$150-200 Priced Tickets

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 8/10/06 at 11:46am

How long do you think it'll be before regular priced (not premium) orchestra seats reach that price? Thank goodness for discounts!

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 8/10/06 at 11:47am

150 - will be top ticket price in less than five years.

[VinnieTheIceman]

Posted: 8/10/06 at 12:31pm

There's no reason for them to raise the core price so quickly and get the bad PR when they can continue to expand the locations of the premium seats so there are more of those for each performance. This way they make more money much quieter and get the same end result. This is what is going on now.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 8/10/06 at 12:57pm

I think they will probably continue to quietly expand premium seating while gradually raising standard ticket prices as well. Top ticket price for shows this fall is already 110. I think a 5-10 dollar hike every year or so is totally forseeable.

[folkyboy]

Posted: 8/10/06 at 1:01pm

and so totally annoying

[GodIHopeIGetIt]

Posted: 8/10/06 at 1:04pm

I got tickets to [title of show] for 60 bucks. It was worth it, but come on. Off-Broadway for 60 bucks? In '90 it was $50 bucks to see Broadway.

I'm not saying one is better than the other, I just find these prices.. insane.

[fengshuihellnyc]

Posted: 8/10/06 at 1:07pm

People will stop going to see broadway I think at that point. People do not have that kind of money. 150 is a very normal vegas price and they are constantly closing shows because they can't sell the tickets... by the way all of you that think that the show isn't connecting with the audience there... that isn't the problem. The problem is no one can afford a ticket to a show when the price sometimes is an upwards of 200 dollars. ave q's top price I believe was 175.00. and phantoms right now is 150.00
Remember a few years ago when broadway officials were complaining about the lull in attentance. Well if they really want to tempt fate they'll raise the price to 150.00. I predict if the price raises to 150.00 or more that we will see the dissappearance of broadway.
Hope these producers etc. pull their heads out of their asses and relize you can't charge that much when most kids now a days would rather see a film for 11 dollars than pay 150 for (in their eyes not mine) a live show when they view it as just as entertaining.

[GodIHopeIGetIt]

Posted: 8/10/06 at 1:09pm

Then standing room will be $50!

[fengshuihellnyc]

Posted: 8/10/06 at 1:13pm

And don't forget how producers and box offices have minimized the lower price tickets. I remember when half the theatre was the lower price ticket and the last two rows were the really cheap seats. Wait until they figure out they can just charge one price no matter where you sit.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 8/10/06 at 1:48pm

I disagree Feng. The reason Broadway prices keep going up is the same reason premium seating has taken off: people are willing to pay. Supply and demand.

And I don't think the analogy to Vegas is really a good one: the reason most of the shows haven't done well there is that it's not a traditional musical theatre kind of town and even people who love Broadway tend to want to spend their time there doing other things or seeing the big shows like "O" and Cirque.

The only thing that will keep Broadway prices from hitting 150 dollars is if there is some kind of recession or the industry falls into the doldrums like it did in the 80s. Broadway is booming at the moment and producers are fighting to produce new productions.

Higher ticket prices are simply the price to be paid for having a successful - in demand - industry.

[HereNowhere]

Posted: 8/10/06 at 1:51pm

It's interesting to see that Broadway is booming right now - which it certainly is - yet so many shows flop so miserably, so quickly.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 8/10/06 at 1:58pm

Historically, there have always been more flop shows in any given season than hits. Thats just the way it works. The difference is that today, the flops try to stick around - draining money - whereas thirty years ago, producers would close a production almost immediately and move on to the next one.

Anyone who is interested in the mechanics behind hits/flops and ticket prices should read William Goldman's THE SEASON. The book is almost 40 years old, but fairly little has changed in basic terms of how the industry works.

[ThankstoPhantom]

Posted: 8/10/06 at 2:04pm

I believe supply/demand policies are load of b.s. and hurt everyday consumers.

Such as gas prices. People NEED gas because there are no other alternatives presented to Americans on a wide scale.

Of course, Americans DON'T need to see a Broadway show, and eventually they're going to realize this if prices keep going up and up.

I have huge, extensive posts on this topic in the following thread where I calculate what prices SHOULD be: https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.cfm?thread=894718&boardname=bway

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 8/10/06 at 8:40pm

We go a lot & most discounted but there is no way we would pay $ 150.

As much as we love Broadway, we both think $ 150 is looney tunes & if we can not see a show because we will not pay it, than so be it. We will somehow survive.

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 8/10/06 at 8:46pm

I wouldn't spend $100 on any show playing on Broadway right now. So I guess I just wouldn't go to see shows at all.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 8/10/06 at 9:12pm

Well increased gas prices will eventually work their way into standard cost of living increases in the U.S. salary scale infrastructure, though I think you will see more people forced to car pool or take public transportation and demand will increase those industries as well.

Theatre has always been a "luxury item." And people have been bitching about the cost of theatre prices since the Old Globe. You and I may not be able to pay 150 or 200 dollars for ticket prices but there apparently are people who can: how can people afford to go to Vegas and pay 200 to see Celine Dion? They save and plan. Most of the full price tickets are being purchased by tourists anyway. It's too bad for us the dollar is so weak in the global economy right now.

But, and nobody is really talking about this, one reason why Broadway ticket prices continue to rise is that most people do no buy full price tickets. Half the shows on Broadway sell the majority of their seats to group sales and TKTS. All you have to do is look at weekly Broadway grosses to see that the top ticket price may be 100, but the average ticket price for most shows is about 60-70 dollars. Producers have to take their profit after discounts into consideration when setting full price ticket prices.
Updated On: 8/10/06 at 09:12 PM