How to recognise a witch 🧙♀️
My thoughts on The Witches plus loads of Black Friday offers
It’s been a slightly quieter theatrical week for me - just the one show, but boy was it a goodun. On Wednesday I headed over to one of my favourite theatres, the National, to see the new musical adaptation of Roald Dahl’s The Witches. After the success of Matilda, I was intrigued to see what the NT would do with this much-loved book. And it turns out, they’re doing some pretty good stuff!
Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a little rough around the edges. After cancelling a few previews and having a bit of a set disaster at another, it’s definitely a show that needs to bed in a bit more. However, the content itself is pretty sound. There’s some great songs and the book is utterly hilarious. Lucy Kirkwood (of The Welkin fame) has done a brilliant job of the book and lyrics. She’s pulled off the classic trick of making children laugh while the adults howl at a joke that’s gone right over their heads. The cast are just fantastic too. I laughed throughout the night to be honest - it’s just really fun and I think it’ll be a hit with all ages.
The Witches runs in the Olivier Theatre until 27 January. Don’t forget you can get super cheap £10 tickets to all National Theatre shows every week through their Friday Rush scheme. Just go to this page on their site a little before 1pm and work your way through the queue to book massively reduced tickets for the following week’s performances. It’s one of the best (and probably my most recommended) theatre discount scheme and I’ve sat in some fantastic seats using it.
Happy ticket-buying!
Rochelle 🎭🎫
Carrying the banner
In the news this week…
Operation Mincemeat to unveil plaque for Hester Leggatt following search for character’s history
Watch the cast of Hadestown perform during the musical’s West End launch
I’m kind of a big deal
It’s that time of year again - the New Year Sale is back! Every year, loads of London shows take part in the discount scheme, organised by Official London Theatre. It offers reduced tickets to shows at the start of the year for as little as £10!
Lots of top West End shows are included, such as Six, Back to the Future and Mamma Mia. You can save so much money on family trips to the theatre and it’s definitely one the biggest and best sales every year. I’ve pulled out a few top offers for you below…
At the lowest price there as some bargain seats for just £10, including Bronco Billy, The Gruffalo’s Child and The Mousetrap.
There’s some brilliant seats for Choir of Man at just £20.
There’s some pretty good restricted view tickets at the front of the circle for Wicked for just £30. Definitely check views on Seat Plan first, but I’ve sat here before and been pleasantly surprised!
Same goes for Frozen - there’s some side seats in the circle which are great value for the view at £30.
The Lion King has some side view stalls seats available for £30 too. Some of the stage is cut off but if you want to be close to the animals in Circle of Life, it’s a bargain price!
Hey big spender
Here’s your discounts, offers and cheap seats this week.
So, as you can imagine, all of the big agents are doing massive Black Friday sales - TodayTix, London Theatre Direct, WhatsOnStage, SeatPlan and West End Wilma for example. They have pretty much identical seats and offers across the board - some good ones include: £10 tickets for Potted Panto; £15 tickets for Crazy For You, Two Strangers (carry a cake across New York), Noises Off, Lizzie and The Time Machine; and £20 tickets for The House with Chicken Legs.
Trafalgar Theatres have tons of offers on touring productions at its regional theatres in Bromley, Cardiff, Crewe, Glasgow, Guildford, Hastings, Hayes, High Wycombe, Southend (Cliffs and Palace) and Swindon (Wyvern and Arts). I’ve seen up to 50% off which includes pantos plus musicals such as Unfortunate and Bonnie & Clyde. Check each venue for more details.
There’s 15% off Lizzie and Aladdin at Peterborough Theatres. No code required, just book before 27 Nov.
Get 20% off tickets to Bluey’s Big Play at the Southbank Centre on selected dates. Use code BLACKFRIDAY, book before midnight tonight.
Here’s perhaps the kindest offer of this year’s Black Friday bunch. Not only is Hall for Cornwall doing 25% off selected shows, but they’re also donating £2 for each ticket bought to their community ticket bank.
Save up to 50% on Minority Report and Bhangra Nation, and up to 20% on The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Blue Beard at the Birmingham Rep. Use code BLACKFRIDAY and book by midnight on Monday.
It’s buy one get one free on tickets for To Wong Foo in Manchester. Just add them to your basket and it’ll automatically apply the discount. Valid Tue-Fri performances.
All tickets are just £10 for Polka Theatre’s summer shows. Book before 30 Nov, discount applied automatically.
All tickets are £17.50 for Nutcracker: A Very adult Pantomime! at the Turbine. Use code BLACK FRIDAY until midnight on Sunday.
Get £20 tickets for shows at Richmond Theatre until Monday, including their panto and The Kite Runner.
There’s £25 tickets for Madagascar the Musical in Grimsby. Use code BLACKFRIDAY. Thu & Fri 5pm performances only, book by midnight on Sunday.
Get £25 tickets to the pantomime Snow White in Northampton. Scroll down for valid dates and full details.
Get two top price tickets for £50 for Life of Pi in Cheltenham. Use code NOVEMBER23.
Get up to £10 off a pair of tickets to selected shows at the MAST Mayflower Studios in Southampton. Use code FRIYAY, book before midnight on Monday.
Get £10 off bands A & B seats for the Catford Broadway’s pantomime Jack and the Beanstalk. Use code BF23, valid all performances, book before 30 Nov.
And to finish off, here’s a couple of non-ticket offers for you. First up, if you’re buying any theatre tokens as gifts, enter BLACKFRIDAY23 at the checkout before Monday and you’ll get free 1st class postage plus a free greetings card - I love their designs for these!
The Stage is offering 25% off new subscriptions before 27 Nov.
Heard of Scenery? It’s an American company that takes old theatre sets, turns them into beautiful accessories to sell then gives some of the profit to charity! They’re doing 20% off on Black Friday which should help with some of those shipping fees from the US! Use code CHEER20.
Don’t throw away your shot
Competitions, on-sales and announcements.
I’m excited to write about the West End transfer of one of the best shows I’ve seen this year. Next to Normal will go o the Wyndham’s Theatre from June 2024. You can sign up for priority on-sale access now, with general sale at 9am on 1 Dec along with the rest of the Donmar’s new season.
Ian McKellen will star in Player Kings in the West End from April next year. Tickets are on sale. Nice early performance times too with 6:30pm starts!
For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When The Hue Gets Too Heavy is returning to the West End next February. Tickets are on sale now.
Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre has announced the world premiere stage adaptation of Bear Snores On in April. Tickets are on sale.
Spirited Away has announced an extension at the London Coliseum. It is now booking until 24 August 2024 with lots of extra tickets under £30 on sale.
Tickets are now on sale for the 24th annual WhatsOnStage Awards on 11 Feb 2024.
All That Dazzles is giving away a pair of tickets for Curve’s Evita.
Win two tickets to Wicked in Manchester, plus drinks and snacks.
And finally, win tickets to Cabaret plus a hotel stay.
That’s all for this week. If you enjoyed the newsletter, please tell your friends. I’m also open to suggestions and requests for certain discounts, so do drop into my DMs. Right, time for a night in making chocolate cheesecake! 🍰
