Short breaks in London with a show are a great choice for mid-week or weekend holidays. Here are my top 3 recommendations for shows this coming Spring.  Couples who just want to see a show as part of a trip to London, perhaps as part of a special occasion have lots of choice when it comes to shows and things to do.  London is a great place for  short breaks and there is a lot for couples to do and see. There are all the art galleries, lots of classy shops and, of course, the sights of London. That’s the thing about the capital it’s still fun even if you’ve seen it all before. When you are choosing the show for your short break I’ve got three top recommendations for you at the moment. Choose Your Show Les Miserables In your position I’d go for Les Miserables as a first choice. Tickets have got a little bit trickier to get hold of due to the SuBo effect but the theatre break agencies still have plenty of availability. If you can be flexible about your dates and can travel mid-week there are some brilliant deals for Les Miz. Traveling mid-week also gives you a good choice of 3* and 4* hotels at very reasonable rates.  Les Miserables is one of the longest running shows but it still remains one of the best. People always seem to enjoy it and it still seems as fresh as it ever was. Dress Code: best frock or jeans, this is London – no one cares! Hair However if semi-classical score is not to your taste you could try revisiting the 60s and trying something brand new but re-cycled. Hair is coming to the West End in April and it’s going to be huge. This is the full Broadway revival production, all singing, all dancing, full of colour, life and energy, just like time traveling back to those days. They say if you remember the 60s you weren’t there but Hair is all that you might have missed and more. There is flower power, hippies and The Age of Aquarius, not to mention a bit of nudity and other, rather innocent naughtiness! Dress code: Afghan waistcoats, bell bottoms and patchouli (only kidding!). Though it might not be a bad choice of costume if you want to join in with the onstage party at the end of the show:

Jersey Boys Maybe  Jersey Boys is more your scene, sing along as you watch the story of Frankie Valley and the Four Seasons unfold. Walk Like a Man, Sherry Baby, and a host of other tunes you’ll enjoy discovering you still know all the words to are woven into the story of five young lads from New Jersey.
Dress code: Very snazzy Trilby hats available in the foyer of the theatre So there you are three top shows to choose from, all of them ideal to fit in with your short breaks in London with a show. a

London theatre packages come in a variety of shapes and sizes but they all have one thing in common. They make delightful gifts! Choosing presents for loved ones is never easy and when it’s for a much loved Mum and Dad it can be really hard. What can you get the couple who have everything? A giant food hamper perhaps? Well, maybe, but it’s just food. Might be, dare I say it, a little dull? After all your Mum is just going to add it to that already overstocked pantry and freezer and while your Dad might enjoy the bottle of malt whisky it doesn’t really show much thought does it? London theatre packages are much more interesting and entertaining. First of all you get the fun of choosing what show you think they’ll enjoy. I’ve got some more advice about that in a minute. Then you can pick them a nice hotel, maybe throw in a pre-theatre dinner, and book their train journey as well. If there are a few of you sharing the expense you could add in an extra night and maybe one of those river cruises with dinner if it’s an extra special occasion. By now you are probably thinking this is going to cost a fortune but theatre break packages for London are really quite good value at the moment. You can get weeknight tickets for Les Miserables and one night in a 3* London hotel for under £100 at the moment. Adding  an extra night only adds around £35 each! Dinner is around £15 – 20 per person. All very affordable really. And just think of the brownie points on Christmas morning! London Theatre Packages Choosing a show

So how do you choose what they’d like to see? Sometimes it is obvious and easy to just choose their favourite show. If your parents are not quite so predictable I’d start with their music collection if I were you. Here’s some tips: Lots of classical stuff, some light opera, SuBo’s new CD = Les Miserables or just possibly Phantom of the Opera. If you are feeling adventurous book for Love Never Dies so they can brag to their friends about being the first to see it! Not much after 1965, except maybe some Shawadiwadi. Your Dad goes a bit funny when anyone mentions Olivia Newton John – they are going to love either Jersey Boys or Grease! Your Dad’s rock collection is rivaled only by your Mum’s passion for Freddie Mercury – has to be We Will Rock You Your Mum knows all the words to Dancing Queen and still has all her signed photos of Bjorn. Your Dad liked the film – Mamma Mia of course

I expect you get the idea by now. You could always surprise them and choose tickets to Chicago (still the sexiest show in town) or even Dirty Dancing. They’d have a great time at either whatever their musical taste. That’s the thing really. All the shows that are on in London are worth seeing. Oh and it’s not just musicals, you can get London theatre packages to see plays, opera and even ballets! a

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Are you looking for more information about London weekend breaks by rail? That’s actually a very good starting point because you’ve already made the best decision as far as transport goes for arriving in London. Go by train and you’ll not have to be worrying about things like car parking, how to pay the congestion charge or long motor way traffic jams holding up coach journeys. The fast inter city trains are also the quickest way to get from most UK cities into one of the central London mainline stations. London Breaks by Rail - Express Routes Weekend breaks can be for a West-end theatre show on any Friday, Saturday or Sunday night combined with a hotel stay of one night or more, including the show date. The most popular break tends to be a one-nighter including the big Saturday night out, but getting away early on a Friday makes a lot of sense too. Traveling on a Friday and Saturday gives a clear run through but Sundays can be fine for getting home too, depending on which rail line takes you back. All I’m saying is, check for regular Sunday engineering works if the service that relays between your city and London is one that may be prone to scheduled maintenance on a Sunday. Longer Weekend Breaks If your weekend break means going home on a Saturday of course, the traditional weekend has only just begun but then again I’ve noticed that for some people around here, the weekend definitely starts to ramp up on a Thursday night! London can be a very pleasant play to stay on a Sunday with less of a hurried atmosphere but still plenty of things to see and do so staying on for the whole weekend and then booking to get back on a Monday during the daytime can make for an extremely satisfying London weekend rail break, more like a mini holiday really. You could even make it a three or four night stay with the weekend theatre trip included, especially worthwhile if you have a long distance rail journey from one of the smaller rail networks that lie beyond the core inter city services. London Shows for Weekend Theatre Breaks One of the advantages with buying a theatre breaks package is that you can get good tickets for any of the more popular shows, even on a busy Friday or Saturday night. I tried to get an impulse ticket from the famous half price ticket booth the other day and after a lot of waiting around I came away without making a purchase. That was because the shows on offer didn’t include two that I was most interested in, and because the prices offered are not anything like half price at all. So supposing you’ve always wanted to grab a friend and go and see Hairspray, Dirty Dancing or Sister Act on a Saturday night but couldn’t find any available tickets except from the disreputable touts and so-called discount kiosks, well the answer is to do just a little bit of forward planning and organise a weekend break in London for just a few weeks down the line, then you can get on with life knowing there’s a fantastic treat in store for you to look forward to. London weekend breaks by rail are also perfect for really special occasions such as a big anniversary or celebration. Never mind seeing Les Miserables from the back of the upper circle, with theatre breaks packages it’s often possible to get best available seats with a competitive price guarantee, because the tour agents buy blocks of tickets way in advance and can therefore hold the best seats open for people who are booking the whole London weekend theatre package thing with the hotel stay and return rail tickets included. This is just one suggestion, but supposing you were a big fan of the Phantom of The Opera having seen it many years ago, and fancied repeating the experience in today’s West End. This gives you two possible shows for London Weekend breaks by rail because the new show with the Phantom opens in March 2010 and it’s going to be one of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s biggest shows ever, called “Love Never Dies“. By booking the rail tickets well in advance in combination with London weekend breaks, (that’s the show and hotel stay), you get the full discount on the rail tickets which can mean as much as a 70% saving off the regular return saver. If it appears as if the only shows on in London are the big musicals then that’s certainly not the case. There are always a number of serious plays also on in the West end, usually for shorter runs but not always, and these are also available for London weekend breaks by rail. In 2010 there will be more Shakespeare, Pinter and Becket as well as modern American playwrights, and some comedy plays too. So you’ve decided very sensibly to opt for London weekend breaks by rail, thought about which show you’d both like to see, and maybe opted for a Friday night or Saturday theatre ticket depending which suits you best and considered the best time and day for homewards travel. All that’s left is to balance the convenience of a central London hotel with the economy of staying a little further out, but there is always a good selection of options available when booking London weekend theatre breaks. Now let me see, what else is there to worry about? a

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There are plenty of good reasons for choosing London breaks around Christmas and the New Year if you’re looking for a chance to get away and enjoy some real cultural entertainment. It’s the height of the show season for one thing, with comedy specials, concerts, plays, pantomime, Shakespeare and of course musicals.  During the festive season London really goes to town with the decorations and lights and puts on not one but a whole series of outdoor ice skating rinks for that special winter wonderland atmosphere, so there is no shortage of things to do in London in the  wintertime.  Then there’s the shopping, with all the big department stores putting on special displays and having ranges of goodies that you just cannot get hold of outside of the capital. People come for London breaks from all over the UK and abroad too, so whoever you are you never feel alone amongst Londoners because the chances are the people next to you in the theatre are from out of town too. Apart from the big winter wonderland exhibition at the O2 there are also festival type events going on in places like Hyde Park and the Southbank, Kensington and Carnaby street. Here is a list of some of the most popular musicals this season for London breaks : Oliver Dirty Dancing Les Miserables Phantom of The Opera Lion King Billy Elliot

The New Phantom of the Opera – David Shannon David Shannon is the actor who replaces Ramin Karimloo as the Phantom Of The Opera on November 9th 2009. Ramin Karimloo will do his last show as the Phantom on the 7th, until he plays another phantom role next year in Love Never Dies. David Shannon from Les Miserables David Shannon recently completed a run in Les Misérables as Jean Valjean.

( audio only ) From the evening show of the 10th October, which was the last day of David Shannon (Valjean), Earl Carpenter (Javert) and Katie Hall (Cosette) in the 09/10 West End cast, so some passages might be a bit emotional. Spine tingling stuff and a great choice for the Phantom I think! His other stage credits include Miss Saigon, Whistle Down The Wind, Cats, Martin Guerre and The Beautiful Game. Other Cast Changes in the Phantom of the Opera Other new faces to The Phantom Of The Opera cast include Rebecca Lock, Nicky Adams and Tabitha Webb. Rebecca Lock, most recently of Avenue Q who takes over as the awful Carlotta. Nicky Adams, joins as Madame Giry and Tabitha Webb will alternate in the role of Christine with Gina Beck.

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Les Miserables on Tour If you’ve ever been on a London Theatre Break to see Les Miserables then here’s a chance to see the world’s longest running musical at a venue closer to home perhaps. Of course if you haven’t ever seen it properly in London then what are you waiting for? ** Book Les Miserables London Theatre Breaks ** Cameron Mackintosh announced recently that John Owen Jones will star as ‘Jean Valjean’, Earl Carpenter as ‘Javert’ and Gareth Gates as ‘Marius’ in the exciting new 25th anniversary production of “LES MISÉRABLES,”. This new production has spectacular new designs inspired by the paintings of Victor Hugo and embarks on a major international tour starting in Wales. Les Miserables Stars John Owen Jones has been hailed as the best Jean Valjean since Colm Wilkinson. As well as starring in “Les Misérables” in both the West End and on Broadway he has also appeared as ‘The Phantom’ in “The Phantom of the Opera” at Her Majesty’s Theatre, London. Earl Carpenter who is currently playing ‘Javert’ in the West End production of “Les Misérables” has also starred as ‘The Phantom’ in West End.

Gareth Gates of course, is the multi million selling popstar who had the 2nd best selling single this decade. He played the title role of ‘Joseph’ in “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” at the West End’s Adelphi Theatre and was a semi finalist in ‘Dancing on Ice’ 2008. Les Miserables Score The score of “LES MISÉRABLES” includes the songs, ‘I Dreamed a Dream’ (currently the world’s most popular song thanks to Susan Boyle), ‘On My Own’, ‘Stars’, ‘Bring Him Home’, ‘Do You Hear the People Sing’, ‘One Day More’, ‘Empty Chairs at Empty Tables’, ‘Master Of The House’ and many more. Les Miserables Amazing History Les Miserables “LES MISÉRABLES” originally opened in London at the Barbican Theatre on 8 October 1985, transferred to the Palace Theatre on 4 December 1985 and moved to its current home at the Queen’s Theatre on 3 April 2004 where it continues to play to packed houses. When “LES MISÉRABLES” celebrated its 21st London birthday on 8 October 2006, it became the World’s Longest Running Musical, surpassing the record previously held by “Cats” in London’s West End.

Seen by over 56 million people worldwide in 42 countries and in 21 languages 34 cast recordings of Les Miz, Multi-platinum London cast recording Grammy Award-winning Broadway cast album. 10th Anniversary Royal Albert Hall Gala Concert album sold nearly two million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling musical videos ever in the UK. There are over 2,000 productions of the Les Misérables School’s Edition scheduled or being performed by over 100,000 school children in the UK, US and Australia, making it the most successful musical ever produced in schools.

Cameron Mackintosh’s production of Les Miserables is written by Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg and is based on the novel by Victor Hugo. It has music by Claude-Michel Schönberg, lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer and original French text by Alain Boublil and Jean-Marc Natel and additional material by James Fenton. The original London production of “LES MISÉRABLES” was adapted and directed by Trevor Nunn and John Caird. This new production will be directed by Laurence Connor and James Powell and designed by Matt Kinley inspired by the works of Victor Hugo and John Napier. Original costumes by Andreane Neofitou, lighting by Paule Constable and sound by Mick Potter. Les Miserables International Tour Dates LES MISÉRABLES International Tour 2009/2010 11 December 2009 – 16 January 2010 WALES MILLENNIUM CENTRE CARDIFF 19 January – 13 February 2010 MANCHESTER PALACE THEATRE 16 February – 20 March 2010 NORWICH THEATRE ROYAL 23 March – 17 April 2010 BIRMINGHAM HIPPODROME 20 April – 15 May 2010 EDINBURGH PLAYHOUSE 26 May – 4 July 2010 PARIS – THE CHATELET ** Book Les Miserables LONDON Theatre Breaks **

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Les Misérables theatre breaks Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables is a major production in the same league as The Phantom of the Opera. The musical tells of the story of Jean Val Jean, an ex-convict who could not escape his past. Like the Phantom, Les Mis has been conducting a couple of world tours off and on over the years. I’ve never seen the play elsewhere but I have been told that the travelling cast is nowhere as good as the one based in London, not sure how true that is though. Well, when we finally got to experience it for ourselves last Saturday, it totally blew us away.

Les Miserables Cast Being a large scale production, they can boast a cast of more than two dozen, probably many. Having many recognizable characters, it’s not really possible to recycle actors and actresses to take on more than one role so the cast is very much a full one. Though the main characters generally possesses well endowed voices, the main actor to look out for is the one who take on the role of Javert, a policeman who was bent on capturing Jean Val Jean. His baritone voice carried through the theatre magnificently and you could feel his anguish when faced with the dilemma towards the end of the play. Also look out for a boy who acts as Gavroche, a young street urchin. His clear and cheeky voice captures the hopes of the youths in the chaotic situation that engulfed 19th century France. Staging Les Miserables Something that really distinguishes Les Miserables out from other shows is the use of the circular stage. By rotating the stage and the clever use of lights, props and settings can be changed while causing absolutely no disruptions to the unfolding of the drama. In fact, scenes that depict people walking across distances were done seamlessly. Look out for the scene when Jean Val Jean carried an injured Marius through the sewers and you’ll know what I mean. Les Miz – My conclusions Les Miserables , without a doubt is worth the full ticket price and perfect for the best theatre breaks in London. To those who have read the 1200-page original unabridged version of the story, this musical will bring to life those characters that have been so strongly portrayed in what was purported to be the story of the century even then. To those who are unfamiliar with the turmoil that swept 19th century France, Les Miserables will provide a strong introduction to the subject.

a Les Misérables theatre breaks review

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According to yesterday’s Telegraph sales of tickets for Les Miserables have gone up by 46 per cent since Susan Boyle sang I Dreamed a Dream in the first round of Britain’s Got Talent. It’s certainly true that tickets have become much scarcer and you need to book a few weeks ahead to be sure of getting them, even when you are booking a theatre break. At the moment you can’t just decide that you want to see Les Mis next week. Still if you can be patient and wait until July there does seem to be a bit more availability for mid week performances. I Dreamed a Dream is a solo sung by Fantine in Act 1 in the musical. Susan Boyle’s version has attracted more hits than any other You Tube clip. It would be so easy to include that clip but I thought you might enjoy a more authentic taste of Les Miserables so here’s Gunilla Backman back in 1999, she was a gorgeous Fantine. Although it’s hard to be compared to stars like  Ruthie Henshall ,current Fantine, Allyson Brown seems to be  getting lots of praise.

** Book Les Miserables Theatre Breaks **

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Antony Hansen, who is only 19, has landed the part of Feuilly and will understudy the leading role of Marius in Les Misérables from June 22nd 2009. Antony who comes from Steventon, near Didcot, is best known for his appearances in the BBC1 show Any Dream Will Do back in 2007. Although he was knocked out in the final live shows Anthony was not disheartened and has continued to pursue his dream of performing in the West End. Antony said in an interview in his local paper “The last two years have been a bit of a blur — from first auditioning for Any Dream Will Do, through to achieving my dream of appearing in London’s West End in my greatest musical of all time is just mind-blowing. “Two years ago, I was at St Birinus School studying for my A-Levels and appearing in the school’s production of Les Misérables. “Now I will be moving to London for 12 months to appear in Les Misérables, in the West End. You have to just go for it and become the best you can.” After Any Dream Will Do, he joined the UK tour of Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat in January last year as Napthali, moving to the lead role for the last 3 months of the tour. I must do a round up post of where the other singers from Any Dream Will Do are soon as many of them have done very well, though few as well as Anthony as yet.

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