Welcome to London Theatres and Museums

It would certainly not be an exaggeration to call London an international epicentre of culture; its theatres, museums and art sending out seismic creative waves which can be felt around the globe. The place at the forefront of this power and energy is clearly the West End. Over 13 million people attend theatre performances in the district every year, with many more surging through the doors of the plentiful art galleries and museums.

The higher-minded individual can find solace in extensive operatic programs put on by The Royal Opera House, the London Coliseum and the Royal Albert Hall. Those who like their musical classical and symphonic are also very well catered for with large venues such as the Royal Academy of Music and St. John’s in Smith Square provide a dramatic backdrop for dramatic movements of music.

The theatres of London can cater for anything from big-budget musicals or, if jazz hands and key changes aren’t quite your thing, there’s a variety of straight theatre around as well, both big budget and experimental. With the new Government legislation just introduced offering those under the age of 26 the opportunity to claim free theatre tickets for certain shows, there’s never been a better time to get out and feed your cultural pangs. Big celebrity names are often cast in lead roles in order to bring in more custom to theatres and the recent talent searches to find actors to play certain roles in shows such as The Sound of Music and Oliver has also meant that national awareness and interest in the theatre is growing. What once might have been considered a pastime of the elite is now something which all tourists to, and indeed residents of, London are keen to go and witness.

After 15 years of rumours and speculation, Andrew Lloyd Webber finally returns us to the world inhabited by The Phantom and Chrstine Daae as Love Never Dies opens its doors in March 2010.

Set 10 years after the original The Phantom of the Opera, Love Never Dies catches up with Christine as she is invited to perform at Coney Island in New York, a location that saw many strange characters perform at the turn of the 20th century.

If you fancy exercising your legs as well as your brain, then perhaps a visit to one of London’s many museums or gallery’s would be more up your street. Britain’s imperial and exploratory history means that, for better or worse, London has a treasure trove of plunder to display from all over the world; from Egyptian artefacts in the British Museum to beautiful wildlife specimens in the Natural History museum. Galleries can also cater for the more modern taste, as in the Tate Modern, to the more traditional palette, such as in the Tate Britain. Entry to many of these museums and galleries is also free.

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