$132.50.........Stop the insanity
$132.50.........Stop the insanity
lynnetoomey
Understudy Joined: 5/8/09
#1$132.50.........Stop the insanity
Posted: 1/15/10 at 1:28pmWith "La Cage.." posting their ticket prices, it is now clear that $132.50 is the NORM for a Broadway musical. I was never one to get on the "Broadway is too expensive" bandwagon, but this has put me over the edge. And, don't even get me started on the "holiday week" pricing. The lovely "Finian's" and "Ragtime" would have met a better fate with tickets even $15.00 less.
#2$132.50.........Stop the insanity
Posted: 1/15/10 at 1:29pmIt really is ridiculous. But if people will pay it, the prices will rise.
#2$132.50.........Stop the insanity
Posted: 1/15/10 at 1:32pmIt's taught in business that businesses don't set the price of products, consumers do.
"If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn't help the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we've got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition and then admit that we just don't want to do it." -Stephen Colbert
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/31/69
#3$132.50.........Stop the insanity
Posted: 1/15/10 at 1:35pm
I am so f*cking sick of this song. If you think it's too much don't pay it. I cannot remember the last time I paid top price for a Theater ticket. I shop discounts, I sit in the back. I buy half price tickets the day of the show.
I wish ANY other item I purchased had so many chances for me to save.
Updated On: 1/15/10 at 01:35 PM
#4$132.50.........Stop the insanity
Posted: 1/15/10 at 1:35pmPricing is getting out of hand. Exactly 32 years ago today I saw my first Broadway musical. I still have the ticket stub - $15 for a front mezzanine ticket. Just two years later, I paid $30 to see Evita.
Hey Dottie!
Did your colleagues enjoy the cake even though your cat decided to sit on it? ~GuyfromGermany
Cape Twirl of Doom
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/2/05
#5$132.50.........Stop the insanity
Posted: 1/15/10 at 2:56pmOh please. As if the majority of posters here actually pay the full price Orchestra seats.
"It's Phantom meets Hamlet... Phamlet!"
#6$132.50.........Stop the insanity
Posted: 1/15/10 at 3:20pmI haven't paid full price for a ticket in YEARS!
"Somethin's comin', I don't know what it is but it is gonna be great!"
BrianS
Broadway Star Joined: 10/8/07
#7$132.50.........Stop the insanity
Posted: 1/15/10 at 3:24pm
It is crazy.
Same thing with rent prices in Manhattan. I can't afford the going rate, but REALLY want to live there, so there should be special pricing for me. Same with those gorgeous flat screen tv's you hang on your wall. I WANT one, but they keep charging these ridiculous prices. HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO AFFORD THAT?
You mark my words: Broadway, Televisions, and Manhattan real estate are going to die soon because they charge WAY too much. They're all hurting those who love them the most.
If the audience could do better, they'd be up here on stage and I'd be out there watching them. - Ethel Merman
Roscoe
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
#8$132.50.........Stop the insanity
Posted: 1/15/10 at 3:28pmI don't know about the death of Manhattan, but does anyone really want to pay that much to see LA CAGE AUX FOLLES? I mean, if it was a full-out production of FOLLIES, or A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC with a full orchestra, or something, but, really now, another revival of LA CAGE?
"If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about the answers." Thomas Pynchon, GRAVITY'S RAINBOW
"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." Philip K. Dick
My blog: http://www.roscoewrites.blogspot.com/
#9$132.50.........Stop the insanity
Posted: 1/15/10 at 3:36pmI repeat what I said in the other thread. You people do not pay full price anyway. What do you pay, rush, student discount, lotto? You pay very little if anything. You have no right complaining.
<-----I'M TOTES ROLLING MY EYES
#10$132.50.........Stop the insanity
Posted: 1/15/10 at 3:37pm
There where only THREE times I have payed full price.
The Original Cast of RAGTIME.
The Original Cast of WICKED
and Linda Eder's Christmas Concert on Broadway right after 9-11
"Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion's starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don't see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often it's not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it's always there - fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge - they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I've got a sneaky feeling you'll find that love actually is all around."
BrianS
Broadway Star Joined: 10/8/07
#11$132.50.........Stop the insanity
Posted: 1/15/10 at 3:38pm
Roscoe, you completely missed my point.
It isn't a question of if prices are to high. It isn't even a question of if people will pay $130 to see La Cage. The issue is people thinking that Broadway is anything other than a business operating in a free market.
If people don't want to pay $130 to see La Cage, it will close. Plenty of people want to pay $130 and up to see Wicked so they do. So when the original poster uses a phrase like "too expensive," it is completely meaningless in any context other than just for them. And obviously, the price of tickets for an industry shouldn't be set by what a poster named lynnetoomey on BWW can afford.
Great shows sell at high prices. Bad shows try to sell at lower prices if they can. I've just never understood the argument I hear frequently applied to our industry that it should be "accessible." If you used that argument for consumer goods, you would be laughed at by your friends, but it's an argument that persists on these boards.
If the audience could do better, they'd be up here on stage and I'd be out there watching them. - Ethel Merman
#12$132.50.........Stop the insanity
Posted: 1/15/10 at 3:39pm
I know people do not believe NIGHT MUSIC is worth $137. I don't feel it should be priced that high either. But most audiences seem to be paying that price for the two stars. I just don't think Grammer is going to be able to sell tickets on the same level as Zeta-Jones and Lansbury. But I wish the production the best!
Updated On: 1/15/10 at 03:39 PM
#13$132.50.........Stop the insanity
Posted: 1/15/10 at 3:40pm
You can get a great flat screen for a hell of a lot less than you could even a year ago this time. Plus you can shop for open box items to save even more.
The problem with Broadway ticket prices is that producers feel every show they put on is going to sell out and be the next WICKED so they need to charge as much as they can so they can make as much as they can. You'd think by now they'd learn that it's a fluke and their choice to do this only backfires on them and bites them in the ass.
With a show like RAGTIME, I guarantee that if they charged $35 for every seat in the house it would still be running and the houses would be full. More people go to see something if they can afford it obviously, but more importantly more people are willing to take a risk on something they're not sure about if it's affordable. $132 per person is a ridiculous amount of money to ask someone to spend for 2 hours of their time on something they don't really know anything about.
I really get aggravated now when people say "Oh well there's discounts and TKTS!" Those used to be wonderful and I used to take full advantage of them. I could spend $20 at TKTS and see a show and that was only about 10 years ago. Now the cost there is around $70 per ticket. Which is STILL a ridiculous amount of money to ask people to pay on something they don't know about and obviously even casting movie stars in a show isn't a guarantee people will pay it.
It really hits home when you have something wonderful like NEXT FALL that by just looking at it on paper right now doesn't stand a chance. I hope to God I'm wrong about this but there are no "names". Ticket prices at their cheapest at TKTS would be $70. This does nothing but a disservice to the show, the cast and everyone involved in it. And it's a real shame.
As for LA CAGE, ain't no way in hell Kelsey Grammer is going to sell out that theater. Maybe 10 years ago (and that's a big maybe) but today? Nuh Uh.
#14$132.50.........Stop the insanity
Posted: 1/15/10 at 3:43pmBrian you are so right. and yes, a large number of posters on this board do not understand the business of show, as much as they like to think they do.
<-----I'M TOTES ROLLING MY EYES
BrianS
Broadway Star Joined: 10/8/07
#15$132.50.........Stop the insanity
Posted: 1/15/10 at 3:50pm
Jordan, there are so many things I disagree with about what you just wrote, but I'll keep it simple and stick to one.
Ragtime at $35 x 1334 seats (theater capacity) x 8 shows = $373,520
$373,520 is less than the weekly operating nut by a large margin.
Please tell me you see the flaw in your plan.
If the audience could do better, they'd be up here on stage and I'd be out there watching them. - Ethel Merman
#16$132.50.........Stop the insanity
Posted: 1/15/10 at 3:52pm
No, I see the flaw I just threw out a number. I'm watching Jersey Shore as I type this so my brain is in another place. lol
bwaylvsong
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/28/05
#17$132.50.........Stop the insanity
Posted: 1/15/10 at 3:53pm^Jordan, I remember when I saw my first show 14 years ago, the top full-price ticket was $70! And now that's what you spend at TKTS? Ridiculous! But if people are willing to pay, by all means let them pay 132.50 or more! The more people who pay more money, the longer a show can run and the longer people can be employed. We should be happy that people can pay that much, and thank goodness for rush and SRO!
Roscoe
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
#18$132.50.........Stop the insanity
Posted: 1/15/10 at 4:17pm
Brian, I think I did get your point. It wasn't hard to miss.
I was just wondering if there was anyone, really anyone, who'd want to shell out that much to see that tired old show.
"If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about the answers." Thomas Pynchon, GRAVITY'S RAINBOW
"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." Philip K. Dick
My blog: http://www.roscoewrites.blogspot.com/
#19$132.50.........Stop the insanity
Posted: 1/15/10 at 5:45pm
I remember getting upset in the early 70's when tickets hit $10......
And as for Jordan Catalano's comment "....$132 per person is a ridiculous amount of money to ask someone to spend for 2 hours of their time...." : people pay more than that all the time - ask the pricey call girls and rent boys!
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#20$132.50.........Stop the insanity
Posted: 1/15/10 at 5:58pm
"With a show like RAGTIME, I guarantee that if they charged $35 for every seat in the house it would still be running and the houses would be full. "
I would like to disagree. If a show like Ragtime had a top ticket price of $35 and all the other Broadway houses had their normal pricing, the general tourist theatre goer would believe something is wrong with Ragtime for being so cheap.
Yes tickets are expensive and yes people will continue paying the high prices. It does not necessarily mean the shows are better but the consumer will think they are getting better theatre with the higher price. It becomes a status symbol.
Those Blocked: SueStorm. N2N Nate. Good riddence to stupid! Rad-Z, shill begone!
#21$132.50.........Stop the insanity
Posted: 1/15/10 at 5:58pmIt is like when Disneyland raised the price to park a car to $14.00. I was outraged, but I bought a parking pass which has now payed for itself.
"I never had theatre producers run after me. Some people want to make more Broadway shows out of movies. But Elliot and I aren't going to do Batman: The Musical." - Julie Taymor 1999
Mr Roxy
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/17/03
#22$132.50.........Stop the insanity
Posted: 1/15/10 at 6:21pm
Don't you hate when people complain about high ticket prices?
I think they are fine. The higher the better.
Poster Emeritus
MusicSnob1
Broadway Star Joined: 10/19/09
#23$132.50.........Stop the insanity
Posted: 1/15/10 at 6:56pm
God, all this whining is so effing obnoxious and tired. GET OVER IT!!!
Sounds like crying babies in this thread. Ugh.
When I think about you, I touch myself.
After Eight
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/5/09
#24$132.50.........Stop the insanity
Posted: 1/15/10 at 11:15pm
"I am so f*cking sick of this song"
And I am so equally sick of yours.
No one is forcing you to read threads complaining about ticket prices. You don't like reading them? Read something else.
If people are unhappy about these prices, they have a right to vent about it, and have no need of your or anyone else's lectures on that score.
