London is well known for its night life, and for musical theatre kids like me, I was thrilled to explore more musicals at the West End after knowing that I will be joining LSE. Most theatres are just around the corner of the LSE near Covent Garden within walking distance. Although musical tickets are mostly quite expensive, LSE societies often hold social events that include musical visits where they offer cheap tickets.
I joined the Actuarial Society and the Singaporean Society recently, in which I managed to get tickets to Phantom of the Opera for just under £20 and tickets to Hamilton for under £35. In this blog post, I will be going through several musicals I have seen and share some recommendations.
1. Everybody’s Talking About Jamie
The film adaption of this musical has recently been released on Amazon Prime. ‘Jamie’ is different from the style of musical like Les Mis and Phantom where there is an orchestra pit. The first thing that caught my attention was the band can be seen from the audience, and the genre is more pop than classical. The musical is about Jamie, a teenager from Sheffield who wants to become a drag queen. I love the message of the musical and particularly enjoyed the song called ‘The Wall in my Head’ which I found very uplifting.
Rating: 3.8/5 – Book here.
2. Wicked
I am sure you have at least heard about the musical Wicked even if you are not a musical fan – it is the musical with the green witch. The musical is a prequel to the Wizard of Oz. It explains the background story of the Wicked Witch of the West and her friendship with G(a)linda. Although tickets are a bit pricey, the theatre effects are amazing. You can also look up tickets closer to the performance date, as they often offer cheaper tickets on different sites. I thought the performance was phenomenal, the vocals, the make up, the set – everything. If you want to experience seeing a musical but don’t know where to start, I recommend this.
Rating: 4.2/5 – Book here.
3. Phantom of the Opera
As I mentioned earlier, I got tickets for this musical with the Actuarial Society. Her Majesty’s Theatre in Piccadilly Circus is beautiful – the huge chandelier, the set and the costumes used, particularly the scene for Masquerade is amazing. Although the plot is not difficult to understand, having watched the film would help you understanding with what is going on on stage. I also found it very interesting to compare how the musical changes scenes on stage compared to the film which is just a change of camera angle.
Rating: 4.5/5 – Book here.
