Do you think the recession is going to lead to lower ticket prices?- Page 2
Do you think the recession is going to lead to lower ticket prices?
#25re: Do you think the recession is going to lead to lower ticket prices?
Posted: 10/24/08 at 10:13amI 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...
"First up was Max who sang "Can You Feel the Love Tonight?" [...] I haven't seen that big of a reaction to a stair descent since Audra left the attic in Ragtime." --Seth Rudetsky
Featured Actor Joined: 12/31/69
#26re: Do you think the recession is going to lead to lower ticket prices?
Posted: 10/24/08 at 11:09am
Someone who has been paying attention longer than I have might know if this has happened before:
I'd expect that, as shows close and remaining shows continue with less-than-optimal grosses, the number of operating broadway productions would just shrink and we'll see several theaters empty for extended periods. I don't know enough to factor in how theaters create incentives to bring shows in in a climate like that, but it makes sense to me that producers would just focus resources on fewer shows and maybe use the empty time to renovate or rent out theaters to other events, rather than lower ticket prices and have thin margins spread over many productions.
Of course in this scenario shrunken broadway will consist entirely of phantom, jersey boys, wicked, and paris hilton in mame.
Broadway Baby 2
Featured Actor Joined: 9/4/07
#27re: Do you think the recession is going to lead to lower ticket prices?
Posted: 10/24/08 at 11:11amI agree producers should not expect or take such a high profit share. People at the top of any ladder are often way to greedy.
#28re: Do you think the recession is going to lead to lower ticket prices?
Posted: 10/24/08 at 11:45am
No, prices for luxury goods typically rise in a recession, limiting availability to those can and are willing to pay the higher prices.
This means there will be fewer shows, and the ones that are produced will have higher ticket prices, like shows in Las Vegas.
#29re: Do you think the recession is going to lead to lower ticket prices?
Posted: 10/24/08 at 1:27pmTO 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!
"NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!"
#30re: Do you think the recession is going to lead to lower ticket prices?
Posted: 10/24/08 at 1:48pmMore tickets at TKTS. Easier to get last minute premium seating at normal prices.
Fosse76
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/21/05
#31re: Do you think the recession is going to lead to lower ticket prices?
Posted: 10/24/08 at 1:55pm
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
Insider2
Featured Actor Joined: 9/21/05
#32re: Do you think the recession is going to lead to lower ticket prices?
Posted: 10/24/08 at 2:11pmThe greed of today's crop of producers knows no bounds. I would not count on lower prices, but you might end up with some higher ones. Basic ticket prices are getting higher and higher while discounts are getting stingier. For example, I'd love to see Tale of Two Cities, but based on what I have heard about that show, there is no freaking way I am paying even the "discounted" rate of $79.00 plus all the service fees. Off with their heads. I paid $130 + change to see Billy Elliot, and that's the last full priced ticket I will be buying in a long time. Unless prices start to fall (they won't), looks like I'll be seeing a lot of off-Broadway shows.
#33re: Do you think the recession is going to lead to lower ticket prices?
Posted: 10/24/08 at 2:48pm
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.
I once heard someone describe her (Ruthie Henshall) singing as sounding as though she's trying to swallow a whole meatball slightly larger than her windpipe. (The same person compared Michael Ball's singing to sounding as though he's sitting on a washing machine on spin cycle and Colm Wilkinson's to a man with a paralyzed lip trying to eat cottage cheese.) --- Schmerg_The_Impaler
Fosse76
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/21/05
#34re: Do you think the recession is going to lead to lower ticket prices?
Posted: 10/24/08 at 4:55pm
"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!"
Ummmm...producers are rich. They don't have to be filthy rich, but they aren't Aunt Florence and Uncle Ira either.
"What ALL of the unions charges is ridiculous above the set wages."
That is absolutely the most ridiculous and uninformed statement I've read all day today.
#35re: Do you think the recession is going to lead to lower ticket prices?
Posted: 10/24/08 at 5:09pmAnd yet, practically every show is up on TDF.
A little swash, a bit of buckle - you'll love it more than bread.
#36re: Do you think the recession is going to lead to lower ticket prices?
Posted: 10/24/08 at 6:03pmHaha. As if. Broadway from my perspective is only for the wealthy and students...and thank god that the students have those rates or else I doubt many of them would be going either. It always cracks me up at the end of the Tonys when the host tells everyone to get out and see a show...maybe they should tell us at this years Tonys how to afford to do that. Its a shame because people like me who love the theatre and especially broadway cant get there nearly as often as I would like.
DavidPatrickS82
Understudy Joined: 10/22/08
#37re: Do you think the recession is going to lead to lower ticket prices?
Posted: 10/24/08 at 7:12pm
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!
LePetiteFromage
Broadway Legend Joined: 1/19/08
Hank
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/16/03
#39re: Do you think the recession is going to lead to lower ticket prices?
Posted: 10/24/08 at 7:26pm
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.
DavidPatrickS82
Understudy Joined: 10/22/08
#40re: Do you think the recession is going to lead to lower ticket prices?
Posted: 10/24/08 at 7:30pmIf everyone backstage and onstage made equity minimum (and let's face it we know a bunch are making more) at 200 (APPROX) people per night to run the show in all aspects, at the actors equity minimum (and i know all the minimum's are different, i'm merely setting an example) You have.... 320,000 dollars a week in salaries alone. Maybe it wouldn't make a huge dent, but it certainly couldn't hurt
LePetiteFromage
Broadway Legend Joined: 1/19/08
DavidPatrickS82
Understudy Joined: 10/22/08
#42re: Do you think the recession is going to lead to lower ticket prices?
Posted: 10/24/08 at 7:51pm
Oh lord, chill out.
I make 22,000 a year, trust me, I ain't makin anything. I didn't say I was right, I just was thinking about it, and from my C+ math skills that seemed like the most obvious. I know there are some crazy accountants crunching numbers and deciding ticket prices.
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