so are premium tickets popular??

[eatlasagna]

Posted: 6/16/06 at 8:59pm

ok... maybe it's just me... but i don't think i'd ever want to pay 250 dollars or whatever they cost for any show... even 100 is too much for even some of the best shows for me... so my question... how are these doing? are tourists buying these up or just really rich people? just curious

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 6/16/06 at 9:54pm

Extremely popular. When they started selling these the day after the Producers opened to universal raves, the group in charge (The Broadway Inner Circle) wasn't sure how well the idea would go over with the public, so initially there were only a few dozen prime seats set aside per performance. The demand was overwhelming, so that now every single show on Broadway has premium seating and rather than it being just a few dozen seats, it's now well over a hundred (rows B through K in the center in most theatres and even more than that sometimes). While it seems outrageous and unfair, given that the Knicks, Giants and major concert venues have been charging over a $1000 for prime seating for many years (courtside seats for the Knicks go for $2500 a piece), it was inevitable.

Producers are simply being fiscally responsible to their investors and maximizing the potential income a show can bring in (and taking some of the money for prime seats out of the hands of scalpers and brokers). There's apparently very large class of people out there with ridiculous amounts of disposable income, so don't expect the premium seating trend on Broadway to go away any time soon, unfortunately.

Updated On: 6/16/06 at 09:54 PM

Posted: 6/16/06 at 9:57pm

The specially-priced divan seating in some of the theatres didn't seem to last that long. Anyone remember those?

[SallyBrown]

Posted: 6/17/06 at 10:41pm

Look now. When I go to Broadway, it's with my whole family. So we tried getting Color Purple tickets, and we were all "oh! now what is premium tickets all about?" So..a total of about 350 dollars..multiplied by like 5.......reallly not gonna happen.

But some people can afford it. I know if I could afford them then they would be SO popular for me.