{"id":2473,"date":"2017-04-05T08:00:25","date_gmt":"2017-04-05T08:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/international\/?p=2473"},"modified":"2017-04-05T08:00:25","modified_gmt":"2017-04-05T08:00:25","slug":"day-defied-gravity-theatre-london","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/international\/day-defied-gravity-theatre-london\/","title":{"rendered":"The Day We Defied Gravity: Theatre in London"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Sit back and hang tight&#8230; I&#8217;m about to let y&#8217;all in on one of my favorite theatre secrets!<\/p>\n<p>When my American friends were here a few weeks back, we were determined to see a musical on the cheap. We really wanted to see Wicked, but it turned out that my\u00a0go-to discount place, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.tkts.co.uk\/whats-on-sale\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">TKTS<\/a>, sells Wicked tickets for <em>a whole pound more<\/em> than the theatre itself does (go figure). We did some\u00a0research and found a little something called\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.theatremonkey.com\/dayseatfinder.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">&#8220;day seats.&#8221;<\/a>\u00a0They work like this: you queue the morning of the show you&#8217;d like to see, and when the box office opens&#8230; you&#8217;re able to purchase discounted tickets at the theatre&#8217;s discretion. It&#8217;s that simple!<\/p>\n<p>Wicked has a great day seat policy! They reserve their entire first row for day seats, which they sell for \u00a329.50 each. The box office opens at 10:00am, so we got in line at about 8:00am. There were already about four people in front of us when we got there, and the wait wasn&#8217;t so bad! We sat on newspapers, and brought books to pass time. The people in the second row behind us paid \u00a371.75 for their seats, so I think the trade-off for waiting is definitely worth it!<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2474\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2474\" style=\"width: 960px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-2474 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/international\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/54\/2017\/04\/17309511_10210051528538377_154709467934833720_n-3.jpg\" alt=\"theatre international student bloggers\" width=\"960\" height=\"720\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/international\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/54\/2017\/04\/17309511_10210051528538377_154709467934833720_n-3.jpg 960w, https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/international\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/54\/2017\/04\/17309511_10210051528538377_154709467934833720_n-3-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/international\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/54\/2017\/04\/17309511_10210051528538377_154709467934833720_n-3-150x113.jpg 150w, https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/international\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/54\/2017\/04\/17309511_10210051528538377_154709467934833720_n-3-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/international\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/54\/2017\/04\/17309511_10210051528538377_154709467934833720_n-3-276x207.jpg 276w, https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/international\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/54\/2017\/04\/17309511_10210051528538377_154709467934833720_n-3-476x357.jpg 476w, https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/international\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/54\/2017\/04\/17309511_10210051528538377_154709467934833720_n-3-320x240.jpg 320w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2474\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Waiting for the Wicked box-office to open!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2475\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2475\" style=\"width: 2822px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-2475 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/international\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/54\/2017\/04\/2017-04-03-18.39.30-3.jpg\" alt=\"theatre international student bloggers\" width=\"2822\" height=\"2117\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2475\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">What an exciting night!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2476\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2476\" style=\"width: 2048px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-2476 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/international\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/54\/2017\/04\/2017-03-21-11.39.46-1-4.jpg\" alt=\"theatre international student bloggers\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1536\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/international\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/54\/2017\/04\/2017-03-21-11.39.46-1-4.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/international\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/54\/2017\/04\/2017-03-21-11.39.46-1-4-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/international\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/54\/2017\/04\/2017-03-21-11.39.46-1-4-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/international\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/54\/2017\/04\/2017-03-21-11.39.46-1-4-150x113.jpg 150w, https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/international\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/54\/2017\/04\/2017-03-21-11.39.46-1-4-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/international\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/54\/2017\/04\/2017-03-21-11.39.46-1-4-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/international\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/54\/2017\/04\/2017-03-21-11.39.46-1-4-276x207.jpg 276w, https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/international\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/54\/2017\/04\/2017-03-21-11.39.46-1-4-476x357.jpg 476w, https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/international\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/54\/2017\/04\/2017-03-21-11.39.46-1-4-320x240.jpg 320w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2476\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">My American Company<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>We spent the afternoon in Victoria before our show began, and had afternoon tea at the neighboring <a href=\"http:\/\/www.browns-restaurants.co.uk\/restaurants\/london\/victoria\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Browns<\/a>. It came at a friend&#8217;s recommendation, and it&#8217;s one of the best affordable afternoon teas I&#8217;ve had in London! An afternoon of tea and an evening at the theatre? It was 100% opposite of how I&#8217;d spend an average Wednesday in Texas and I loved every minute of it.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2477\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2477\" style=\"width: 2809px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-2477 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/international\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/54\/2017\/04\/2017-04-03-18.37.17-3.jpg\" alt=\"theatre international student bloggers\" width=\"2809\" height=\"2108\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2477\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Our casual afternoon tea<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2478\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2478\" style=\"width: 2824px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-2478 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/international\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/54\/2017\/04\/2017-04-03-18.38.13-3.jpg\" alt=\"theatre international student bloggers\" width=\"2824\" height=\"2117\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2478\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Our casual spread<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Having had so much success at Wicked, another friend and I decided to try Lion King&#8217;s day seat policy. Lion King&#8217;s day seat tickets are \u00a325, but they don&#8217;t guarantee any particular seats, or any seats for that matter. We decided to test our luck on a Tuesday and when we arrived at 8:30am for tickets, there were five people ahead of us. We ended up getting stalls tickets (that&#8217;s the section closest to the stage), but they weren&#8217;t front row like Wicked. Still, paying \u00a325 instead of the \u00a377.70 our neighbors paid left us happy patrons of the arts!<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2479\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2479\" style=\"width: 2820px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-2479 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/international\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/54\/2017\/04\/2017-04-03-18.35.16-3.jpg\" alt=\"theatre international student bloggers\" width=\"2820\" height=\"2115\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2479\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Reliving my childhood<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2480\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2480\" style=\"width: 2816px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-2480 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/international\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/54\/2017\/04\/2017-04-03-18.36.13-3.jpg\" alt=\"theatre international student bloggers\" width=\"2816\" height=\"2114\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2480\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The theatre\u00a0WAS PACKED!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>I&#8217;ve been to the theatre more in the past four months than in my entire life, and I&#8217;ve loved being able to enjoy this aspect of London! I would definitely recommend everyone to see both Wicked and Lion King- they are absolutely worth it! Now that I know about day seats, it&#8217;s become an even more affordable way to spend an evening and I&#8217;m hoping to be able to squeeze in Les Mis, The Book of Mormon, and Aladdin if time permits. What shows are your must-sees? Drop a comment and let me know!<\/p>\n<p>Cheers,<\/p>\n<p>Monique<\/p>\n<p><em>For this post and other stories please visit Monique\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/moniquemoreno.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">personal blog<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sit back and hang tight&#8230; I&#8217;m about to let y&#8217;all in on one of my favorite theatre secrets! When my American friends were here a few weeks back, we were determined to see a musical on the cheap. We really&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":180,"featured_media":2490,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,10,12,14,15,18],"tags":[56,59,229,419,421,430,433,489,616,700,762],"class_list":["post-2473","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-favourite-memories","category-friends","category-london","category-music","category-student-experience","tag-culture","tag-arts","tag-enjoying-london","tag-lion-king","tag-living-in-london","tag-london-life","tag-london-musicals","tag-musicals","tag-shows-in-london","tag-theatre","tag-wicked"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2473","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/180"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2473"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2473\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}