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Post by Someone in a tree on Jul 1, 2016 5:36:34 GMT
Shadow King
Last night at the Barbican only the stalls open and they were half full
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Post by showgirl on Jul 1, 2016 6:18:48 GMT
In those cases why not do very cheap day tickets or even comps? Has to be better than empty seats and word of mouth could lead to future bookings. They often do, but they can't release too many tickets too cheaply or people will avoid buying tickets at a sustainable price and wait for the underpriced ones, hastening the show's demise. I see both points but poor sales might suggest that the original pricing structure was wrong. I'm certainly in the "wait for offers if the prices are too high" camp - and take The Go-Between as an example: TKTS booth selling for £27.25 seats ostensibly priced at £85! Wonder if anyone has paid the latter? |
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Post by viserys on Jul 1, 2016 7:38:42 GMT
I will never understand why producers slavishly stick to a certain price structure and thus pit smaller unknown shows like Go-Between (or the recent string of British-made flops like Mrs Henderson, Dagenham, Beckham, etc.) against well-known crowd pleasers. Encourage people to give a new show a chance and choose that instead of a tried and tested commodity by offering the unknown show at £30-40 max. If word of mouth spreads and the show begins selling out, they can still hike the prices. The last successful British musical was Matilda, which came with great fanfare and word of mouth from Stratford (where it had been sold cheaper) and didn't start cold in the West End at West End prices.
This said, the only time I was in a fairly empty theatre in London was Carousel at the Savoy. I can't remember if the dress circle was open but the stalls were perhaps one-third full and it was a really weird atmosphere since I'm not used to it in London. Of course there's nothing wrong with Carousel as such, I just think it's among those shows that have been done too often all around the country so nobody is willing to pay West End-prices for it.
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Post by anita on Jul 1, 2016 9:39:39 GMT
Many years ago there was an impressionist show on the tele. - I think it was called "Who do you do?" Anyway a lot of people who have gone on to be famous started on it. They did a summer show on a pier. - If I remember correctly it was in Great Yarmouth. [Michael Barrymore was on in the town at another theatre getting full houses.] When I saw the show the audience was so small they moved us all to the middle of the front few rows & the performers joined us in the auditorium & did the show among us with plenty of adlibs. They were terrific and much better than Michael Barrymore who I saw later in the week.
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Post by bellboard27 on Jul 1, 2016 10:13:31 GMT
I can recall being one of six people in the audience for Let The Right One In at the Apollo once. It was not that bad when I went to LTROI, but I remember only stalls being open and my seat being bumped up. Sitting there at about 7.25pm there was only about 2-3 of us and I thought there was a serious problem. However, I had forgotten the start time was not 7.30, so more did roll up by the 7.45 start time!
Of course, fringe theatre can have terrible audience numbers. I once went to quite a good production of Hamlet where the cast significantly outnumbered the audience (about 7-8 of us) and several of the audience turned out to be family and friends of the cast!
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Post by Deleted on Jul 1, 2016 13:06:10 GMT
I went to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory last September and both the Balcony and Upper were closed. At From Here to Eternity it was definitely only the stalls open. A shame, because I loved that show!
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5,119 posts
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Post by Phantom of London on Jul 1, 2016 13:11:19 GMT
Both Merrily We Roll Along (Harold Pinter) and A Little Night Music (Garrick).
Of course when these 2 shows played the originating venue (Menier) the Upper Circle and Balcony were open.
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Post by Snciole on Jul 1, 2016 13:20:05 GMT
*Shouts "NOT HENRY GOODMAN!?" at the screen  |
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Post by partytentdown on Jul 1, 2016 14:51:17 GMT
I remember seeing 'Desperately Seeking Susan' with less than 10 other people
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Post by Polly1 on Jul 1, 2016 18:15:54 GMT
*Shouts "NOT HENRY GOODMAN!?" at the screen Interesting - he is due at my local theatre on Sat eve with Harriet Walter for a one-nighter and I can see only about one third of tickets have been sold. Cannot understand the apathy towards these theatre titans, v disappointing. The more so if Mr. G phones it in. |
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Post by danielwhit on Jul 1, 2016 19:32:19 GMT
The only time I've known it happen was a matinee at Spring Awakening.
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Post by easilypleased on Jul 1, 2016 21:45:51 GMT
I will never understand why producers slavishly stick to a certain price structure and thus pit smaller unknown shows like Go-Between (or the recent string of British-made flops like Mrs Henderson, Dagenham, Beckham, etc.) against well-known crowd pleasers. Encourage people to give a new show a chance and choose that instead of a tried and tested commodity by offering the unknown show at £30-40 max. If word of mouth spreads and the show begins selling out, they can still hike the prices. The last successful British musical was Matilda, which came with great fanfare and word of mouth from Stratford (where it had been sold cheaper) and didn't start cold in the West End at West End prices. Interesting thread. According to SOLT data the average ticket in 2015 cost £43. I read somewhere that average WE theatre occupancy (ie over all productions in the WE) is about 73%, so apart from the handful of sellouts there are bound to be quite a few that close tiers regularly and especially during the week I guess. If you are in the stalls though, and that is reasonably full, you might not even notice that upper tiers are closed. Better that than have people too spread out. Saves on the cleaning too. |
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Post by theatreliker on Jul 1, 2016 22:01:43 GMT
Worst for the actors was probably the original run of "Speed-The-Plow" at the Lyttleton. Circle closed, 4 rows occupied in the stalls. That theatre, you can see the whole house from the stage. They turned in a wonderful show for us. Worst for an audience was "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" About 8 of us in for the matinee at the Mermaid (again, you can see the whole house from the stage). A now well-known person came on, counted the house and switched off their performance. I've disliked them for it ever since. Not Imelda?! |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 2, 2016 12:57:18 GMT
Up N Under at the playhouse years ago. Me and my mate went to a matinee for some queer reason (we couldn't have been 13) and there where about 2 or 3 others in the audience. We laughed REALLY LOUDLY so the actors didn't feel sad
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Post by Snciole on Jul 2, 2016 19:24:12 GMT
*Shouts "NOT HENRY GOODMAN!?" at the screen Interesting - he is due at my local theatre on Sat eve with Harriet Walter for a one-nighter and I can see only about one third of tickets have been sold. Cannot understand the apathy towards these theatre titans, v disappointing. The more so if Mr. G phones it in. I like Goodman but he's just not a household name for anyone to give an F about him in appearing in anything. |
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Post by westendwilma on Jul 2, 2016 22:15:45 GMT
I booked a ticket in the Upper Circle for the Thursday matinee last week for Guys and Dolls hoping that it wouldn't be busy and get upgraded and I did end up getting bumped to the stalls! The dress circle was open but I assume they were just filling the gaps in both areas with people who had booked in the upper circle.
I once saw a show at the Landor Theatre which has me and two other people in the audience. I felt so embarassed for the performers!
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