Fastest Ticket Sell-out?

[magictodo123]

Posted: 8/5/19 at 7:44am

So I was looking at tickets for the off-Broadway production of Little Shop and the last two performances are already completely sold out! I was buying tickets for something not-theater related and they sold out in less than two hours.

What have you tried to get tickets for, only to find out you couldn't because the show/event was in such high demand?

[taylortrensch]

Posted: 8/5/19 at 8:39am

some performances of SIX in boston sold out pretty quickly, but on broadway - the decent priced tickets for hamilton (<$250) go really fast during their pre-sales/ticket block drops. their verified pre-sales & ticket drops are the only times you can get a fairly inexpensive face value seat in a good area. 

[Broadway Buddy]

Posted: 8/5/19 at 8:56am

magictodo123 said: "So I was looking at tickets for the off-Broadway production of Little Shop and the last two performances are already completely sold out! I was buying tickets for something not-theater related and they sold out in less than two hours.

What have you tried to get tickets for, only to find out you couldn't because the show/event was in such high demand?"

I was also trying to get tickets to Little Shop. Most performances are already sold out including previews. The only shows that aren’t sold out are the ones that Johnathan Groff isn’t performing. Hoping they’ll extend or have a slight chance of moving to Broadway. I bet they won’t though bc it wasn’t on Broadway too long ago. I don’t know the cut off time for revivals though.

 

[JBroadway]

Posted: 8/5/19 at 9:04am

There is no official cut-off for revivals: it’s just a question of when producers/investors are willing to put one up, or move one to Broadway. Based on the kind of time-gaps we’ve been having recently for other revivals, I’d say it’s been long enough that Little Shop could reasonably be brought back without audiences thinking it was weird. Whether they WILL or SHOULD move this production to Broadway is an entirely different question, and one for another time and another thread.

As for the OP’s question: this happens all the time with high-demand productions, particularly off-Broadway because the theatres are obviously much smaller, and the runs are limited. It also happens more frequently in the UK even for much larger houses. I believe I remember hearing that the productions of Hamlet with Benedict Cumberbatch broke some sort of record for how quickly it sold out.

[Broadway61004]

Posted: 8/5/19 at 9:47am

I remember when Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick rejoined The Producers, within minutes their entire I believe 8-week run was sold out. And I know their revival of Odd Couple sold out extremely quick as well.

[haterobics]

Posted: 8/5/19 at 9:50am

Well, once buzz was building and tickets were flying out the door, I'm sure some of our friends in the secondary market definitely jumped in, too.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 8/5/19 at 10:05am

haterobics said: "Well, once buzz was building and tickets were flying out the door, I'm sure some of our friends in the secondary market definitely jumped in, too."

Nah, they’re on it way before the general public is.  They jump the gun and are ready to buy the moment any tickets are released.  It’s a gamble for them but they still do it as one never knows which show might be the next HAMILTON, hence why they have tickets to every show then basically dumping them the day of the performance.  They bought tickets in advance assuming those tickets would be hot.  Disney’s FROZEN is the perfect example as everyone speculated it would be the next HAMILTON.  Things turned out quite differently.  Since the show’s debut, even trying to sell them at face value is/was a task.  

[MollyJeanneMusic]

Posted: 8/5/19 at 11:10am

Broadway Buddy said: "magictodo123 said: "So I was looking at tickets for the off-Broadway production of Little Shop and the last two performances are already completely sold out! I was buying tickets for something not-theater related and they sold out in less than two hours.

What have you tried to get tickets for, only to find out you couldn't because the show/event was in such high demand?"

I was also trying to get tickets to Little Shop. Most performances are already sold out including previews. The only shows that aren’t sold out are the ones that Johnathan Groff isn’t performing. Hoping they’ll extend or have a slight chance of moving to Broadway. I bet they won’t though bc it wasn’t on Broadway too long ago. I don’t know the cut off time for revivals though.

"

The last time Little Shop was on Broadway was in 2003/2004.  Meanwhile, Spring Awakening (another Jonathan Groff show, coincidentally) was on Broadway more recently (2007, I believe) and just got an acclaimed revival in 2015/2016.  The biggest problem with a revival would be how to keep the show's intimate, insane charm without alienating posh theatergoing audiences.  I think the Golden might be open after Slave Play - that might be a good place to start, although it hasn't had a musical since Avenue Q.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 8/5/19 at 11:56am

But I cant imagine Groff being able to commit due to his tv show.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 8/5/19 at 12:00pm

dramamama611 said: "But I cant imagine Groff being able to commit due to his tv show.

He can't.  He's only doing this as its a limited run while he's on hiatus.  He can not commit to a full Broadway contract in any near future.  He can only commit to limited runs which he fits in during breaks in his schedule.