Another great piece. "We must increase prices in order to make tickets more affordable" says the Party of Producers.
There are several steps that Producers could take to be more transparent starting with publishing grosses as is the practise on Broadway. What do they have to hide?
We went to see Evita last Friday (which was spectacular). We bought our tickets when they first became available and paid £92.50 for front row seats in the dress circle. We checked back the day before to see what seats were available and found three seats, two rows back from ours priced at £320 each. Clearly there is demand for the show which is driving prices but, to your point, this is not obvious anywhere during the booking process - and nor is there any apparent upper limit on where these prices may arrive.
SOLT is also an interesting case because they represent the Producers rather than performers, creatives, technicians or audiences. On their TKTS website they lead with a 'prices from' promo that, when you click through, no longer exists, if it ever did.
West End Theatre is a business that is in danger of leaving its audience behind or maybe some Producers have decided to only chase the wealthy. As Ms Peron might have said "Don't forget the power of the descamisados" because when you come to sell the 20th even more cut price national tour of your previous London show you might find they have all forgotten who you are.
I’m interested that West End producers are so sensitive about criticism of their high prices, and still pay lip service to the notion of ‘affordable’ prices. These are commercial companies working in a commercial, albeit risky, industry. There is a finite number of seats, so If they have a hit on their hands, I’m not entirely sure why they shouldn’t charge whatever price they can.
Maybe we should accept that a star name in a West End show is for an elite.
For the vast majority of less well off theatre lovers or those new to theatre, there are many theatres outside the West End (some but not all subsidised) that provide ‘affordable’ prices for excellent shows.
I agree that some transparency wouldn’t go amiss. I recall that the problem with Oasis was that prices went up while people were in the process of buying their tickets. Tickets prices, whether sold by the theatre or an agency, should be clear and fixed once the customer has begun their purchase. All extras like booking fees, restoration fees, etc should be included from the start. However, to stop a commercial company raising prices if demand is high- and lowering them if the opposite is the case- would be an interference with the free market.
I admire those companies who price tickets based on production cost rather than greed (step forward, David Pugh) or adopt a policy of providing a certain number of low priced ‘good’ seats to encourage the young or less well off, but I don’t think they’re under any obligation.
Another great piece. "We must increase prices in order to make tickets more affordable" says the Party of Producers.
There are several steps that Producers could take to be more transparent starting with publishing grosses as is the practise on Broadway. What do they have to hide?
We went to see Evita last Friday (which was spectacular). We bought our tickets when they first became available and paid £92.50 for front row seats in the dress circle. We checked back the day before to see what seats were available and found three seats, two rows back from ours priced at £320 each. Clearly there is demand for the show which is driving prices but, to your point, this is not obvious anywhere during the booking process - and nor is there any apparent upper limit on where these prices may arrive.
SOLT is also an interesting case because they represent the Producers rather than performers, creatives, technicians or audiences. On their TKTS website they lead with a 'prices from' promo that, when you click through, no longer exists, if it ever did.
West End Theatre is a business that is in danger of leaving its audience behind or maybe some Producers have decided to only chase the wealthy. As Ms Peron might have said "Don't forget the power of the descamisados" because when you come to sell the 20th even more cut price national tour of your previous London show you might find they have all forgotten who you are.
I’m interested that West End producers are so sensitive about criticism of their high prices, and still pay lip service to the notion of ‘affordable’ prices. These are commercial companies working in a commercial, albeit risky, industry. There is a finite number of seats, so If they have a hit on their hands, I’m not entirely sure why they shouldn’t charge whatever price they can.
Maybe we should accept that a star name in a West End show is for an elite.
For the vast majority of less well off theatre lovers or those new to theatre, there are many theatres outside the West End (some but not all subsidised) that provide ‘affordable’ prices for excellent shows.
I agree that some transparency wouldn’t go amiss. I recall that the problem with Oasis was that prices went up while people were in the process of buying their tickets. Tickets prices, whether sold by the theatre or an agency, should be clear and fixed once the customer has begun their purchase. All extras like booking fees, restoration fees, etc should be included from the start. However, to stop a commercial company raising prices if demand is high- and lowering them if the opposite is the case- would be an interference with the free market.
I admire those companies who price tickets based on production cost rather than greed (step forward, David Pugh) or adopt a policy of providing a certain number of low priced ‘good’ seats to encourage the young or less well off, but I don’t think they’re under any obligation.