London Theatreland - The Very Best West End Shows

London's Westend is greatly thought of for exceptional theatre shows. Along with Broadway in New York, Westend theatre is frequently considered to deliver many of the greatest productions in the world. Viewing a West End production is extremely popular entertainment especially among tourists. Countless theatre shows and in particular best hit musicals are staged in the great theatres of London's West End. Large numbers of people attend Shows in West End each year. Westend Theatre Breaks are also very popular in the United kingdom. Theatre Breaks are regularly booked as a weekend treat to celebrate a special occasion. A Westend show is the main entertainment however booked together with hotel accommodation and often reservations in a top restaurant.

London's main theatre region contains about forty theatres and was renamed by Westminster Council as well as the Society of London Theatre as 'Theatre Land'. It is situated in the heart of the Westend of Central London and is historically defined by Oxford Street to the North, The Strand to the South, Regent Street to the West and Kingsway to the East. Prominent theatre streets are Drury Lane, Shaftesbury Avenue and The Strand. Most of the shows are musical theatre, comedy performances and classic drama.

The Westend theatre region became established with the opening of many small theatres about 1806. The expansion of the West End theatre area gained pace with the Theatres Act 1843 which relaxed the conditions for the performance of plays. In the following decades, countless new venues were opened. The trend continued until the first world war. All through the 50s and 60s, many plays ended up being produced in theatre clubs in order to escape the censorship then exercised by the Lord Chamberlain's Office. However, the Theatres Act 1968 at last abolished censorship of the stage in the UK.

Many Westend theatres are of late Victorian or Edwardian construction and most are privately owned. The majority of them have great character and the biggest and best maintained feature grand neo-classical, Romanesque or Victorian façades and magnificent detailed interior design and decoration. Then again, leg space is usually cramped and audience amenities for example bars and toilets are usually much smaller than in modern theatres. The protected status of the buildings and their confined urban locations, combined with financial constraints, make it extremely hard to make considerable enhancements to the level of comfort offered.

Some of the longest running musicals performed in the Westend have successfully played to audiences for many years. Some of the most popular theatre shows include We Will Rock You which is set in a futuristic world where rock music is banned, Les Miserables which is a worldwide award winning musical about an epic story of passion and destruction, Chicago is about a young woman who has murdered her lover but is acquitted, The Lion King which is an adaptation of the Disney film, The Phantom of the Opera which tells the story of the phantom that terrorises the Paris Opera, Billy Elliot which is the heartrending tale of a schoolboy who loves ballet, Dirty Dancing which is the stage version of the classic film, Sister Act is a new adaptation of a hit movie, Mamma Mia is about a mother and daughter and three potential dads, and Stomp which is a fast paced mixture of music, tap dance and percussion. The list is endless as there are so many West End theatre shows to choose from. There really is something that could appeal to everybody. Make sure you book your West End Show Ticketsas soon as possible as teh best show tickets sell out early. A Westend performance is a really lovely night out to remember.