Scalping is illegal in some states, but it happens all the time, especially now that the Internet makes it so easy.
I have major heartburn about selling above the face value, because it encourages greedy companies to buy up every ticket they can get, reducing the availability through legitimate sources. I suppose the countering argument might be that the company isn't buying up tickets, but subscribers who don't want tour tickets are offering them. Still, it drives me crazy when, months before the individual shows open up on tour to non-subscribers, they're available online at insane prices. It drives me even crazier on Broadway, because it means that people are deliberately going in early and speculating in tickets, reducing the availability for the rest of us.
One of the ways to stop all this is obvious: The theaters should allow refunds (perhaps minus a handling charge) for touring shows. For Broadway, they can do it for hits, where getting a ticket is very difficult. That's a win for everyone, except for profit-seekers whose bottom line is thriving under the black market system.
Audrey, the Phantom Phanatic, who nonetheless would rather be Jean Valjean, who knew how to make lemonade out of lemons.
