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Post by Deleted on Jun 1, 2018 17:31:03 GMT
Why are West End prices rising so much? Most “top price” tickets are now like £75-£85. A couple of years ago, the top price would be around £50-£69. I’ve seen shows go from £69.50 up to £75 in the last couple of months. It’s ridiculous, people complain of shows failing but it’s come to the fact now that people cannot go to the theatre as much as they would like to due to how expensive it is, so when they do go, they want to go to something they know they will enjoy and get good value of money for. Especially true for families who would be spending nearly £300. Producers really need to lower West End prices. My local ATG theatre has some touring shows direct from West End with top prices of £45/£50.
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Post by david on Jun 1, 2018 17:44:45 GMT
I think one of the reasons would be economic inflation over the years, but also I would imagine producers factor in the use of discounts so will still be making a profit even if tickets are sold at a reduced price rather than at the original face value of the ticket.
I think with attendances and cost, people are being more savvy with regards picking up cheaper tickets by using various apps as well as the more traditional routes such as day seating and a TKTS in London. Overall, if you are prepared to to a bit of research, you can get bargins, though I suspect that would be only for the seasoned theatre goers rather than your once in a blue moon patron who may be happy to stump up crazy money for a show.
I have to agree with regional theatre. Prices are getting higher, though I found with ATG the theatre card has been a god send at getting cheaper tickets for stuff in Manchester and Liverpool. Again, to see shows sometimes they do family or group tickets, but this isn’t a regular thing so ultimately people will be missing out on some great productions because of the expense.
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Post by Stephen on Jun 1, 2018 20:49:10 GMT
I feel very fortunate now living in London that I can benefit from certain discount last minute tickets from Today Tix etc. When I lived in Glasgow and was very much a tourist it was more difficult and I spent a lot more.
For example living so close I was able to grab several day seats for the Ferryman. Living in Scotland I would probably have payed about six times that price.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 2, 2018 14:44:00 GMT
I find London prices out of my price range a lot of the time. It's all very well saying there are day seat and bargains, but they're only really practical if you're already in London and can be a bit last minute about what you see, or can queue up on the day. It's much harder if you have to plan a couple of months ahead and travel from elsewhere in the country. Having said that, it's not just London - I've noticed that RSC and other regional theatre prices have gone up a lot in the last couple of years too, although they're still nowhere near London rates.
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Post by showoff on Jun 2, 2018 15:08:09 GMT
Why are West End prices rising so much? Most “top price” tickets are now like £75-£85. A couple of years ago, the top price would be around £50-£69. I’ve seen shows go from £69.50 up to £75 in the last couple of months. It’s ridiculous, people complain of shows failing but it’s come to the fact now that people cannot go to the theatre as much as they would like to due to how expensive it is, so when they do go, they want to go to something they know they will enjoy and get good value of money for. Especially true for families who would be spending nearly £300. Producers really need to lower West End prices. My local ATG theatre has some touring shows direct from West End with top prices of £45/£50. Actually you've undersold them, top prices are now about £150 for quite a lot of shows now. It's getting so expensive, I think there was a thread about it a little while ago and it's being mentioned on a lot of threads. It's costing the same price as a holiday, which for a couple of hours, is getting too high for a lot of people. |
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Post by Mr Snow on Jun 2, 2018 16:47:14 GMT
Basic economics suggests they charge it because people will pay it. Many businesses have the same amount of inflation to cope with, but with more competition to prevent them raising their prices, they have to find other ways of coping with it.
Mega successful shows like Hamilton and Phantom set new price levels and the rest get dragged along. Ironically Today's tix maybe encoraging this developemnt. Sell as many as possible to "out of towners" at top price and then shift the rest on the day. Regarding these 'tourists' or occasional visitors, if you're only going to a show in London's fabulous West End once, your perception of prices and what you're prepared to pay is very different to the regular attendee's from this site.
Sadly I can't see this development stopping soon.
PS the one that bugs me is the revival of Chicago. Would love to see it again (once Cuba has been freed), but top of the range prices for secondhand goods is not for me.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 2, 2018 20:40:25 GMT
In most West End theatres, there seems to be two types of cheap seats. You either book the day tickets go on sale and get one of the cheap seats around the edge (ideally one you already know gives a really good view for the price), or you wait until the show opens and go for dayseats or lotteries. The former type does exist and is fairly widely spread; I book most of my theatre quite a way in advance, and I buy as many genuinely bargainous tickets as I can, but there don't tend to be many (I think all the £15 front stalls for Killer Joe were gone by lunchtime the day booking opened) so you do need to be ready to book immediately if you're a fan of cheap seats but need to plan your theatre in advance.
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Post by joem on Sept 22, 2018 9:59:22 GMT
Apparently theatre prices (in the whole of UK) have risen 10.5% in the last year which is almost five times the rate of inflation. Not sure if this is due to some exceptional increases or if they generally have risen steeply.
A lot more people will be priced out if this kind of increase continues.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 3, 2018 19:37:19 GMT
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Post by david on Oct 3, 2018 19:49:52 GMT
Looking at what Elf the Musical were charging both in London and Salford for tickets, I’m surprised a payment plan wasn’t introduced! |
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Post by Rory on Oct 3, 2018 20:34:38 GMT
Oh Gawd. No doubt it will happen. Baz was tweeting last night about how angry he was that ATG were making him buy unwanted fizz and ice cream with his ticket for Pinter. It is such a con. Ticket prices now are crazy.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 3, 2018 20:50:40 GMT
I don’t usually see many shows in London due to living miles away but when I do I usually go for partial view seats. They tend to be cheaper and if you consult SeatPlan or Theatre Monkey before booking you could get yourself a good deal.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 3, 2018 21:06:50 GMT
I agree ticket prices are slowly becoming a joke now. I was looking at availability for Harry Potter earlier and it was £350 for both parts... so £175 a ticket. It’s absolute madness. I very rarely book anything in advance as seats inevitable discount, and only do so if it’s a great seat at a great price (like Company, which I think was £25 a year ago when I booked it). Even then, my upper pre-book limit is still around the £30 mark and I almost always end up sat in the stalls.
Premium seats (rich people seats) and dynamic pricing (‘please buy me’ seats) have taken over in the last few years and it’s a sad state of affairs - and they wonder why new shows fail in town. Prices are imo putting people off coming (as even standard top price tickets tend to be towards the back of the stalls nowadays) and once you drop the price closer to the show date you’re taking a gamble on passing trade and someone wanting a bit of culture in their immediate future.
I accept that production costs increase and inflation and wages doesn’t help keep costs down, but sometimes I just think prices are high because producers feel like a show won’t last and just want as much as they can get as quick as they can get. There’s no sense of anyone trying to play the long game and building a show’s reputation up whilst making it affordable. Granted, I know nothing about the cost of keeping a production on stage day to day, but basic maths tell me a 900 seat theatre with variable ticket prices up to a maximum of £50 still brings in a very tidy amount of money each week (you can argue 900 tickets wouldn’t all sell, but I bet most would if the ticket price averaged £30).
It does make me wonder exactly what profit margins are at work.
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Post by viserys on Oct 4, 2018 5:36:05 GMT
I know it's no consolation but prices are ridiculous in Germany as well - as I couldn't fail to notice yesterday (again). With Foxfinder closing early, I decided to give Tina - the Musical a go to see it while Adrienne Warren is in it. And to sweeten the pill of paying £60 for a ticket, I looked at the seating plan for the German production due to open in Hamburg in spring afterwards. A decent seat in the stalls that was available in London for £85 would cost me £134 in Hamburg. £60 would get you a seat in the very last row of the stalls, nothing more.
But here's the kicker: They're only selling the stalls section of the 1330-seat Operettenhaus, keeping the single circle entirely off sales/closed. Which is a) a very sad state of affairs to begin with and b) doesn't make any sense to me since the seats exist. Why not put the back stalls and the back half of the circle on sale for a lower price to put bums on seats?
The discrepancy is even worse for Bat out of Hell: In London you get the front row for £45 as, while it's certainly "immersive", you also can't really enjoy some of the spectacle, don't see the stage floor, etc. whereas in Germany the front row is extra expensive, setting you back £125. For what you save, you can get cheap flights to London AND get to enjoy the show in English.
Sorry, I know my whinge about Germany doesn't help anyone feeling that the West End is overpriced, but just saying. Broadway is of course in its own league of crazy and this new "pay in instalments" scheme is another sad sign of what I think of as FOMO culture.
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Post by maggiem on Oct 4, 2018 13:27:25 GMT
In most West End theatres, there seems to be two types of cheap seats. You either book the day tickets go on sale and get one of the cheap seats around the edge (ideally one you already know gives a really good view for the price), or you wait until the show opens and go for dayseats or lotteries. The former type does exist and is fairly widely spread; I book most of my theatre quite a way in advance, and I buy as many genuinely bargainous tickets as I can, but there don't tend to be many (I think all the £15 front stalls for Killer Joe were gone by lunchtime the day booking opened) so you do need to be ready to book immediately if you're a fan of cheap seats but need to plan your theatre in advance. I booked All About Eve and All My Sons on the day the tickets went on public sale, and had to have the online queue page running in the background while I got on with some work (shush!  ) on both mornings. Otherwise I probably wouldn't be able to go at all. My seats are front row, a bit to the side in the upper circles, and for the price, quite reasonable. I also use Seatplan and Theatremonkey's site (huge thanks!  ) to get a better idea of where to sit. |
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Post by sf on Oct 4, 2018 17:27:19 GMT
In most West End theatres, there seems to be two types of cheap seats. You either book the day tickets go on sale and get one of the cheap seats around the edge (ideally one you already know gives a really good view for the price), or you wait until the show opens and go for dayseats or lotteries. The former type does exist and is fairly widely spread; I book most of my theatre quite a way in advance, and I buy as many genuinely bargainous tickets as I can, but there don't tend to be many (I think all the £15 front stalls for Killer Joe were gone by lunchtime the day booking opened) so you do need to be ready to book immediately if you're a fan of cheap seats but need to plan your theatre in advance. I booked All About Eve and All My Sons on the day the tickets went on public sale, and had to have the online queue page running in the background while I got on with some work (shush! ) on both mornings. Otherwise I probably wouldn't be able to go at all. My seats are front row, a bit to the side in the upper circles, and for the price, quite reasonable. I also use Seatplan and Theatremonkey's site (huge thanks! ) to get a better idea of where to sit.
I do the same. When I lived in London - aeons ago now - I almost never booked in advance and mostly bought day seats, but at this distance walk-up train fares are prohibitively expensive so I book in advance. I also booked All About Eve and All My Sons (and The American Clock) on the day tickets went on sale; for All About Eve I'm in the back row of the dress circle (my knees don't love it there but they'll survive, the view is very good for the price, and I don't like heights so I do my best to avoid upper circles and balconies as far as I can), and for All My Sons and The American Clock I'm in one of the not-very-restricted-view restricted-view seats in the dress circle. I use Theatremonkey's site and seatplan too, I'm perfectly happy to book a restricted-view seat if I know what I'm getting, and if I won't be spending the entire performance staring at a pillar or a wall (and in the Old Vic, in particular, there are certain seats I look out for). Top-price tickets in the West End are outside my budget on any more than a very occasional basis.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 4, 2018 19:15:40 GMT
Like many others I’m beholden go forward planning and the add on costs of hotels and trains (well bus, I ain’t that fancy and priced out of trains now as well).
I tend to go for a restricted view seat where I can, and being quick on the draw for booking helps. Of course then when it discounts later you feel a bit screwed.
I do tend to fill up say 2 of 3 slots in advance then wait until closer to the time for offers. My days of standing in the cold/rain after a busy day travelling for day seats are however far behind me I’m afraid.
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Xanderl
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Not always very high value in terms of ticket yield or donations
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Post by Xanderl on Oct 7, 2018 21:07:19 GMT
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Post by Coated on Oct 8, 2018 9:56:33 GMT
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Oct 8, 2018 11:04:30 GMT
I go on the basis that if I’m paying for a hotel and train I’m not going to have the experience ruined by an uncomfortable seat or restricted view. So I go for what are usually second price side stalls which is where the odd legroom seat is (thanks to 🍌🐒). It’s expensive if you do three shows over the weekend so I only do it about 3 times a year. When the amount of disposable income changes I’ll just not be able to do it at all so I make hay while sun shines.
I’ve tried going down for a Saturday matinee, which is possible but very tiring considering you’re on your backside all day. I just find London stressful and tiring generally really.
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Xanderl
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Not always very high value in terms of ticket yield or donations
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Post by Xanderl on Oct 8, 2018 11:08:47 GMT
Wow!
So deliberate upward pricing strategy on (presumably) the cheaper amphitheatre tickets to discourage the regulars?
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Post by Dawnstar on Oct 8, 2018 16:50:37 GMT
Wow! So deliberate upward pricing strategy on (presumably) the cheaper amphitheatre tickets to discourage the regulars? Wow indeed. I suppose if they want to do it then that's their decision but who on earth thought they should be stating it publically?! It seems a terrible PR decision. I don't go to the ROH that often - partly because of the prices - but if I did I'd feel it was a real slap in the face. |
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Post by kathryn on Oct 9, 2018 14:44:56 GMT
"We need to accept the difficult reality that making more tickets available to new audiences sometimes means that the frequency of attendance of regular customers might need to reduce."
People have said similar on here numerous times, although not in so many words. Schemes like Donmar Front Row were lovely for us old hands - I attended every Donmar show for a couple of years - but failed to get the new audience in the door that it was meant to attract, in part because those lovely cheap front row tickets were snapped up in minutes by Donmar regulars spending the same amount of money to see more productions from better seats.
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Post by Mark on Oct 9, 2018 16:12:58 GMT
I saw four West End shows last week for £90. Jamie, Company, Heathers and Inheritance part 1. All of them I bought on the day, in Stalls/Dress Circle. Yes top price is a lot but it's up to people to find tickets that fit within their budget.
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Oct 9, 2018 16:18:48 GMT
I saw four West End shows last week for £90. Jamie, Company, Heathers and Inheritance part 1. All of them I bought on the day, in Stalls/Dress Circle. Yes top price is a lot but it's up to people to find tickets that fit within their budget. My rather expensive, planned months ago, tickets for Company and Heathers no doubt subbed your cheapies. No, really... it’s fine 😟😢😭 |
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Post by Mark on Oct 9, 2018 16:40:35 GMT
I saw four West End shows last week for £90. Jamie, Company, Heathers and Inheritance part 1. All of them I bought on the day, in Stalls/Dress Circle. Yes top price is a lot but it's up to people to find tickets that fit within their budget. My rather expensive, planned months ago, tickets for Company and Heathers no doubt subbed your cheapies. No, really... it’s fine 😟😢😭 See, I can't plan tickets in advance without using up two days of annual leave so lose out in that respect (although I've done it for Come From Away First preview), but means I can usually bag a cheap ticket . That said, I still have no idea when I'll even ben able to see Inheritance part two. I was very jealous of everyone who was able to go back to part two the next day. |
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Xanderl
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Not always very high value in terms of ticket yield or donations
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Post by Xanderl on Oct 9, 2018 17:15:24 GMT
People have said similar on here numerous times, although not in so many words. Schemes like Donmar Front Row were lovely for us old hands - I attended every Donmar show for a couple of years - but failed to get the new audience in the door that it was meant to attract, in part because those lovely cheap front row tickets were snapped up in minutes by Donmar regulars spending the same amount of money to see more productions from better seats. Yes, all organisations must go through similar thought processes, it's being so blatant about it here that I find so odd - particularly referring to their regulars as "extremely frequent customers (though not always very high value in terms of ticket yield or donations)" which does feel like them tellling their most loyal customers they are the wrong sort. Donmar is a good example isn't it - some regulars (eg Lynette here!) were very put out when their favourite front row seats were not available to book for members, then the regular £10 front row bookers were similarly put out when the scheme ended in favour of "young and free", I'm sure with further iterations to follow Found this which looks like an interesting read on the subject - www.artscouncil.org.uk/sites/default/files/download-file/Call_it_a_tenner.pdf |
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Post by kathryn on Oct 9, 2018 19:36:04 GMT
I find this honesty refreshing. Any organisation has to balance competing aims - that’s just the reality of life - and making people sufficiently aware of what those aims are and how they are trying to balance them helps to manage expectations.
Of course some people will be put out, but understanding why something is changing helps people accept it, in my experience - though it won’t stop the grumbling.
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Post by NeilVHughes on Oct 9, 2018 20:24:30 GMT
Regulars will always find a way to play the system as we are prepared to invest more time searching for deals.
Two examples
- Annual cost of the NT Friends easily recouped with a few £15 tickets interesting to see what happens when the Travelex deal Ends.
- Royal Court access to £12 tickets for the main house on a Monday easily recoups the annual cost of membership. Now only visit the Royal Court on a Monday as it is also reasonably easy to get upstairs tickets during the Monday Rush.
We also use sites like this to find deals, seen a few plays I wouldn’t have bothered with if it wasn’t for the Dynamic Pricing heads up from other Board Members.
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Post by Jon on Oct 9, 2018 20:28:28 GMT
I find this honesty refreshing. Any organisation has to balance competing aims - that’s just the reality of life - and making people sufficiently aware of what those aims are and how they are trying to balance them helps to manage expectations. Of course some people will be put out, but understanding why something is changing helps people accept it, in my experience - though it won’t stop the grumbling. It’s pretty ballsy that they’re telling regulars to stop being cheap stakes. |
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) on both mornings. Otherwise I probably wouldn't be able to go at all. My seats are front row, a bit to the side in the upper circles, and for the price, quite reasonable. I also use Seatplan and Theatremonkey's site (huge thanks! 
) to get a better idea of where to sit.
