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Post by FrontrowverPaul on Dec 9, 2019 18:13:17 GMT
I've been attending the musicals at Regent's Park, Kilworth House and Sophia Gardens in Cardiff for several years and I'm aware of Minack Theatre in Cornwall though I've not managed to get there yet. In June of this year I saw Salad Days in the grounds of St Paul's Church in Chiswick. Another venue I know of is Strode Park in Herne Bay. Being entertained by live theatre in the open air on a warm summer's day is a magical experience.
Today, purely by chance, I discovered a venue called Grange Park where among the operas there's a musical each year. For 2020 it's Meet Me In St Louis and I'll be booking that next March when it goes on general sale.
I'm sure there are other open air theatre venues around the country so I thought I'd start this thread for members to add venues and their productions though without duplicating existing threads. If there's already a similar thread please merge.
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Post by oxfordsimon on Dec 9, 2019 18:21:57 GMT
If you fancy a trip to Oxford or Cambridge each summer, there is always a wide range of outdoor productions in and around the colleges. Mostly Shakespeare - but that isn't a bad thing. Always a mixture of amateur, student and professional shows.
Tricky part - as someone who is often involved with selecting the show for the next season - is that people don't announce very early and so you risk duplication. Thankfully with Shakespeare, most directors have another idea up their sleeves if the first choice is no longer viable!
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Post by Phantom of London on Dec 9, 2019 19:05:46 GMT
I've been attending the musicals at Regent's Park, Kilworth House and Sophia Gardens in Cardiff for several years and I'm aware of Minack Theatre in Cornwall though I've not managed to get there yet. In June of this year I saw Salad Days in the grounds of St Paul's Church in Chiswick. Another venue I know of is Strode Park in Herne Bay. Being entertained by live theatre in the open air on a warm summer's day is a magical experience. Today, purely by chance, I discovered a venue called Grange Park where among the operas there's a musical each year. For 2020 it's Meet Me In St Louis and I'll be booking that next March when it goes on general sale. I'm sure there are other open air theatre venues around the country so I thought I'd start this thread for members to add venues and their productions though without duplicating existing threads. If there's already a similar thread please merge. Grange Park Opera is on the ouch side of expensive. |
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Post by FrontrowverPaul on Dec 9, 2019 20:25:08 GMT
I've been attending the musicals at Regent's Park, Kilworth House and Sophia Gardens in Cardiff for several years and I'm aware of Minack Theatre in Cornwall though I've not managed to get there yet. In June of this year I saw Salad Days in the grounds of St Paul's Church in Chiswick. Another venue I know of is Strode Park in Herne Bay. Being entertained by live theatre in the open air on a warm summer's day is a magical experience. Today, purely by chance, I discovered a venue called Grange Park where among the operas there's a musical each year. For 2020 it's Meet Me In St Louis and I'll be booking that next March when it goes on general sale. I'm sure there are other open air theatre venues around the country so I thought I'd start this thread for members to add venues and their productions though without duplicating existing threads. If there's already a similar thread please merge. Grange Park Opera is on the ouch side of expensive. Might rethink that then. I have seen Meet Me In St Louis as an amateur production and it's not a great stage musical in my opinion. Mainly-opera venues do seem to price musicals highly. Hairspray at the London Coliseum and Singin' In The Rain at Sadler's Wells next year are also expensive although there are reasonable £15 seats for Singin'. |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 9, 2019 20:43:30 GMT
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Post by marob on Dec 9, 2019 21:58:53 GMT
It is a nice little theatre. They usually have one cast performing three plays in rep, 2 Shakespeares and a new adaptation of a classic children's novel. Downside is that it's quite pricey to sit in the covered area, especially since it's only really a wooden bench with a camping seat/back rest thingy to sit on. |
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Post by Dawnstar on Dec 10, 2019 18:15:03 GMT
Grange Park Opera is on the ouch side of expensive. Might rethink that then. I have seen Meet Me In St Louis as an amateur production and it's not a great stage musical in my opinion. Mainly-opera venues do seem to price musicals highly. Hairspray at the London Coliseum and Singin' In The Rain at Sadler's Wells next year are also expensive although there are reasonable £15 seats for Singin'. You'd be lucky to get change out of £100 for musicals at any of the country house opera venues. While neither Grange Park nor the Grange Festival (2 different venues with similar names due to complicated recent history!) have their 2020 prices available for public viewing at the moment, I have looked in previous years when singers I like have been performing at the venues only to abandon the idea due to the cost of tickets in conjunction with the difficulties of getting there if you don't own a car. The nearest I can afford to country house opera is Holland Park, but as they never do musicals I guess they wouldn't interest you. |
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Post by NorthernAlien on Dec 10, 2019 19:06:37 GMT
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Post by showgirl on Dec 15, 2019 18:29:04 GMT
Hever Castle (handy for a Kent-based person if a little tame for so great a traveller) always does an open-air summer season. I've never actually attended a production, what with the risk of rain, paucity of public transport and inability to combine with seeing anything else during the same trip, but I'm tempted anew each year. www.hevercastle.co.uk/festival-theatre/ |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 15, 2019 18:39:20 GMT
The Dukes Theatre in Lancaster usually does a show in Williamson Park every year as a promenade production.They took a break last year but are back again this year.
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Post by Phantom of London on Dec 15, 2019 19:03:14 GMT
What’a the place in Leicestershire a stately home, cannot think of the name but last year they did Cats and Joseph?
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Post by Dawnstar on Dec 15, 2019 19:19:53 GMT
Phantom of London Kilworth House, I think. Not that I've been there myself, as like most countryside venues getting there by public transport looks to be very difficult. When a venue's webside includes information on how to get there by helicopter then you know you're not remotely in the same income bracket as the intended clientele!
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Post by Phantom of London on Dec 15, 2019 19:33:33 GMT
Thanks that is the one and in deed you wouldn’t want to go there by public transport, lucky the car park is large.
Been there once and I thought the production values were not the best, the cast seemed to be ones you would see above a pub, obviously I could be completely wrong on that and others shows could be much better.
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Post by FrontrowverPaul on Dec 15, 2019 23:36:12 GMT
Hever Castle (handy for a Kent-based person if a little tame for so great a traveller) always does an open-air summer season. I've never actually attended a production, what with the risk of rain, paucity of public transport and inability to combine with seeing anything else during the same trip, but I'm tempted anew each year. www.hevercastle.co.uk/festival-theatre/ Good tip. I shall certainly check Hever Castle out for any musicals when the 2020 schedule is announced. While I myself don't drive, we do have a car, plus if they do matinees it's only a 20 minute walk from Hever Station. |
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Post by showgirl on Dec 16, 2019 5:04:17 GMT
FrontrowverPaul: I think there is usually one musical per season (of about 3 productions in total usually, if I recall correctly) and that they do do matinees. Yes, indeed, Hever station is within walking distance - and I could walk from home in half and day and indeed have done, though I wouldn't then have time to walk back after a matinee - but the service to/from Hever is only hourly off-peak and would mean me going via Croydon, so a bit circuitous. However, the logistics would be a piece of cake to a practised circumnavigator like you!
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Post by FrontrowverPaul on Dec 16, 2019 12:54:30 GMT
FrontrowverPaul : I think there is usually one musical per season (of about 3 productions in total usually, if I recall correctly) and that they do do matinees. Yes, indeed, Hever station is within walking distance - and I could walk from home in half and day and indeed have done, though I wouldn't then have time to walk back after a matinee - but the service to/from Hever is only hourly off-peak and would mean me going via Croydon, so a bit circuitous. However, the logistics would be a piece of cake to a practised circumnavigator like you! I don't have a problem walking up to a couple of miles to a theatre but I do dislike being more than 15 minutes away from a station after an evening show. My worst experience this year was at the Nomad Theatre which was listed when I booked as simply being in Leatherhead but it's actually in East Horsley, half an hour's walk from the station along an unlit road. Not nice at 10.15 with 25 minutes to the train departure though I made it. |
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Post by FrontrowverPaul on Mar 3, 2020 1:00:37 GMT
Might rethink that then. I have seen Meet Me In St Louis as an amateur production and it's not a great stage musical in my opinion. Mainly-opera venues do seem to price musicals highly. Hairspray at the London Coliseum and Singin' In The Rain at Sadler's Wells next year are also expensive although there are reasonable £15 seats for Singin'. You'd be lucky to get change out of £100 for musicals at any of the country house opera venues. While neither Grange Park nor the Grange Festival (2 different venues with similar names due to complicated recent history!) have their 2020 prices available for public viewing at the moment, I have looked in previous years when singers I like have been performing at the venues only to abandon the idea due to the cost of tickets in conjunction with the difficulties of getting there if you don't own a car. The nearest I can afford to country house opera is Holland Park, but as they never do musicals I guess they wouldn't interest you. Grange Park Opera is now on public sale and the prices are indeed very high, £145 - £195 for the stalls to see Meet Me In St. Louis, nothing under £85 and that's restricted view. Too much for me. Grange Festival has scheduled My Fair Lady but only two performances and already sold out through priority booking. I'm disappointed to miss this but as it appears to be part of a package including dinner probably equally costly. The Hever festival is also now on sale, all the shows there are one-nighters. Beyond The Barricade is the closest to a musical. The Cardiff Open Air Theatre Festival, at Sofia Park in the city centre, has joined Kilworth House And Regent Park by choosing Carousel as this year's musical. Their other main shows are Blackadder Goes Forth and Twelfth Night. These are amateur productions but always very well done. Tickets cost under £20 and there's a 20% discount on bookings made before 30 April with discount code 4CAR12. This year's musical at Minack is A Little Night Music which I've already booked. We're on a Sun newspaper caravan holiday in Cornwall in the week that this is being staged. (planned, not a lucky coincidence!) |
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