ONCE back on TKTS

[TheatreKid3]

Posted: 7/28/12 at 7:38pm

ONCE is on TKTS today at 30% off. I don't know if this is the first time since the Tony's or not, but is the first time I've noticed. Kind of surprised to see it back on already. We'll see if it stays there the rest of the week.

Anyone else surprised?

Updated On: 7/28/12 at 07:38 PM

[VanFan]

Posted: 7/28/12 at 8:01pm

yes!! and i just paid for a full price ticket.Ahh. MAybe they had a big group cancel

[TheatreKid3]

Posted: 7/28/12 at 9:05pm

Possibly. It's just surprising, especially with it being a saturday evening performance.

[grumpyoptimist]

Posted: 7/28/12 at 9:13pm

Could be their premium seats aren't selling out. I love the show, but last weekend I paid $250/seat for K row side orch seats to take some friends (granted, the seats were on the center aisle). Little steep for that location that far back...

[bdn223]

Posted: 7/28/12 at 9:18pm

its been on TKTS every day this week and TDF within the past 2 weeks TDF bumped up to showing on the board to rarely to occasionally to frequently....

[chewy5000]

Posted: 7/28/12 at 10:51pm

I smell a closing notice

[bdn223]

Posted: 7/28/12 at 11:18pm

More like a discount code/lowering of ticket prices

[keb2]

Posted: 7/28/12 at 11:27pm

Forgive my obtuseness, but why on earth would it close when it's still earning over $1 million a week?

I don't think a show being on TKTS is necessarily an indication that it's about to close—if it were, every show except Lion King and Wicked would be posting closing notices.

[winston89]

Posted: 7/29/12 at 1:49am

For what it's worth, on Friday I contemplated snagging a ticket at TKTS (went to do something with friends instead.) When I checked the app, Once wasn't on the boards (which wasn't a shock to me.) But, when I got there at an hour to showtime, I saw Once appear on the board. It seemed to me that they were holding off until the last moment to put tickets for sale at TKTS.

[jv92]

Posted: 7/29/12 at 2:02am

I guess people who saw it realized it wasn't that good, even with a Tony Award.

[After Eight]

Posted: 7/29/12 at 8:42am

Well, this is slightly encouraging. I guess you can't fool all of the people all of the time.

If you recall, the producers immediately jacked up the prices once the show won the Tony Award. Its grosses rose accordingly, which was met with glee here by some people who couldn't see past the nose on their faces.

Now, a little over a month later, the show is offering tickets at tkts. There is price resistance. And that is good. But even with 30% discounts on some of the raised-price seats, the producers are still raking in more money than they did before the price increase. They're a savvy bunch, and they know that you make hay when the sun shines. In this case, it's make as much as you can until the word gets out.

I guess the word has gotten out.

Updated On: 7/29/12 at 08:42 AM

[spike3]

Posted: 7/29/12 at 2:23pm

This may come as news to few or many on this board but ONCE is a show with limited audience appeal. Nothing about it screams heavy tourist traffic, so its limited as to who it attracts.

The theatre fans, and people who haunt the boards (not an insult)are the ones who mainly have gone to see this show. And face it,there are only so many repeat visits one can make, and standing room, or student rush tickets dont pay the bills.

A stage version of a little known movie that has no "names"-remember the tourists love the TV and Hollywood types- is just not gonna drag them in.

Look soon for the casting of second tier "names" in the hopes of keeping it alive after the advance and theatre buzz goes.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 7/29/12 at 2:25pm

Perhaps Loretta Swit will finally get her chance at superstardom!

[bdn223]

Posted: 7/29/12 at 2:57pm

I honestly think Once's producers would have been better keeping prices where they were prior to the Tony sweep...it would have sold out through the summer and remained a "hottest ticket in town" show longer alla Wicked, Mormon, Lion King, and even Newsies which didn't raise prices, and has remained a must have. Meaning that Newsies is maybe only on TKTS only for matinees rather than 8 shows a week like Once.

[TheatreKid3]

Posted: 8/1/12 at 4:30am

Yesterday, ONCE was at TKTS for 50% off.

[mamaleh]

Posted: 8/1/12 at 9:57am

Agree with AfterEight here. For me, ONCE is the perfect illustration of the emperor's having no clothes. I cannot understand the lavish praise many have heaped on that dreary one-note show, especially its Best Musical Tony. Granted, the staging is interesting, but its cloying, look-how-simple-and-heartfelt-we-are-so-you-have-to-love-us quality is nauseating. So glad I sampled it through that $26.50 rush instead of forking over more $$. Just not worth it.

[After Eight]

Posted: 8/1/12 at 10:29am

One of the oddities here is, if this show is now appearing more often at tkts, and at a greater discount, how is it that its grosses continue to rise, seeing that the price hike has been effect now for over a month?

They must be selling more premium tickets.

Pity the poor folk who ending up shelling out such sums for this.

Imagine how they must how feel about being suckered.

See how critics and awards can have an inimical effect on the theatre?

[dramamama611]

Posted: 8/1/12 at 10:54am

Why do you assume that most people feel suckered upon leaving the theater? I have no idea on percentages, but I'll go out on a limb that an awful lot of folks leave feeling satisfied with their experience.

I'm not begrudging your opinion of the show, just that you think everyone else does (or should) agree with you.

[winston89]

Posted: 8/1/12 at 11:17am

Dramamama, I must say that I totally agree with you.

Once is a good show. Yes, it may not be everyone's cup of tea, but personally, I think that there is great material there that is preformed rather well. There have been many people that have seen it, thought that they weren't going to like it or that it wasn't their cup of tea, and walked out of the theatre realizing that they were wrong. It's okay to not like a show. Hell, there are plenty of shows that people here praise to high heaven about but I can't stand. But, one doesn't have to belittle those who do like it or come off with a sense of being superior to those that do enjoy it.

With that being said, you need to realize that it is rather hard for shows to be constant sell outs like Wicked or Lion King etc. And, considering that Once doesn't have huge sets or a big running cost, I think that it is foolish to assume that this show being on TKTS for a couple of days automatically equates a closing notice. Lots of shows are up there nowadays that should be sellouts. Look at the economy we are in.

And, After Eight, most people who do buy premium tickets do so because they are unaware of anything else. They are typically tourists who are buying theatre tickets through a kiosk in their hotel that only sell tickets at those prices. They are unaware of telecharge or TKTS and prior to buying tickets have the midset that Broadway is expensive. So, they shell out big bucks for tickets that they could get for a lot cheaper. If anything, you should feel sorry for them because producers pull the wool over their eyes and are able to get away with this as a result.

[adam.peterson44]

Posted: 8/1/12 at 11:27am

Tourists will sometimes also tolerate paying more than they would be willing to pay at home for the certainty of getting a ticket on the date(s) that they will be in town. In a lot of cases, the travel itself (plane ticket, hotel) is a large fraction of the trip cost, and if the purpose of the vacation trip was to see Broadway shows, then it would be penny-wise and pound foolish to take one's chances and hope that the tickets you want will be at TKTS on the date that you are there, once you have already shelled out for transportation and lodging.

That is why it would not be worth seeing a bad show even for free as a tourist, since one is still paying a lot just to be there. At home, on the other hand, tourists can go to many more plays and shows (including more off- or off-off-Broadway type stuff) and not worry if the occasional one is a dud, since those will be cheaper anyway.

[Kad]

Posted: 8/1/12 at 11:42am

...considering it's pulling in over 1 million a week and its average price is $125, I'd say it's doing fine.

TDF is not a sign of the end times for a show.

[themysteriousgrowl]

Posted: 8/1/12 at 12:04pm

How disappointing you are, Kad. I used to think you were one of the smarter posters, but you're pepetually proving yourself as blissfully blind as the rest of the rabble around.

Updated On: 8/1/12 at 12:04 PM

[Auggie27]

Posted: 8/1/12 at 12:05pm

It's doing just fine. Plenty of shows offer late-released tickets in the last hour of TKTS sales; in fact, it's the only time I visit the line anymore. I got stunning house seats to P&B there 1/2 hour before curtain during Tony voting season at 50%. (Admittedly, P&B hasn't done as well as expected, over the long haul.) Unless you're LION KING, WICKED or this past spring, SALESMAN obsessed, the booth can offer up big surprises. I've used it for 30 years, and have gotten opening nights seats just before curtain (Mary Tyler Moore in WHO'S LIFE; I was in jeans, everyone else in black tie) and even late-released premium seats (TALK RADIO).

Updated On: 8/1/12 at 12:05 PM

[themysteriousgrowl]

Posted: 8/1/12 at 12:06pm

**covering ears and stamping feet wildly**

NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!

PEOPLE ARE STARTING TO WAKE UP!

[FishermanBob]

Posted: 8/1/12 at 6:52pm

@themysteriousgrowl - You tell 'em, brother! What right do these folks have to enjoy a show if YOU didn't think it was good. They must be suckers. Guys like winston89 who feel people should be able to have differing opinions on something as subjective as whether a show was good and still be able to treat each other respectfully...are fools! And let's continue to put as much of our comments in caps as possible TO MAKE SURE THEY CAN HEAR US.