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Andrew_Jay
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That being said, I regret not having spent the money to go see Avenue Q. If you're not familiar with the premise of the show, you should go look it up. It contains such classic songs as "The internet is for porn" and "If you were gay", sung by muppet ilke creatures. If I was in your position, that would be my choice hands-down.
But since you haven't seen Spamalot... well, you're going to be in London. That's the best place in the world to see that show. A lot of those shows play in the states a lot, but Spamalot, man. You have to go see Spamalot.
1) Les Misérables. Great show all around. The barricade is pretty exciting! I've seen a couple of musicals, and to this day, it remains my favourite.
2) Spamalot. I haven't seen it but it's supposed to be awesome. And as it's been said, London is the best place to see it.
I despise theatre and musicals.
But it was still fucking amazing. See it for the set design if anything. It is quite something.
Avenue Q is just excellent. Just make sure you do some reading on it - it might not be comfortable/applicable to all the family though. If you look at it even on wikipedia if you want, there's some adult themes. Use your judgement but if you aren't taking small kids or prudish parents, its a *must*.
The Mousetrap - I've seen it twice in London. It's good fun, has a lot of history, but it really is a very standard piece of theatre. If you're short on time, I'd have to say (regrettably) that it's worth missing compared to others on your list.
Phantom is very good family theatre (IMO). Good for those that may not even enjoy a lot of theatre and always very dramatic and well liked music.
Mamma Mia I saw here in Canada. It was a very average performance and they didn't really have all the songs I wanted to hear in it. There was some more obscure ABBA stuff.
Billy Elliot – The Musical - I haven't seen it, but I've seen the movie. If you haven't seen the movie, it might help with the kind of themes you'll see.
The Glass Menagerie - It's pretty heavy theatre in my opinion. It's great if you're studying it for school or something but I wouldn't take anyone that was a light theatre goer to it.
Blood Brothers - one of my friends used to rave about this. I have the CD, its a cool theme and great music. A bit sad for me though.
Chicago - has great music, if you like the music or like musicals, go see it. If you want more of a story, don't bother.
The Lion King - very Disney. I love it, myself.
Little Shop Of Horrors - yep, its fun.
Les Misérables - everyone basically goes to see this. I love the music but can't bear to watch it on stage though. I'm an exception, I think a family would probably have a good night at this one.
Stomp - sure, its popular for a reason.
I hate Stomp though. They came round our High School fuckin ages ago and just seemed like bad noise to me.
The Hound Of The Baskervilles [OH GOD NO]
Misérables, Les [AKA Mini-Mis, less of a spectacle since they moved it into smaller premises]
Monty Python's Spamalot [vg gold star]
Chicago [meh]
We Will Rock You [OH GOD NO]
Mamma Mia! [OH DEAR LORD JESUS CHRIST SWEET SAVIOUR NO]
Billy Elliot – The Musical [meh with added meh]
The Glass Menagerie [meh]
The Phantom Of The Opera [tired]
...and the best of the rest...
The Lion King - I thought the first 5 minutes were worth the price of admission, pity about the Disney bits, was still fresh when I saw it 6 months ago, but it won't be significantly different to Broadway etc
Little Shop Of Horrors - meant to be a very good production, but totally common in the US
On The Town - meant to be a very good production, but sure you could see this in the US
Porgy And Bess - meant to be a very good production
Stomp - if you like drums, you'll probably like this...and yeah, you've seen it, haven't you.
The Woman in Black - I know people who like it, meant to always be solid acting, good enough choice for a play, think Mousetrap but a thousand times better
Avenue Q - also heard very good things
That's not a good idea if you only have a window of one day, and those days are Friday or Saturday at the beginning of summer. Most of the choices on your list will sell out. Except the Mousetrap. But, y'know, OH GOD NO!
-Billy Elliot was a decent movie, the musical is bound to be shit.
-You can see the Blue Man Group anywhere, really. (The same goes for Stomp but I saw the London production and I personally thought it was better than the one that toured in the states)
-The Little Shop of Horrors is pretty awesome on stage, I think it's cool to watch it. Lion king is also of course very good, but I also only saw it during it's american tour. It's more kiddy, not gonna lie.
-Les Mis if you know the story is fine, just really effing long.
-I really really really reccomend Spamalot, I saw it for it's opening show on Broadway--ridiculously good. I'm sure it's even better when surrounded by British people.
Phantom of the opera....meh.
Thoughts of a Part-Time Hobbyist - A Wargaming and RPG Blog
If you want something more serious, I've heard that Billy Elliot is actually really good. In Ben Brantley's NY Times review (and he is one of those critics that hates more or less EVERYTHING), he basically said that it's too good for Broadway.
There are plenty of other good shows playing - and plenty of not-so-good shows - but I think those are the two best musicals currently playing (can't say much as to straight drama).
Dude, I live here, and I worked in the theatre for a bit. The specific problems are: beginning of summer (influx of tourists), Friday / Saturday (coach parties bussed in from all over the UK), and popularity of cited shows (high). You'll be able to get a ticket for something in the West End, but there's no guarentee that it will be anything you want to see. Also, you will likely waste half your day in London trawling the ticket booths and waiting in huge lines that way.
Personally, I don't really think it's worth it, you can get decent enough tickets in the Upper Circle for £20-30, depending on whether it's a musical / play.
spamalot is great, though. also i cannot recommend the 39 steps more strongly, it is one of the funniest things i've ever watched.
</shill>
Blood Brothers is a classic. Go see that.
Listen to satansfingers: chances of you getting 4 upper circle tickets on the day (ie cheaper than the £20/£30 ones you can get in advance), for those shows, mid-May, on a Friday or Saturday = slim to none.
Right. I've said it 3 times, now Jesus can say I told you so.