Hamilton New Block of Tickets- Page 11

[aaaaaa15]

Posted: 6/8/16 at 11:25pm

gypsy101 said: "Also, that article says the other 2 prices are $179 and $199...is that right? when I got tickets for this October I paid $209 for front mezz. They decreased the price? strange."

Assuming that information is correct, it has probably been done to soften the impact of the premium prices.

[macnyc]

Posted: 6/8/16 at 11:36pm

I did a quick count of the orchestra seats that are being sold for premium, and I get about 430. That's more than double what the Times is saying.

The center orchestra up to about Row Q is $849. That's about 195 seats. The two front side sections were all premium except for the far edges, where one or two seats are $199 because they're partial view. Each of those side sections is about 86 seats, so even if you subtract 16 for the edges, that's 70 seats per side, or 140 total. 

Then, for the rear side orchestra, eight seats in from the aisle are premium up to Row Q. So that's approximately 48 seats per side, times two is 96. Grand total is about 431. 

So is the Times just mistaken? Or will prices for the premium seats be reduced for the general sale? I don't see that happening. I think the Times goofed, and the writer arrived at the wrong figure by just counting the center orchestra, without realizing that most of the side orchestra is premium too. 

Updated On: 6/8/16 at 11:36 PM

[Anakela]

Posted: 6/8/16 at 11:39pm

I wasn't sure from reading that NYT piece: so is this increase in the number of lottery seats starting as of right now, along with this sale of the new block of tickets? or is this increase in the number of lottery seats starting with the dates of the new block of tickets, meaning come Jan 2017 there will be a new number of lottery seats? 

I liked Seller's quote crediting the people who pay premium prices for subsidizing the cost of lotto seats. 

[NJ_BroadwayGirl]

Posted: 6/8/16 at 11:41pm

gypsy101 said: "Also, that article says the other 2 prices are $179 and $199...is that right? when I got tickets for this October I paid $209 for front mezz. They decreased the price? strange."

I What day of the week are your tickets for? I can't remember this for sure but weekend night prices might have been in that $10 higher range, with the $199 tickets becoming $209. I know the dates near various holidays are more expensive. 

[aaaaaa15]

Posted: 6/8/16 at 11:42pm

Anakela said: "I wasn't sure from reading that NYT piece: so is this increase in the number of lottery seats starting as of right now, along with this sale of the new block of tickets? or is this increase in the number of lottery seats starting with the dates of the new block of tickets, meaning come Jan 2017 there will be a new number of lottery seats?"

Not sure if I'm reading what you're asking correctly, but the latter. I have a ticket for the second row (which are the seats to be added onto the lottery) that I paid $177 for.

[gypsy101]

Posted: 6/8/16 at 11:44pm

I have tickets for October 8th, which is a Saturday. I didn't realize there was a weekend fee!

Also it seems like this NYT article is a hot mess of errors.

[mikem]

Posted: 6/8/16 at 11:47pm

I think the reporter goofed because he is counting only the seats that were originally designated as $549 premium. There were a bunch of seats in the side orchestra that used to be in the "mid-premium" category, which was somewhere around $300, that are now in the $849 category since they eliminated the "mid-premium" category.  That's how you end up with seats like Q16 that are $849.  Maybe the original $549 premiums were 200 seats and that's where he got that number from.

 

gypsy101, are you including the Telecharge fees in the $209 number?  Or were the seats over Columbus Day weekend?  Maybe they increased the rate for that weekend.  The $199 seats were $239 seats during the Christmas holidays.

 

ETA:  gypsy, I see that you posted above that your ticket was over the Columbus Day weekend, so I think that's why it is a higher price.  I don't think there was a general weekend price increase in the original price structure, only for holidays.

Updated On: 6/8/16 at 11:47 PM

[Anakela]

Posted: 6/8/16 at 11:54pm

aaaaaa15 said: "Anakela said: "I wasn't sure from reading that NYT piece: so is this increase in the number of lottery seats starting as of right now, along with this sale of the new block of tickets? or is this increase in the number of lottery seats starting with the dates of the new block of tickets, meaning come Jan 2017 there will be a new number of lottery seats?"

Not sure if I'm reading what you're asking correctly, but the latter. I have a ticket for the second row (which are the seats to be added onto the lottery) that I paid $177 for.

"

Yes, that. Thanks! I'd figured there was no way for production to have access right now to the second row for lotto, but that article made it sound like a change starting as of today or something. 

[bucky3]

Posted: 6/8/16 at 11:55pm

Three seats (three tickets) per box.

[gypsy101]

Posted: 6/8/16 at 11:57pm

huh! I don't celebrate Columbus Day so I must have forgotten the date.

[Sylver1]

Posted: 6/9/16 at 12:13am

 Gypsy… Sent you a private thank you message for not flaming me about posting the Times article twice…OY.... And yes… An increase of 21 tickets to 46 tickets for the lottery isn't much in light of 10,000 people entering every day... But that said… At the end of the year those 25 tickets means that roughly 9000 people extra are going to see the show for 10 bucks... Based on seven performances a week for the lottery as opposed to 8... 7×25 x 52… That's better than four sold out shows so it is something…..hope one of them is for you!

Updated On: 6/9/16 at 12:13 AM

[gypsy101]

Posted: 6/9/16 at 12:49am

thanks Sylver, I hope one is for you too! and no prob about the link, I figured you thought you posted it in a different thread and didn't notice.

[bdn223]

Posted: 6/9/16 at 11:21am

I think the most interesting aspect of the hike is how the producers are playing off the fact that "Standard Orchestra" seat, of which it is most certainly not, will now be $199, which they are claiming is the same price as The Lion King. This is also means standard ticket prices have risen nearly $70  and premium ticket prices have risen $400 since Book of Mormon upped the top ticket from $129 to $162 and premium tickets to $467 after there sweep only 5 YEARS AGO

The Lion King's premium tickets are $199, with their standard being $159. Disney has always been very careful not to price gouge with their productions. Yes Aladdin's top ticket is $237, but that is still much lower then most premium tickets out there. 

Will People pay these prices, for now yes...but the problem is Hamilton will not be the exception, instead it will become the new normal as we saw ONCE create a similar price hike after it won Best Musical the year after The Book of Mormon. I expect by Spring 2018 all shows standard orchestra seat will be increased to $199.

 

I also think Hamilton is more likely to follow The Producers business model instead of The Book of Mormon and Wicked. Mostly because the producers have not been careful with keeping the leads separate from the show. Yes Josh, Andrew, Kristin, and Idina all got a career boost from their shows, but the producers were careful not to not tie the show to them in terms of publicity and advertising. It wasn't until Idina pulled an upset of Tonya Perkins that the Wicked became linked to her as she became a "upper middle class jewish household" name overnight. This is unlike Miranda, Odem Jr, Soo, and Goldsberry, who have been doing stand alone media appearances on the talk show circuit. This is also why I don't expect the producers to announce any of the later three's departures until after a block of tickets that extends beyond their contracts sells out. 

[aaaaaa15]

Posted: 6/9/16 at 11:43am

bdn223 said: "I also think Hamilton is more likely to follow The Producers business model instead of The Book of Mormon and Wicked. Mostly because the producers have not been careful with keeping the leads separate from the show. Yes Josh, Andrew, Kristin, and Idina all got a career boost from their shows, but the producers were careful not to not tie the show to them in terms of publicity and advertising. It wasn't until Idina pulled an upset of Tonya Perkins that the Wicked became linked to her as she became a "upper middle class jewish household" name overnight. This is unlike Miranda, Odem Jr, Soo, and Goldsberry, who have been doing stand alone media appearances on the talk show circuit. This is also why I don't expect the producers to announce any of the later three's departures until after a block of tickets that extends beyond their contracts sells out."

I don't live in America so perhaps my view on this is slightly warped, but I can't imagine anyone other than Lin being close to a being a household name. I've seen all of the promo the cast have done and stuff but except for Lin it hasn't been that much. Leslie and Daveed have done a lot lately in the run up to the Tonys, but that's also about promoting their own music careers as much as anything else. Renee has done a few things and Phillipa has hardly done anything, no talk shows I don't think, just the Today show once and then everything else has been online. Either way, they're not close to the names of Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane.

Idina was also already somewhat of a name from Rent. She'd already had a huge success on Broadway, the same can't be said of any of the OBC of Hamilton. 

Updated On: 6/9/16 at 11:43 AM

[adamgreer]

Posted: 6/9/16 at 11:49am

There is a growing backlash against Seller on social media by a lot of actors (including several prominent ones). I was a bit surprised when I read some of the posts. 

[macnyc]

Posted: 6/9/16 at 11:51am

I am no great fan of Seller's in general after all this, but I do give him credit for taking a chance on Hamilton. He's the one who brought it to the Public and raised the financing for that. That was something of a risk. The life of Alexander Hamilton in rap seemed a very unlikely source of a hit, even in the hands of Lin-Manuel Miranda.

Updated On: 6/9/16 at 11:51 AM

[aaaaaa15]

Posted: 6/9/16 at 12:03pm

adamgreer said: "There is a growing backlash against Seller on social media by a lot of actors (including several prominent ones). I was a bit surprised when I read some of the posts."

I know about Jason, but who else?

[schubox]

Posted: 6/9/16 at 12:04pm

Anakela said: "
I liked Seller's quote crediting the people who pay premium prices for subsidizing the cost of lotto seats. 

 

"

Yeah I'm not sure how else they could have afforded it!?

im guessing some PR person warned them to try to soften the blow of the new ridiculously priced premium seats 

[schubox]

Posted: 6/9/16 at 12:05pm

adamgreer said: "There is a growing backlash against Seller on social media by a lot of actors (including several prominent ones). I was a bit surprised when I read some of the posts. 

 

"

Links?

 

[Broadway Forever2]

Posted: 6/9/16 at 12:07pm

yeah I haven't really seen any backlash besides Jason but I don't follow that many actors. 

 

[Mediamaven2]

Posted: 6/9/16 at 12:33pm

macnyc said: "I did a quick count of the orchestra seats that are being sold for premium, and I get about 430. That's more than double what the Times is saying.

The center orchestra up to about Row Q is $849. That's about 195 seats. The two front side sections were all premium except for the far edges, where one or two seats are $199 because they're partial view. Each of those side sections is about 86 seats, so even if you subtract 16 for the edges, that's 70 seats per side, or 140 total. 

Then, for the rear side orchestra, eight seats in from the aisle are premium up to Row Q. So that's approximately 48 seats per side, times two is 96. Grand total is about 431. 

So is the Times just mistaken? Or will prices for the premium seats be reduced for the general sale? I don't see that happening. I think the Times goofed, and the writer arrived at the wrong figure by just counting the center orchestra, without realizing that most of the side orchestra is premium too. 

 

Thank you Macnyc, I agree with you that the NYT likely made a mistake and I hope it is soon clarified.  Your post above makes much more sense than the NYT article which surprised me re: making it sound like such a small and typically representative number of 'center orch' seats are designated at premium....I did see that pretty much half way to the side of as far back as Row Q was newly designated "premium".  I was surprised to see the NYT id'd this as only 200 seats...because clearly it is way more than 200 seats. Too bad the NYT has no comments section for this article but maybe MacNYC you can forward your post to the Theater/ARts editor and get a correction!! ;o)

Also re my earlier pre-NYT comments last night--on second thought, I believe the producers probably did alot of number crunching research before coming up with what the outrageous price they did (outragous in the sheer number of seats that come under that obsence amount). If they say $1000 or $849 is the avg resale price then they are probably right...however I recall learning at school that "median" is a much more accurate indicator than 'average' --Averages can get warped by an unusually high number (or low)  so for the sake of accuracy, median is the preferred number used.  What is that number? We don't know...Seller didn't say.

[To clarify with an example: if 5 people buy pairs of tickets at prices ranging from $800 to $3500.   2 couples pay $800, 2 pay $1400 and one pays $3500.  What is the "average" theater goer paying for tickets? The median would say $1400, and the average say above  $1500. What is more representative of what people actually pay? I would argue $1400 is more representative of what is getting paid. Because 4 couples paid no more than that. Only one couple paid more, albeit alot more.

So, back to my point re stubhub and roughly 250 tix available on a resale market for a given show--if there are as macnyc says (and sounds far more accurate to me) close to 400 newly designated premium seats...then the producers  really going for the upper ceiling they don't t need to reach IMHO.  But Seller can make more money arguing the "average" price---a price much more easily skewed by some billionaire who didn't hesitate to pay $5000 for center Row H or whatever on the day in NYC convenient to him/her.

 And, yes, I have a few times checked stubhub close to showtime or at showtime. There are (like last night) sometimes still tickets remaining. Everything does not sell at it's (lowered but still high) $1200 or $2200 price.

And finally, while I think it's very "nice" that the lottery opportunity has expanded from 10 lucky people getting a pair of seats to 20 lucky pairs of people, that really pales next to hiking up and expanding orchestra premium price tag to make most of orchestra $849. 

 

[gypsy101]

Posted: 6/9/16 at 12:46pm

why no one has corrected the numerous errors in that article is beyond me

[Mediamaven2]

Posted: 6/9/16 at 5:39pm

Yeah and just to add that now, with Tony wins anticipation days away and Lin's final days numbered/counting down, the prices at resale have reached - or shall we say come Monday WILL reach - real insanity levels that aren't indicative of 'average' or 'median' pricing over the past months. Stubhub sell out at crazy amounts over next weeks not indicative of any average or median price people willing to pay...unusual events that will end July 9 driving demand now.

 

[macnyc]

Posted: 6/9/16 at 6:19pm

If anyone out there has a Centurion or Platinum card and hasn't purchased tickets yet, CALL Amex right away. More tickets have been released, and they are by phone only! Price is $199! For more info, see All That Chat. But hurry. 

[After Eight]

Posted: 6/9/16 at 6:46pm

The timing of this announcement/sale is interesting, don't you think?