We've had good luck "nipping by" theatre ticket offices as we wander downtown. Sometimes it takes a time or two. Other times you need to try lines, but we’ve always been able to get tickets eventually. A mix of discount and box office tickets keeps prices down and, or most performances, any price is cheap if you divide dangereuses in the afternoon and Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty"s Theatre in the evening -- both with original cast! Peter O"Toole in The Apple Cart still rings true, and Richard Burton’s Hamlet or "Sir Larry’s" Richard never fade. .
London’s theatrical "humanity" extends to its productions. Years back we saw "Nunsense" a rather zippy musical headlined by a lady whose name escapes me save she played "Pussy Galore" in a James Bond movie Goldfinger. I don't remember her mother superior’s outfit very well, but the skin-tight jumpsuit in the movie left an indelible impression! So did the player in the nun’s outfit that jumped onto my lap. Since Nunsense had played for some time, demand had obviously slackened, but instead of the Draconian closures practiced on Broadway, management simply moved the show to a small theatre that didn’t seat more than a couple of hundred people. The lead took a cut; everyone kept working. The show, not the star, seems the thing.
Granted that the leads of productions like Cats, “Les Mis” or Miss Saigon travel well. Their performances remain the same in New York, Sydney or Tokyo. However, it"s the depth of the London theatre that makes it so special. Clear articulation, good movement, wonderful voices and interesting stagecraft extend down to the spear carriers in the back of the chorus. There's simply been so much work for so long that the talent pools deep enough to allow you to see a different performance each night. Frankly, theatre always seems best in its natal hall where it's perfected. These days, that's usually in London. So at the minimum, try a modern musical, a solid drama "Willie the Shake's quite acceptable. Ibsen works in a pinch" and finish up with something like Agatha Christie's Mousetrap that's coming up on 50 years and over 20,000 performances last year.
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