i 1 ¥ BAGELS INC. 05 East 12th St. Theatre meccas the ticket for winter travel Taras Wasyliw Contributing Writer WHIT mad person takes a New York holi- day in January? Probably the same one who jets to Toronto for the weekend or battles a . a . cold damp winter week in London. That per- son is known as the Theatre Traveller. Although many theatre aficionados can get their fill locally, there are only a certain number of times one can see touring productions of Phantom or Cats. To see the latest extravaganzas you must travel to London, New York, Toronto or Las Vegas. Why would anyone, even a theatre lover, travel to these chilly destinations during the winter? The answer is for selection and cost. Winter is the time when theatre season is in full swing. In New York alone, 15 Broadway shows are opening between October and January. Travelers can choose from the widest selection of shows during the winter theatre season. Winter is also the off-.. ..on for travel to theatre mee- cas like London, New Yor. and Toronto. Air fares and hotel pres are lower than during the summer’s peak tourist season. Many hotels even offer lower room rates on weekends when business travel is slow. . Theatre travellers can pair weekend hotel rates with weekend airfare specials. Both Air Canada and Canadian offer a weekend airfare from Vancouver to Toronto for $339.00 round-trip. One can iy to Toronto on Friday, take in some shows Saturday and Sunday, and return home Monday. One extremely popular show Rent opened at Toronto’s Royal Alexandra Theater on Nov. ES ee, Try a real 1 Montreal Bagel Buy 6 bageis % and receive 1 offer valid ‘til Jan. 15/98 Mention this Ad. 986-3578 5 Riv issell & 1 Company Notary Calvins Café "Encore Boltique Ott, & AsSociates ~~ 25. Similar to the original Broadway production, Rent offers $20 rush seats where patrons can purchase tickets for the first two rows, two hours prior to performance. In New York, people started queuing at 4 a.m. for these seats. However, if vou want to ensure secing this uplitt- ing and psionare musical about a group of determined young squatters, you need to buy tickers in advance. Rene has been setting sales records at the Royal Alexandra and theatre tickets for the next two months are difficult to get. Travel agents can arrange tickets for Rent and other shows. Keith Prowse Theatre, Sport and Concert Tours provides tickets via your agent's computers, The compa- ny sells tickets co shows in Toronto, New York, London, Las Vegas, Chicago, Washington DC, Ireland, Scotland and Australia. Some tour companies include tickets in their pack- ages. British Airwavs Hohdays has two packages which include the Applause Theatre Pass. The pass allows admission to one of 16 shows and 2 movie theatres. The Mini Show Tour includes three nigh: aczommnio- dation, daily continental breakfast, taxes and one Standard Applause Pass. The three-night pucsage starts at an amazing $82 CAD per person. The Regular Show Tour includes three more nights and an exera pass. Eighty-two dollars for three nights in London and one theater ticket sounds great, but there are a few catch- es. First, you must fly British Airways to London. Second, the Standard Applause Theatre Pass does not include a few of the big productions such as Miss Saigon or Blood Brothers. For the big productions, one can pur- chase an extra Deluxe Applause Pass for $92 CAD per show. With the Applause Pass, vou can pre-book shows before your departure. For New York, Skybridge Holidays allows travelers to customize their theatre vaca- “6, oft RAIRCUTS Mon-wled _ (Offer vols zl, with ad expres Dec 17) Videos, Nintendo ® Photos with Santa don. You can choose from a wide selection of hotels, transfers, city tours and shows. Skybridge provides air transportation to New York on Cathay Pacifie’s wide- body 747 aircraft. Cathay’s rates start ar $388.00 per person, Some of the new shows opening in New York include: The Lion King based on the Disney animated film; Jackie: An American Life, a musical about the life of Jac queline Kennedy Onassis; and a remounting of The Sunshine Boys starring the original TV Odd C couple, Jack Klugman and Tony Randall. Sull playing in New York are Cats, Jekyll & Hyde, Beauty and The Beast, Miserables, Miss Saigon and the Tony Award Best Musical winner Titanic. A destination often overlooked for its shows is Las Vegas. In Las Vegas, you will not find the poignant sto- rylines of a Les Miserables or Rent, but you will find plenty of spectacle. EFX! playing at the MGM Grand Hotel is a $30 mil- lion production balancing amazing Hollywood special effects with a Broadway-stvle production. EFX! current- ly stars David Cassidy. A popular Las Vegas show, Afystere features Canada’s Cirque de Soleil company. The troupe combines circus acts (without animals) with surrealistic music, special effects and a cerebral theme. The effect on adults is sim- ilar to a child experiencing the circus for the first time - a sense of darkness, wonder and delight. Sa, if you have seen all che local shows and cannot wait until the newest musical or play arrives in town, con- sider a theatre holiday. - The choice of shows and destinations are endless. Bur, best of all, with the money you save travelling in the off- season, you can take in more shows. — Taras Wasyliw is director of promotions and market- ing at West Vancouver's Roseway Travel. Dr. Tom Moonen Certified Specialist in Orthodontics is pleased to announce the opening of his new orthodontic office. 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