#1
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
"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
David walked into the valley
With a stone clutched in his hand
He was only a boy
But he knew someone must take a stand
There will always be a valley
Always mountains one must scale
There will always be perilous waters
Which someone must sail
-Into the Fire
Scarlet Pimpernel
Updated On: 2/10/07 at 03:27 PM
