How To Buy Musical Theatre Stuff

[Valjean87]

Well this is a very important guide on how to buy stuff weather its Broadway, West End or Foreign Musicals. First thing on your mind is "why should I collect Musicals?". The simple answer for that is your favorite obsession. Ok the Best site for me and great service to get the Broadway and West End stuff is here:

www.amazon.com - This is the best service and the best prices although you'll pay much for the imports(even the DVD's)

www.amazon.ca- Canada's alternative

www.amazon.uk - Has a bunch of West End stuff plus other rarities

www.dresscircle.co.uk - A whole bunch of West End Stuff with other rarities as well


Ok thats done but what about European Musicals now? Hmm... This is a though one ;D! Ok the simple steps is to either live in Europe or get a European Pen Pal to get it for you(be nice and friendly ). The Stores that sell the good European Musicals:

www.musical-shop.de - Good prices, best service and all in all this has the best stock but not as much as.....

www.soundofmusic.de - The Motherload of all musicals foreign and English.

www.footlight.com- a good store but I prefer SOM the best.

www.amazon.de- Best Prices

Now Asian Musicals. Same implies as Europe, either live there or get an Asian Pen Pal to get it for you. You can shop at those store sites from Europe and America since they have all of the Asian stuff there.

but still go here:

www.cdjapan.co.jp - has everything Japanese and plus the 1992 Yamaguchi recording as Phantom is there.

www.yesasia.com - This might have some recordings.

www.amazon.co.jp - It might still have recordings of Japanese Shows here

www.crescent-shop.com - Open an account and search through the auctions( a lot of Takarazuka, Toho and the Rare 1989 POTO is here)

www.tca-pictures.net - The Motherload of all Takarazuka Stuff. Its Overpriced but hey you can't resist temptation ehh .

www.jpophelp.com - this might have some Japanese Musicals

Now the fun part, the joy of Musical fandom is in your wallet and remember to use this: www.xe.com .

[RunawayRose]

Sound of Music ships to the States, FYI. I just got the 3 Musketiers dvd from them today.

[Milady]

wanderingchild84 said:

I just got the 3 Musketiers dvd from them today.

I love that DVD.

Deepdiscountdvd.com has a nice selection of musicals and operas on DVD and better prices, usually, than what you'll find on amazon.com. The free shipping is pretty good, too.

BN.com (Barnes & Noble) is also good - if you're a member, you'll get decent coupons from them as well as a reasonable discount with the membership.

Footlight was a treasure when you could walk into the store and chat with the staff. I was really sad to see it go - I picked up a *used* copy of Halle cast of Scarlet Pimpernel there once... that still blows my mind. Dress Circle in London was a nice substitute for the 'walk in' experience.

I wouldn't overlook ebay, either. It can be hit or miss depending on what you're looking for, but make sure to check the "worldwide" option in your search if you're looking for foreign items.

MiladyDeWinter

[Brae]

broadwaynewyork.com

is a favourite site of mine when it comes to Theatre shopping

[RunawayRose]

miladydewinter said:

I love that DVD.

And I have to wait until Christmas for it! GAH My mom does find it a bit odd that I want a DVD of a musical that's not in English. It'll take too much time to explain!

[exedore]

I'm not a fan of footlight. Their service is good, but given grudgingly (I got what I wanted when I visited their now-closed storefront, but the staff weren't exactly thrilled that I kept asking them to find things for me). Their prices are also grossly inflated (though SOM are just as bad if not worse on a few things) on imports, so do your research and check shipping and exchange rates before ordering.

That said, if you're in the USA and you need that import disc *NOW*, they're worth paying the premium for.

Crescent Shop are good, but courier services get expensive fast (take it from someone who used to order laserdiscs through them). Celga are a bit cheaper than CS but their staff are horrible to deal with. Most of my friends like and use Shopping Mall Japan. Rinkya are also awesome for service, but very pricey.

[Milady]

wanderingchild84 said:

And I have to wait until Christmas for it! GAH My mom does find it a bit odd that I want a DVD of a musical that's not in English. It'll take too much time to explain!

At least there are English subtitles!

MiladyDeWinter

[Milady]

exedore said:

I'm not a fan of footlight. Their service is good, but given grudgingly (I got what I wanted when I visited their now-closed storefront, but the staff weren't exactly thrilled that I kept asking them to find things for me).

You know, I've heard that from a lot of people, that the staff were (are) rude and unhelpful. Maybe I just lucked out when I went in.

MiladyDeWinter

[Lora]

valjean87 said:

The Stores that sell the good European Musicals:

The best store for French musicals is www.amazon.fr ;D

[fleurdelis1]

Yeah, I got the Le Roi Soleil DVD at amazon.fr.

[1triplethreat]

Here's a site for clothing & stuff:

Musical Theatre Gifts & Clothing

[greenlace]

I typically don't order from musical-shop, but I did. Just this one time. Usually I stick with soundofmusic, but the site was down the day I ordered and I couldn't have possibly waited another hour, more or less another day, to purchase! ...How long does it on average take to ship for you guys? I ordered on the 2nd of this month to the US. ...I'm just really impatient...I ordered the Rebecca OVC and...well, self-explanatory...;-)

[Valjean87]

OMG! I was just browsing through Crescent Shop and look how high they are selling the POTO Masachika Ichimura Cast(even though I have this recording !):

page6.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/f53362121

[Valjean87]

Resurrecting this thread, I have never had experiences with Celga but Rinkya for my imports only though I was told that Celga aren't very great package packers(you know using the bubble wrap and all so that the imports won't "rattle" around), but was told in various communities that Celga is a good way to go if you don't want those extravagant prices Crescent-Shop and Rinkya usually does.