An Open Letter to the Producers of Xanadu Regarding Student Rush

[Midnight Radio]

Posted: 4/29/08 at 5:16pm

Let me preface this by saying that I am a huge fan of Xanadu and have seen the show over 30 times, many of which because I was able to get student tickets. However, lately I have encountered issues with the student rush, which I have also seen echoed by people on this board. Today I tried to get a single ticket 3 hours before curtain. I prefer On-Stage seating and was told there was some available but I was refused the seat at student pricing, so I went and got a front row student seat at A Catered Affair instead. I personally find it strange that seats are being left empty rather than being sold at a discount, and I have observed this many times. I understand that the policy seems to be that student tickets are only sold for the first half hour (Xanadu being one of the only shows on Broadway to limit rush like that) and that only a certain number are sold, however I have also seen this contradicted on separate occasions. 2 weeks ago, I arrived a half hour before the show and by the time the box office opened there were 4 more people behind me waiting for student tickets. However, we were all turned away, being told there were no student tickets available, even though there were 3 seats left on stage and numerous house seats. That day I did buy on of the On-Stage seats left at full price and witnessed no less than 5 completely empty rows in the mezzanine.

I understand that I do not know all of the details of running a box office, however it seems to me that empty seats are never the goal. Especially in a house as small as the Helen Hayes, the cast can see and feel every empty seat. The audience reactions lessen in a half-full theatre, many times causing the cast to give a less energetic performance when they don’t have as many people to play off. This is even more evident when the on-stage seats are not full, an occurrence I have seen many times lately.

Most shows on Broadway now offer some sort of student ticket options that do not fluctuate daily, like Xanadu’s does. Even smash hits like Wicked, which is almost always sold out, reserve a number of great seats that could be sold at a much higher cost for those who cannot afford today’s soaring Broadway ticket prices. For Xanadu, a show even now struggling to find an audience, to turn away people who will pay something for what will end up being unsold seats seems like bad business and quite frankly looks a bit greedy and stubborn. I know that many people on this board who are looking to rush shows end up avoiding Xanadu because of this fluctuating policy, but the show is truly the one being hurt by this.

Xanadu has always had a hard time getting people into the theatre and looking past the reputation of the movie. Once they do, they generally find themselves thoroughly surprised by how good the show actually is, which is how to word of mouth on this show has gotten out and largely why it is still running today. Turning people away and leaving the theatre empty stops this from occurring.

As I have said, I love Xanadu and hope to see it around for a very long time of Broadway. Seeing such a great show playing to such a sparse audience hurts me, and I do not understand seeing paying theater-goers being turned away. I hope that a permanent and more comprehensive policy can and will be put in place, for the sake of the show as well as the fans.

[Cape Twirl of Doom]

Posted: 4/29/08 at 5:49pm

XANADU is under no obligation to sell all unsold (at that time) seats as Rush. There are plenty of shows that do not sell out every seat and yet that doesn't mean that all remaining seats are suddenly available to be sold at $26.50.

[Midnight Radio]

Posted: 4/29/08 at 5:59pm

Yeah I totally understand and agree with that. I am just saying that quite often it seems like they holding way too many seats when a quarter of the theatre is empty and they are not selling any student tickets.

Also, I think there should be some sort of permanent policy and as of now there is none.

[WonderRobbie]

Posted: 4/29/08 at 6:00pm

I don't think that is what Midnight is saying Cape.
He (and many others) just a more concrete way of doing the student rush. There should be a permanent number of student rush tickets each day and a more solidified set of "rules" for it as well. As he said, college kids who can't afford the insane prices of Broadway in general should be able to enjoy Xanadu as well as other shows. I think that's fair, don't you?

[TIGGOSAURUS]

Posted: 4/29/08 at 6:05pm

FWIW, I got stage seats to see this the other week and I was surprised that a show with such a good buzz about it couldn't even sell out a small auditorium on a Saturday night. I definitely found it disconcerting and wondered if the performers felt the same way. IMHO it seems daft to turn people away under such circumstances... but then I'm not a student and I'm not eligible for Rush - I have paid full price on shows which I really want to see and can't get discount for.

Guess I'm saying I can see it from both points of view. I love the discount / lottery system on Broadway - it makes some shows much more accessible and affordable than in the West End (and not just for students).

[Cape Twirl of Doom]

Posted: 4/29/08 at 6:09pm

Oh I definitely agree with that. I thought he was saying that once the rush tickets were no longer available, they should sell any remaining seats at the same price. I can see why that would be a good thing, but is there any precedence for that?

Is there no set amount of rush seats for XANADU? When I went last year, it was the whole front row set aside for rush. I see now that that has changed and rush seats are the onstage ones? My friend wants to go again (Cheyenne was out when we went) at some point.

Updated On: 4/29/08 at 06:09 PM

[jordangirl]

Posted: 4/29/08 at 6:34pm

Cape, from what I understand not only are there no set rush seats, there's no guarantee that the box office will sell rush period. It seems to vary from day to day and person to person. Hence the request for something solid in the way of a policy for rush besides "whatever the box office person or the producers or whoever's calling the shots feels like".

[Vespertine1228]

Posted: 4/29/08 at 6:37pm

I've seen Xanadu twice now and both times the mezzanine was almost completely empty. I find it strange that they wouldn't want to sell those tickets for whatever price, especially right before the show if they know they're not going to get anything else.

A similar situation happened with me this weekend with Cry-Baby. The guy in the box office wouldn't sell me a student ticket. He was actually quite rude to me. I couldn't believe it was sold out, so I waited until it was a different guy. I asked him if there was student rush and he said they had available student seats all over the place.

When I saw the show, it was at most 2/3 full. I just don't understand how they make those decisions.

[jeffrey1dog]

Posted: 4/29/08 at 8:15pm

I don't know how true this is, but somebody who works at the theater told me it all depends on the person who's working at the BO. Apparently THEY are given pretty much free reign of whatever they want to do as far as rush tickets or re-issuing for unused tickets.

I personally had some issues with one cranky BO person who was rather rude when I was checking for future tickets. He straight out lied to me after offering row AA center tickets, which I find a little too close. When I asked what else they had for that particular day he told me "That's it - nothing else!" My nephew went to the BO 10 minutes later & got Row E side aisle seats for that very same performance.

I know it sounds crazy but being that everybody is finding tickets sold so haphazardly that maybe what I was told is true (about the BO clerks doing whatever they want.) Some of them are actually super nice, helpful & friendly, but some NOT SO MUCH. I think if this is the case somebody should ask to talk to the manager at the theater to find out what the policies really are. Something is definitely wrong there!

[Midnight Radio]

Posted: 4/29/08 at 9:46pm

That seems to be it. Whomever is running the box office that day seems to have free reign. There are no certain number of tickets or locations and you are basically at the mercy of the person working. Like I said before, 2 weeks ago I got there a half hour before the box office opened only to be told there were no student rush tickets at all for that day and that it is all subject to change whenever they feel like it. I bought a full price ticket for that night and saw with my own eyes 2 unsold seats on stage and half the balcony empty.

And yes, with the exception of one or two, the box office people there are some of the rudest I have encountered. I have also heard this time and time again from other Fanadus.

Updated On: 4/29/08 at 09:46 PM

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 4/29/08 at 9:47pm

Midnight Radio, if this is really a concern of yours, maybe you should actually send a letter to the producers of this show, so at least they're made aware of the situation at the box office.

[jeffrey1dog]

Posted: 4/29/08 at 10:55pm

Supposedly the producers of the show read the msg boards so hopefully they will see it here.

And btw - Not to diss the whole HH because once you are in the theater they have some of THE BEST people working there IE: Linda, Natasha, Melanie, John, Dillon, Alan etc.

[scaryclowns223]

Posted: 4/29/08 at 10:58pm

When I was at Xanadu, they gave the empty onstage seats to random audience members- namely a young girl with an eyepatch and her family. I guess they reserve those for upgrading special audience members.

[shh282]

Posted: 4/29/08 at 11:13pm

Midnight, were you on the right side of A Catered Affair? if so I think I was sitting next to you- and if so, I'm sorry about the texting, my roommate didn't realize it didn't have intermission and that it was short

[jeffrey1dog]

Posted: 4/29/08 at 11:41pm

That's pretty harsh Scaryclowns223. That was one incident you saw and is not indicative of what happens all the time. But like I've said before, the people who work in the theater (the ushers etc) do go out of their way to be equally and extra nice to everyone and I think that's great.

[KJisgroovy]

Posted: 4/29/08 at 11:46pm

"if so, I'm sorry about the texting, my roommate didn't realize it didn't have intermission and that it was short"

That's crazy. Like there is any excuse for this, beyond, like I'm waiting for a kidney.

[Testing1232]

Posted: 4/30/08 at 12:17am

<< Cape, from what I understand not only are there no set rush seats, there's no guarantee that the box office will sell rush period. It seems to vary from day to day and person to person. Hence the request for something solid in the way of a policy for rush besides "whatever the box office person or the producers or whoever's calling the shots feels like". >>

Jordan is absolutely correct !!! I had inquired about "Rush" tickets a little over a month ago for a friend, (basically, what time to show up at the box office) and was told "there is NO rush", and "we have NEVER offered rush tickets"

I have been given "rush" myself on a number of occasions, so I was obviously being lied to.

[Tag]

Posted: 4/30/08 at 12:19am

If they started selling all left over seats at a rush price - and that was their policy - no one would buy regular priced tickets. They would wait to by any leftover seats at the rush price.

[winston89]

Posted: 4/30/08 at 12:20am

I have never even tried to do any sort of rush at Xanadu. But, from the sound of it it seems like they need to have some guidelines in place. There are shows on Broadway (Little Mermaid is one for example) that has as their policy that they will sell whatever is left over for a student rush price.

You have to admit that even that is some sort of guideline and rules. But, it sounds pretty nuts to have it be free regin and whatever the box office guy wants goes.

Cape Twirl of Doom, I have read bout the Xanadu rush situation from time to time. From what I understand they used to have a set aside number of seats when the show first started to open. Now, it is pretty much anything goes which is a bit nuts.

I agree that they should have something in terms of a guideline set in place. Most if not all shows that offer student rush have some sort of set up of how to give them out so there isn't chaos.

[shh282]

Posted: 4/30/08 at 12:22am

Tag SITPWG does that,

like 2 hours before show - everything is half off for students

[TooDarnHot]

Posted: 4/30/08 at 12:22am

texting? during a show??

I hate it when people put their phone on "silent" or "vibrate"... just turn it OFF!

proper theatre etiquette

[Tag]

Posted: 4/30/08 at 12:28am

I wasn't specifically talking about students. I meant anyone who wanted to could buy the hypothetical rush tickets.

[WonderRobbie]

Posted: 4/30/08 at 7:09am

This is what is on the Official Website...

$26 TICKET! YOU HEARD ME.
XANADU STUDENT RUSH SPECIAL!!!

Students, come one come all! Our all-mighty Zeus has declared that a celebration is to be had by all students suffering from the "back to school blues". XANADU on Broadway is offering Student Rush Tickets for a mere $26,25 ... SERIOUSLY. So if day dreams of Kira riding Pegasus towards the heavens or of Sonny with his shirt off aren't helping, then don't walk - run - to the Helen Hayes box office between 10am and 11am and tell them Zeus has sent you the Sign.

XANADU STUDENT RUSH:
subject to availability, not available for Saturday evening shows
Weekdays 10-11am, Sunday 12 noon-1pm.
Student rush tickets are limited to 2 per student.  A current student photo ID is required
A maximum of 20 tickets per show will be sold.


As you can see, there no other stipulations except for Saturday night shows... So if they are going to have that on the site, they really should abide by it. If there were other "rules" it should be stated on the site and/or at the box office. Simple as that.

[WickedBoy2]

Posted: 4/30/08 at 7:25am

Get a cheaper hobby!
These guys are in a business!

[ItsCalledHistory]

Posted: 4/30/08 at 7:36am

It sounds like because you are a fan of this show you feel entitled for the box office to work for you. I applaud you for seeing the show so many times and wanting to keep going back and spending your well earned money. Yes, they should be consistent, but as everyone knows it can be the luck of the draw with which box office personnel you get.

But what happens when they -- or any show -- starts selling all unsold tickets as rush tickets an hour before the show? I'd go to the box office an hour before the show and buy a ticket... I wouldn't wait in line at 8am... I wouldn't go to TKTS... I wouldn't buy a full price ticket, or even a TDF ticket in advance. I'm sure a lot of us would.

By doing something like this, we're being conditioned to not buy tickets the old fashioned way or at top prices, which is how producers ultimately want us to do. How many of us only see shows if they show up on TDF or one of the papering services? I've certainly been guilty of that at times.

You also need to put into consideration that the producers could have given an allotment of tickets to TKTS which have gone unsold which could explain the patches of empty seats and the reason for the box office not selling them.