Ticket Prices on the Rise... Again!- Page 2

[ThankstoPhantom]

Posted: 4/23/06 at 12:58am

The whole ticketbroker thing is dumb. I don't understand how the producers "lose money" because of them. Here's my reasoning...

The ticket was going to be bought for $111.25 anyway! Even if it wasn't going to, at least they're doing you a favor! So if no one was going to pay $500 for it, the ticket would still have been bought. Producers just want in, that's all, so they make everyone else suffer for ticket brokering.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 4/23/06 at 10:04am

The prices are never coming down

Having said that, Vegas is worse. We got tickets for Elton John . The ticket prices were high but they than tack on about $ 17.50 per ticket for something called a convience fee. If that is not bad enough, you have to pay to actually get the ticket. If it is sent to you they want to add on another obscene charge but just to print them out, on your paper as an e ticket , they charge you $ 3.50 each. My wife justified it as it was a vacation, my 60 th birthday & she wanted to see him. With all we see, without discounts & TDF we would see a fraction. We still do not see a lot but you cannot see everything. Another reason they continually raise prices is that they have individuals out there who see shows multiple times & will pay whatever is asked of them. Where they get the money escapes me. These same people would not give a beggar on the street money . They will pay $ 4 for a cup of coffee but complain about the price of gas without trying to go into all the reasons ( other than it is GWB's fault)why oil is going up. The days of cheap gasoline are gone forever like inexpensive theater tickets. Watch them try to raise the bar again with Mary Poppins. I like Short but not enough to pay what they are asking so .....

Barnum was right. There is a sucker born every minute & we in the theater going public fit the bill - no disrespect intended

Updated On: 4/23/06 at 10:04 AM

[bdwybug55]

Posted: 4/23/06 at 10:06am

Hah...Mr. Roxy...LOVE the Barnum quote! So true....this MUST STOP!!!!!

[mejusthavingfun]

Posted: 4/23/06 at 11:47am

This is absurd. I guess somehow they think these prices will make up for empty theatres. They are really killing most consumers ability to see a broadway show. America gets it's vote every season when CBS shamefully airs the Tony's which only Rosey O'donnell and Richard Simmons watch. I blame everyone for this. Especially the lead actors. I heard Lapone talking on NPR about Sweeny and how initially the director started the concept of actors playing insruments to save money. I thought it innovative, but really sad because that's not the way i want to see theatre, and why should cost dictate art. Funny thing though.. Sweeney IS regular price. I really think Broadway should be coming up with other avenues to fleece people. I have always thought DVD recordings would be a coo, but only a few producers feel that way. At the very least, they could telecast specials to promote the shows and bring down costs. I heard Elton John talking about the use of electronic strings or some instrument in Lestat because it is too costly so they turned to electronic methods.

What is really sad is that this hurts the consumers so much. I live in New York partially to see live theatre. My parents come as tourists and it is supposed to be the highlight of their trip. At $111 I don't think so. Last time I bought mom and dad tickets and sat it out. I dont know what NYC would be without it's shows. They work all year round and most things in NYC are seasonal. It is really the bread and butter of the tourism.. or should be. Something must be done.

[Ravenal]

Posted: 4/23/06 at 3:07pm

It seems to me that I remember a bunch of new americans who weren't happy with the state of affairs about 225 years ago and they DID SOMETHING ABOUT IT! If the colonists had the guts to stick it to a war mongering king, I think that maybe we could organize a protest or form picket lines outside the box offices. It could bring a little attention to this extortion and possibly plant a few seeds of sedition and people might actually think to boycott these prices! A run-on-sentence i know, but I just get so mad.

[mejusthavingfun]

Posted: 4/23/06 at 3:56pm

i second that,,, what we need some some kind of acronym or something. and a press release. maybe rush ticket people can all wear the same color so everyone in the theatre knows cheap seats do exist.

[ThankstoPhantom]

Posted: 4/23/06 at 4:02pm

I want to at least start a campaign to boycott premium seats and orchestra seats until they are lowered, although I'm nevous it would close shows.

I did some math:

WICKED has a production cost of 675,000 a week. Weekly they exceed this at 1.4 million.

This is how low prices could go for them to keep getting close to a million WITHOUT premium seats:

PROPOSED PRICES (without the restoration fee or any other surpluss charges)

ORCHESTRA: $75
FRONT MEZZANE: $70
Rear Mezzanine: $35

With a week of 100% capacity: $925,680!!! would be made for the week. That's a profit of $250,680!

*My math and sections of the theatre were based on the information from this site: http://www.nederlander.org/wicked/gershwin_seats.html

In actuality, I'd hope for more varied prices. I was giving this as an example to show how much cheaper prices could be.

Updated On: 4/23/06 at 04:02 PM

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 4/23/06 at 5:39pm

I still propose that Lincoln Center release their archives and use the proceeds to help lower ticket prices and get more people into seats. Obviously Julia Roberts is going to fill a house, but when you have superb shows like SOUVENIER that are only filling 25% some weeks, that's just sad. But at $100 a seat, I can understand lack of attendance.

No Broadway show should cost more than $60-$70 for 2 hours of entertainment, I don't care how many green witches fly in it.

[mabel]

Posted: 4/23/06 at 6:05pm

I totally agree, Jordan. Why does every show feel they can charge what the latest big budget musical does. Is there some rule that every musical must now charge $111 since Pajama Game (or whatever show it was) pushed it up that extra bit? Must every play charge $96? Sure, some shows can get away with it and sell out, but others can't and close early.

I'm going to use Taboo as an example here. Top prices, no preview discounts, not on TKTS for a hell of a long time, a shoddy "deal" for students (what student can pay $50 for a show, let alone find a friend to shell out that much, so you can do the buy one get one nonsense). The show was at, what, 45% for most of the run? There's no need for that. Wouldn't you rather slash prices and come close to filling the house rather than play to 30-40% houses at full price? And hey, if you're getting more asses in the seats at a discount, that's all the more people to spread the word if your show is decent.

And what's with the $100 seats creeping all the way through the mezz? The Wedding Singer with the whole house at $90-110, except the last two rows??? Come on! I was looking through some old InTheater magazines when I was home over my winter break and found it quite surprising to see so many $30-75 tags in there. Sure, the occasional show has a couple rows for $35 like Sweeney, but even that's becoming a rarity.

[ThankstoPhantom]

Posted: 4/23/06 at 6:06pm

They'd make so much money it's almost incomprehensible. I'm dying to see shows I never had a chance of seeing: Nine (revival), etc...

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 4/23/06 at 6:16pm

Mabel, the answer to your question is either they have to charge that much money to pay the big star salaries they have and also every show would like to believe that they're going to be the next big thing to hit Broadway so of course they should charge top dollar. Why if they didn't they'd be losing money, in their eyes! It's absurd and it's not going to change any time soon.

[mabel]

Posted: 4/23/06 at 6:46pm

Oh, I certainly don't expect it to change. My questions were more "why are they being so obnoxious?" questions than anything else.

It's like the subway fare hikes. They've gone up significantly since I came here for school 4 years ago. Are they ever going to come down, even if they end the year with a surplus? Certainly not! They didn't even come down a few years ago after it was revealed that they weren't in debt, but had a mulit-million dollar surplus. Plus, they raised fares again, something like a year and half later (wasn't it?) when they'd said after their error on the previous hike it'd be years before fares would go up again.

They all do it because they can. People need to ride the subway, and even though it sucks that there have been hikes, people will still pay it. Shows don't need to charge $110, but people pay it for one hit and everyone follows suit. Some shows fold prematurely because of this, but no body cares about the big picture.

It's sad, really.

[Kass983]

Posted: 4/23/06 at 7:34pm

This post is a bit long, I apologize.

Though I'm not in NY and the big name tours rarely come to my area, I still enjoy live theatre. It is insanely expensive though and I always have to alternate which of my children can go with me. It's not exactly an affordable family evening out, and I often have to miss a show entirely. Bills or a show, bills or a show.....not hard to do the math.

All of this big business greed strikes me as blatantly elitist and has served to keep the numbers of those that attend live theatre at it's low percentage for decades. There are literally millions of people who would give theatre a chance if not for the absurd prices. Simply because the rich and the tourists, who have saved quite possibly for years, will pay the steep prices does not excuse the obvious lack of access those prices make the shows for the rest of the population.

I find it appalling and morally telling that even local libraries don't have a medium through which the economically challenged can learn about and see what Broadway theatre has to offer. Not everyone can even afford to go to college, so a student discount won't help them.

If the prices are going to remain high, and even if they bring them down a bit, all shows should have at least the OBC recorded and sold on DVD. People with money to burn would still pay the high prices to see the show live, as would tourists and those devoted to live theatre; so there would be no money lost, quite the contrary. They would vastly broaden their fanbase and eliminate the "need" for (ahem) those illegal thingies (ahem) altogether. Not to mention, continued revenue for shows that are now closed.

I for one would be more than happy to pay $100+ for a DVD of a musical and STILL see the show in NY, once I had the funds.

[mabel]

Posted: 4/23/06 at 8:25pm

I think the fact that both Chicago and The Producers are doing relatively well after their movies were released (don't know how Rent has been doing lately) is telling in that even with the cheaper film option available, people still want to see live theater. Didn't attendance at Chicago go up after the film?

I know that's not quite the same as releasing recorded versions of live shows on DVD, but I think it makes the whole thing more worthy of consideration/investigation. I'm sure most people that have bootlegs of their favorite shows don't let that hinder their repeat visits. I saw Long Day's Journey in to Night and The Pillowman four times each (with rush/SRO/and one full price at each), and I still would have gone that many times even if I knew a DVD release was on the horizon for after they closed. There's nothing like seeing it live, if you have the means to, and having shows preserved would be a wonderful way for people who aren't able to see a whole lot of theater to see some great shows. And it's all just extra cash to be made.

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 5/13/06 at 11:55pm

I think everyone is effected by live theater. It's just entertaining and it's so cool to be sitting in the same room as them. Seeing it unfold right infront of you. It has to be all the production costs or the idea of spectacle. Shows cost so much to produce now because of production costs. Shows like Sweeney and Bee shouldn't cost as much as they should. I'm glad I saw Sweeney, but I agree that they should have lower ticket prices. I'm sure Michael and Patti aren't getting that much in salary. They've already made back their invest.

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 5/14/06 at 1:27am

Producers are gonna keep raising ticket prices, but I think they're gonna reach a point where the ticket sales are going to drop because they are charging too high prices. Then I would think they'd be forced to lower ticket prices down.

[DreamFlyer22]

Posted: 5/14/06 at 1:37am

Actually, Spamalot was the first, followed quickly by Wicked- (AKA: the big-name shows that people would pay just about anything for anyway). All the other shows quickly upped their prices to match so they weren't missing out on an opportunity to capitalize.

The same mentality finds theaters changing around their student policies and lottery policies. While these "cheaper seats" are still available, us lucky winners/students are rapidly being relegated to the less desirable seats. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels moved their lotto winners from the front row in to the boxes... Jersey Boys moved their student seats from Row W in the orchestra to the side obstructed view seats... it's capitalism, folks. Plain and simple. And as long as Americans, on the whole, continue the "grumble but pay anyway" attitude, there isn't much to be done about it.

[emo_geek]

Posted: 5/14/06 at 1:50am

Who would pay that much for that show

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 5/14/06 at 1:54am

Rich people or people who would do anything to see a hyped show.

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 5/14/06 at 2:15am

Absolutely! Sweeney should charge less, im glad i paid only 36 dollars for that. Anyways, i refuse to pay more than 60 dollars for shows, but guys, we always have TKTS with tix available for all shows for half price, why don't you guys take advantage of this? i think the problem is that people only want to see a few shows playing, why don't expand out horizons and see other shows besides Phantom, Wicked and Sweeney and the usual Bway hits? If a show doesn't have reasonable tix, i assume the show doesn't need my money, so i skip it and see another one. Most shows have student tix, SRO and other options anyways.

Updated On: 5/14/06 at 02:15 AM

[Millie315]

Posted: 5/14/06 at 3:37am

Yeah well they are now going to start raising the ticket prices now that it's Tony season as well. One the Noms go out on Tuesday the shows that are up for one will most likely rais their ticket prices. It's what happened last year so I'm sure they will do the same this year.

[broadway_show_fan]

Posted: 5/14/06 at 3:57am

And you know, people wonder why live theatre has become a back-burner of mainstream entertainment.

I'm sorry to have to say that, but it's rare that average joes are going to want to just pop into a theatre to see a live performance when they can be lazy and cheap and use netflix. So many people, especially in my area, are even skipping out of the movie theatres because it's $8-10 at least. Compare that to a local community crap theatre doing Sound of Music by my house and having adult tickets be $18... well it's no wonder.

But honestly, what CAN we do?

[chasing_rainbows43]

Posted: 5/14/06 at 1:07pm

Everybody's got great points here, but I think there's an element missing from the "united in price" argument. It's a psychological thing - think of it as quality control.
People want and expect more bang for their buck. Pricing shows equally puts the perceived show quality - this is all in terms of tourists, mind you - on a level playing field. They strive to avoid the mentality of "Well, if Wedding Singer is 111$, and Piazza is only 95$, Wedding Singer must be better, since they're able to charge more for tickets". Additionally, the higher price tag raises the "sense of occasion" associated with seeing a Broadway show. "Events" like that are more likely to be surrounded by dinner, drinks, hotel stays for those who are coming in from a longer yet commutable distance, etc. It's not just greed - it's keeping up appearances.

[dramaqueen3]

Posted: 5/14/06 at 11:20pm

This is so ridiculously sad. As a theatre student, I can't even afford to stay well educated in my chosen field.

I think it's partly greed on the producers fault and snobbery and naivety on the consumer's part. But whatever the reasons boil down to it's ridiculous and unnecessary.