London's West End or (old) Broadway

West End hands down!

Back in the days when I actually went to the theatre - I preferred the West End in general, but Broadway for musicals.

If it's something like the recent revival of "Half a Sixpence", which I wish I could have seen, I'd go to London. Their runs, unless it's "Les Miz" or "Cats", have brief engagements. I saw Charlie Stemp after "Sixpence" when he took over the role of Barnaby, and he was absolutely adorable. He had so much charm and charisma that I gave him a standing ovation from the front row where I was when Bernadette Peters took over. (Usually, I wait until the leads come out, but he was too good to ignore acknowledging.)

Next up on my London to Broadway transfer is "King Lear" with Glenda Jackson, and if Maggie Smith's one woman show comes to Broadway, I'll be getting tickets (full priced!) the minute they are sold to the public.

Update to R3 I meant to indicate Charlie Stemp in "Hello, Dolly!"

On the whole, West End for plays, Broadway for musicals (just not this season, which is horrible).

Broadway, cos Broadway doesn't go for booze...and dope.

R5 This has been a fantastic year for plays, with "Network", "Choir Boy", "Mockingbird", "The Ferryman" and a slew of others coming up to close out the season. I agree that for musicals, only "The Prom" was any good. I'm tired of the movies turned into musicals which simply just brings in the tourist crowd. "Pretty Woman" was a dud, and the other original musical I saw ("Head Over Heels") was brainless fluff. Only two musical revivals ("Kiss Me Kate" & "Oklahoma!", both revived within the past 20 years, so WHY?), so the Tony's will not be exciting this year outside the new plays and a few great performances.

Love both but West End tends to be cheaper prices, probably because of the unions on Broadway driving production costs to astronomical heights. You know, like how even plays that feature no music whatsoever are required to hire a minimum number of musicians, who show up at every performance, sit around doing nothing, and then collect a paycheck? No wonder the cost of attending a show are prohibitive in NYC nowadays. I'd rather spend my money at the opera anyway.

Old Broadway. Hands down. I have no use for the current Broadway, though.

The quality is uniformly higher on Broadway. Certainly, the West End comes through time and again with fine productions, but a whole lot of shit gets booked into West End theaters, especially limited runs, that would never ever be presented on Broadway.

Some horror is trouping the provinces and a West End theater becomes available. In goes the touring show, touring set and touring cast. That's how I saw Rula Lenska in Private Lives. The West End was just a fancier stop on the tour. Never would this happen on Broadway. The economics would never permit it.

Friends are here from Europe...

I love Rula. I love her hair.

Having had to walk out of 2 shows on the West End - because it was 80+F and they had NO air conditioning!?!? - Broadway without a doubt. Quality of theater aside - it pisses me off 5 years later that London is so god damn stubbornly avoidant about the AC thing. It’s ridiculous that a city that is sweltering regularly does not have AC.

Imagine what it's like for the poor actors, R12.

[quote] (old) Broadway

Is that the one they wrote the lullaby about?

Seconds on AC in London

We were there last August - brutal.

And, even in places where they have it, they don’t know how to really crank it up.

The skinny women should be complaining and wearing sweaters - that’s how you know the AC is working!

Broadway old and new....nothing tops Broadway. People are chatting about Rula Lenska....id love to see her on Broadway. For now, I'm glad she's on Corrie. She was a HUGE star here in the States with her commercials

Broadway has hotter guys.

Ethel Merman never appeared in the West End.

[quote]Seconds on AC in London We were there last August - brutal. And, even in places where they have it, they don’t know how to really crank it up.

That's totally true. I live in London. AC places feel like laundromats.

[quote]People are chatting about Rula Lenska....id love to see her on Broadway. For now, I'm glad she's on Corrie. She was a HUGE star here in the States with her commercials

She's a gay fave. She wrote her autobiog a few years ago. She spoke about the fame she got in the USA due to her commercial, but didn't seem able to really crack the market there (with her acting), unfortunately. That conditioner was a big deal in its time and Rula had a lot to do with it.

Rula Lenska (born Róża Maria Leopoldyna Łubieńska,(30 September 1947) is an English-Polish actress. She mainly appears in British stage and television productions, but is best known in the United States for a series of commercials for Alberto VO5 hairspray in the late-1970s and early-1980s. Occupation: Actress; Years active: 1973–present.

Lenska was born at St Neots, Huntingdonshire, England. Her family are members of the Polish nobility, and bearers of the Pomian coat of arms. They once owned a castle and estate in Kazimierza Wielka, Poland. Her father, Major Count Ludwik Łubieński [pl], was personal secretary to Józef Beck, Minister for Foreign Affairs in Poland before the Nazi occupation of the country. Her mother was Countess Elżbieta Tyszkiewicz who escaped from Poland during the Nazi occupation, to Italy, but was captured with her own mother and sent to Ravensbrück concentration camp where they survived for two years.

This year I'd like to see Jonny Bailey in Company and Aaron Tveit in absolutely nothing. In Moulin Rouge.

Alberto VO5 Hair Spray With Rula Lenska (Commercial, 1979)

West End, completely. It's so much more exciting.

Even more so when we include the South Bank as it's only a ten minute walk over the bridge.

London wins hands-down every time.

Will Brexit destroy the West End ?

No, it won't.

A lot of the West End Theatres had very nice bars at half time...and when you went to a matinée they served tea. You could order it in advance. Seemed much more civilised than B'way.

But at least Broadway doesn't go for booze and dope.

Wasn't there a Joan Collins "Private Lives" on Broadway, though, r9?

[quote]But at least Broadway doesn't go for booze and dope.

London theatres "go for ... dope"?

@R8 . Yes, let's pretend that the unions are walking away with all of that Broadway money. That's a good one.