Riedel: NEW HIT: $25 FOR AISLE - PATRONS KICKED IN WALLET

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 8/8/08 at 9:31pm

(I'm started a new thread on Riedel's column today, because in addition to Mr Roxy's inability to spell, he failed to provide a link to the article he was talking about in his thread, not to mention his vague thread title.)

ANYWAY...

Michael Riedel, The New York Post, August 8, 2008

NEW HIT: $25 FOR AISLE - PATRONS KICKED IN WALLET

THE city is careening toward recession, and what do theater owners do? Raise ticket prices!

Variety announced this week that Jujamcyn Theaters, the third-largest landlord on Broadway, has tacked surcharges of $17 to $25 on aisle seats at "Gypsy," "Spring Awakening" and the upcoming revival of "The Seagull," starring Kristin Scott Thomas.

Jujamcyn calls this piggy move "pricing to value and demand - two on the aisle is what so many theatergoers want."

Let me get this straight. After years of cramming people into the most uncomfortable seats in the world, theater owners now want to charge you for the privilege of not having bruises on your knees by intermission.

Broadway's never been so accommodating!

But why stop at aisle seats?

If the airlines can charge for headphones, why can't Jujamcyn charge for infra-red hearing?

A little deaf are you? Not our fault. That'll be $15, please. You want the sound in both ears? Thirty dollars.

Reactions to Jujamcyn's "pricing initiative" - which is code for GREED - range from the amused to the appalled.

"I'd pay $20 to sit on the aisle at 'The Seagull' just so I can get the f - - k out of there after the first act," says one producer.

A source who works in the murky world of ticket brokers says Jujamcyn is "looking to find every which way to bring in more revenue before the whole market collapses."

And so our theater owner, rich and fat but still not satiated after a decade of gorging, spies a smear of foie gras on an otherwise empty plate and scoops it up with a pudgy finger for a last lick before the banquet's over.
Link

Updated On: 8/8/08 at 09:31 PM

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 8/8/08 at 9:34pm

Killing the goose that lays the golden egg.

[thetinymagic2]

Posted: 8/8/08 at 9:54pm

Like I mentioned in a previous thread: "there's a sucker born every minute" (PT Barnum). I get it...supply and demand economics. Will "the people" ever boycott these practices, ie. "surcharges", "restoration fees", "aisle seats (pricing initiatve - lmfao))", "premium seats". An emphatic NO. Too bad the theatregoing public at large accepts this. You sheeple deserve what you get, if you buy these seats. You're just plain stupid. Sorry - I had to say it...

[once a month]

Posted: 8/8/08 at 11:09pm

It's another sign of the times, but it annoys me even more than the gas prices! The greed! I was lucky enough to have discounts orch aisle seats for both Gypsy and Spring Awakening, I usually try to hold out for those aisle seats, but no more!

[once a month]

Posted: 8/8/08 at 11:09pm

Updated On: 8/8/08 at 11:09 PM

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 8/9/08 at 8:24am

I still don't understand the pair sales thing. $135 for one aisle seat, and an additional $135 for the second-to-last seat.

I guess they're assuming married couples with a grumpy old man who likes to stretch his legs will take the aisle seat, while his agreeing wife will take the seat next to him. He makes the money, anyway, and woman must abide. She's lucky to be seeing the show in the first place.

[Lynnespock2]

Posted: 8/9/08 at 8:42am

This truly sucks. Don't they want people to buy tickets? Price me out of the market it seems, I work for a living, rather than living off others.

[scaryclowns223]

Posted: 8/9/08 at 9:02am

I love Noel Coward.

And I love him even more now that I know he reads Michael Riedel.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 8/9/08 at 9:47am

To Tiny Magic

Thanks for bringing up my past quotes (Mr Roxy's Greatest Hits) This does however prove my point doesn't it?

[jasonf]

Posted: 8/9/08 at 10:39am

I wonder if anyone has ever read any statistics about the demographics of Broadway audiences. What percentage of an average audience are wealthy patrons who buy full price tickets versus those of us who aren't so well off and get our tickets through TKTS or tdf or lottos or rushes? I'm just having a hard time imagining that the "wealthy" portion of the potential audience for Broadway is large enough that producers can keep hitting them up for more money while they push away all the rest of us. If nothing else, I'm SURE the "lower class" (because let's face it, that's what we are) would be more likely to bring return business, not to mention there are simply so many MORE of us. In the last two weeks I've heard three different people say they just stopped going to the theater because the prices are too ridiculous.

When will the producers learn?

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 8/9/08 at 10:42am

Never.

The beat goes on.

[frogs_fan85]

Posted: 8/9/08 at 11:09am

The demand for premium aisle seating in the orchestra at the Metropolitan Opera is quite high, so I don't doubt that there is a large group of theater goers who would be willing to pay that amount to guarantee themselves an aisle.