Palladium Pantomime 2023 - Peter Pan

[mrbarnaby]

Why would anyone sit here in the front rows on the extreme sides ?! May as well just rename them ‘listening seats’

[Dr Tom]

C3 absolutely fine for the price. You can see about a third of the stage, but this includes all the important bits at the front. Great view of everyone hovering in the wing and to see how the special effects are done too.

For the plot questions, this bears little resemblance to the traditional Peter Pan story, so the Act 1 close (the act is very long at 85 minutes) is quite different.

All good fun, packed with all the innuendo, in-jokes and fake ad-libs you’d expect. But I still don’t understand why people bring young children. The ones around me have no idea what’s going on!

[greenandbrownandblue]

Good to know, thank you. Are there big flying sequences for the journey to Neverland, or have the Darling house scenes at the beginning been axed? (feel free to put response in spoilers)

[theatrefan62]

How is Rob Madge as Tink portrayed?, I'm hoping no 'fairy' jokes?

[mattnyc]

Dec 10, 2023 15:08:30 GMT theatrefan62 said:

How is Rob Madge as Tink portrayed?, I'm hoping no 'fairy' jokes?

A lot less of them than i expected!

[Dr Tom]

Second half was a bit shorter, so it was finished at 3:35pm (1pm start for the Sunday matinee).

Rob Madge makes most of the fairy jokes himself. He also got most of the songs (including a great version of a Spamalot favourite). But it's non-stop innuendo in this one. Paul Zerdin almost had some new material as well, until he couldn't help going back to the old stuff at the end.

Dec 10, 2023 14:55:57 GMT greenandbrownandblue said:

Good to know, thank you. Are there big flying sequences for the journey to Neverland, or have the Darling house scenes at the beginning been axed? (feel free to put response in spoilers)

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler - click to view}
The story is all very abbreviated. Someone else may correct me, but I think everyone was already in Neverland at the start. There is a bit of flying. The bigger flight scene comes at the end of Act 1.

There is a lot to cram in. I was a bit surprised the Timbuktu Tumblers were only on for about three minutes, and that included a joke with a member of the cast (ok, they were in the background earlier, but not in a way that would have been missed). They were good.

From the seat I was in, I felt I missed a bit more of Act 2, but that's because there was a visual gag at the back of the stage that I couldn't really catch. There were also stagehands coming on twice to sort things, but it's one of those shows where this could well happen every single performance.

Enjoyable anyway. I don't think I'd feel the need to see this particular show twice, but I can understand why people go back for multiple visits.

[happysooz2]

Thanks for the detail. Which seat were you in?

[Figaro]

Looks like it’s sold very well this year.

Every year I’ve managed to get a couple of good stalls or royal circle seats down to about £35 within a day or two of the performance. Looks less likely this year!

[mattnyc]

Dec 10, 2023 22:37:13 GMT Figaro said:

Looks like it’s sold very well this year.

Every year I’ve managed to get a couple of good stalls or royal circle seats down to about £35 within a day or two of the performance. Looks less likely this year!

I was talking to a man at the box office who said it’s their best selling (or fastest selling) Panto ever.

[mhumphries]

Dec 10, 2023 23:14:17 GMT mattnyc said:

Dec 10, 2023 22:37:13 GMT Figaro said:

Looks like it’s sold very well this year.

Every year I’ve managed to get a couple of good stalls or royal circle seats down to about £35 within a day or two of the performance. Looks less likely this year!

I was talking to a man at the box office who said it’s their best selling (or fastest selling) Panto ever.

Stupid rich assholes, don't they know how Palladium pantos work?

Producers overprice the seats, they don't sell, seats get reduced, then the working class get to stink out the venue and annoy the 1% who can actually afford the prices. 

I can't even abuse my position as my brothers carer and get a free ticket because the price is still too high. I also don't get the joy of ruining someone's night by making them sit close to an overweight 36 year autistic man who's ticks freak them out.

The 1% have ruined my Christmas now!

[FrontroverPaul]

Dec 10, 2023 14:03:18 GMT mrbarnaby said:

Why would anyone sit here in the front rows on the extreme sides ?! May as well just rename them ‘listening seats

The £20 seats at the Palladium are honestly described as having a severely restricted view but are close to the stage, you see the majority of the show and hear everything. There are images of the view from the seats. I don't think anybody should expect more than they get for the price they pay and I disagree that they should not have been put on sale. They cost more than £20 last year and if there had been too many complaints  I doubt if they wouldn't have been made available again. The £240 revenue from 12 such seats per performance wouldn't be worth the hassle 

When I booked C3 and C4 last week @ £20 I could have opted for seats in the centre of the front row @ £99.50 but decided the £159 difference for the two of us wasn't worth it. If the price difference had been say £39.50 instead of £79.50 per seat I would have made a different choice. 

Also not everyone can afford the ever increasing prices of most seats in many London theatres. Your comment is akin to asking why anyone would buy a budget product rather than middle or top of the range. We had a poster earlier this year who asserted that anybody who couldn't afford the prices of (in his view) the best seats for Newsies shouldn't go at all and he was rightly strongly criticised.

My question would be the reverse " why do people pay up to £195 ( ie £780 for two adults and two children) to sit in the premium seats for a pantomime ?" Plenty do.

[mrbarnaby]

I’m not commenting on what people can afford- but the choice of seats.

I’d personally rather sit in the back row of the upper circle than at the front and see a 1/3 of the show. Just my opinion though.

I’m frankly horrified at the price of the tickets. For a family show too. How can families afford £800 + to see this?!

[ladidah]

I have no idea how families afford it, especially with travel, lunch, programmes, ice-creams, etc.

[FrontroverPaul]

Dec 11, 2023 5:03:53 GMT mrbarnaby said:

I’m not commenting on what people can afford- but the choice of seats.

I’d personally rather sit in the back row of the upper circle than at the front and see a 1/3 of the show. Just my opinion though.

I’m frankly horrified at the price of the tickets. For a family show too. How can families afford £800 + to see this?!

You may not be INTENDING to comment on what people can afford but your post was worded as a question and I have put forward a possible answer.

Seats in the (upper) Grand Circle cost  £75 for the rest of December with just a handful at a lower price. Still a lot of money for a family audience. Poor legroom there too and a long way from the stage.

[Dr Tom]

For my £20 seat, you can see one third of the stage, but you see much more than one third of the show (especially as most of it plays out at the front of the stage). Personally, I like to be able to see faces. So I consider this good value for money (standing the back of the Stalls is a cheaper option as well).

Plus, one advantage of being at the end of the third row is being just outside the audience participation range. Hint, don't sit in the expensive seats on the front row and wear a hoodie.

[fiyero]

Dec 11, 2023 5:03:53 GMT mrbarnaby said:

I’m not commenting on what people can afford- but the choice of seats.

I’d personally rather sit in the back row of the upper circle than at the front and see a 1/3 of the show. Just my opinion though.

I’m frankly horrified at the price of the tickets. For a family show too. How can families afford £800 + to see this?!

For the Panto, for similar cost, I'd rather go side stalls restricted view than rear upper circle - but everyone's view on that would be different.

I am a little worried about my 'slightly' restricted seats high number end of row D seeing a picture from row B though 

[voyagerweb]

We had G40 and G41 I think which was £35 and a good view

[partytentdown]

In previous years they've sometimes done offers for the few January performances, do we think that is likely this time around?

[happysooz2]

Popped into the Palladium box office today to see if there were any options to upgrade our £20 seats. I was hoping for a bit of friendly reassurance TBH. Had a rather acidic response from the person helping me. It started with a ‘you can’t believe what you read online about seats. One person’s ’restricted view’ is another person’s ’happy seat.’ This then segued into ‘you’re telling me you’re surprised the ‘severely restricted view seats have a severely restricted view?’ when they checked my booking. And it was all topped off with an eye-roll when I said that ‘the theatre forum I read had said these seats were a great bargain last year, but obviously the scenery is different this year.’

So, you can ‘upgrade’ seats if there’s availability, and they levy a charge of £3 per seat to do it.

[Figaro]

Dec 11, 2023 17:23:09 GMT happysooz2 said:

Popped into the Palladium box office today to see if there were any options to upgrade our £20 seats. I was hoping for a bit of friendly reassurance TBH. Had a rather acidic response from the person helping me. It started with a ‘you can’t believe what you read online about seats. One person’s ’restricted view’ is another person’s ’happy seat.’ This then segued into ‘you’re telling me you’re surprised the ‘severely restricted view seats have a severely restricted view?’ when they checked my booking. And it was all topped off with an eye-roll when I said that ‘the theatre forum I read had said these seats were a great bargain last year, but obviously the scenery is different this year.’

So, you can ‘upgrade’ seats if there’s availability, and they levy a charge of £3 per seat to do it.

Always had similar experiences with the attitudes of the BO staff there!

[Stephen]

Any particularly sudden loud bangs in this years?

[Sean]

Dec 11, 2023 23:20:56 GMT Stephen said:

Any particularly sudden loud bangs in this years?

Sudden loud bang and pyro for majority of tinks entrances. Loud noise prior to majority of Hooks entrances.

[Dr Tom]

I normally react to bangs and I didn't find these anywhere near as bad as previous years. The pyro is more visual than noisy.

The main bangs are during the song, I've forgotten what is was, but 12 Days of Christmas style. Those ones were annoying, although after the first one, you know when they're coming.

[james1969]

I tried to change my seat at the end of Row I to a cheaper one which had become available centrally in Row B for the same performance 

No chance !

[Mark]

Well I’ve just picked up a £35 ticket for this afternoon, row J stalls, three seats to the right of the centre aisle. The single seat link on the official website is what knocked off the 25% to make it that price. Very please because comparable seats are £150+ for other dates.