Young Frank- Mel's Big Mistake- Page 3

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 6/29/07 at 4:45pm

The critics will have a field day with the cost of the tickets. This is going to give them a chip on their shoulder when they come in & it will not be another Producers. Wait until out of towners see the price of tickets. They will stay away in droves

Mel's greed will hurt him big time

[wonderfulwizard11]

Posted: 6/29/07 at 4:49pm

"The critics will have a field day with the cost of the tickets. This is going to give them a chip on their shoulder when they come in & it will not be another Producers."

Have you seen the reviews yet? Tell me, what does the New York Times think?

"Wait until out of towners see the price of tickets. They will stay away in droves"

Like they stayed away when The Producers charged $480 (and yes, this is also AFTER Broderick and Lane left.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 6/29/07 at 4:52pm

Most of the Orchestra in the producers was not premium seating

I simply do not think the critics will give him a pass & give him a second set of monster reviews

I stand by my statement re tourists. The bubble has to burst sometime

[wonderfulwizard11]

Posted: 6/29/07 at 4:54pm

Well, we'll wait until the reviews come out. However, I doubt the critics will care about the ticket prices.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 6/29/07 at 4:59pm

Time will tell

I still have no intention of seeing it for a few years down the road until the replacement cast is there & discounts start appearing. Somehow my life will go on if I do not see it right away.

[Tkt2Ride]

Posted: 6/29/07 at 5:37pm

I think the prices are outrageous but I also know there will be people who will pay those prices. Adding more seating at this price could backfire when you have a few rows of empty seats. Usually though, won't they just fill them with friends, to make them look good?

Just buy your tickets at a discount. You are foolish if you think you will get a good seat without buying one in advance if the show is popular. In the beginning this show will be. Maybe he isn't hoping for a very long run? I only hope that he is paying his Cast well at those prices. I know I would have to put a few riders in my contract if I was working under those circumstance so that I too benefited from those prices.

The worse the seat is, less I will pay and you can count on my looking for the best deal possible, if tickets are really overpriced for the good seats. I expect some to be very expensive but he needs to be careful not to scare off those who don't frequent the shows as much. They will just skip it and find something more reasonable, like rent the DVD.

It will be the difference between paying $60 or $100 for my ticket. He is counting on a big majority willing to pay scalper prices up front. Sure, this means more tickets will be available maybe for the show for late comers but he is gambling that so many late comers will show up regularly and I wonder if it will really work? Time will tell. Yet at those prices, it can have a negative effect on those who don't look to the Theatres on a regular basis, so it is a risk I wonder if worth taking? Especially since with this Show he had the potential of attracting a bigger Audience who recognize it as entertaining. With those kind of prices though, it will scare off at least a few who might have come otherwise. I am not sure how this is a positive move on his part?

[TechEverlasting]

Posted: 6/29/07 at 5:46pm

Poor Mel. What a terrible mistake he's making.

All sorts of media outlets are reporting his new record ticket prices, and people who otherwise would never have a clue that this musical is on the way are reading about and discussing Young Frankenstein without the production spending a dime for advertising.

If it were only possible for Broadway box offices to make adjustments according to how sales are going, to discount seats at short notice or otherwise be flexible this wouldn't be so bad, but I'm afraid Mel has doomed this little show...

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 6/29/07 at 5:50pm

Totally agree

Some good may come out of it. If it flops because of this, than it may prevent another money grubbing producer from doing the same thing in the future. It would be worth it if it got people to take notice of the insanity of ever escalating ticket prices

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 6/29/07 at 6:03pm

This could very well turn out to be a good thing. Broadway pricing is at a phase where it has to get worse before it can get better and I think we're really entering that phase right now. Yes, there will be many people who will pay $500 for a ticket to a show like they did for THE PRODUCERS. However this is not the St. James - this is the Hilton, a much larger house. And while those people will pay that price, I just don't think there's enough of them out there to pay it every single night and fill that enormous barn.

[cooperross]

Posted: 6/29/07 at 8:46pm

"I think the show would stand a chance if the prices were normal."

The ticket prices ARE normal..there ARE orchestra and dress circle seats available for standard prices.

Jersey Boys doesn't seem to be suffering for charging "Premium" prices, and neither did "The Producers."

Updated On: 6/29/07 at 08:46 PM

[cooperross]

Posted: 6/29/07 at 8:49pm

"The fact that the producers didn't sell without Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick should be a sign, that the show was only successful because of them."

Funny..I don't recall them doing the entire run of the show...

[TechEverlasting]

Posted: 6/29/07 at 9:14pm

Consider this: What other new Broadway show could send out a "discount" mailer for $110 center orchestra seats during previews?

It's called marketing folks!

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 6/30/07 at 6:38am

>> sean nmartin erm my point is that the name obviously sold that show

Names dont mean squat, sorry. Look at all the hit movies that became flop stage pieces -- Saturday Night Fever and Carrie come to mind immediately. Look at all the well-known actors and producers and directors and authors and musicians who seem bulletproof and yet got their fingers dirty with misfires (Pirate Queen, anyone?). As someone else pointed out, there are no sure things. Sure, YF may be a huge hit. It could also be next season's Pirate Queen. We wont know until it open -- or, as is more likely around here, someone starts THE OFFICIAL "I SAW THE REHEARSAL/HEARD THE DEMO/TRICKED WITH SOMEONE FROM THE CAST AND IT'S GONNA BE HUGE!" THREAD, and then of course we'll know for sure long before the Times, just as we all know for certain long before the broadcast that Raul was winning that Tony.

The issue of the cost of the seats? A non-issue, since every show is doing it, even the beloved CHORUS LINE, folks. Producers and marketers have now established that every Broadway show is gonna have those uber-pricey seats, so we might as well deal with it and move on. It's not like anyone around here would ever pay full price anyway, so why moan and complain about something that doesnt affect you directly? You'll still get your $25 seat, but as long as you get yours, someone else will have to shell out the 400-plus to compensate if you want this show to hang around longer than a few days.

[TechEverlasting]

Posted: 6/30/07 at 8:04am

I'm optimistic about Young Frankenstein being a success, but it's a good point that anyone who thinks having one huge hit means the next show will also be a huge hit should check with Boublil and Schonberg.

Premium show tickets are just capitalism at is best. Supply and demand has always created huge mark-ups for the best seats at hit shows, but in the past this extra money went into the pockets of parasitic ticket brokers and other scalpers. (A great deal of it went into the pockets of corrupt box office workers and others who gamed the system. How many of those guys ever invested their profits into putting on new shows?) More of this capital is now going back into the productions, and is now making Broadway shows potentially more profitable.

I don't know if anyone else has noticed, but a lot of shows are closing lately because they can't make enough money. I think high premium ticket prices are the last thing any theatre lover should be complaining about.