Sunday 19 January 2014

London Theatres

While updating my musicals viewing blogs I got to thinking about London Theatres and was wanting to find out how their sizes compared.  I found this really good page about it where Jackburton has kindly collated the list for us.  Here is the information:


1) Royal Albert Hall
Kensington Gore, London SW7 2AP
  
"Ordinary Let maximum capacity: 3,901
Exclusive Let maximum capacity: 5,222  In 1871, to raise extra funds
for the completion of the building, private individuals were invited
to purchase 999 year leases on some of the seats in the Hall. Under a
Royal Charter, stating the basis on which the Hall operates, most
events are classified as Ordinary Lets and the Members are entitled to
occupy their seats. However, in some cases an event may be classified
as an Exclusive Let, and the Members are therefore excluded from their
seats. Such classifications are granted on a limited basis dependent
on the nature of the event. On such occasions the privately owned
seats are also available to the promoter for sale to the public."
http://www.royalalberthall.com/text_only/hiring/conditions.aspx
  
  
2) London Apollo Hammersmith Theatre
Queen Caroline Street, Hammersmith, London W6 9QH
  
"Total 3326 seats, with 298 standing places are also available, 120 in
the stalls, 178 in the Dress Circle, should the box office choose to
sell them. When all stalls seats are removed, around 3000 standing
places are created, taking venue capacity to about 5000 in total."
http://www.theatremonkey.com/HAMMERSMITHbooking.htm
  
  
3) Royal Festival Hall
Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX
  
The Royal Festival Hall seats 2,900. 
The two smaller venues, the Queen Elizabeth Hall and Purcell Room seat
917 and 370 respectively.
  
  
4) London Coliseum - On the Town
8 St Martin's Lane, London WC2N 4ES
2356 seats
  
  
5) London Palladium Theatre
8 Argyll Street, London W1V 1AD
2286 seats
  
  
6) Apollo Victoria
17 Wilton Road, London, SW1V 1LL 
2208 seats
  
  
7) Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Drury Lane, London WC2B 5JF
2205 seats
  
  
8) Dominion Theatre
268-269 Tottenham Court Road, London W1P 0AQ
2171 seats
  
  
9) Royal Opera House
51 Floral Street, Covent Garden, London WC2E 9DD
2156 seats
  
  
10) Lyceum Theatre
21 Wellington Street, London WC2E 7RQ
2082 seats
  
  
11) Prince Edward Theatre, Jersey Boys
28 Old Compton Street, London W1V 6HS
1618 seats
  
  
12) Victoria Palace Theatre, Billy Elliot
Victoria Street, London SW1E 5EA
1517 seats
  
  
13) Adelphi Theatre 
Strand, London, WC2E 7NA 
1480 seats
  
  
14) Shaftesbury Theatre
210 Shaftesbury Avenue, London WC2H 8DP
1404 seats, on 3 levels
  
  
15) Palace Theatre
Shaftesbury Avenue, London W1V 8AY
1400 seats
  
  
16) Cambridge Theatre, Matilda
Earlham Street, Seven Dials, London WC2H 9HU
1283 seats
  
  
17) Her Majesty's Theatre
Haymarket, London SW1Y 4QR
1216 seats
  
  
18) Piccadilly Theatre
16 Denman Street, London W1V 8DY
1200 seats
  
  
19) Open Air Theatre
Inner Circle, Regents Park, London NW1 4NU
1187 Seats
 
  
20) Barbican: Theatre 
Silk Street, London EC2Y 8DS
1160 seats (Barbican Theatre)
  
 
21) Prince Of Wales Theatre, Mamma Mia
31 Coventry Street, Leicester Square, London W1D 6AS
1160 seats on two levels
  
 
22) Savoy Theatre, Cabaret 
Savoy Court, Strand, London WC2R 0ET
1158 seats
  
 
23) Aldwych, Dirty Dancing
49 Aldwych, London, WC2B 4DF 
1129 seats on 3 levels
  
  
24) New London Theatre
Parker Street, London WC2B 5PW
1102 seats
  
  
25) National Theatre Olivier
South Bank, London SE1 9PX
1100 seats
  
  
26) Strand Theatre
5 Aldwych, London WC2B 4LD
1068 seats
  
  
27) Old Vic, The
Waterloo Road, London SE1 8NB
1067 seats
  
  
28) Peacock Theatre
Portugal Street, London WC2A 2HT
1037 seats
  
  
29) Phoenix Theatre, Once
110 Charing Cross Road, London WC2H 0JP
1000 seats
  
 
30) Queen's Theatre, Les Miserables, Les Miserables
Shaftesbury Avenue, London W1V 8BA
990 seats
 
  
31) Lyric Theatre Shaftesbury
29 Shaftesbury Avenue, London W1D 7ES
932 seats
  
  
32) National Theatre Lyttelton
South Bank, London SE1 9PX
900 seats
  
  
33) Shakespeare Globe Theatre
21 New Globe Walk, Bankside, London SE1 9DT
Audience Capacity: 900 (650 standing in the yard)
  
  
34) Gielgud Theatre, The
Shaftesbury Avenue, London W1V 8AR
889 seats
  
  
35) Theatre Royal Haymarket
18 Suffolk Street, Haymarket, London SW1Y 4HT
888 seats
 
  
36) Albery Theatre, now Noel Coward Theatre, Million Dollar Quartet
St Martin's Lane, London, WC2N 5AU 
872 seats and 21 standing, on 4 levels
  
 
37) Playhouse Theatre
Northumberland Avenue, London WC2N 5DE
800 seats
 
 
38) Comedy Theatre
6 Panton Street, London SW1Y 4DN
796 seats
  
  
39) Apollo Theatre
31 Shaftesbury Avenue, London, W1V 7DH 
775 seats
  
  
40) Wyndham's Theatre
Charing Cross Road, London WC2H 0DA
750 seats
  
  
41) Vaudeville Theatre
404 Strand, London WC2R 0NH
690 seats
  
  
42) Garrick Theatre
2 Charing Cross Road, London WC2H 0HH
678 seats
  
  
43) Duke of Yorks Theatre
104 St Martin's Lane, London WC2N 4BG
650 seats
  
  
44) Whitehall Theatre (Trafalgar Studio)
14 Whitehall, London SW1A 2DY
646 seats
  
  
45) St Martins Theatre
West Street, London WC2H 9NZ
550 seats
  
  
46) Criterion Theatre
Piccadilly Circus, London W1V 9LB
591 seats
  
  
47) Young Vic and Young Vic Studio
66 The Cut, London SE1 8LZ
The theatre ('Main House') can seat up to 500 / The Studio can seat up to 90
Combined total: 590
  
  
48) Duchess Theatre
Catherine Street, London WC2B 5LA
470 seats
  
  
49) New Ambassadors Theatre
West Street, London WC2H 9ND
450 seats
  
  
50) Fortune Theatre
Russell Street, London WC2B 5HH
440 seats
  
  
51) National Theatre Cottesloe
South Bank, London SE1 9PX
400 seats
  
  
52) Royal Court Theatre & Jerwood Theatre
Sloane Square, London SW1W 8AS
395 seats
  
  
53) Arts Theatre, The
6-7 Great Newport Street, London WC2H 7JB
358 seats
  
  
54) Venue theatre, The (Formerly Notre Dame Hall)
5 Leicester Place, Leicester Square London WC2H 7BP
350 seats
  
  
55) Donmar Warehouse Theatre
41 Earlham Street, London WC2H 9LD
252 seats
  
  
56) Barbican: Pit Theatre
Silk Street, London EC2Y 8DS
190 seats (The Pit Theatre) 

Saturday 18 January 2014

Musicals - Cats

I was excited to see for most of the year that the Christmas production at the Oxford New Theatre was to be Cats.  And I decided that I would like to go and see it and as John wasn't that interested I used the Chickbeans Christmas money to take myself on the eve of the last day of term.  And using Mr B's discount and choosing a restricted view seat (that wasn't really and I moved for the second half) I only spent £15.  I was very excited to be going again.  My three previous visits are briefly described in My Musicals Love.  I wasn't too sure how the show would live up to my expectations.  I was both highly excited about it and at the same time saying it really wasn't going to be that great.

Fortunately, it was excellent!  I loved the music (not every song, it does have some lower points), the cats movement, the costumes.  I spent a lot of it counting how many cats are on stage at any one time and realised that lots of them play many parts.  I was also trying to work out which one was Mr Mistofelees.  There were some bits I remembered but lots and didn't, and some bits that happened which then produced an inkling of recognition, like the giant boot falling onto the stage early on.  I still loved Mr Mistofelees and I also enjoyed Rum Tum Tugger more than I remembered - it was his Elvis bit.  I also enjoyed the suspense of Macavity and I liked Skimbleshanks which I remember 'discovering' last time I went in Oxford at uni.




There was a funny bit during Magical Mr Mistofelees when a cat had been sitting on a drain pipe and most of the cats were looking at her including Rum Tum Tugger who had been leading the song.  She came off the pipe towards Rum Tum and he said, rather than sang, 'get back on there' and then turned to the audience and said 'sorry' and then the cat went back to the pipe and a magic trick happened.  It was all quite strange and I guess it had been a mistake.

I came running out of the theatre to where John was waiting for me and I was on such a wonderful high.  When I got in the car John played me a bit on the radio where the breaking news was the collapse of the roof in a West End Theatre.  It was quite spooky and brought me back down to earth.  Fortunately no one was killed.

Musical - Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

After enjoying Matilda and Billy Elliot, we were thinking of going to see the new production of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory that had opened in the Spring and had quite a lot of hype.  We then found out that they were doing a special Children in Need Gala Performance of it so we decided to try get tickets for that.  So on Thursday 7th November, I got on my gladrags in the staff loos and we headed off to London and met the same friend we had seen Billy Elliot with.  There was a red carpet at Theatre Royal Drury Lane but sadly we weren't allowed on it and we made our way up to the rafters.


The show was very good.  Lots of big and clever sets - I really liked the TVs that they met the golden ticket winners in.  The first half was all about Charlie at home and everyone winning the tickets.  The finale of the first half was getting to the factory but you didn't go to it till the second half.  It seemed like quite a long build up to it.  The first view of the chocolate land was good, but not good enough in my opinion.  It was like a stand alone island so it didn't encompass the walls of the theatre which disappointed me.  There were lots of clever effects with big film screens.  Including the opening which was a Quentin Blake cartoon on how chocolate is made on sort of the curtain.  It was exciting that Wonka was Douglas Hodge who we sort of knew and he was very good.  The oompa loompas were clever and did lots of good puppetry sort of things.  The Great Glass Elevator was special at the end.

At the very end we were excited that Pudsey and Terry Wogan came on to the stage and were presented with a cheque by the cast for a lot of money - can the show really make half a million in one night?

Just after we saw the show a series started on Channel 4 called the Sound of the Musicals about West End theatre.  The first episode was all about Charlie so it was interested to see how it was made.

Theatre - The Mousetrap

This was another school outing organised by Mr B on 8th October 2013.  It was my fourth time seeing the show.  The other three were at St Martin's Theatre in London.  This was a special tour of the show to mark it's 60th Anniversary - the longest running play in the world!  My first visit was a special grown up outing with one parent and R, my best friend from primary school.  The second time was not long after with the whole family and my French exchange.  And the third time was with John on a summer London adventure day.

The funniest thing about this was that I couldn't remember who the murderer was - I had got it very confused in my mind after the second time I saw it, a man in the audience said it was the butler who did and I think he might have said he had played Major Metcalfe in the play at one time.  So it was a nice surprise for me watching it this time and still being able to enjoy the twist.  I liked that the set looked the same - I do like a country house room set with lots of different doors.  There was a funny bit where the curtain, which is opened and closed comically many on several occasions, was gradually coming off more and more hooks each time it was opened until it fell off altogether and the audience gave a nervous laugh.

Pleased to be able to see it and enjoy it again.  This was also about the time they showed the final four Poirot's on TV and I read a few of my Agatha's from home so I was really having a murder mystery overload!  Way to go Agatha!

Musical - Once

John had been mentioning this musical as he had seen the film some years ago, but I didn't know anything about it.  I decided to get us tickets for it for our first wedding anniversary.

We went the night (Friday July 26th 2013) before John did the London Triathlon and we were staying in a hotel for the night near the Excel.  I had read that there was entertainment before hand on the stage so I was keen for us to get there early.  The set was an Irish pub and it was serving drinks which as we watched from our seats in the circle we realised members of the audience were buying and drinking on stage.  And meanwhile people were playing musical instruments and singing Irish songs on stage.  It later turned out that these singers and musicians were the cast.  As 7.30pm approached, they certainly removed the audience from the stage and after a few more songs, the show started.



I really liked the staging.  The cast were on stage almost the whole time, but when they weren't required for a scene, they moved to the side of the stage (still inside the 'pub') where they sat on chairs and watched the performance and then they became the musicians when needed and they played a whole host of instruments.  I enjoyed the music as it had a my kind of folksy feel to it.  The show was interesting, although I didn't think it would survive deep rationalising, and left you feeling upbeat.  I thought the two lead actors were really good as were the others.  I enjoyed the scenes when the characters were speaking Czech, but all that really happened was they put up the Czech subtitles, until a nice twist at the end!

 At the interval, the bar came out on to the stage again.  After lots of embarassed no's from me, we eventually went down the stairs and through the stalls up on to the stage - eeek!  I have stood on a West End Stage.  It was hard to take it all in and we weren't allowed to take photos.  We bought 2 J2Os for the most expensive price ever - £10!  We did get souvenir plastic glasses with lids that we are still enjoying using.

A very enjoyable evening.  Thank you John for the suggestion.