Ticket prices - need info on the history of tix prices

Are there any good news articles or analysis that has been done on broadway show ticket prices? I'm trying to research the history of the price of admission to shows... so any links to studies or articleso or surveys is greatly appreciated...

I know this isn't really what you're looking for but here's a New York Times article from 1987 speculating that ticket prices for musicals will hit an unheard of $50.00!
Broadway Ticket Prices Slowly Rise

thanks for the link..

Wow, only 50 bucks? I want those prices!

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It was major news in 1965 when ON A CLEAR DAY... started charging $11 for Saturday night seats.

From OKLAHOMA! (1943) through HELLO DOLLY! (1964) the top ticket doubled from $4.80 to $9.60. (That's over 20 years.)

By the time CHORUS LINE came along in 1975 it was $15.

Liza Minnelli's THE ACT (1977) was asking for (and getting) $25

42ND STREET went to $35 (with house seats offered for $50..David Merrick assured us it was just to thwart scalpers.)

With a few years the top ticket jumped to $45 (1984) $47.50 (1987) and $50 (1988.) Then JEROME ROBBINS' BROADWAY came in asking for $55 in 1989.

By 1994 SHOW BOAT came in with a $70 ticket while the awful SUNSET BLVD got away with $75.

By the century's end $90 was the regular top. THE PRODUCERS opened with a $95 but soon took it to $99 with the best seasts in the house going for $480!

We thought they had reached their max when teh $100 ticket became the norm but now most shows charge $120. (No wonder people on here are always asking for discount codes and deals!)

To put it in perspective a top seat to OKLAHOMA! in 1943 cost about the same as the original cast album (on 6 10-inch records.) Today a cast album costs $20 and a ticket to the show is 6 X that.

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My folk's tickets for FUNNY GIRL with Barbra Streisand in Fall 1964 were $10.50. Orchestra Center Row C.

Opening Night tickets for SWEET CHARITY (1966) were $15.00 each. They were printed on legal envelope size gold tickets. Orchestra Center Row R.

I seem to remember that sound and music used to be the most important aspect of theater, so the most expensive seats in the house were up in the mezzanine and balcony and the cheap seats were in front. At some point, people started caring more about the view and the spectacle, so the ticket prices switched.

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When I saw RENT, Phantom, and Les Mis on broadway in December 1998 I got the best seats I could and they were all $75.00.

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Updated On: 2/19/08 at 02:44 PM

I still have my original ticket stub from "Shenandoah" in 1977. It was $13.50 for orchestra seats.

I used an inflation calculator that said:
"What cost $13.50 in 1977 would cost $48.67 in 2007."

How many Broadway musicals cost under $50 today?

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What I *love* about theatregoing nowadays is that most of our 'hot ticket, must-sees' can be worked at discounted price. When I went to see JACQUES BREL... for $19.68 ('cause they had this whole thing where for a limited time, tix would go for the year it officially opened Off B'way). Then, for MIMI le DUCK (don't hate), I got 3 tix (treating my mom and her bf) for $17.00. The cheapest B'way tickets I've ever purchased came in the form of either XANADU ($45, BB-105 and 106) or A BRONX TALE (which I got for $40-something if I'm not mistaken). As for Broadway plays, I've been lucky (only having to pay FULL PRICE for shows I buy well, well, well in advance - due to the star attached). Though, to be fair, with the three Disneys I've seen (Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King and Little Mermaid). I only got discounted seats for BEAUTY ('cause of the 'impending closing' ($65, A-105 and 106). My motto is: "If you have the money, go for it!"

This is show-specific (to A Chorus Line - original production) ... in the back of the book THE LONGEST LINE, I believe there is a history of all the ticket prices from previews through closing. I know it lists the weekly grosses for the 15 year run, but I think ticket price increases are listed as well.

thanks for the insight on the book listing the prices...

so saigon was the first show to break the $100 point?

how about information on salaries for the actors?

Updated On: 2/19/08 at 08:59 PM

In 1975, the best Center Orchestra seats were $15.00 ON SATURDAY NIGHT. On Friday night, they were only $10.00.

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