I absolutely love the theatre but can't afford to go as much as i'd like - it's not just having money yourself as i'd rather spend it on shows than loads of clothes personally lol - but it's having people willing to go with you!!

I've seen Joseph about 8 times or something - all when i was little - my nan loved taking me! seen Philip Schofield and Jason Donovan! But i can't wait to see it in July with Lee Mead!!

Also seen Wicked - my favourite! Loved Hairspray and am dying to go again!! And have seen Chicago and The Lion King too!

definatly see ave q its fantastic, and on that subject the cast are on egg heads at the moment on bbc2!

I wouldn't say I was a regular, but I've been to see quite a few shows in the West End and on Broadway. I'd love to see more, but I can never afford it!

I've been to see:

Wicked (three times)- absolutely amazing each time!
Hairspray
Les Mis
Phantom of the Opera
Cats
Chicago (on Broadway and the West End)
Guys and Dolls
Fame
The Sound of Music
Billy Elliot
Annie
The Lion King
Beauty and the Beast (Broadway)

I've been to see 4 musicals so far and they have been:
Joseph- with Ian 'H' Watkins or Richard Meek
Tutti Frutti (Scottish musical)
Mamma Mia
Never Forget (which I LOVED!!!!)

But there are two things I wanna do before I die are to see a show in the West End and also a show on Broadway.

From Hayley

I've been a regular theatregoer (musicals and straight plays) for many years. I've seen more shows than I can count if you include school, amateur and dinner theatre productions. I haven't lived close enough to New York to see many shows on Broadway, so I've only seen two there (revivals of Guys and Dolls and 1776), but I saw a few pre-Broadway tryouts in Washington DC, and lots of US touring shows and regional theatre productions in the Washington DC area and St. Louis. I've also seen Mary Poppins (in 2006) and The Sound of Music (on Connie's last night) in London.

I'm a regular theatre-goer although it's a bit more difficult now I have young children.

Most recently I've seen Avenue Q again - brilliant show. Over the years I have seen too many to list - but my first ever musical was a touring production of 'Joseph'. I think my first West End production was also 'Joseph' with Jason Donovan.

I go fairly regularly, usually to West End musicals, but nowhere near as regularly as I'd like. I just can't afford it, and have to wait for offers, lastminute.com etc.

Here's my list that I can remember

West End and London - Musicals/Ballets/Plays
A Chorus Line (OLC) (my very first musical in London far too many years ago)
Annie
Avenue Q x 2
Bad Girls the Musical
Billy Elliott x 4
Cabaret
Chicago
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (Wayne Sleep)
Evita (with Elaine Paige)
Fame
Fiddler On The Roof
Footloose
Grease (original cast)
Hairspray x2 (OLC)
Joseph - Lee Mead
Les Mis x2 (With the wonderful John Owen Jones and Kerry Ellis)
Lord of the Rings (OLC)
Mary Poppins (OLC)
Midsummer Nights Dream - Regents Park Open Air Theatre
Notre Dame de Paris Danni Minoge and Dean Collinson
Nutcracker - ENB Coliseum
Oliver - Ruthie Henshall
Phantom of the Opera
Saturday Night Fever
Sound of Music - Connie Fisher (not that impressed)
Starlight Express
Stomp
The Lion King
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
We Will Rock You
Wicked (Idina Menzel/AdamGarcia) - OLC
125th Street


Local theatre (touring/Dance/Ballet)
A Chorus Line
Joseph - Chris Barton
Annie (several times)
Sound of Music
5 Guys Named Mo
Blood Brothers
Nutcracker
Swan Lake
Cinderella
Sleeping Beauty
Tap Dogs
Hot Shoe Shuffle
Spirit of the Dance
Several different ballet pieces by ENB
Siobhan Davies Contemporary Dance
Coppelia - ENYB
Plus numerous amateur shows

Sydney Opera House
The Australian National Ballet

Praque
Carmen

I would love to see more Plays but unfortunately can't afford to as I have 2 children and a husband who like to go as well.

2 weeks ago I saw Buddy in the West End for £10 - amazing seats

Last week Marguerite (free tickets) which I am seeing again in July

Next week I am seeing Wicked again and the week after I am seeing Gone With The Wind.

I organise group tickets so we are lucky enough to see the shows relatively cheaply. Always go for top priced seats which I often get at 1/2 price or less.

I'm a regular theatre goer (plays and musicals). I support local amateur productions, go watch the regional tours and watch productions in the West End too. Been lucky enough to see shows in LA, Broadway and Las Vegas as well.

I go when I can but when you have to get into london first as your home town only has the obscure plays

Seen

Grease x2 on W/end x1 Ipswich
WWRY
Tonights the Night
Les Mis
Starlight Express x3
Joseph x2 last time round
Jail House Rock
Chicago
The King and I
Blood Brothers

seen others but can't remember anymore as they would have been several years ago.

Blimey if I started to type all the shows I've seen I'd be here all night!

My mum got me into going to the theatre and we've not really stopped going since she first took me to see 'Grease' in London (with Craig McLaughlan & Debbie Gibson ). Our first attempt was meant to be Joseph with Jason Donovan but there was a bomb scare or something right by the theatre that day so our show was cancelled. I have seen it a few times since then though!

I also go as often as poss with friends, saw Jersey Boys not so long ago and am off to see the new Ralph Fiennes play in a couple of weeks.

Next musicals on my 'list' this year are Wicked, Billy Elliot and whatever Fran ends up doing next (fingers crossed!) Already have tickets booked for the last Hairspray date with the current cast (already been once) and for Oliver next year...

Ooh thanks!!

I go as often as I can afford to (which isn't often these days).
My first show was a touring production of Joseph, and i've seen it I don't know how many times since - but it's a lot.
My first show in the West End was the Lion King.
Last year I spent most of my student loan (minus rent) on theatre tickets.
Already booked to see over the summer I have:
Wicked (again)
The Wizard of Oz
Avenue Q

I may be going to see another production of Joseph in september - not sure yet.
I really want to see a number of shows, particularly Les Miserables, Spring Awakening, Hamlet and I love you, You're perfect, Now change (don't know if this is still playing anywhere or not).

I'm yet to get to Broadway and I'd be really tempted to go and see Wicked performed in German as well.

(I may well post a full list if I get bored when I go home for a bit next month, can't remember them all at the minute though)

I haven't seen as many as some people have, but I do consider myself a theatre-goer who goes as often as she can, and even if I haven't actually seen certain musicals I'm still very passionate about them and have a huge collection of cast-recordings, dvd's and books. I do wish I could go far more often but it's sometimes so expensive, especially in getting to London, so it's definately a huge treat when I do go.

I've seen:

Phantom of the Opera
Miss Saigon x 6
Wicked x 4 (Going this saturday again)
Joseph x 4
Blood Brothers x 2
Beauty and the Beast
West Side Story

And lots of other various plays/ballets/concerts etc, some off the top of my head are a musical evening with the Halle Orchestra, Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet, John Barrowman's concert, numerous Shakespeare plays, Magic of the Musicals, Beyond the Barricade etc etc.

In terms of musicals, Miss Saigon is my ultimate favourite and I wish there was a revival in London, or another tour. I would go again in a heartbeat.

Me trained in perf arts and have seen/worked on too many shows to list on one page so I won't try lol. Best thing I ever saw was The Secret Garden back in 2001 it must have been, fantastic.

Thanks for posting those links for people who may not be aware of the cheap tickets...I know ticket prices seem ludicrous but some of these shows really struggle, unfortunately Having said that I usually managed to get in free or v cheap lol, but now unless it's something I am desperate to see where I will pay top price for best seats, then I will go to tkts, depending on popularity you can often get VERY good seats there for half price

I am v passionate about getting more people into theatre because although you may not think so, there IS something for everyone. That's the real plus point about shows like IDA, getting more people interested!

Oh, and I did see both Lee as Joseph and Connie as Maria. Lee was fab, Connie not so fab

I saw Oliver! in 1994 with Jim Dale as Fagin and Sally Dexter as Nancy. (Jodie reminds me of Sally, so maybe that's clouding my judgement!)

Also:
Les Mis (twice)
Sunset Boulevard
Mary Poppins
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

Also saw Phantom on Broadway a couple of years ago.

It's not just the WE either. The touring productions of shows are often excellent. I go to as many as I can in the Millenium Centre Cardiff. I think people just think of the WE.

Sarah if you like Miss Saigon, I bet you would love Marguerite and Les Mis (same writers) if you haven't seen them. Martin Guerre was also great even though it got panned.

The 10th Anniversary concert of Les Mis is quite possibly the best event to be staged in the world, EVER. LOL. You can get it on DVD
Last edited by devilmaycare : 26-05-2008 at 19:59

That's very true. We have a great rep theatre here which outstanding professional and amateur shows.

no problem, i think its ashame that people assume there are only expensive tickets, as it puts families off seeing them, and kids are the future audiences! if they are alienated then unfortunatly the theatre may die

for those that missed my previous post, the sites are

www.broadwaybox.com/london

http://www.officiallondontheatre.co.uk/tkts/

and also one i forgot earlier is www.theboxoffice.com (which is actually part of see tickets)

also mbna do a credit card called vip which sends out offers and preferential bookings

and also most theatres have some sort of "friends" memberships which for an anual fee, you get discounts on shows there, for example i am a member of the birmingham hippodrome friends and for £40 for a joint anual ticket, you get numerous 2-4-1 offers, £10 off offers etc (indeed the year before last mum and i saved £105 between us, after taking out the £40 membership fee!)

also www.officiallondontheatre.com also has an annual "family" week, with discounts for families for certain shows over that week, (in august) http://www.kidsweek.co.uk/ The ticket deal is simple: For every full paying adult, one child goes free and up to two additional children go at half-price


and www.whatsonstage.com also sometimes have discount tickets

I am a regular theatre fan. I go at least once a month

I've seen;

Blood Brothers (x6)
Sound of Music (x5 and all since February when Summer took over)
Joseph (x5)
Fame
MIss Saigon (x3)
Wizard of Oz
Annie
Oliver (about 8 times lol)
Saturday NIght Fever
Boogie Nights
Love Shack

and about a billion plays...

Wow! Thank you so much for all those links. I have only recently started going to the theatre and have been to the West End about three times, and each time was brilliant, so I am hoping to go lots more. I wasn't aware of most of those sites but I will be sure to check them out. I particularly like that kids week, as I was hoping to take my step-brother to see something over the summer!

no problem, and for students on here, you may want to look at this - student standbys, http://www.officiallondontheatre.co....dent_standbys/

of for those aged between 15-18 http://www.mousetrap.org.uk/articles/44


and also for any one in or around london on 21st/22nd june you may want to look at this http://www.westendlive.co.uk/ the annual west end outdoor event, where they have casts from various shows perform and the event is free to go to, This year's event sees the casts of The 39 Steps, Avenue Q, Buddy, Chicago, Dirty Dancing, Divas, Grease, High School Musical, Into The Hoods, Jersey Boys, Joseph, The Lord of The Rings, Mamma Mia, Never Forget, The Sound of Music, Stomp, We Will Rock You and Wicked

also on cheap tickets, if you travel by train, some companies have special offers, for instance i know chiltern sometimes do a package to buy train tickets and a certain show ticket, and you save about £20 each ticket

The 10th Anniversary Cast DVD is by far the most played back DVD that I own - at least a few hundred times (at one point I was watching it every night). Did you actually go to the concert? If so, I am very, very, very, very jealous. (too bad I would only have been 5 years old then to go even if I could. ) Every time I watch the show on stage I keep on comparing it to the Dream Cast and am yet to find a Fantine better than Ruthie Henshall, a Javert better than Philip Quast or a Marius better than Michael Ball! I must say though that John Owen-Jones is simply exceptional (such a pity that he's finished his run now)... and Anthony Warlow (as Enjolras) on the Complete Symphonic Recording) is sublime. Anyway, that was my Les Mis rant for the day


How did you get hold of free Marguerite tickets? I really want to see it, considering it's a Boubil & Schonberg production and it has Ruthie Henshall - but £60 is a little more than my budget right now

there are some offers for this show on broadway box, not sure of the details as have not read it but you may want a look http://www.broadwaybox.com/london/th...e_tickets.aspx