I have no expertise in art whatsoever but am capable of ranking positive real numbers. So the 'top 10' in my title is a premodifier for cheap instead of world-renowned. I am simply collecting the lowest price among shows that fall into a very standard definition of world-renowned. But it is good to note that, outside the standard definition of world-renowned, there exist great shows off west end, off off west end, and perhaps on the street. This list is just my personal nuggets of theater ticket deals in London.
Bear with me that my 10th candidate is a general reference to all London theaters.
Almost all west end musicals/plays, classical music performances, opera, and ballet in London have a starting price less than £30, which is uncommonly nice compared to the theater experiences in almost any other city. Broadway generally has a much higher starting price, about $70.
If you don't mind sitting in the back, you can buy <£30 tickets to great shows without any discount research. And actually, many of the west end theaters are small venues. Even if you buy the cheapest ticket and sit in the back, you are still not far away from the stage.
For shows that don't have discounts anywhere, the cheapest way to buy tickets is usually through their official website. Alternatively, there are two third-party websites I browse occasionally. They sell rush tickets and lottery tickets to certain shows.
https://officiallondontheatre.com/tkts/
Buying theater tickets is like the opposite of buying alcohol. The younger we are, the easier it is for us to get away with things.
The Royal Opera House (ROH) undoubtedly has one of the world's best ballet, opera, and the theater itself as a venue. The ROH generously offers young people aged 16-25 with £30 tickets for some of the best seats in the house, which typically cost more than £100 or sometimes £200. To get such young ROH tickets, I would suggest looking out for the exact time when a season opens for sale and setting an alarm clock for that. For example, the upcoming season is 2024 spring, which opens at 9am on 10 January 2024 for young ROH. Just by the way, the upcoming 2024 spring season has some of the most classic shows, including Swan Lake and Carmen.
If you missed the opening time of a season, the young ROH quota would probably have been sold out in a few hours. However, additional young ROH tickets may be released during a season depending on how well the tickets sell. In this case, you need to subscribe to 'offers and news' in your ROH account to get notifications.
https://www.roh.org.uk/ticket-deals/young-roh
The very classic The Phantom of Opera musical has day tickets released from 10am to 12pm noon every day. From what I observe, a good portion of the day tickets are very good seats, usually covering seats of all price ranges just except the most expensive ones. To get them, you can fill your email in the link below one day before you want to catch the show. On the next day, an email containing the day tickets portal will be sent to you. A useful nuance to know is that the quality of the seat is somewhat independent of the time you log into the day tickets portal. So you don't have to log into the portal at exactly 10am. And more importantly, if you are unsatisfied with your first random draw, you can draw a different and potentially better seat by refreshing.
https://uk.thephantomoftheopera.com/day-tickets/
Disney has 2 great shows on the west end --- The Lion King and Frozen. Every Monday at 12pm noon, Disney releases unsold tickets of the week. Just log into the website at 12pm, and you will be able to see and choose the seats.
Unlike the blind draw of The Phantom of Opera day tickets, Disney Magic Monday displays all available seats with the seating plan and lets you choose from them. There are great seats every week. Logging onto the website on time is essential in this case.
https://www.disneytickets.co.uk/disney-day-seats-tickets
Before we move on to other genres, there are actually some more musicals with rush tickets.
Wicked releases 24 front row seats every Wednesday at 10am for £29.50.
https://www.wickedthemusical.co.uk/faq/#wicked-front-row
Moulin Rouge releases what they call Bohemian seats every Friday at 12pm noon for £29.
https://moulinrougemusical.co.uk/bohemianseats/
Back to Future, Guys & Dolls, Jersey Boys, The Book of Mormon, The Choir of Man, The Mousetrap, Tina, and so on sell £25 rush tickets through todaytix.
https://www.todaytix.com/london/category/rush-tickets
The Royal Festival Hall at Southbank is one of the major venues of classical music in London. Southbank is also one of the major clusters of art in London. The only counterpart is probably Barbican.
The best orchestras in London, which are among the best in the world, play music in the Royal Festival Hall on a regular basis --- London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, and BBC Symphony Orchestra perform. Other than London-based artists, the world's best musicians are very likely to perform in the Royal Festival Hall when they come to the UK.
The Royal Festival Hall has 4 rows of choir seats, which are where the choir sit if there is a choir. More often, the performance doesn't involve the choir and the Royal Festival Hall will sell the choir seats to the audience. The choir seats are in the lowest pricing range at the Royal Festival Hall, typically £10-£20. I was very surprised when I first found out about the pricing. To me, they are the best seats. Because, firstly, the choir seats are very close to the performers on stage, since they were intended to be a part of the stage. Secondly, I love sitting in the choir seats since it is fun! You can get a feel of what it is like to face a fully-packed Royal Festival Hall. It is even more fun if you see an orchestra from choir seats, because the conductor will be facing me and I can finally watch what (s)he is doing except for waving the wand.
For students, the Southbank offers 25% discounts on all tickets (sometimes excluding the top-price). Just click concession tickets when you buy them.
https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/how-to-book-tickets
The Student Pulse is a third-party website that sells tickets for a wide range of classical music concerts to students. All tickets are priced under £10. Most of the best classical music concerts in London are included on the Student Pulse website, including concerts at the Royal Festival Hall, Barbican, Royal Albert Hall, Cadogan Hall, St John's Smith Square, and more.
The tickets sold via Student Pulse do not specify the seat --- you will pick up the ticket at the venue and get a random seat drawn from the pool of unsold seats.
https://studentpulselondon.co.uk/
The Wigmore Hall is a small, flat, and intimate concert hall with crystalline acoustic. Due to its size, Wigmore Hall typically hosts piano recitals and chamber music. The Wigmore Hall sells £5 tickets for people aged under 35 and offers free tickets for people aged under 25.
https://www.wigmore-hall.org.uk/whats-on/series/under-35
The Shakespeare's Globe sits beside Tate Modern, Thames River and Millennium Bridge, which connects to the St Paul's Cathedral on the other side of the riverbank.
I personally consider the Shakespeare's Globe to be the most special venue among all London theaters. It is open-air, small, intimate, and has a unique historical vibe. The shape of the Globe is actually like a cylinder without a lid. You can see the Midsummer Night's Dream on the stage and look up through the lidless cylinder and see a real midsummer night sky. You may get wet in rain when seeing Tempest, since their rule is that the show goes on under any weather --- the gift shop actually sells raincoats.
During performance seasons, the Shakespeare's Globe releases £5 rush tickets every Friday at 12pm noon. The £5 rush ticket is a yard standing ticket, which is originally £10 without the discount. Although the yard standing ticket is the cheapest, it is probably the best way to enjoy a Shakespeare's Globe show. When you stand in the yard, the performers go on and off stage walking past you. They may act, fight, or dance off-stage in the yard just beside you. They do not use microphones at the Shakespeare's Globe. We hear the performers' bare voice.
https://www.shakespearesglobe.com/5-pound-rush/
What I like most about the Royal Opera House (ROH) is that it caters to everyone. One can buy the best seat at £200 and order an accompanying meal at the piazza restaurant, which has a golden ceiling. Dinner will be served in three courses: the first one is before the show, the second and the third are during two intervals.
Alternatively, the ROH offers so many opportunities that cost very little for a very decent experience. I have introduced the £30 young ROH tickets. Cheaper options are standing and view-restricted tickets starting from £7, £4, and sometimes even £1. If you do not mind standing, the view from the standing tickets at the back of the Stalls is very good. The standing tickets at the back of the balcony are also good. If you do not mind smaller legroom, seat A-35 and A-79 in the front row of the Amphitheatre offer a great overlooking view and cost only half of their adjacent seats, usually around £20.
The ROH also has a Friday rush. Every Friday at 1pm 49 Friday Rush tickets are made available to buy for each of the performances in the following week. Unlike Shakespeare's Globe, the ROH Friday rush is not a discount but rather one last chance for those who want to see a sold-out performance. Moreover, standing tickets at the balcony are included in the Friday rush. So they are my best shot if I have forgotten to buy young ROH tickets and the good cheap seats have also been sold out.
I have imagined that the ROH has the potential to be someone's television if you live near Covent Garden. It may cost less than a TV subscription and is healthier for the eyes. And if you opt for standing tickets, it can cover your gym membership as well. ;)
The church is a great if not the best place to appreciate the organ. The organ recitals in churches are usually free. As an example, the St Paul's Cathedral holds free and unticketed organ recitals every Sunday at 16:30 for half an hour.
https://www.stpauls.co.uk/organ-recitals-new
West End Live happens on a weekend in spring once a year and is a sparkling festival. All major west end musicals are attending and performing one or several of their most popular songs. It is kind of amazing that we can see the best bit of almost every musical on the west end for free.
https://www.westendlive.co.uk/
Like any other academic subject, colleges regularly invite professors from other academic institutes to give seminars. The music college does this by inviting musicians to talk about and perform music. In prestigious art colleges, world-renowned artists come frequently. And it is usually free. For example, most events in the Royal College of Music are in the form of 'Pay What You Can'. You can choose to pay as much as you want, including the choice of £0.