Mamma Mia is one of the longer lasting musicals in the West End and so Mamma Mia Theatre Breaks in London have built up to become one of the standards alongside Dirty Dancing

It’s something to do with the heady feel good atmosphere generated by just the impression of a greek island holiday even though you are in the middle of the big city. You don;t necessarily have to be a big fan of Abba’s songs either, I know I’m not – but the game of guessing how the plot is weaving along to include yet another classic is almost as much fun as the superb acting and singing. The film of Mamma Mia! was pretty good too, with Maryl Streep proving she can sing for the first time to her usual film audience.

Theatre Breaks Magazine Launched

Mon, 04 May 2009 13:19:54 +0000

A new resource for theatre breaks online launched last month called Theatre Breaks Magazine

Categories of articles include