How to Get to the Sondheim Theatre

51 Shaftesbury Avenue, London W1D 6BA, on the corner of Wardour Street, in Soho between Piccadilly Circus and Cambridge Circus.

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By tube

• Piccadilly Circus (Piccadilly and Bakerloo lines), 3 to 5 minutes. The one to aim for. Walk up Shaftesbury Avenue past the Lyric, Apollo and Gielgud theatres, and the Sondheim is the next one, on the corner of Wardour Street
• Leicester Square (Piccadilly and Northern lines), 5 to 7 minutes
• Tottenham Court Road (Central, Northern and Elizabeth lines), 8 to 10 minutes, and the one to use off the Elizabeth line

By train

Charing Cross is the nearest mainline station, 10 to 12 minutes on foot, or one stop on the Bakerloo line to Piccadilly Circus.

By bus

Routes 14 and 19 stop on Shaftesbury Avenue a minute or two from the door, at Dean Street / Chinatown (Stop W) and Trocadero / Haymarket (Stop K). In the other direction they turn off before the theatre, so use Coventry Street (Stop H) or Gerrard Place (Stop P), 2 to 3 minutes away. Most other routes stop around Piccadilly Circus and Haymarket, 2 to 5 minutes away, or on Charing Cross Road.

• From North London: the 19 (Finsbury Park, Highbury and Angel) to Shaftesbury Avenue. The 88 (Camden Town), 139 (Golders Green and Baker Street) and 453 (Marylebone) to Piccadilly Circus, and the 24 and 29 (Camden Town) to Cambridge Circus or Leicester Square station.
• From West London: the 14 (Putney, Fulham and South Kensington) to Coventry Street. The 9 (Hammersmith and Knightsbridge), 23 (Paddington and Marble Arch) and 94 (Shepherd's Bush and Notting Hill Gate) to Haymarket and Piccadilly Circus.
• From South London: the 12 (Camberwell), 88 (Clapham), 159 (Brixton) and 453 (New Cross) to Regent Street / St James's, and the 24 (Victoria) and 176 (Elephant & Castle and Waterloo) to Leicester Square station.
• From Bloomsbury: the 14 from Russell Square comes along Shaftesbury Avenue to Stops W and K.

By car

Driving into this part of Soho is slow and the streets around the theatre are one-way. There's no parking at the theatre. The nearest car parks:

• Q-Park Chinatown, Newport Place, a couple of minutes' walk, with two spaces for disabled drivers
• NCP Brewer Street (NCP's London Soho car park), about 5 to 6 minutes' walk, open 24 hours

You're inside the Congestion Charge zone. That's £18 a day, charged from 7am to 6pm on weekdays and from midday to 6pm at weekends. An evening performance falls outside those hours, but a matinee is inside them. ULEZ runs at all hours, but most petrol cars from around 2006 and diesels from around 2015 meet the standard and pay nothing.

For a drop-off or a taxi, pull up in front of the theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue. Blue Badge holders have two bays in Archer Street, with more in Rupert Street. The nearest taxi rank is at Charing Cross station, so on the night it's quicker to hail a black cab on Shaftesbury Avenue.

Getting home

Piccadilly Circus is on the Piccadilly line, which runs all night on Fridays and Saturdays. The Bakerloo doesn't, so on those nights the Piccadilly is the one to aim for. The N19 runs along Shaftesbury Avenue, the N97 and plenty of other night buses leave from Piccadilly Circus and Haymarket, and more run up and down Charing Cross Road.

What time to arrive

Arrive 15 to 20 minutes before the start, and no later. Bags are checked on the way in, and the doors usually open about 45 minutes before. Nothing happens on stage until the performance begins, so there's no rush beyond visiting the toilets and getting yourself a drink.

Come in after the start and you'll wait for a suitable break in the performance before being seated, if you're let in at all. At Les Misérables that means missing the start of Valjean's story.