HBBrock said: "There is zero entitlement at all on my end. I live in NYC and see hundreds of shows. It's called being smart and smart shopping. For a show that will need to be heavily discounted, I'll wait to get tickets. And if the producers choose to let seats go empty, that's fine too. I paid full price for The Music Man, Company, Six, and I plan to pay full price for West Side Story when they announce reopening. But I am not going to be an idiot and pay full price for every show when I see as much theatre on and off Broadway as I do."
Thanks for the explanation of your intention. It's easy to write things that get taken the wrong way; I think if you read back over what you wrote, you might see how so many read a sense of entitlement into it. Regarding expectations, I think we all have to recognize that "business as usual" is more of a fantasy than a reality, and producers (and others) are taking a wait and see approach to things, as I mentioned above.
HBBrock said: "There is zero entitlement at all on my end. I live in NYC and see hundreds of shows. It's called being smart and smart shopping. For a show that will need to be heavily discounted, I'll wait to get tickets. And if the producers choose to let seats go empty, that's fine too. I paid full price for The Music Man, Company, Six, and I plan to pay full price for West Side Story when they announce reopening. But I am not going to be an idiot and pay full price for every show when I see as much theatre on and off Broadway as I do."
Privilege is being able to afford to see hundreds of shows, some at full price. I also think there’s something to be said for the fact that you’d spend full price on multi-million dollar productions of known, commonly produced entities, but you’d be an “idiot” to pay full price for an acclaimed new work by a new playwright on Broadway.
There’s nothing wrong with exercising your ability to see hundreds of shows if you have the privilege to do so, and there’s nothing wrong with looking for the best deal available for any given show. If that’s your MO, it makes perfect sense to pay more for the hot-ticket shows, and less for the smaller shows.
But HBBrock, I think the reason you came across as entitled is that you chose to write a post complaining about $40 rear-mezz seats as if that was totally unreasonable, when by all standards, it’s actually a very low price for a non-discounted seat. If you wanted to hold out for rush tickets, you could’ve just done that without posting a complaint, or you could’ve even said that you planned to hold for rush tickets because it’s the best option for your circumstances. Your post came across like you thought the producers were doing something wrong, when in fact, it just wasn’t the right ticket-option for YOU personally. Not everyone has the flexibility to wait for rush tickets, and not everyone can afford to pay the extra money for TKTS, even if it means getting more bang for their buck with seat quality. And for that matter, not everyone has a problem with sitting in the rear mezz.
Just a tiny add-on to JBroadway's post, with which I agree. One could reasonably post a disagreement with the producer's wait and see approach re discounts, but that's not how HBBrock's post came off. We all get to decide for ourselves how to spend and not spend our money. I can buy a flashy Dolce & Gabbana blazer (TBC, I don't) and still buy my underwear from the closeout bins at Uniqlo (I do).