Musicals in London
Big-budget West End musicals have always been seen as an expensive day out, with some premium tickets hitting prices of over £200. When hit musical Hamilton first opened, it even made national headlines with tickets costing as much as £250 at face value, and subsequently changing hands for more than £6,000 on the secondary market.
But a premium West End experience doesn’t mean you always have to pay a premium! Even big-hitting favourites such as Les Misérables and Mamma Mia occasionally get discounted, and you can get cheap musical tickets for some of the hottest new shows the West End has to offer.
To get a variety of offers for some of the biggest London musicals check out the latest discounts on this page; read our guides on how to get cheap tickets to shows like Cabaret, The Book of Mormon, Tina The Tina Turner Musical, Back to the Future and Moulin Rouge; or read on for more tips and insider hacks to get cheap tickets for the West End.
Last Minute Musicals In London
If you have an afternoon or evening free and are looking for a last-minute ticket to your favourite musical, there are several places you can check on the day of the performance. Visit the show's official website to find out if any unsold tickets have been made available at a discounted rate, go to the theatre’s physical box office, or check ticket sellers like the booths in Leicester Square.
Many ticketing websites have dynamic pricing which means the cost of a musical ticket drops as the performance date gets closer. This usually applies to mid or top-price tickets where you can make the best saving. For example, Stalls R8 for Les Misérables has previously cost as little as £70 for a performance when booked on the same day but around £95 one week later.
Some West End musicals allocate some cheaper tickets for Day Seat, Rush ticket or Lottery schemes which can be booked either on the day of the performance or within a week of it. Lottery & Rush tickets can be booked online, but some venues operate an in-person Day Seat queue from 10am daily.
Rush tickets are cheap musical tickets released on the day of a performance, or in some cases a week before. Tickets sell out quickly, so you need to be fast. Many musicals release their Rush tickets via the TodayTix app which you can download to your device to browse current Rush offers. On sale daily at 10am, prices often range from £20-30.
Cheap Disney Musical Tickets
To find out to get rush tickets and other discounts and offers for some of the biggest Disney musicals, visit our ultimate show guides including The Lion King.
Matinee Musicals London
Some London musicals have cheaper tickets for their matinee performances. Midweek matinees tend to be cheaper than weekend matinees, although they are not usually cheaper than weekday evening performances.
The exception to this rule is that Saturday evening tickets can be cheaper than Saturday matinee tickets - possibly because families are more likely to attend a West End musical with their kids in the afternoon. Sunday matinees are sometimes cheaper than Saturday matinees, so it always pays to check both weekend dates if you are in London for an extended period.
