What’s up with the prices for Mr. Saturday Night?

[suicidalmickeymouse]

Posted: 2/4/22 at 5:25pm

They start at 199. Is this show expected to be a hit?

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 2/4/22 at 5:29pm

It’s basically the same as “Music Man”, besides the few $99 seats offered for that one. But yes, it’s ridiculous to charge $200 for the last row of any theater. 

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 2/4/22 at 5:31pm

It's Billy Crystal. A beloved icon doing his first Broadway musical. They are expecting that he will be a massive draw for ticketbuyers.

But if he isn't, then of course they will discount...

[BCfitasafiddle]

Posted: 2/4/22 at 5:35pm

I hope they do a rush. 

[jkcohen626]

Posted: 2/4/22 at 5:38pm

Fake demand basically. They know people associate higher prices with higher demand (it is a basic economic principle after all), so they jack up the prices to make it seem like a "prestige" in-demand show. 

[adotburr]

Posted: 2/4/22 at 5:45pm

jkcohen626 said: "Fake demand basically. They know people associate higher prices with higher demand (it is a basic economic principle after all), so they jack up the prices to make it seem like a "prestige" in-demand show."

Then they’ll look at all the available seats and see none have sold and won’t buy anyway. All that theory does is get them to the Telecharge page (I think Telecharge). It doesn’t get anyone to buy tickets. It will do exactly what we’re talking about - patrons asking why charge that much for a ticket to a show that’s not selling. 

[broadwayindie]

Posted: 2/4/22 at 5:45pm

I mean the one thing consistent about ticket prices is that they are not. They don't often go "down in price" but I mean if the theatre consistently looks like... well how it currently looks like it should be an easy ticket at TKTS or rush

[jkcohen626]

Posted: 2/4/22 at 6:12pm

broadwayindie said: "I mean the one thing consistent about ticket prices is that they are not. They don't often go "down in price" but I mean if the theatre consistently looks like... well how it currently looks like it should be an easy ticket at TKTS or rush"

Although that is still lowering your price to meet demand. The demand isn't there to sell at the current rate, so they use services like TDF and TKTS to offer tickets at prices people will pay. It's the same thing as just dropping prices, in effect. 

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 2/4/22 at 6:15pm

The belief is that it's better to lower prices than raise them. The show doesn't start previews for 7 weeks and we're in the dead of Omicron winter, so there's plenty of time to turn things around. Or maybe it will flop. Who knows.

[supersam1026]

Posted: 2/4/22 at 6:22pm

BCfitasafiddle said: "I hope they do a rush."

At this point it seems like this will be the first rush to be over $100! Or like $99 (hey, it's still a $100 discount!)

[adotburr]

Posted: 2/4/22 at 6:29pm

It’s possible selling though TDF, TKTS, or TodayTix would get patrons to purchase tickets since they think they’re getting a discount but actually paying full price still. 

[JasonC3]

Posted: 2/4/22 at 6:48pm

Seems like some aggressive price anchoring going on more and more nowadays.

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 2/4/22 at 7:03pm

Times are tough and this is commercial theatre. In a biz where 3/4 of shows fail financially, the producers will try to maximize profit potential and charge whatever the market will bear. If it doesn't work out, they'll lower the prices. And when your star is Billy Crystal and you're trying to recoup during his engagement, the creative team doesn't work cheap.

Remember, they also know that a hot or star-driven show will be catnip for ticket scalpers (as Nederlander has seen firsthand with Hamilton).

If you don't like the prices, go see something else. People are constantly fixated on prices for a few rare shows each season, when the vast majority of other shows have tickets available for in the inexpensive $30-$75 range.

Updated On: 2/4/22 at 07:03 PM

[SouthernCakes]

Posted: 2/4/22 at 7:08pm

Has it even been advertised in Nyc? 

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 2/4/22 at 7:16pm

SouthernCakes said: "Has it even been advertised in Nyc?"

Is any show that's opening in April advertising much in NYC right now? It's a dead time of year and pouring money into subway stations or billboards or taxi TV is a colossal waste of money. It's early. They'll get more bang for their buck with digital and direct mail at this stage of the game.

[pmensky]

Posted: 2/4/22 at 8:10pm

One factor contributing to the high ticket prices could be that Billy Crystal may not want to do the show for more than six or seven months, and they may not be confident that the show would live after his departure. Crystal only did 700 Sundays for seven months 18 years ago. It was a massive success recouping its investment of $1.8 million in four weeks and grossed about $22 million during its run.

[South Florida]

Posted: 2/20/22 at 5:51pm

This is so sad.  A terrible movie with a no talent taking it to Broadway.  Nobody will go to this.

[HogansHero]

Posted: 2/20/22 at 6:11pm

This one raises a LOT more questions than it answers so far. File under we shall see.

As to the pricing, they don't mean all that much any more once you get past the sucker sales. And the suckers don't buy the rear mezz at the Nederlander, at any price. As a price point, this does not seem like a bad aspiration. (But you all know what I think of aspirations. )

[tomwsjr]

Posted: 2/20/22 at 9:41pm

I have absolutely no Desire to see a Billy Crystal musical!!!   

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 2/20/22 at 9:55pm

Good thing you don't have to, Tom! 

[HogansHero]

Posted: 2/20/22 at 11:37pm

tomwsjr said: "I have absolutely no Desire to see a Billy Crystal musical!!!"

This comment does not speak to the subject of this thread. It is another one of those "this show is not my taste" posts as to which I recently made a comment similar to what I am going to say here, which is that it reflects a sort of analytical confusion that's popular on this board and that I never understand what point is being made. Color me frustrated.  

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 2/20/22 at 11:51pm

A few thoughts prompted by this thread:

1) My belief since this was first rumored is that the venn diagram of Billy Crystal fans and Broadway musical fans is nearly a perfect circle. My expectation is that this will be a hot ticket at least at the beginning...but time will tell, and I'm managing expectations.

2) I'm guilty of complaining about stars flocking to revivals instead of new works...and here's a major actor cowriting a musical that he's passionate about, and we know he's wanted to do a Broadway musical for a long time.

3) With screen-to-stage adaptations, we often see people taking great movies and making poor musicals, instead of taking something that needs some improvement. Here's a flawed movie with decent bones (sort of a watered-down Sunshine Boys) that could perhaps be improved as a stage musical, and with Billy now being age-appropriate.