Which is better westend of touring theatre?

[sam31]

This is for people who do not live in London. Which do you prefer West End theatre or touring theatre? For me I much prefer touring theatre as the tickets are cheaper and I do not have to travel all that far. I lived in Hampshire near Basingstoke and I often go to see touring west end shows as near me is the Basingstoke Anvil and the Basingstoke Haymarket and the Reading Hexagon theatre and the New Victoria theatre woking and the New Wimbledon theatre and the Richmond theatre and the Southampton Mayflower. Ever know and then I have to go to the west end.

[Phantom of London]

Touring theatre is very limited and it can take ages for a show to tour, look at The Lion King which has taken over 10 years to tour and is not confirmed for any of the theatres you have listed.

In the West End you get some of the best actors in the world, on tour you don't.

You can have fuller orchestra in the West End

The sets are better in the West End, where on tour they rely on cheap curtains as background.

On face value tour is cheaper, but I cannot remember the last time I paid full price in London.

However saying that I saw a very enjoyable 42nd Street on Saturday and will be seeing 9-5 at Wimbledon.

[ClapYo'Hands]

Sometimes those things are true, POL, but they are generalisations.

[Princeton Returns]

I dont think Sam needs to worry too much about The Lion King.

They are huge and mostly outdated generalisations. For every nagative of touring theatres the exact same can be said for west end. It isnt to do with touring but the production itself. You get good and bad in both. Some of the best stuff ive seen lately has been on tour. I dont think West End theatre is as superior as it used to be

[SoonerOrLater]

I like both for different reasons-sometimes if I've missed a show in London or wasn't all that interested I'll enjoy catching the tour and not feel I've 'wasted' a trip to London on something I wasn't that fussed about. On the flip side a tour offers a chance to see a show I loved again and/or in a different format.

I'm really lucky, living in Cardiff the WMC and still (sometimes) the New Theatre attract the bigger tours so most things come my way. I don't remember being spectacularly disappointed in recent years by the quality of a touring production either. I expect scaled down sets but on the whole performance quality is high (with some notable exceptions...)

One thing that is problematic is the increased ticket prices for tours-Dirty Dancing for example has a top price of £80 and discounts are limited on tours, whereas as Phantom says above I rarely pay full price in the West End.

[SoonerOrLater]

I like both for different reasons-sometimes if I've missed a show in London or wasn't all that interested I'll enjoy catching the tour and not feel I've 'wasted' a trip to London on something I wasn't that fussed about. On the flip side a tour offers a chance to see a show I loved again and/or in a different format.

I'm really lucky, living in Cardiff the WMC and still (sometimes) the New Theatre attract the bigger tours so most things come my way. I don't remember being spectacularly disappointed in recent years by the quality of a touring production either. I expect scaled down sets but on the whole performance quality is high (with some notable exceptions...)

One thing that is problematic is the increased ticket prices for tours-Dirty Dancing for example has a top price of £80 and discounts are limited on tours, whereas as Phantom says above I rarely pay full price in the West End.