The Greatest Show
Life & Arts
It begins when you step into the lobby. The bright lights, the milling crowd, that warm hubbub of anticipation. You leave your coat in the cloakroom, collect your program, and order intermission drinks. You make your way to your seat — squeezing past knees, murmuring “Excuse me” — and exchange pleasantries with your neighbors.
There’s a conviviality in knowing you’ve come for the same thing. Whether it’s a tiny independent playhouse or a thousand-seater concert hall, all of you are there because you want to be, in the words of Aaron Burr in Hamilton, “in the room where it happens.”
Sometimes, we book a show for the performers. I’ve been lucky enough to witness some extraordinary talents over the years. Imelda Staunton. Chiwetel Ejiofor. Tom Hollander. In Alan Bennett’s The History Boys, a then-unknown James Corden alongside Frances de la Tour and the great Richard Griffiths; or the National Theatre’s haunting, deeply moving production of Frankenstein, directed by Danny Boyle, in which Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller alternated between playing the doctor and his monster.
Opportunities like these, to see household names perform in front of you (in the same room! breathing the same air!) make theater one of the most egalitarian of art forms. The flip side is that it’s easy to find yourself caught up in the starriness, and miss the chance to lose yourself in the performance. David Hyde Pierce, responsible for perhaps the most brilliant physical comedy I’ve seen on TV or in person, was excellent in Hirson’s La Bête — but I could never quite stop thinking of him as Niles from Frasier. Or Jeff Goldblum, whom I’ve adored since Jurassic Park, in Mamet’s Speed-the-Plow — by all accounts a great performance, but all I can remember is that I was looking at Ian Malcolm. In. The. Flesh.
That’s another leveling thing about theater: an unknown actor, or an up-and-coming playwright, can entertain, move, and transport every bit as completely as a world-famous one. Plus, there’s the thrill of discovery. Take a chance on a show at Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Off-off-Broadway, or in one of Dublin’s many independent playhouses (see page 66) and you might end up wishing the last two hours of your life back — but you might just as easily discover something, or someone, extraordinary.
Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London, U.K. Image credit: Shutterstock
Meeting Your Heroes
All the World’s a Stage
Image credit: Shutterstock
Image credit: Shutterstock
The dramatic Scottish capital offers its visitors a journey from the city's medieval Old Town and Georgian New Town to the sleek architecture of its contemporary buildings. Experience Scotland's rich cultural heritage alongside a lively cosmopolitan lifestyle with gourmet dining, cozy pubs, chic cocktail bars, world-class galleries, and a very popular arts festival.
That goes doubly when we’re traveling, when live performance can be a reason or an opportunity to immerse ourselves more deeply in culture. It is surprising how much we can understand without the benefit of speaking a language — a substantial amount of heavy lifting is done by nonverbal cues such as body language, lighting, and music. Above all, music. We don’t need to speak French to be moved by “Flower Song” from Carmen, or Italian to laugh at Figaro’s aria in The Barber of Seville. In the concert hall, whether the program is something we’ve never heard before or a comforting favorite — for me, it is Allegri’s “Miserere,” or Vaughan Williams’ “Pastoral Symphony”; your mileage may vary — we close our eyes and conjure our own visuals, or simply let the music and the emotions wash over us.
Sometimes the show is the destination, the reason for your trip, sometimes it is pure luck, something you happen upon during your travels. In any case, there’s one guarantee — wherever you are in the world, you won’t be alone. If one important thing that makes a live performance special is the raw, fizzing connection it offers us to what’s happening onstage, our connection to those around us — the rest of the audience — is no less significant.
I was reminded of this the other day, watching (courtesy of YouTube) Leonard Cohen’s acclaimed 2008 concert at London’s O2. During “Tower of Song,” he picked out a rudimentary keyboard solo, to cheers from the crowd. “You’re very kind,” he said, with trademark good humor — and when he returned to the song, it was to the gently ironic lines, “I was born like this / I had no choice / I was born with the gift of a golden voice.” The 20,000-seat arena roared — and watching from home, I couldn’t keep from thinking: If only I’d been there.
Charlie Stemp and Carly Anderson in Crazy For You at Chichester Festival Theatre, U.K. Image credit: Alamy
Image credit: Shutterstock. Castillo San Felipe del Morro was designed to guard the entrance to San Juan Bay
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In this age of streaming services and near-bottomless digital archives, nothing compares to a live performance. It’s spellbinding seeing the orchestra respond as the conductor lifts their baton; watching the soprano fill her lungs before a solo and finding yourself holding your own breath alongside her. What might, in a recording, count as minor imperfections only add to the uniqueness of the performance — and when something’s executed flawlessly, it’s all the more astounding.
Inevitably, things can and do go awry. Occasionally to glorious effect — take Ella Fitzgerald’s seminal “Mack the Knife” at West Berlin’s Deutschlandhalle, when she famously forgot the words and had to rely on scat, freestyling, and a brilliant sense of humor to carry her through. The resulting track won her that year’s Grammy for Best Female Vocal Performance.
The UN Orchestra performing in Geneva, Switzerland. Image credit: Shutterstock
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The Human Factor
Even when they don’t result in award-winning improvisations, moments like these can be some of the most enjoyable elements of a live show. There’s something thrilling about the fourth wall collapsing, or perhaps more accurately, the curtain parting — like in The Wizard of Oz, when you can’t take your eyes off the man behind it. The performance’s inner workings are exposed, and in the audience we are, for a short while, on the inside, on an equal footing with those onstage.
More often than not, sharing a joke. I was at the Open Air Theatre in London’s Regent’s Park for A Comedy of Errors when a police helicopter, hovering overhead, brought proceedings to a halt — cue good-humored eye-rolling on the stage and much amusement in the seats. When the helicopter eventually moved away, the actor playing Antipholus gestured after it. “See?” he said, referencing his character’s search for his twin, “we’ve even got the police out looking for him.”
It’s like nothing else seeing the orchestra respond as the conductor lifts their baton; watching the soprano fill her lungs before a solo
At the back of Ireland’s oldest radical bookstore, Connolly Books, The New Theatre has just 66 seats, arranged in six steeply banked rows. It specializes in correspondingly tiny one- and two-man and woman plays, and what it lacks in drinks selection it more than makes up for in innovative performances – and unrivaled views of the stage.
The New Theatre:
Steeped in history – on the site of the 17th-century Theatre Royal, where Sheridan’s The Rivals premiered and David Garrick trod the boards – the Smock Alley building was for a long time a Catholic church, offering early masses for the workers going to and from the docks (and in the swinging 60s, young men and women on their way home from a night out). In 2012 it became a theater once more, showcasing drama, music, dance, and other creative arts across three performance spaces.
Smock Alley Theatre, 1662:
Matinees aside, theater is usually an evening affair. Not so at Bewley’s, on the second floor of the famous Victorian-era café. Here, performances – from one-act classics by the likes of Shaw and Wilde to new Irish writing – begin at 1 p.m. and are usually over by 2 p.m., leaving the rest of the day free.
Bewley’s Café Theatre:
Dublin’s Independent Playhouses
For a city with such a rich literary heritage, perhaps it’s no surprise that Dublin boasts a world-leading theater scene. But while London has Shaftesbury Avenue, and New York, Broadway, Ireland’s capital city offers theater fans an altogether different experience: experimental, committed to nurturing emerging talent, and with resolutely independent productions. If you fancy a break from mainstream productions, this is the place to come – never more so than in the fall, when the Dublin Theatre Festival (this year, September 28 to October 15) brings the best of modern Irish theater, music, and dance to venues across the city.
Theater in Dublin doesn’t shy away from big questions – you’re as likely to come across a new piece tackling gender politics, freedom of speech, or immigration as you are a reworking of Joyce or Beckett. The theaters themselves, on the other hand, tend toward the intimate. Tucked away on the waterfront or down the cobbled backstreets of Temple Bar, you’ll find gems of creativity and theatrical vision tourists often miss. Here are five of our favorites.
The campus theater of The University of Dublin’s School of Creative Arts is the place to come to discover future stars of stage and screen before the rest of the world catches wind. Visit in term time for performances from the student drama society, Dublin University Players, or during university vacations to catch some of the most prestigious theater and dance companies from Ireland and beyond on tour.
Samuel Beckett Theatre:
Make your way to the well-heeled suburb of Clontarf, on Dublin Bay, to public house Connollys – The Sheds, and after buying a pint at the bar, venture upstairs. This diminutive theater was conceived as a home for small-cast plays with little or no funding, and when it comes to creative clout punches well above its weight – audiences travel from across Ireland to watch drama, stand-up, songs, sketches, and improvisation.
Viking Theatre:
A substantial amount of heavy lifting is done by nonverbal cues such as body language, lighting, and music
Dublin theaters tend toward the intimate, staging works ranging from new productions to the classics. Image credit: Alamy
That goes doubly when we’re traveling, when live performance can be a reason or an opportunity to immerse ourselves more deeply in culture. It is surprising how much we can understand without the benefit of speaking a language — a substantial amount of heavy lifting is done by nonverbal cues such as body language, lighting, and music. Above all, music. We don’t need to speak French to be moved by “Flower Song” from Carmen, or Italian to laugh at Figaro’s aria in The Barber of Seville. In the concert hall, whether the program is something we’ve never heard before or a comforting favorite — for me, it is Allegri’s “Miserere,” or Vaughan Williams’ “Pastoral Symphony”; your mileage may vary — we close our eyes and conjure our own visuals, or simply let the music and the emotions wash over us.
Sometimes the show is the destination, the reason for your trip, sometimes it is pure luck, something you happen upon during your travels. In any case, there’s one guarantee — wherever you are in the world, you won’t be alone. If one important thing that makes a live performance special is the raw, fizzing connection it offers us to what’s happening onstage, our connection to those around us — the rest of the audience — is no less significant.
I was reminded of this the other day, watching (courtesy of YouTube) Leonard Cohen’s acclaimed 2008 concert at London’s O2. During “Tower of Song,” he picked out a rudimentary keyboard solo, to cheers from the crowd. “You’re very kind,” he said, with trademark good humor — and when he returned to the song, it was to the gently ironic lines, “I was born like this / I had no choice / I was born with the gift of a golden voice.” The 20,000-seat arena roared — and watching from home, I couldn’t keep from thinking: If only I’d been there.
Sometimes, we book a show for the performers. I’ve been lucky enough to witness some extraordinary talents over the years. Imelda Staunton. Chiwetel Ejiofor. Tom Hollander. In Alan Bennett’s The History Boys, a then-unknown James Corden alongside Frances de la Tour and the great Richard Griffiths; or the National Theatre’s haunting, deeply moving production of Frankenstein, directed by Danny Boyle, in which Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller alternated between playing the doctor and his monster.
Opportunities like these, to see household names perform in front of you (in the same room! breathing the same air!) make theater one of the most egalitarian of art forms. The flip side is that it’s easy to find yourself caught up in the starriness, and miss the chance to lose yourself in the performance. David Hyde Pierce, responsible for perhaps the most brilliant physical comedy I’ve seen on TV or in person, was excellent in Hirson’s La Bête — but I could never quite stop thinking of him as Niles from Frasier. Or Jeff Goldblum, whom I’ve adored since Jurassic Park, in Mamet’s Speed-the-Plow — by all accounts a great performance, but all I can remember is that I was looking at Ian Malcolm. In. The. Flesh.
That’s another leveling thing about theater: an unknown actor, or an up-and-coming playwright, can entertain, move, and transport every bit as completely as a world-famous one. Plus, there’s the thrill of discovery. Take a chance on a show at Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Off-off-Broadway, or in one of Dublin’s many independent playhouses (see page 66) and you might end up wishing the last two hours of your life back — but you might just as easily discover something, or someone, extraordinary.
By Sarah Notton
Winter Wonderland
Destinations
August 2023 (Volume 22)
Natural Pools
Image credit: Shutterstock
Cenotes – naturally occurring sinkholes – abound in the Yucatán, with some estimates counting 10,000 of them. Many are swimmable and abundant with marine life, making for exciting exploration. Any guesst at Grand Velas Riviera Maya looking to tap their inner adventurer with a dip in one of these remarkable pools will not be disappointed. The resort will coordinate an excursion to a cenote for a swim with one of its more adorable inhabitants: marine turtles.
A live performance isn’t just about entertainment. If we let it, theater can be a transportive shared experience that brings us close to the world’s best performers, up-and-coming stars, and unexpected moments of artistic genius.
Image credit: Alamy.
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Best Rate Guarantee
About Us
Philanthropy
Careers
Global Directory
American Destinations
International Destinations
Destinations
Partners & Press
Preferred Meetings & Events
Press Center
Travel Partners
Travel Professionals
Become a Member Hotel
Become an Alliance Partner
PreferredNet
Offers
Discover Offers
I Prefer Gift Cards
* Actual rate may vary based on date, room type, and availability. Enter dates to determine more accurate rates for your search.
Copyright © 2025 Preferred Travel Group
SM
#ThePreferredLife