#1
It is how capitalism works: you charge whatever the market will bear to maximise profits against the costs of actually producing the goods. And all industries, of course, look around and see what their competitors are charging so that they are not out of synch and lose out to their rivals. It is why petrol is, give or take the odd penny, the same price in the same areas; and how a jar of coffee from Tesco’s is pretty much the same price as the same brand at Sainsbury’s. (If you want to be more upmarket and choose to go to Waitrose or M&S, paying a premium is part of the appeal).
And the same principles apply in the theatre: though the subsidised theatres can afford to charge less (precisely because they are subsidised, therefore paradoxically giving themselves a commercial advantage), West End managements watch each other closely as they nudge their prices up.
Musicals are almost all above £60, with £62.50 and £65 tickets now standard, and 'Love Never Dies' at the top of the pile, at £67.50, for standard tickets; plays are now routinely hovering on either side of £50, with £49.50-£52.50 standard. (Of course there are exceptions; the two-hander 'Woman in Black' is only £42.50; 'Dreamboats and Petticoats' has a top of £50). But the catch, with all of those, is the phrase “standard tickets”, because taking the lead from Broadway, many shows are also now invoking the premium pricing model of blocking off some of the best seats to be sold at a higher price.
At 'Love Never Dies', these are £95; at 'Legally Blonde', they are £85.
When these first were introduced in the wake of the success of 'The Producers' on Broadway - a show about trying to get rich quick by producing a flop - its producers quickly wised up to trying to get even richer from the hit that they had in fact produced. The idea was that, since customers were so determined to get tickets to see the show they would pay a premium to touts to do so, they might as well make that money themselves and effectively turn themselves into touts as well.
The trouble is that the virus has now spread, and every Broadway show now does so, whether or not the demand requires it. It also means that the best seats are effectively taken off sale to the most loyal of theatregoers who book way in advance, and kept in reserve for the idle theatregoer with money to burn at the last minute, since the new premium seats are slower to move; though those who wait long enough to buy may find themselves unwittingly rewarded when what were previously marked as premium seats are downgraded to regular seats if they’ve not sold.
And now the virus is set to take over the West End. When 'The Children’s Hour' opens at the Comedy Theatre, starring Keira Knightly and Elisabeth Moss, in January, the “regular” top price is £60 (itself a big leap on the usual top price for plays), but the sting is that that the premium prices are now £75 - and if you do an online search for tickets at ambassadortickets.com, there’s an even more astonishing discovery: virtually the entire stalls, bar narrow bands at the extreme sides and rear of the auditorium, are designated as premium seats.
In one fell swoop, the West End is taking a big jump into the treacherous waters of Broadway’s price gouging of its customers. And of course the price doesn’t stop with the ticket price, either: as on Broadway, you have to add the booking fees; and once you get to the theatre, unlike on Broadway, you also have to pay for a programme. (ATG’s site helpfully allows you to pre-pay for this, as well as interval ice-creams).
Be fully aware that Sonia Friedman, producer of 'The Children’s Hour', has to capitalise and try to pay back on a production that is only running for ten weeks, and only has a relatively small theatre to do so in; but there’s a dangerous precedent here. How long will it be before every play tries it out?
And there’s also the not inconsiderable matter of the bottom price, too.
While some managements are trying to assuage their consciences on this by offering day seats at lower prices, the cheapest seats are no longer exactly cheap, either: to see 'The Children’s Hour' from the remote balcony will set you back a minimum of £25 for the back of it, or £30 for the front.
The exemplary new production of 'An Ideal Husband' at the Vaudeville has day seats at £10, it’s less exemplary that the cheapest seats bookable in advance are £27.50. Fortunately the upper circle was actually shut last night, so anyone who bought tickets at the lowest price was moved down — and there were great swathes of empty seats in the stalls every night.
The Palace Theatres premium Seats for 'Priscilla' are seen here in green.
Posted: 11/21/10 at 9:35pm
It is how capitalism works: you charge whatever the market will bear to maximise profits against the costs of actually producing the goods. And all industries, of course, look around and see what their competitors are charging so that they are not out of synch and lose out to their rivals. It is why petrol is, give or take the odd penny, the same price in the same areas; and how a jar of coffee from Tesco’s is pretty much the same price as the same brand at Sainsbury’s. (If you want to be more upmarket and choose to go to Waitrose or M&S, paying a premium is part of the appeal).
And the same principles apply in the theatre: though the subsidised theatres can afford to charge less (precisely because they are subsidised, therefore paradoxically giving themselves a commercial advantage), West End managements watch each other closely as they nudge their prices up.
Musicals are almost all above £60, with £62.50 and £65 tickets now standard, and 'Love Never Dies' at the top of the pile, at £67.50, for standard tickets; plays are now routinely hovering on either side of £50, with £49.50-£52.50 standard. (Of course there are exceptions; the two-hander 'Woman in Black' is only £42.50; 'Dreamboats and Petticoats' has a top of £50). But the catch, with all of those, is the phrase “standard tickets”, because taking the lead from Broadway, many shows are also now invoking the premium pricing model of blocking off some of the best seats to be sold at a higher price.
At 'Love Never Dies', these are £95; at 'Legally Blonde', they are £85.
When these first were introduced in the wake of the success of 'The Producers' on Broadway - a show about trying to get rich quick by producing a flop - its producers quickly wised up to trying to get even richer from the hit that they had in fact produced. The idea was that, since customers were so determined to get tickets to see the show they would pay a premium to touts to do so, they might as well make that money themselves and effectively turn themselves into touts as well.
The trouble is that the virus has now spread, and every Broadway show now does so, whether or not the demand requires it. It also means that the best seats are effectively taken off sale to the most loyal of theatregoers who book way in advance, and kept in reserve for the idle theatregoer with money to burn at the last minute, since the new premium seats are slower to move; though those who wait long enough to buy may find themselves unwittingly rewarded when what were previously marked as premium seats are downgraded to regular seats if they’ve not sold.
And now the virus is set to take over the West End. When 'The Children’s Hour' opens at the Comedy Theatre, starring Keira Knightly and Elisabeth Moss, in January, the “regular” top price is £60 (itself a big leap on the usual top price for plays), but the sting is that that the premium prices are now £75 - and if you do an online search for tickets at ambassadortickets.com, there’s an even more astonishing discovery: virtually the entire stalls, bar narrow bands at the extreme sides and rear of the auditorium, are designated as premium seats.
In one fell swoop, the West End is taking a big jump into the treacherous waters of Broadway’s price gouging of its customers. And of course the price doesn’t stop with the ticket price, either: as on Broadway, you have to add the booking fees; and once you get to the theatre, unlike on Broadway, you also have to pay for a programme. (ATG’s site helpfully allows you to pre-pay for this, as well as interval ice-creams).
Be fully aware that Sonia Friedman, producer of 'The Children’s Hour', has to capitalise and try to pay back on a production that is only running for ten weeks, and only has a relatively small theatre to do so in; but there’s a dangerous precedent here. How long will it be before every play tries it out?
And there’s also the not inconsiderable matter of the bottom price, too.
While some managements are trying to assuage their consciences on this by offering day seats at lower prices, the cheapest seats are no longer exactly cheap, either: to see 'The Children’s Hour' from the remote balcony will set you back a minimum of £25 for the back of it, or £30 for the front.
The exemplary new production of 'An Ideal Husband' at the Vaudeville has day seats at £10, it’s less exemplary that the cheapest seats bookable in advance are £27.50. Fortunately the upper circle was actually shut last night, so anyone who bought tickets at the lowest price was moved down — and there were great swathes of empty seats in the stalls every night.
The Palace Theatres premium Seats for 'Priscilla' are seen here in green.
Updated On: 11/21/10 at 09:35 PM
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