Ticket prices - need info on the history of tix prices

[rayoflight104]

Posted: 2/18/08 at 9:01pm

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...

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 2/18/08 at 9:02pm

Search BWW and the NYTimes.com Theater Section.

[morosco]

Posted: 2/18/08 at 9:07pm

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

[musicalmaster703]

Posted: 2/18/08 at 9:26pm

lol

[rayoflight104]

Posted: 2/18/08 at 9:28pm

thanks for the link..

[george95]

Posted: 2/18/08 at 9:40pm

Funny you mention this because I caught a rerun of "Katie & Allie" today and were attending a Broadway show (there was a huge poster for CATS right outside the theater) and they went outside during intermission, and Allie was mad because she paid for the best seats in the theater, which were $32.00 (this was about 1984) and the show was bad.

Also, a few years ago, for some kind of anniversary, Phantom had a sale where the top seats went for the original 1988 price of $50.00

[suicidalmickeymouse]

Posted: 2/18/08 at 10:22pm

Wow, only 50 bucks? I want those prices!

[winston89]

Posted: 2/18/08 at 10:26pm

Then came the days when the producers realized that anyone would pay anything for a ticket thus they jacked up the prices to an an ungodly amount.

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 2/19/08 at 1:13pm

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.

[jv92]

Posted: 2/19/08 at 1:16pm

David Merrick was asking for the unheard of sum of $15 for orchestra seats for Promises, Promises in 1968.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 2/19/08 at 1:20pm

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.

[morosco]

Posted: 2/19/08 at 1:35pm

Ahhh...1975 and a top price of 15 dollars. Yes, it seemed expensive back then but relative to today's prices I don't remember it seeming unreasonable. Back then you could see a show and not like it but you never felt like you wasted too much money. Today's prices are outrageous and I get angry when the show is bad and I feel like I've wasted a lot of money.

I can remember being able to afford to see more shows as well. Now it's just too expensive to see all I'd like to see. (Not to mention that there's a lot of crap currently playing.)

[Yero my Hero]

Posted: 2/19/08 at 1:53pm

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.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 2/19/08 at 2:40pm

I have two ticket stubs from the Opening Night of HELLO, DOLLY! (1/16/64). They were 3rd row center and cost $9.90...and we thought it was outrageous then!

[george95]

Posted: 2/19/08 at 2:44pm

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.

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

[jordangirl]

Posted: 2/19/08 at 2:48pm

I don't remember the prices ~ probably because everything was bundled together ~ but in the spring of 1988, I was with a smallish group on a UN Study tour and we saw A Chorus Line, Starlight Express, Les Miserables, and The Fantastiks. Now the same tour group can maybe only see one show.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 2/19/08 at 2:52pm

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?

[philcrosby]

Posted: 2/19/08 at 3:50pm

I still have my first Broadway ticket stubs ... Wednesday matinees for both APPLAUSE and COMPANY, and they were $7.50 each.

[LimelightMike]

Posted: 2/19/08 at 3:52pm

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!"

[broadwayrules]

Posted: 2/19/08 at 3:55pm

I know the first $100 seats were for the best seats at Miss Saigon.

[WestVillage]

Posted: 2/19/08 at 5:21pm

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.

[Broadwaylady]

Posted: 2/19/08 at 6:29pm

I remember broadway shows in the 80's and they were $50.00 -$55.00.

[rayoflight104]

Posted: 2/19/08 at 8:59pm

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

[vinnylin]

Posted: 2/19/08 at 9:18pm

Yes, when Miss Saigon opened in 1991 CamMac charged $100 for front mezzanine tix, which were considered the best view for the helicopter scene in the second act. Orchestra seats were $60. After some time at that price, he got rid of the $100 tix, and the top price for mezzanine and orchestra seats became $65.

You might want to take a look at the weekly grosses on this site, variety and/or playbill, as they generally list the top ticket prices for the various shows. It will give you the historical view of ticket prices, at least going back as far as the data available on line.

[miss pennywise]

Posted: 2/19/08 at 10:24pm

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