Hamilton in London. Why so much cheaper than in the USA

[sherriebythesea]

I live 3 hours from NY and have seen a total of 2 Broadway plays. I went to London last year and saw probably 12 or more plays. I'm going again next month and have tickets to 22 (does The Inheritance count as 1 or 2) plays so far. And yes, Hamilton is one of them

Even tickets to the National tours that come to Providence are more expensive then all but 4 of the London plays I'm seeing. And that's with my senior discount.

Getting to NY, spending the weekend and getting tickets to a couple of shows would take up a big chunk of my London budget. Sure I could get cheaper tickets but they would be for plays I don't want to see.

ETA: I just double checked and I saw 10 plays last years trip to London. My god, what did I do with all the rest of my evenings???

[musicalmarge]

I’ve said this time and time again 200 for some people is a lot of money, for others it’s another lunch. There are thousands of tourists and local theatre goers, events teams in banks who will happily pay those prices because they can afford them. There are plenty of cheaper seats available. If the seats were always empty as they couldn’t be sold as they were too expensive then the producers have got it all wrong. Sold out shows proves they haven’t. The range of prices equals the range of audience. The 200 pound seats aren’t marked for students or low/middle income bracket. There is primark and there is Prada.

[viserys]

www.thestar.com/news/investigations/2018/09/19/we-went-undercover-as-ticket-scalpers-and-ticketmaster-offered-to-help-us-do-business.html

[sukhavati]

Sept 21, 2018 10:51:36 GMT joem said:

Sept 21, 2018 3:08:47 GMT harrietcraig said:

This article is seven years old, but the points it makes are still valid:

The Staggering Cost of Broadway

This sounds like shades of The Sopranos.

Throw shade at unions, but strong theatrical unions in America are what ensured when Phantom came back last year, it was the same cast, orchestra, crew, etc, while in London the commercial producers were crying in their lockdown champagne about no government support after they sacked everyone in how many shows? And we all know what the "contractor" classification did to some of Britain's finest actors. I'm sure Anna Jane Casey never wants to see another Hermes package again as long as she lives. The West End should have such powerful unions.

[mrbarnaby]

Wages in the US are way higher than their UK counterparts as they all have to pay medical insurance.

As many US work colleagues have said to me over the years- never take the NHS for granted. Healthcare in the US is extortionate.

Also aside from that, many NYC stage crew members have second homes , boats etc. those ticket prices pay for all that!

[nwtheatre]

Dec 7, 2022 6:01:30 GMT sukhavati said:

Sept 21, 2018 10:51:36 GMT joem said:

This sounds like shades of The Sopranos.

Throw shade at unions, but strong theatrical unions in America are what ensured when Phantom came back last year, it was the same cast, orchestra, crew, etc, while in London the commercial producers were crying in their lockdown champagne about no government support after they sacked everyone in how many shows? And we all know what the "contractor" classification did to some of Britain's finest actors. I'm sure Anna Jane Casey never wants to see another Hermes package again as long as she lives. The West End should have such powerful unions.

If the West End had union power like Broadway does, then there wouldn't be any tickets for less than £50 available as it wouldn't be able to work financially. Theatre is still a business at the end of the day and if the shows aren't making money then they won't exist and the main reason Broadway prices are so expensive is because of the Union regs. 

[sukhavati]

Dec 7, 2022 14:35:12 GMT nwtheatre said:

Dec 7, 2022 6:01:30 GMT sukhavati said:

Throw shade at unions, but strong theatrical unions in America are what ensured when Phantom came back last year, it was the same cast, orchestra, crew, etc, while in London the commercial producers were crying in their lockdown champagne about no government support after they sacked everyone in how many shows? And we all know what the "contractor" classification did to some of Britain's finest actors. I'm sure Anna Jane Casey never wants to see another Hermes package again as long as she lives. The West End should have such powerful unions.

If the West End had union power like Broadway does, then there wouldn't be any tickets for less than £50 available as it wouldn't be able to work financially. Theatre is still a business at the end of the day and if the shows aren't making money then they won't exist and the main reason Broadway prices are so expensive is because of the Union regs. 

Quite frankly, when you have commercial producers like Disney, Mackintosh, and Lloyd-Webber that rake in millions, their crews and actors should have strong union protection. Experimental theatre, smaller houses, publicly funded wouldn't necessarily need the same type of protections to keep prices accessible, but those old warhorses of musicals that just go on and on have kept the producers fat and happy far longer than it took to reach the break even point.