Questions for Roxy, Dollypop and any other loooong time theater patrons — Page 3

As an avid Broadway theater attendee since 1972 (first show was the original Broadway cast of PIPPIN at the Imperial Theatre - I was 7 years old), I can answer a few questions.

I can easily say that the first HAMILTON-type craziness for me was when A CHORUS LINE popped up Off-Broadway in 1975. Though other shows did create a big buzz, the only other show to match it's madness was THE PRODUCERS in 2001. THE PRODUCERS is also responsible for creating the Premium Seats option when they discovered people were easily paying $1,400 per ticket during the show's peak. They quickly figured charging $450 a ticket was affordable to most. Seems it was hence how it's now become a standard ticket buying option. The Rush Tickets option began when RENT arrived in 1996. It allowed young people (or anyone) an affordable way to see the show if you put some effort (camping out overnight outside the theatre). The revival of CHICAGO immediately followed suit. RENT and CHICAGO allotted their front row Orchestra seats as their Rush Tickets.

The other obvious difference was the etiquette and respect seeing a Broadway show brought. People dressed up and treated the experience as a sophisticated form of entertainment. No one brought food. No drinks were allowed to your seats. There were no sippy cups.

There's my input.

Me when I finished scrolling through this hilarious thread:

Hogans, that's A8's rationalizing away the onset of dementia. He makes up ALL the snark he posts about contemporary shows without seeing them. Poor old cow.

Hellob,

I saw your additional questions, and I'll respond to some of them.

"B- Has there always been long running shows like today or is that a newer phenomenon after A Chorus Line opened? Before ACL, what was considered a long running show?"

There have always been long running shows for their eras. The long runs have become longer with the passage of the years --- just as the quality has plummeted. Before ACL, Oklahoma!, My Fair Lady, Hello, Dolly!, Fiddler on the Roof and Grease all held the long-run records. As for plays, the reverse has happened (as far as long runs are concerned, not quality). The three longest -running plays are still Life With Father (1939), Tobacco Road (1933), and Abie's Irish Rose (1927).

"C- You mention the general complaints about current theater goers but did the "classier" attendees of yore not ever have similar traits (minus devices). There's always that stereotype of the woman with the big hat and huge fur."

I recall Walter Kerr's review of Step on a Crack (1962), in which he commented on a woman's bouffant hairdo, wondering how the person behind her could see the stage.

"D- do you ever see a time (non health related) that you will give up theater and be content with PBS?"

Health and /or finances could very well make that decision for me. As it is, both, in addition to inclination, have caused me to cut down on my theatregoing, though I still trudge doggedly to shows.

"Is the thrill still there?"

No, but the bug still is. And that is one tenacious bug. It has to be, to endure the amount of wretched fare I sit through. I guess once bitten, forever smitten.

"Has there been any recent shows that have moved you and reinforced your love?"

Yes, wonderful revivals of plays of yore, eg. Gigi, The Fatal Weakness, Happy Birthday, Fashions for Men, and just last week, Women Without Men, have allowed me to experience the same feelings of joy and elation that I knew long ago. They make it all worthwhile.

Updated On: 2/19/16 at 06:32 AM

I remember hearing from older friends who were there about the lines wrapping around an entire city block and meeting back at the theatre box office at the other end for "South Pacific" when it first opened. "Hamilton" is by no means the first or biggest "fervor" of its kind. It's just the latest and the one you can see with your own eyes.

Roxy can't even keep his own celebratory thread from becoming another Hamilton bitch session.

Mr Roxy said: "A poster above put " $450 a ticket affordable to most"

I seriously doubt most of the theater going public thinks that is reasonable price for a ticket. If so, one would need to be quite rich to see most shows on Broadway during a season and some multiple times."

When it cost less money for round-trip airfare to NYC from anywhere in the continental USA than it does for a single premium seat for a Broadway show, it's no longer affordable for the average theatre-going public. We've come a long way from $6.60 and $8.80 as the top prices.

I love knowing that the tkts booth was there when the top price for an orchestra ticket was $15.

$6.60 and $8.80 were the top prices in the late 1950s. I'm not sure how that translates in inflation dollars. I can tell you that when I saw the OBC of "Cats," I paid the then-unheard-of top price for any show on Broadway of $40. That was 1982.

Here's the section I wrote in its full context. I was stating that producers obviously know there IS a market and audience who CAN afford $450 Premium Seats which is why they exist. I didn't say the average person can afford that but that there are those that can and producers know this. Also, the $1,400 tickets were being sold by scalpers and successfully. THE PRODUCERS' producers thought quickly and gave birth to the now-existing Premium Seats every show now offers.

THE PRODUCERS is also responsible for creating the Premium Seats option when they discovered people were easily paying $1,400 per ticket during the show's peak. They quickly figured charging $450 a ticket was affordable to most. Seems it was hence how it's now become a standard ticket buying option.

"It is about bragging rights"

It's not about f****ing bragging rights. A lot of people have waited a long time for a musical that is actually this good. I saw it the first time (as did many here) for peanuts when no one knew what it was. And as many others have said, the hype is no hype. You don't like it (or, to be more accurate, you don't think you would like it). Great. It happens. But do not dare tell me or others here that we are cattle; that's just ignorant.

best12bars said: "$6.60 and $8.80 were the top prices in the late 1950s. I'm not sure how that translates in inflation dollars. I can tell you that when I saw the OBC of "Cats," I paid the then-unheard-of top price for any show on Broadway of $40. That was 1982.

"

$8.80 in 1958 is $72.14 today and $40 in 1982 is

$103.11 so it seems relatively expensive and still a luxury. The 1982 rate would probably pay for a discounted orchestra seat today but the 1958 would most likely put you upstairs. Thanks for the information since it helps to put things in perspective.

Regarding ticket prices, $40 for a ticket to CATS in 1982 was definitely an exorbitant outlier in the ticket pricing norms of the time. I know my center orchestra seat to a Saturday matinee of A CHORUS LINE in 1975 was $15. If you want to calculate the inflation since then, I think that would be a more legitimate mean starting point.

The insanity surrounding getting a seat to HAMILTON will tell you exactly what it was like trying to score a seat to ACL back in '75, with the one major difference of the outrageous costs of dreaded premium seats you have today. But the endless lines for any cancellation tix at each performance, the strategies for when to snag a place on line, the gamble of dealing with a 3rd party broker, all the bragging rights once you actually saw the show-- yeah, the whole experience in 1975 was pretty much a match for today.