Can You Spell Ripoff Boys & Girls ?

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 3/20/05 at 9:42am

We were speaking with the guy who sells drinks in the outer lobby of Virginia Wolff yesterday. They pay $.25 cent for a bottle of water & sell it for $ 3.50. They buy (in bulk) 1 liter of soda at $ .50 cents & (with ice ) sell about 6 or 7 glasses of soda @ $ 3.50 a pop. You do the math

Now I do not feel guilty sneaking stuff in. Their mark up is obscene & will ultimately hurt the show going public who are slowly getting tired of being ripped off from the time they buy their tickets until the time they walk out after the show is over

I also think the Shuberts should use their restoration fee (or whatever they call it now) to increase the number of bathrooms which are small & inadequate. They have 2 small bathrooms on either side downstairs (nothing upstairs). If you are in the mezzanine & are on the aisle & quick you may get down in time. If you are in the balcony, bring your own bedpan or have a strong bladder as you ain't gonna make it.

Updated On: 3/20/05 at 09:42 AM

[Parks]

Posted: 3/20/05 at 9:55am

That's pretty bad, but people will probably buy it.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 3/20/05 at 9:56am

Not me. We sneak in whatever we need & we see more & more people doing the same thing.

If someone wants to pay these obscene prices that is their business

[magruder]

Posted: 3/20/05 at 10:35am

Yes, the mark-up on drinks and other goods at the theatre is exorbitant. You know this. (And it's just as bad in movie theatres). But infrequently booked theatres like the Cort, the Belasco and the Longacre, with their offbeat locations and/or hard-to-sell second balcony often sit vacant for months or even years at a time. The Longacre hasn't had a show since last spring's Prymate. Now one doesn't need to cry for theatre owners like the Shubert Organization with their many other profitable theatres, but the Longacre doesn't ever earn its keep in revenue, and several years ago, was very close to being lost forever as a midtown court house. Given the plight of the 1,000 seat, seldom-used playhouses, the breaks they often offer to producers to book those seldom-used playhouses and the owners that must pay taxes on them when they are sitting vacant, can you blame them for trying to get everything they can out of them when they are occupied?

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 3/20/05 at 10:42am

They charge the same @ all theaters & the losses the Shuberts lose are taken off in taxes. No go

New song "Don't Cry For Me Theater Owners"

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 3/20/05 at 10:49am

Geez Roxy, you're such an ardent critic of free market capitalism! As long as you've been posting you've spoken out against so many things that you see that you decide are going to "hurt the public" and you speak of "people" being sick of the way things are getting and how "they" will just stop going to shows.

Meanwhile, none, and I mean NONE of the things you've predicted have ever come to pass. Remember how the musicians' strike was supposed to kill Broadway? Remember?

So Magruder points out that the Longacre NEVER earns its keep and you just dismiss it out of hand. But God forbid the theater should be sold and turned into something else, because then you'd be climbing back up on your Boo Hoo Hoo Box lamenting the disappearance of the theaters.

My best friend catches himself when he says things like, "I remember when candy bars were five cents," and then he adds, "Oh, I just made a geezer statemnt."

Roxy, YOU are the King of the Geezer Statements. However, I do agree with you that capitalism is about ripping people off. And it's good to meet a fellow traveller.

Updated On: 3/20/05 at 10:49 AM

[magruder]

Posted: 3/20/05 at 11:12am

As I wrote in my post, one doesn't need to cry for theatre owners for the breaks that they do receive from the city, the many theatres that run profitably and the money they have received from selling air rights. Still, I worry about the theatres that don't earn their keep, for whatever reason and are always in danger of being sold off as liabilities. I'd have to imagine any theatre owner would get tired of floating a losing theatre after a while, and the Longacre has been mostly on a losing streak for 25 years. So, as I mentioned, I don't blame the theatre owners for charging what they can get, in their prime theatres and in their lesser theatres. If you don't want the $3.50 cup of soda, don't buy it. But it's disingenuous of you to pop on here, feign surprise at the outrage of a $3.50 cup of soda at the theatre, and rail at the greed of theatre owners. They charge $3.50 because they can get $3.50, and I don't blame them. Viva America.

[IMsooHyprToday]

Posted: 3/20/05 at 5:46pm

Whenever i go to the theatre, i always bring a couple bucks so i can buy a snack or something at intermission. I KNOW that i will be over charged...so why do i do it?

Because i think of it as a donation. I would much rather give $5 to a theatre some some BIG money-making corporation. If my $5 helps the theatre, then it is $5 well spent. I always think "HEY! with this donation (that i would give anyways) i get a free cookie!'

[CapnHook]

Posted: 3/20/05 at 6:04pm

No food or drinks should be in the theatre at all. Lobby - no problem, but I HATE when people bring out the crinkling bags and air-escaping soda bottles during the show.

[FabalaCohen]

Posted: 3/20/05 at 6:38pm

Theaters make money from selling concessions. They only get a portion of the money from tickets. (That does apply to any theater, right?)