How Much Does It Cost to Buy a $110 Theater Ticket?- NYT

[jacobtsf]

Posted: 2/10/07 at 3:27pm

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/10/theater/10fees.html?ref=theater

"A little fee here, a tiny charge there, and before you know it, you’re talking about real money.

Take the case of the new Broadway musical “Curtains”: on its own, an orchestra seat runs $110, but add to that a mandatory $1.50 “restoration fee” for the upkeep of the Al Hirschfeld Theater, a $6.50 “service charge” to buy the ticket through Telecharge and a $2.50 fee to have the ticket e-mailed or held at the box office, and the new total is $120.50. It’s $4 instead of $2.50 to have the tickets mailed, or $19.50 if you want them by second-day post.

Such fees and charges are escalating throughout the theater world. For “The Pirate Queen,” the Ticketmaster service fees alone add a minimum of $11 to a ticket ordered online or by phone.

“I think all of these things cumulatively are insane,” said the veteran producer Emanuel Azenberg. “If there is going to be a restoration fee, there should also be a Renaissance fee, a Middle Ages fee and a Dark Ages fee. Someone must have men in the back room making up names, euphemisms for profit.”

Fees are hardly exclusive to New York theaters. Restoration and facility fees were introduced across the country before they hit New York. And when fees did arrive, in 1996, it was at Radio City Music Hall, primarily a concert site. In addition to Broadway shows, Ticketmaster sells tickets to concerts, sports and other special events, often with even higher fees. Telecharge focuses primarily on theatrical productions. Between them the two companies offer an array of service fees, convenience charges and delivery methods of varying prices.

Philip J. Smith, the president of the Shubert Organization, which owns Telecharge, said that the company would offer no comment on the charges. “We will not talk about this,” Mr. Smith said. “We do not ask you to comment on how much you charge for the newspaper.”

Bonnie Poindexter, a spokeswoman for Ticketmaster, said her company’s fees went for research and development, and for maintenance of the technology required. Frequently, she said, the fees are also shared with building owners or promoters.

Those who chafe at paying extra to print out tickets on their own computers do not understand the system, Ms. Poindexter said: “The infra structure that it takes to deliver a ticket electronically is much more costly than arranging it so someone is given a paper ticket. If you have it delivered this way, you can forward it, you can reprint it if you lose it, and more. It’s a big convenience, but these sophisticated tools and technology are costly.”

A Broadway ticket purchased through Telecharge has an added $6.50 fee; one bought through Ticketmaster comes with a per-ticket “convenience charge” of $7 or $7.90.

With Ticketmaster, a buyer can avoid extra delivery fees by picking up the ticket at the box office or having it mailed; Telecharge assesses $2.50 for those services. But Ticketmaster has an add-on of its own: an “order processing charge” of $3.10 for New York theater shows that “covers the cost to fulfill your ticket request,” including “arranging for shipping and/or coordinating with the box office will call.”

Unlike these ticketing fees, though, the restoration and facility fees are assessed directly by the theater owners. Livent, which once owned the Ford Center for the Performing Arts (now called the Hilton Theater and owned by Live Nation), introduced the fees to Broadway in 1997.

The Shubert Organization and Jujamcyn Theaters, which cumulatively operate 22 Broadway houses, soon followed suit. There are currently 32 Broadway houses (all except the Circle in the Square, Gershwin, Lunt-Fontanne, Nederlander, Neil Simon, New Amsterdam and Vivian Beaumont) and an increasing number of Off Broadway sites that charge some version of this tariff.

At the start of this year, Jujamcyn raised the restoration fee at its five theaters to $1.50 from $1.25. The Nederlander Organization instituted fees at five of its nine playhouses last year; it is joining Jujamcyn in the $1.50 club with coming shows at the Brooks Atkinson and Palace Theaters. And although $1.25 is still the norm, the Off Broadway Actors’ Playhouse recently began charging $2, a high for New York theaters.

Theater owners say this money is needed to restore their buildings, many of which have landmark status. “We have to restore to the look that was there before, versus a cheaper way,” said Martin Markinson, owner of the Helen Hayes. “The restoration funds don’t come close to covering it.”

However, many industry professionals question why theater owners require this extra income. When a show is in a given theater, the producers of that production cover a vast majority of the costs, from staff to toilet paper. Landlords receive a substantial base rent, a percentage of a show’s gross above a certain negotiated amount and revenue from other sources."

More on the NYT website

Updated On: 2/10/07 at 03:27 PM

[uncageg]

Posted: 2/10/07 at 3:46pm

I read the article earlier this morning. I think all of the extra charges are outrageous not mattr how they try to justify them. I was really annoyed by the comment by Philip J. Smith.

[kyle.]

Posted: 2/10/07 at 4:11pm

One of the scariest articles ever.

[courtnyj]

Posted: 2/10/07 at 4:47pm

“If there is going to be a restoration fee, there should also be a Renaissance fee, a Middle Ages fee and a Dark Ages fee. Someone must have men in the back room making up names, euphemisms for profit.”

So true.

[SDav 10495]

Posted: 2/10/07 at 5:17pm

I think I found a new signature...

[Hank]

Posted: 2/10/07 at 5:42pm

Curtains is the first show that had a fee for mailing me the tickets, so I opted to have them hold em.
All in all, my $65.00 ticket wound up costing me $78.50.
I agree, the on-line ticket fees are especially excessive, and it probably cost them less to process on line than at the box office.

[NJgirl]

Posted: 2/10/07 at 5:56pm

Tell me about it...31.50 Spring Awakening stage seats came up to 80 dollars for the pair. That's close to 20 bucks in surcharges tacked on.

[ikmbway]

Posted: 2/10/07 at 6:00pm

I read this article this morning. My mom said something very true. "We don't pay extra fees at restaurants to keep the restaurant standing, what's the difference in theaters?" A small fee is okay but to me it just seems so excessive.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 2/10/07 at 6:05pm

Try printing up ticket inof (instead of them being mailed to you) & you have to pay for the privilege of printing your own ticket

As long as people put up with this type of BS, it will continue.Look for them to increase on a regular basis.

You pay to improve their property which they than take off on their taxes. Some places idid zip improvement wise so the extra was just pocketed

Updated On: 2/10/07 at 06:05 PM

[Unknown User]

Posted: 2/10/07 at 6:22pm

It's really easy to avoid these fees: Walk up to the box office and buy the ticket in person. If you choose to sit at home and order the tickets remotely and then delivered to you, of course you pay more-- just like you pay more to have a pizza delivered to your living room than if you go get it yourself. There is only one reason they charge these fees: BECAUSE PEOPLE PAY THEM.

[SweetQintheLights]

Posted: 2/10/07 at 6:26pm

Joe, that's really not so easy for those who don't live in NYC.

The other day, my mommom bought 8 tickets for the family to see a show in August.
I was the one who actually ordered the tickets.

Just the taxes and extra fees came to almost 80$!!!

[gymdudeva]

Posted: 2/10/07 at 6:45pm

There's even a fee for e-mailing me the tickets!!!

[suzycat]

Posted: 2/10/07 at 7:08pm

That guy from Telecharge sounded pretty snarky...

"Philip J. Smith, the president of the Shubert Organization, which owns Telecharge, said that the company would offer no comment on the charges. 'We will not talk about this,' Mr. Smith said. 'We do not ask you to comment on how much you charge for the newspaper.'"

[SweetQintheLights]

Posted: 2/10/07 at 7:22pm

Now I can't remember but I think it costs money for them to hold it at the box office too.

Hello?!?! Do you want me to come pick it up that very second!?! If I were to do that, I would have just gone to the box office and bought the tickets!

[bially082]

Posted: 2/10/07 at 7:45pm

Why don't they just be up front about it and raise the flipping ticket prices? That's obviously what's really going on here...

[xM3L24x]

Posted: 2/10/07 at 7:53pm

I think the costs these days are absolutely ridiculous. I've only payed full price ONCE - for Wicked (there were no discounts).

It's insane that they expect people to pay so much... but people do pay. So the sad reality is that until a significant amount of people stop paying to cause the theatres to LOSE money, nothing will change.

[gymdudeva]

Posted: 2/10/07 at 7:54pm

That quote by Philip J. Smith is pretty bad public relations!!!

[James885]

Posted: 2/10/07 at 8:10pm

I agree, these extra fees that are tacked onto the ticket prices are outreagous. It's insane that ticketmaster charges you a fee just to e-mail the tickets to you.

[exedore]

Posted: 2/10/07 at 8:10pm

"It's really easy to avoid these fees: Walk up to the box office and buy the ticket in person. "

Actually, the Hippodrome in Baltimore charges $5 (flate rate? not sure) per ticket in fees even if you DO go to the box office. $2 is tacked on as restoration fee, the other $3 are for the privilege of having the box office hooked up to Ticketbastard.

[dramaqueen2]

Posted: 2/10/07 at 10:11pm

i agree with this article as do most of you.
i understand a service fee or shipping charge of $5 or under, but some of these things are becoming just absurd. after a certain point it would just cost me less to take the train to the city from pennsylvania where i live and pick up the ticket myself at the box office. it's scary what they are coming to!

[SuzyQzy]

Posted: 2/10/07 at 10:26pm

why isn't the restoration fee built into the ticket price to begin with? and why aren't the theatre owners responsible for their own restoration?

[SuzyQzy]

Posted: 2/10/07 at 10:51pm

sorry let me get this right

$1.50 (restoration fee) X 1,282 (seats in al hirshfeld) = 1,923

1,923 X 8 (shows in a week) = 15,384

15,384 X 52 (weeks in a year) = $799,968

someone check my math, is this right?

[JasonM12480]

Posted: 2/11/07 at 1:49pm

If it really costs $799,968.00 a year to keep a theater looking good and in working function, then there's a real problem. The bottom line is this - we, as a society, have gotten greedy. There is no physical, actual, REAL need to charge so much money for things - theater tickets, especially. If people actually LOWERED the ticket prices, people would find theater in New York more affordable, and would probably buy tickets - i.e. gain business, not lose business. As I have stated before - theater should be an event/activity that all people should be able to enjoy - not just rich people, or people who have extra income to burn.

[Dancin Thru Life]

Posted: 2/11/07 at 9:16pm

I remember when I was in high school most big touring concert tickets were about $10. One day "TickeTron" began charging a "service charge" of 50 cents, which we thought was outrageous and absurd back then! HAHA!

We would do anything we could to get a ride to the concert venue to pick up the tickets in person to avoid paying the extra charge.

Now, it's such a crime because there is a monopoly on where you can buy show tickets and the vendors can charge whatever they want, because the buyer has no choice.

$6-$10 to print a freakin' ticket???? It's crazy!

[morosco]

Posted: 2/12/07 at 2:06pm

This article fails to address Ticketmaster's dirty little secrets. There are a 2 charges usually hidden within what they describe as a convenience fee.

1) Promoter rebate. Often the "convenience fee" is bumped in order to net to the show (or the producer, the act, or the venue) a certain amount of money as an inside rebate. This rebate is not to be confused with a facility restoration fee.
2) Credit Card fees. The bank charges associated with using a credit card are passed on to the customer. They are also hidden within the "convenience fee".

How they can hide these charges within what's described as a convenience fee is beyond me.