Who determines whether discounted tickets or lotteries occur on touring productions? Just wondering why my local broadway affiliate (broadway in detroit) isn't offering any kinds of discounts other than student rush for performances that still have 2/3-1/2 tickets that have gone unsold the week of the show. My real question is why there wouldn't be more of a motivation to get bodies in seats since the show is going on anyway.
my local tour stop has zero discounts for broadway tours, ever (No rush, no standing room, no student discount, etc). It sucks. I've looked at prices for shows before and decided to skip it, just because I'm not paying 100+ for that show when I can get it for $40 in NYC
Ha! Just going to NYC is not in the cards for me. I was kind of interested in the politics and policies behind the ticket pricing, is it the production or the house that decides? It just seems really short sighted and probably a downer for the actors to perform to a half empty house, so I don't get it.
@Babe_Williams That decision is made jointly between the venue, the tour management company and the producer. The pricing for each stop on the tour is negotiated pretty far in advance, and any discounts that aren't agreed to then need to be agreed to by all parties later. Venues often don't like to discount because unlike Broadway, they need their audiences to come back to see other shows and don't want to train them to look for discounts.
itsjustmejonhotmailcom said: "@Babe_Williams That decision is made jointly between the venue, the tour management company and the producer. The pricing for each stop on the tour is negotiated pretty far in advance, and any discounts that aren't agreed to then need to be agreed to by all parties later. Venues often don't like to discount because unlike Broadway, they need their audiences to come back to see other shows and don't want to train them to look for discounts."
Unless the lottery is part of the show's marketing campaign (i.e., Rent, Hamilton, Wicked, Harry Potter), most shows will not have any discounts on the road similar to what is seen on Broadway, for the reasons stated above.
I got an email from Broadway Across Canada earlier this year offering rush seats for one of their productions in Edmonton (I forget which one, maybe Book of Mormon?). I don't remember the details but I think the tickets were $50 each and it was some kind of email lottery draw.
itsjustmejonhotmailcom said: "@Babe_Williams That decision is made jointly between the venue, the tour management company and the producer. The pricing for each stop on the tour is negotiated pretty far in advance, and any discounts that aren't agreed to then need to be agreed to by all parties later. Venues often don't like to discount because unlike Broadway, they need their audiences to come back to see other shows and don't want to train them to look for discounts."
That makes sense and thanks for answering! I see someone mentioned that Wicked did lotteries, and I noticed that Wicked did a lot promotions to get bodies in seats. School of Rock and Chicago, student rush only--Wicked? Nearly sold out. SoR and Chicago, dismal, dismal sales. I get that they don't want to train people to look for discounts and it must be a difficult line to walk, but who wants to play to such an empty crowd?
Babe_Williams said: "That makes sense and thanks for answering! I see someone mentioned that Wickeddid lotteries, and I noticed that Wicked did a lot promotions to get bodies in seats. School of Rock and Chicago, student rush only--Wicked? Nearly sold out. SoR and Chicago, dismal, dismal sales. I get that they don't want to train people to look for discounts and it must be a difficult line to walk, but who wants to play to such an empty crowd?"
Wicked hasn't done a lot of promotions to "get bodies in seats." While there is an ad campaign to get people to buy tickets, most hit shows create a barrage of ads to keep the hype going. Wicked and Hamilton pretty much sell themselves. Often times on the road, the presenters may offer a discount seat in advance as a pre-sale, mostly to get the hype started. And yes, some shows are more marketable than others, much like on Broadway. But since most markets don't have tours that run more than a few weeks make it harder for them to discount as a course of business.
Nashville has started doing a lot of general $25-30 rush tickets recently for pretty much everything ranging from an almost sold out Sound of Music (random singles) to being able to seat any size group with reasonable seats for a poorly sold School of Rock. Beyond that you can almost always get some sort of university or corporate part discount (usually 15% off). I wonder since they are an independent theater (ie not Broadway Across America), if that gives them a little more flexibility in terms of offering discounts.
I think Hamilton, Wicked, Rent, and Book of Mormom are the only tours that require a lottery as part of the tour as of now.
Dear Evan Hansen is having a digital lottery at the LA Ahmanson, which is not something CTG normally does, so I believe it's being handled by the Company and will follow on other stops.
As was mentiomed above, Broadway Across Canada seems to do digital rushes for all their shows. I am in Vancouver & saw Beautiful yesterday with a rush ticket. But you have to be on their mailing list to even know about it, as they do it over a week before performamces even begin. Tickets are $50CAN (about $37US), and seat selection is all over the place, I got a good one down in the back orchestra just off center, but some of the available seats were up in high side boxes. They can probably do rush here since they are usually close to a sell out.
Boston has it own version of TKTS called Bostix. It's a small booth right in front of Faneuil Hall that has been there for as long as I can remember. And I don't ever remember there being TKTS lines. I would usually just walk up or maybe have two or three people in front of me. Of course, now they have an online presence which offers discounted seats for purchase, though certainly not at a fifty percent off rate. If only it were easier to drive in Boston I might be more tempted to see more shows in that city. As it is, Hartford is an easier commute, though I don't know if that city has any discount options.
Fosse76 said: "itsjustmejonhotmailcom said: "@Babe_Williams That decision is made jointly between the venue, the tour management company and the producer. The pricing for each stop on the tour is negotiated pretty far in advance, and any discounts that aren't agreed to then need to be agreed to by all parties later. Venues often don't like to discount because unlike Broadway, they need their audiences to come back to see other shows and don't want to train them to look for discounts."
Unless the lottery is part of the show's marketing campaign (i.e., Rent, Hamilton, Wicked, Harry Potter), most shows will not have any discounts on the road similar to what is seen on Broadway, for the reasons stated above."
My venue in Jacksonville always does an online lottery the weekend before the show opens for poorly sold shows, which is most of the time. I always win and I'm not lucky. I have come to the conclusion that anyone who enters win. We also get to pick our seats. You can only win once during the run. Most recently, (Friday night) I won the lottery for The King and I for $30. I picked the front row center of the loge. I was not impressed with the production, but that is another story.
I guess we're lucky in Toronto because there are often discounts for touring shows that don't sell well. The primary theatre company here (Mirvish) seems to prefer filling seats at a discount over empty theatres, which is appreciated. They have a tradition of offering BOGO tickets for Thanksgiving, Boxing Day, and sometimes other holidays. They have even gone so far as giving tickets away for free, on a first come first served basis. So everyone interested in a good deal knows to subscribe to the Mirvish email newsletter. I don't know if maybe we have a larger market than some other touring cities due to the combination of the local dedicated theatre patrons and tourists.
To quote Hogan, "There are no rules" and it varies by city, presenter, and show. In SF, the local presenter, SHN, typically offers a rush and works with the TodayTix app, and often Goldstar. Different shows have different demand and availability. (Part of this may be due to the relatively long runs in SF, and resultant large numbers of seats to fill. Subscription shows here run for at least four weeks. 2300 seats x 8 shows x 4 weeks = 73,600 tickets)
joined:3/8/17
joined:
3/8/17
Posted: 10/18/18 at 7:55am