West Side Story revival?- Page 19

[fromagehomage]

Posted: 11/20/19 at 6:48am

ColorTheHours048 said: "While West Side Story is absolutely a well-known property and will most likely sell better than people are expecting (at least until it opens), you have to understand that unless a show is obviously a blockbuster (like Moulin Rouge), the producers are definitely holding seats for later release."

 

What if you want one of these tickets that was held back? I bought a ticket through Telecharge a couple days ago for 13th December for almost $400, which was the only seat left for the dates I’m in New York. Today I went on there again and there are at least 7-8 new seats for other dates for roughly half the price. Both my ticket and these new tickets are for premium seating. Telecharge has a no refund policy. Can I do anything about it?

[BJR]

Posted: 11/20/19 at 7:44am

Can it really be that it's almost completely sold out in December except for a 5 seats in the very front? That seems almost shocking. Usually during previews there's a smattering of singles, at least.

Trying to catch an early preview to see what they start with during their 2 months (!) of previews, but I ain't paying $200+.

[carnzee]

Posted: 11/20/19 at 8:32am

fromagehomage said: "ColorTheHours048 said: "While West Side Story is absolutely a well-known property and will most likely sell better than people are expecting (at least until it opens), you have to understand that unless a show is obviously a blockbuster (like Moulin Rouge), the producers are definitely holding seats for later release."



What if you want one of these tickets that was held back? I bought a ticket through Telecharge a couple days agofor 13th December for almost $400, whichwas the only seat left for the dates I’m in New York. Today I went on there again and there are at least 7-8 new seats for other dates for roughly half the price. Both my ticket and these new tickets are for premium seating. Telecharge has a no refund policy. Can I do anything about it?"

Call telecharge and politely ask to exchange. You will probably get it, and recieve a refund for the difference in price. 

[LuPita2]

Posted: 11/20/19 at 1:57pm

They hold seats back for every performance, for press and guests. And, they will slowly release more to the public as well. 

[Someone in a Tree2]

Posted: 11/20/19 at 2:17pm

We found it shockingly difficult to get 3 tickets for WSS during the crunch week between Xmas and New Years. Telecharge was a dead end. Stubhub had a few more reasonable prices (even with the 30% markup fees) for generally lousy seats for that period. We kept checking till we could find just a few okay seats at okay prices for the Sunday 12-29 7pm show. I still don't understand why this show is exponentially tougher to book seats for than either Hadestown or To Kill a Mockingbird have been in the past. Mysterious.

[ModernMillie3]

Posted: 11/20/19 at 2:25pm

Well, that's a really insane week tourist wise, so I am not surprised. However, mysterious certainly sums up this entire production!

[Impossible2]

Posted: 11/20/19 at 5:46pm

Someone in a Tree2 said: "We found it shockingly difficult to get 3 tickets for WSS during the crunch week between Xmas and New Years. Telecharge was a dead end. Stubhub had a few more reasonable prices (even with the 30% markup fees) for generally lousy seats for that period. We kept checking till we could find just a few okay seats at okay prices for the Sunday 12-29 7pm show. I still don't understand why this show is exponentially tougher to book seats for than either Hadestown or ToKill a Mockingbird have been in the past. Mysterious."

I think most things now hold back tickets to help combat touts. Try closer to the actual date. If you stay on it you can get great tickets a few days before or even on the day.

[Globefan]

Posted: 11/20/19 at 7:06pm

Maybe they'll put the cut material back in if the audience wants it during previews. 

[Someone in a Tree2]

Posted: 11/20/19 at 7:25pm

"I think most things now hold back tickets to help combat touts. Try closer to the actual date. If you stay on it you can get great tickets a few days before or even on the day."

I'm flummoxed. There are gobs of tickets available on the reseller sites, just at astronomical prices. So we're supposed to plan our shows for one of the busiest weeks in the year by not buying any seats a month and a half out, but rather just taking our chances and seeing what pops up over Christmas? Sounds wacky and will leave us with even fewer sure seats. 

Again I'll ask, why is West Side apportioning so few seats to the public during December, utterly unlike all other hot tickets in town right now?

[Miserent]

Posted: 11/21/19 at 11:25am

I’m sure the tickets are selling well as opposed to being held back.

[LuPita2]

Posted: 11/21/19 at 2:21pm

Hundreds of tickets are on resale websites, it's simply a matter of people paying 300% mark up, which they will not. This is not Hamilton. 

[GreasedLightning]

Posted: 12/2/19 at 8:04pm

https://www.instagram.com/p/B5eOmfLpxTH/?hl=en

Came across this photo on Instagram, looks like maybe a glimpse of the set (or should I say, screen?). 

[GeorgeandDot]

Posted: 12/3/19 at 5:49pm

^I'm not sure that's a screen. Looks more like they built a facade onstage.

[keen on kean]

Posted: 12/3/19 at 6:51pm

Looks very two-dimensional to me.

[GreasedLightning]

Posted: 12/3/19 at 9:00pm

The side of the brick building is most definitely not a physical structure. To me, it looks like a giant projection screen. But who knows.

[theaterdude2]

Posted: 12/3/19 at 9:34pm

FromageHomage said: What if you want one of these tickets that was held back? I bought a ticket through Telecharge a couple days ago for 13th December for almost $400, which was the only seat left for the dates I’m in New York. Today I went on there again and there are at least 7-8 new seats for other dates for roughly half the price. Both my ticket and these new tickets are for premium seating. Telecharge has a no refund policy. Can I do anything about it?

Yes. Call telecharge and explain. The same thing just happened to me at The Inheritance and they exchanged my seats for the newly lower priced ticket. I was pleasantly surprised at how helpful they were. 

I also had trouble finding a single ticket for the first week of Jan in the front orchestra. There was only ONE ticket at $375. But what I discovered last week while seeing a bunch of shows were that many seats got released 48 hours before the performance date. It's a little scary and unnerving to wait, but I don't think I have a choice at those prices. I'm not sure why, but they are definitely holding tickets back. 

[Rosette3]

Posted: 12/3/19 at 9:56pm

theaterdude2 said: "FromageHomage said:What if you want one of these tickets that was held back? I bought a ticket through Telecharge a couple days agofor 13th December for almost $400, whichwas the only seat left for the dates I’m in New York. Today I went on there again and there are at least 7-8 new seats for other dates for roughly half the price. Both my ticket and these new tickets are for premium seating. Telecharge has a no refund policy. Can I do anything about it?

Yes. Call telecharge and explain. The same thing just happened to me at The Inheritance and they exchanged my seats for the newly lower priced ticket. I was pleasantly surprised at how helpful they were.

I also had trouble finding a single ticket for the first week of Jan in the front orchestra. There was only ONE ticket at $375. But what I discovered last week while seeing a bunch of shows were that many seats got released 48 hours before the performance date. It's a little scary and unnerving to wait, but I don't think I have a choice at those prices. I'm not sure why, but they are definitely holding tickets back."

There's also a range between 200 - 400 tickets for dates starting in Jan on StubHub right now.

[magictodo123]

Posted: 12/4/19 at 6:17am

BJR said: "Can it really be that it's almost completely sold out in December except for a 5 seats in the very front? That seems almost shocking. Usually during previews there's a smattering of singles, at least.

Trying to catch an early preview to see what they start with during their 2 months (!) of previews, but I ain't paying $200+."

Two months is a lot but didn't Spiderman have a lot more? 

[trpguyy]

Posted: 12/4/19 at 8:52am

GeorgeandDot said: "^I'm not sure that's a screen. Looks more like they built a facade onstage."

It’s a video wall. I posted about it several weeks ago. 

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 12/4/19 at 9:50am

Rudin had 6 weeks of previews for Carousel and Shuffle Along. Considering Christmas/New Years is in the middle of previews and they probably wouldn't rehearse during the day that week, I don't think 2 months is out of the ordinary –– especially for a revival that is making changes to the text.

Honeymoon in Vegas had similarly long preview period (Nov 18-Jan 16), with Thanksgiving/Christmas/New Years in between.

I've never understood complaints about a lengthy preview period (as long as it's not, you know, Spider-Man-length). It's an opportunity to improve the show and make it as good as it can be when the critics come in. Sometimes with shorter preview periods, the Director is working up til the final day before Press Nights, with the cast only doing the "frozen" show 1-2 times before critics judge it. Most producers are afraid of a long preview period if they feel the show needs reviews to succeed.

[QueenAlice]

Posted: 12/4/19 at 10:22am

Long preview period are about one thing: raising money. A production legally can raise money until opening night. Most shows raise a substantial amount of their capitalization during previews.  If a show makes artistic changes that better the production in that window too, that's great, but its not usually the reason a show like WEST SIDE STORY will have 6 weeks or more of previews.

[JSquared2]

Posted: 12/4/19 at 10:44am

QueenAlice said: "Long preview period are about one thing: raising money. A production legally can raise money until opening night. Most shows raise a substantial amount of their capitalization during previews. If a show makes artistic changes that better the production in that window too, that's great, but its not usually the reason a show like WEST SIDE STORY will have 6 weeks or more of previews."    

The producers are Scott Rudin, Barry Dilller and David Geffen --- raising money isn't gonna be a problem.




 

[QueenAlice]

Posted: 12/4/19 at 11:57am

JSquared - Scott Rudin was the lead producer on CAROUSEL and they had a hell of a difficult time raising money.  

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 12/4/19 at 12:05pm

Didn’t Rudin say his number one rule was that he’ll never invest his own money into his shows?

[QueenAlice]

Posted: 12/4/19 at 12:40pm

No smart producer ever puts their own money into shows.