Do you think the recession is going to lead to lower ticket prices? — Page 2

I have never paid full price to see a show. Prices are OUTRAGEOUS. The producers should definitely be the ones to get a pay cut. I wonder how much it costs to run a performance of, let's say, Wicked. I mean, with all of the effects, staff, etc...

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I agree producers should not expect or take such a high profit share. People at the top of any ladder are often way to greedy.

TO play devil's advocate, not all producers are rich because not all shows are successful. As for me, I'll be picking my shows with more care, and taking advantage of all the discount offers I can!

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They won't lower the prices, but they will most likely issue discounts. As someone mentioned above, as long as there are people willing to pay $450 for a ticket, they aren't going to change it. The people who can afford it generally don't go around looking for discounts (note I Said "generally").

Updated On: 10/24/08 at 01:55 PM

yeah, the ticket prices and "discounts" are absurd! I remember going to the Booth in August and was shocked that a ticket for Sprint Awakening was like $60+fees. Which could have been 50% off when they are set at $120! But I spoke with a prof. about this earlier and apparently it's a trend where shows close now and after the Tonys.

But with the pricing costs of everything, it will be difficult to make things cheaper. What ALL of the unions charges is ridiculous above the set wages. But the price of gas has gone down a little bit so maybe tickets will. But with a show like a superhero coming in, capped at $40Mil and weekly running costs of $1M, I don't think that will be cheap.

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And yet, practically every show is up on TDF.

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Unfortunately if you look at what the show costs to run that has a lot to do with how much they charge. Granted if they could fill the theater at a slightly lower price, that WOULD get more money. But I just recently had this conversation with someone I know that works at a Box office and he said, still, even if they lowered the cost by 20 or 30 dollars per ticket... People STILL don't have the money to shell out 90 or 100 for a show. So reguardless it's not really going to help.

And of course there is Jersey Boys that is selling a HUGE number of Orch center seats... HUGE HUGE number at 302/352 per ticket because people will pay. What we need is for people to stop paying for premium seats and waiting until they HAVE to sell that at normal price to fill them. That way we can abolish premium prices. Thats the first step. Then the only other way to get ticket prices down is to ask Actor's and stagehands and musicians to take a contract at lower pay rates. And good luck with that. But if that happened they could lower prices. Until then, the shows cost too much to run.

As an example, Tale of Two Cities costs like 500,000 a week to run, Wicked costs 800,000. Those are INSANE costs, and most of it is salarys!

Sure!
But I also hope to see some good deals on hotel prices, and some restaurants as well, and maybe if those landlords can stop jacking up their rents so some of our favorite hangouts can stay in business.

Updated On: 5/1/09 at 07:38 PM