Posted: 6/9/16 at 9:59pm
With all this extra cash, why are the Hamilton producers still have the Rockefeller foundation subsidize the student tickets? Shouldn't they do this on their own, as an act of good will rather than taking charitable funds?
Posted: 6/9/16 at 10:04pm
AnnieBlack said: "With all this extra cash, why are the Hamilton producers still have the Rockefeller foundation subsidize the student tickets? Shouldn't they do this on their own, as an act of good will rather than taking charitable funds?
"
And shouldn't they give everyone the raises they want to keep them from leaving?
Posted: 6/9/16 at 10:36pm
AnnieBlack said: "With all this extra cash, why are the Hamilton producers still have the Rockefeller foundation subsidize the student tickets? Shouldn't they do this on their own, as an act of good will rather than taking charitable funds?
Well I am angry and as ready to dump as the next person on them. But the HS tickets subsidy is a combo of producer good will and the Rockefeller foundation (and I assume the will and driving force of the creator LMM). Tickets were 'bought' by the foundation for half the sales price (i think $60?) and kids paid $10, and the producers called it a deal. They don' t lose money thanks to the R. Foundation, but they don't make any money either - just recoup their costs.
Posted: 6/9/16 at 11:32pm
schubox said: "And shouldn't they give everyone the raises they want to keep them from leaving?"
The rumor is that they are doing that. It's whether the raises will be enough.
Posted: 6/10/16 at 12:15am
aaaaaa15 said: "schubox said: "And shouldn't they give everyone the raises they want to keep them from leaving?"
The rumor is that they are doing that. It's whether the raises will be enough.
"
I wonder what is considered enough for something this big, 20k/week? If Sellers said he got the $849 by researching it stands to reason that he's researching everything like the public reaction to different cast members and who is essential and who isn't. If so, I think he'd fight hardest for Odom, Diggs, Jackson and Goldsberry.
Posted: 6/10/16 at 12:20am
They'll definitely be eager to keep Leslie and Daveed. As Renee is likely to win the Tony, probably her too.
Posted: 6/10/16 at 1:19am
If you had a product that other people were reselling at 10x the purchase price with no profit to you, you'd probably feel cheated too. They could have significantly raised the prices to every seat in the house and they still would have sold, but many (about half?) are still under $200. It's not pittance, but it's not $2000 either. The increase in the lottery seats was also a move toward giving people twice the chance of seeing it for $10 than they had before. It's a business, not a charity, and the people who created/worked on/invested in it should get most of the profits, not bots/scalpers.
Posted: 6/10/16 at 2:28am
I started this thread, and have read the ensuing 80 comments with great interest. I now think that, even if resellers are indeed evil leaches, Jeffrey Seller, through his price hike, has become indistinguishable from them. He wants to be a price-gouger AND to be admired for fighting price-gougers. But he can't have it both ways. His action threatens to diminish the goodwill that the show has enjoyed since its inception.
Posted: 6/10/16 at 5:47am
^ Pretty much second this. Seller can not have it both ways...
Posted: 6/10/16 at 6:02am
"He wants to be a price-gouger AND to be admired for fighting price-gougers."
In the end, the scalpers ended up helping him by providing him with a cover to raise prices to the degree he has, all in the name of fighting scalpers. A real knight in shining armor, he! If there hadn't been any scalpers, would he have gone ahead and done this anyway? No one knows. But if he had, he wouldn't have been able to get on his high horse this way to justify it.
So now let's cheer for Hamilton at the Tonys and hope that it breaks every record. Then it can charge and get even higher prices --- blazing a path for other producers to follow --- and we can all express our boundless admiration for Seller.
Posted: 6/10/16 at 6:36am
This whole ticket fiasco also reminds me of last year when Hamilton was debating on moving to Broadway before the Tonys, so I looked up that article...Remember when Riedel said this? "Seller has told colleagues he thinks “Hamilton” could run 10 years. I don’t believe it. The elite will flock to it because it’s a hot ticket. But will tourists, who make up more than 50 percent of the Broadway audience? “Hey, Mr. and Mrs. Grand Rapids! Wanna see a three-hour rap musical about an author of The Federalist Papers?” “Um. Do you have anything available tonight for ‘Aladdin’?" I guess Seller really showed him huh
Posted: 6/10/16 at 7:11am
"I guess Seller really showed him huh"
Sure did. Bravo for Seller. The guy was right --- and a real right guy as well.
Posted: 6/10/16 at 2:26pm
Did everyone read Alice Ripley's scathing post about this price increase? Ouch.
Posted: 6/10/16 at 2:37pm
Link to her facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drasticalice
This is what her post says:
***thanks** for pricing out actors. You just made sure I can't afford the show. Guess I'll never see Hamilton. Theatre is not an elitist escape, fyi. Theatre is FOR THE PEOPLE, NOT THE INVESTORS.
If the exhorbitant price is seen as a way to support the $10 rush, where is the middle class?!?!?
Posted: 6/10/16 at 2:44pm
What bothers me, is that there is now a precedent for premium pricing on broadway. I guess we know what Hello Dolly will be charging for their premium seats.
Posted: 6/10/16 at 2:45pm
Looks like she didn't realize there are $179-$199 tickets available too.
Posted: 6/10/16 at 3:00pm
aaaaaa15 said: "Looks like she didn't realize there are $179-$199 tickets available too.
"
She did:
Howie M Cobb On the side of Devil's Advocate, they are also more than doubling the number of lottery seats and over 1,000 per performance will still be sold at normal Broadway prices. They just seem to be practicing good economics and responding to the fact that they have a high demand product which does not often last very long in theater.
Alice Ripley The lottery is good, but it still leaves out the rest of us who don't win. If a "normal" ticket price (already out of reach for many) were to be reflected in our salaries, and therefore in support of the whole, that would be one thing. But it's not.
Chandra Walker Their idea of "normal" pricing is still $200 for mezzanine & balcony, which are usually less than half that. They're going to alienate their market and shorten their lifespan if they're not careful. They've priced it for the elite and the elite get bored and move on easily.
Updated On: 6/10/16 at 03:00 PM
Posted: 6/10/16 at 3:02pm
WesternSky2 said: "Link to her facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drasticalice"
Direct link: https://www.facebook.com/drasticalice/posts/10209437479476663?pnref=story
Posted: 6/10/16 at 3:05pm
"Direct link: https://www.facebook.com/drasticalice/posts/10209437479476663?pnref=story"
Thank you! I could not for the life of me find the option to copy the direct link.
Posted: 6/10/16 at 3:07pm
You get the direct link when you click on the time stamp for a FB post. Same thing as linking directly to a tweet.
Posted: 6/10/16 at 3:07pm
Sorry but $177-$199 is absolutely normal for a show like this. I don't think AP's highest ticket price was too far off that and the two aren't comparable in terms of demand.
Posted: 6/10/16 at 3:10pm
LizzieCurry said: "You get the direct link when you click on the time stamp for a FB post. Same thing as linking directly to a tweet.
Beautiful! Thank you. On Twitter I always just click on "Copy link to Tweet" under the options, so I didn't know the time stamp trick. A+.
Posted: 6/10/16 at 3:13pm
aaaaaa15 said: "Sorry but $177-$199 is absolutely normal for a show like this. I don't think AP's highest ticket price was too far off that and the two aren't comparable in terms of demand."
The average price paid for American Psycho was 81.49 three weeks ago.
The Average Price paid for Hamilton was 164.09 in that same period.
The Average for all shows was $97.33
So it really is not the norm. Hamilton had the highest average price paid that week. Book of Mormon follows closely behind, than Lion King. Top ticket price for Book of Mormon was 477, Lion King was 225. Hamilton was 475.
For the next block of tickets to be released that more than doubles, and blasts all other shows out of the water...
Posted: 6/10/16 at 3:15pm
I said it was normal for a show like this, which it is. Obviously the shows that sell quicker and more easily will have higher prices.
AP had tickets sold for $140, but Alice is saying that $177 isn't a normal price for the most in demand show on Broadway? I understand her complaints about the premium prices but not the others.
Updated On: 6/10/16 at 03:15 PM
Posted: 6/10/16 at 3:32pm
After Eight said: "What I would like to know, then, is upping the price of the greater part of orchestra seats to $850 greedy, or not?"
Given the extraordinary demand for tickets to see Hamilton on Broadway, I don't think upping the price of a portion of the orchestra section to $849 is greedy. However, I will admit to not having a crystal clear understanding of what greedy is and is not. If taking measures to capitalize on the thing you own (where several others, including cast and creatives, also benefit) and prevent others who had nothing to do with the show to capitalize fits within the definition of greedy, then I would stipulate the price increase is greedy.
