HOW TO DANCE IN OHIO launches ticket initiative

Help us build momentum to reach 50,000 audience members by the end of 2023! For a limited time, every day, any unsold seat for that day’s performance will be sold at only $50 at the box office. This deal is first come first serve and applies to any unsold seat in the house!

Tickets are available the day of the performance only when the box office opens 10am until 1pm on Tues – Sat and Sun 12pm – 2pm. A maximum of 6 tickets can be purchased. The amount of tickets daily will vary based on availability.

Ah, the old “We’re gonna announce a new deal but not actually change the existing thing” trick.

"Applies to any unsold seat in the house" sounds like you'd be able to pick your own seat, as opposed to the more traditionally take what you get rush.

Otherwise, $50 for a rush ticket is a lot for a show already selling poorly without a star in it.

I'm also wondering if this promotion is going to impact the quality of the seats offered to lottery winners. I just won the lottery to see HTDIO tomorrow afternoon and the seat is Left Mezzanine Row C. Given the low demand, I was a little surprised it's not an orchestra seat.

OhHiii said: "It's always hilariouswhen lottery winners complain about their seats when they paid less than anyone else in the house in most cases. You won the lottery for a performance they have critics in for, so the available seats were probably more limited."

Glad I can entertain. That is a good point about critics still seeing the show, I knew they already froze the show and was conflating that with assuming previews had finished.

This is not a bad strategy for a show that isn't selling.

They want to fill up the house, and they probably don't care much about the average price at this point -- a sale's a sale.

If there's any price-sensitivity for this show, it should be a little nudge for potential buyers.

That being said, it's probably still not going to yield a sellout every show...that would require a lower price point.

Kad said: "Having more affordable tickets is always a good thing, and could potentially be a way to build good word of mouth - Shucked is a recent example of that strategy. But this seems a little late for them to be doing this to get ahead of potentially less than positive reviews."

Yes and what we've seen in the past is that the promotions that really work have a lower price range (like $25-39). This show has no shortage of tickets in the $45-60 range. If the producers wanted to move large volumes of tickets (while diluting avg price), this price would be lower. This is in some ways a symbolic gesture, or a "let's try it and see if it moves anything" gesture. Either way, it doesn't hurt this show.

> You all think you're the only people these shows are trying to speak to with things like this. The vast majority of people have no idea what any previous offers or pricing has been out there. For a struggling show, sometimes they have to try things for survival. At least they aren't shying away from the reality of the situation.

Meanwhile shows will hemorrhage millions of dollars and ya'll will praise them for keeping the show open. Make it make sense.

I'll give it a shot:

Mostly what you've wrote makes sense to me. I think (?) the problem is $50 isn't enough to move the needle. From a marketing perspective, even $49 might have changed the tone of the skeptics/cynics on the thread.

From the little i know about this show, it sounds like the sort of thing i'd want to succeed. but all of their efforts to build buzz have been like 10 degrees off.

On Twitter, someone complained to Ben Holtzman, a lead producer on the show, that there were two different tiers of same day rush, $50 and $75, and it doesn't apply to every seat in the house. Holtzman replied he'll look into it.

Today was day one and it sounds like the How To Dance In Ohio team isn't entirely on the same page yet on what their rush policy is yet.

As anyone else done the $50 ticket initiative? I'm interested in doing it, but would like to know where the seats are located first.