Les Miserables has been wowing audiences on London’s West End for 33 years. Now playing at the Queens Theatre, it can be a show which is particularly difficult to get cheaper tickets for. With premium seats upwards of £150, it might seem like Les Mis just isn’t something you can see on a budget. While there are certainly cheaper shows in town, you don’t actually need to remortgage in order to see the Victor Hugo classic.
- Kids Week. Kids week happens throughout August, and means that for any full price ticket purchased, one child goes free, and another goes half price. This effectively halves your full price if you want to take the kids. Kids are anyone up to the age of 16, for this purpose. Tickets are on sale now.
- TKTS Booth. This one is more for a good value ticket rather than the lowest price. There are often offers with around 30-40% off ticket prices at the TKTS booth in Leicester Square. You have to book either over the phone or in person, but the website is very user friendly and easy to see whether tickets are discounted, and by how much.
- Avoid booking fees. When tickets are already expensive, an extra ~£3 per ticket can really put the nail in the coffin, so to speak. Booking directly with the box office will give you the lowest booking fees, unless TodayTix are advertising ‘No Booking Fees’ which they do, from time to time. ALWAYS check against the box office price, as that will ensure that you’re not being charged an elevated price for the same band ticket.
- Standing Room. While standing up for the duration of the show (it’s not a short one) won’t be for everyone, and it’s completely hit and miss, it’s worth asking at the box office – but they’re only ever available once all other seats are sold.
- See Tickets sometimes sell their tickets even cheaper than direct from the box office
- Take A Group – while they won’t be the cheapest tickets available, they’re often the best value. The official website advertises best available seats for £42.50, and See Tickets Groups don’t publish their prices but are definitely worth getting in contact with.
- Get Into London Theatre. The Society of London Theatre runs Get Into London Theatre in January and February. There are £10, £20, £30 and £40 tickets (they increase in quality of seat, with price of ticket) for many shows. There’s no telling whether all price points will be available for Les Miserables when it next comes around, but you definitely have to get in quickly when booking opens.
- Otherwise, book in advance. It’s very unusual to get the cheapest tickets by booking in advance, but unless you come up trumps with any of the above options, booking in advance with the box office will give you the biggest range of seats, and the biggest range of prices, allowing you to book some cheaper seats. You can also use SeatPlan to see the view from a seat before you buy it – but don’t buy directly from SeatPlan as they’re rarely the cheapest or best value.
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Emma Betty is 28 and a nurse in Birmingham Children’s Hospital’s Paediatric Intensive Care Unit. Emma has the Les Miserables 10th Anniversary Soundtrack (On CD!) to blame for her love for Musical Theatre, which she found in her parents living room pretty much as soon as she was old enough to know what it was. She began combining her love for Theatre, the Internet and Writing while she was still at school, through various blogs and on social media. Having moved to London in 2013, she launched Upper Circle 4 years later. A couple of years on, she is delighted to have a small team and is so grateful to those helping Upper Circle to grow every day!
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