1st People at Spider-Man Box Office refused to buy tickets

I think the saddest thing is that the first day tickets go on sale there were only 5 people in line.

Did they eliminate the first three rows that were AA, BB, CC?

Looks like student rush tickets will be $60 then...

I hope all the premium seats have bed-bugs. They can all go scratch their a$$e$.

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Who cares if they report their grosses?

I care. Their grosses could be more entertaining than the actual show.

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I don't understand the anger at premium ticketing. No one is entitled to a certain seat or section. Broadway, like any business, is priced at what the market will bare. Either people will be willing to pay that kinda of money for those seats, or they won't, and they will be released back to full price. Similarly, the same concept is what gives us discount codes, rush tickets, etc. Everyone enjoys the premise of capitalism when shows are on TDF for $38, but not so much when they sell premiums for $300.

If there weren't people willing to pay this kind of money, very little theatre would ever recoup their investment. Non-profit theatres need patrons and donors to produce shows, they save their best seats for these people. For-profit theatre needs premium ticket buyers. You will get the seats you pay for.

On a non-venting note, I got Row C center online on Sunday.

Commercial theatre NEEDS premium ticket buys to recoup?! Holy christ on a raft, how did shows before The Producers EVER recoup their investments?! I'm so sad to hear that no. show. ever. recouped their investment before 2001.

I echo the sentiments that someone in this thread wrote earlier: Premium tickets exist because people are stupid and desperate enough to buy them. Same goes with expensive purses, shoes, etc. If no one bought them, they wouldn't exist.

Broadway isn't just supposed to be for the super rich. I remember seeing GREASE in '94 in the fourth row of the orchestra and I think the price on my ticket was $60, and that was full price, no discount. Oh, the days!

Updated On: 9/13/10 at 02:25 PM

This show is either going to be a massive flop or will shock us all and be this amazing peice of work. I am looking forward to finding out.

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Wow, some people (sundaymorning) have a talent for hyperbole.

Of course shows recouped before 2001, however, a lot of recent hits have recouped largely due to premium ticket sales. For a quick example, Red and Fences. The premium pricing system for Spiderman is likely how they attracted enough investors to finish the project. When your running costs are close to a million dollars a week, they have to at least try bring in as much income as they can, otherwise that investment would never pay off. It probably won't anyway, but if they can get enough curious onlookers to cough up $300 a seat during previews, why wouldn't they take that money. I doubt they will sell that much in premiums, and when they don't, they'll release them.

While I would love for theatre to be more a populist art form, it really isn't. Live theatre costs a lot of money to produce, and since most shows flop, investors want to know that their gamble could pay off big time (Wicked, Phantom, et al). There are plenty of non-profit theaters in NY with missions that include making theatre more accessible to wider audiences. For-profit theatre doesn't have that mission, their mission is to make as much money as humanly possible to pay off their investors. It's a business. If you don't want to pay a ton of money to have good seats, look beyond the $50m superhero musical on 42nd Street, there is plenty of theatre out there that might appeal to you with tickets for around $20.

Averagebwaynut,

I don't know about the regulations, but the American Airlines mezz has more seats per row. I know the first few rows have 40ish seats, and there are no center aisles. I believe that this theater's seating was recently renovated (recently as in the late 80s or later).

Hey, Vodka, sit down and have a drink. I was exaggerating, obviously. I guess the sarcasm didn't come across to you?

The Producers started premium seats to fend off the scalpers, now they've just gotten greedy. There is no show, anywhere, ever, that is worth $300 a ticket. I don't care who is in it.

I don't see how telling your investors you're charging upwards of $300 a ticket in certain areas of the theatre is reassuring to them in the sense that they're more likely to recoup. Nothing is for sure when you're investing in theatre. Just because you're selling $300 tickets doesn't mean people are going to be dumb enough to buy them (of course, there are always a bunch with deep pockets who are).