Theatre too expensive, says Catherine Tate

Interesting, though not plausible...

"People need to learn to appreciate theater for the art that it is and appreciate the its unique experience...Theater can never be duplicated. That is the sheer beauty of it. You have just experienced something that only a small number of people will ever experience. That is special."

Nicely expressed!...indeed, theater is an extremely special and individual experience, though, at the same time shared with many. As in daily life, the moments we live are unique for that moment;theater is just a more condesed version of unique moments, displayed onstage. And if it's well represented, it is a wondrous art :]

Rush, lotto and promotions are a good equalizer...
vote for me so I can see ACL

I agree with what's been said.

Things do get very expensive, but there are reasons for the prices.

However, you can see some of the biggest shows for 25 quid. Whether it be sitting at the back or via the lotto/student rush/day seats. If you want it that much and can't afford it, put a little effort in and find out about these things.

The good thing about the prices of tickets is the fact it 'filters' out people who don't really care. Take cinemas for example, you nearly always get some idiotic teenagers just messing about.

But you (usually) don't get that in theatre, because everyone has shelled out more. There's an element of one either going to a show as a treat, so you appreciate it more...or you are a regular theatre goer and just really enjoy the culture. Either way, there's respect and a certain air of culture in the audience.

I agree with GothamPC that theatregoers are feeling more entitled especially when it comes to cell phones and texting. While watching Boeing Boeing last week, a woman's phone rang several times and she proceeded to answer it and have a conversation!! The next night at In the Heights, a girl and her bf in front of use couldn't stop texting and chatting throughout the entire show. So rude!

You paid to see it now let yourself actually see it - turn OFF the cell phone - not just mute or vibrate or beep or... turn it OFF!
I paid just as much as you did (hopefully less) and I want to see the show - not you.

I do wish though that all tickets were 50% the day of and that some of lottos and rush were not limited to students.

A good West End ticket may be £50-£60 (which is $100-$120), but in terms of drinks at a bar or McD's happy meals or whatever, it's much cheaper in London.

Not when I was there in April. I had breakfast at McDonald's and it is around the same price as Times Square (Copenhagen costs more, however). The one edge the West End has over Broadway with regards to tickets is a broader price range. Very few Broadway shows even offer ticket prices under $50, whcih means you have to cross your fingers for TKTS or lottery and maybe rush tickets if any shows offer them and you meet the criteria.

It's good that she would take a pay cut, but would the rest of the cast agree? maybe not.

I doubt it unless they are receiving star salaries. Broadway star salaries are obscene and only contribute to the problem. When I think of what people like Michael Crawford, Nathan Lane, Matthew Broderick or Julia Roberts makes per week, and then look at Equity scale for chorus or even supporting roles in the same shows, and add "premium" prices for what used to be plain old orchestra seats, I get physically ill.

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One of the things that has always bothered me is that Broadway charges the same price for a preview as it does for the regular run. I wish that producers would discount the preview shows.

Also, IMO, the West End has better talent than Broadway. Actors in the West End really know how to act.

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I use them, but rushes and lottos are insulting. As Tate suggested, theater should be inclusive, ESPECIALLY to students (not that I am one any longer). If you watch the Golden Age of Broadway movie and hear those stars talking about how theater cost less than a movie ticket, it really makes you sad about how we have to experience theater today. Like Sondheim said in that movie, theater has become a special experience - one where if we don't feel we truly got our money's worth, we still give a standing ovation at the end of the show just to make us feel like we did. Theater isn't supposed to be this. Until recent history, theater WAS the great equalizer - everyone could go see it. Yes, there have always been "sections" (think the Globe), but everyone was able to go. It's hard to lament the state of theater artistically when the producers have priced themselves out of any but the rarest show that dares to be different or unique. How many retreads of movies and jukebox musicals have we seen in the past decade? Not that some of these can't be good and artistic in their own right, but at the prices we're seeing now, people don't want to pay for an unknown quantity. It's AMAZING to me that a show like In the Heights (which I loved) is being even remotely successful, given the climate of the theater world due to prices.

Back to my original statement: those of us (which, I gather is most of us on this board) shouldn't be forced to deal with lottos or rushes or even have to pay 60 dollars a ticket on discount because we CAN'T AFFORD THE REGULAR PRICES. I make a decent living, but there's no WAY I am ever going to pay 125 dollars for just myself (and I almost never pay for just myself) plus train fare or parking plus dinner for one night's entertainment.

I truly believe that high prices have chased away a LOT of people who otherwise would love to go to the theater. If the prices were lowered, I think more people would go, thus creating the same amount of business -- unfortunately, today's market is all about making the most money THE QUICKEST WAY POSSIBLE.

It's a damn shame.

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Speaking of the high cost of tickets, what annoys me even more than the actual price being charged by the producers or the theatres, is the wildly popular use of scalpers. There are hundreds of tickets available to shows like Jersey Boys and South Pacific -- but not at the theatres. You have to use one of the scalpers who bought the tickets out and now resells them for $300 to $500 and MORE each. The saddest part of that is that it is working, as there are obviously plenty of people willing to buy these tickets at those prices, and scalpers are buying out more and more shows all the time.
Fortunately scalping has not reached the rampant proportions in London that it has on Broadway.

Yes, but sadly the ones who are willing to pay that are all those rich out of towners and business people who NEED to return home and say "we saw _________ on Broadway", while those who want to see lots of good theatre often can't afford to thanks to all those "expense account" execs who can. Meanwhile I wish those big profits could at least be going back to the production (isn't that why they started premium seating?) rather than some non-affiliated scalpers making the big bucks.

You know, that's a point I meant to bring up also Hest -- movies are getting just as bad, if not on the scale. Since I'm off for the summer, I've spent a lot of the last couple of weeks holed up in my house working on my writing. Yesterday I ventured out to see a movie (Wanted - way better than I expected, but I digress) and was AMAZED to see that the matinee prices at the theater I go to that JUST LAST summer were only 5.25 had gone up to 7.50! It just so happens on Tuesdays they have their "discount" day where all movies all day are 5.75. Now, that's been a bargain for regular movies for years, but that's fifty cents higher than what was NORMAL last summer!

All of this is a huge blinking spectacular neon sign that we're in a recession, and that this divide between those who can afford entertainment and those who can't is going to continue to widen. I don't know where the breaking point will be that people will simply stop being able to afford movies (let alone theater) but it's coming...

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