2,677 posts
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Post by viserys on May 7, 2018 17:04:47 GMT
Compared to where I live in Europe London is really expensive. Lion King premium here is 80 euros for example. Mamma Mia premium was 70. A week before the show you can buy most tickets for half price. 200 pounds for a show is really really expensive. Let me guess... Madrid? For us Germans it would be cheaper to fly to Madrid in autumn to see Anastasia there (ticket + flight) than here in Germany (only ticket).... go figure. |
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Post by djp on May 7, 2018 22:19:38 GMT
What exactly has happened to ticket prices in the past few years? How has this rocketing in prices managed to sneak in? I'd be really interested to know what's at play (and why the public accept these major rises). I've been largely unaffected by it because I don't have much interest in the new/hot Broadway import type shows. I've still got away with not paying more than £67.50 (for mostly stalls seats) and that's been for big shows like Dreamgirls, Sunset Boulevard (down the Coliseum) and Gypsy. I would love to see Phantom again (haven't seen it at Her Majesty's since 2009) but not at £100+ for a good seat. When and how did the £100+ ticket become normalised?... When the powers that be became incredibly greedy, and decided to try for a second billion, and enough punters were foolish enough to buy the seat they could have bought for 67-50 5 years ago, for £125. I don't imagine Equity has managed to get their share of the increase. its a house of cards- built up on the tourist trade after the post referendum fall in the pound, and an audience of well off retired folk, and those in boom sectors of the London economy. Its ultimately doomed by one, or more, of brexit downturns, or redundancies, the next cyclic recession, Trump's trade wars, or Corbyn's tax rises. High prices require high , disposable incomes to spend on inessentials - take away the income, or increase the cost of essentials, and that £600 family trip to the Palladium panto becomes very inessential. You also at some point, find you have lost the younger, and family audience, because they got used to seeing equally good shows at a third the price on tour, couldn't afford a family trip to the Westend, or just stayed watching youtube and netflix. Its a |
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4,779 posts
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Post by Mark on May 8, 2018 7:45:52 GMT
I think the main thing here is that for 90% of the population, going to the theatre is something they might do once or twice a year. Another 5% might go every month or so and it's just that last 5% that go all the time (i.e. Theatreboard members). When I talk to people at work about my hobbies etc some people struggle to get to grips with the fact that I'll see two shows in the same day, or have seen over 30 shows this year. These are the people who pay top price for their tickets for their one outing a year.
I've been to 30 shows this year and paid top price twice - Hamilton and Tina. Hamilton was because I bought last year. Tina it was a last minute decision (and I could of paid £30 less to sit in the upper circle).
Theatre is expensive, a lot of shows don't make back their investment, and if there wasn't premium tickets, those same best seats would end up on the resale market. I can't buy tickets in advance and so I take the risk that if something is popular and sells out, I'll miss it. Equally it means I can usually make excellent use of last minute dynamic pricing (most recently, £15 for Quiz in the Dress Circle).
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1,245 posts
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Post by joem on May 8, 2018 7:57:45 GMT
It happens everywhere across the board. Talking with some work friends today who never go to the theatre but they were chatting about football. One of them has a ticket to the Arsenal match at the weekend which they got ages ago. Now it’s going to be Arsne (sp?) Wenger’s last home game the prices have been hiked up. Apparently there’s some Champions League match taking place next week so the airlines have increased the flight costs to £1200. "Arsene". The tickets were not hiked up in price but the touts had a field day with tickets being sold for up to £2,000. I was there with my season tickets which would probably have cost about £50 for this game. The touts and the resellers are the mine canaries for theatre/venue owners. And people are predictable, they want to be in places where there are occasions to say they were there. There have been times this season when I couldn't give away my tickets, let alone resell them at cost price (through the club). |
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Post by Deleted on May 8, 2018 19:24:47 GMT
Compared to where I live in Europe London is really expensive. Lion King premium here is 80 euros for example. Mamma Mia premium was 70. A week before the show you can buy most tickets for half price. 200 pounds for a show is really really expensive. If you are talking about Madrid, any chance you could share where to find the half price tickets a week before the show?  I found discounts of 25% for Next to Normal, and 10% or 15% for The Lion King and Billy Elliot. The Bodyguard is now doing €20 on-the-day lottery tickets, which I've yet to do, but half price for the others would be great. Incidentally, The Lion King (in Madrid) is now selling two rows in the centre stalls (row 12 and 13) as "Golden" seats, with prices as high as €150 on a Saturday night. However, I think that's reasonable given it's only about 35 seats - people have the option to pay that if they want to sit there (personally I would prefer to sit closer to the stage), but if not, there are still a good range of other seats/prices available, as you mentioned. |
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I found discounts of 25% for Next to Normal, and 10% or 15% for The Lion King and Billy Elliot. The Bodyguard is now doing €20 on-the-day lottery tickets, which I've yet to do, but half price for the others would be great.