The price of a ticket....

[edjames]

Michael Reidel in the NYPost reports premium seats may skyrocket at a hit musical soon...

 

 

‘Hamilton’ might jack up premium tickets to $995

April 21, 2016 | 6:24pm

 

 

Modal Trigger

MICHAEL RIEDEL

The backlash against “Hamilton” I’ve been fomenting is really starting to take hold.

 

In the past week, the musical won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, its advance sale hit $80 million, and its creator, Lin-Manuel Miranda, became an adviser to the US Treasury, successfully lobbying Secretary Jack Lew to keep Alexander Hamilton on the $10 bill.

 

This show is going down!

 

Well, maybe not today or tomorrow. But in 15 to 20 years, it’s history.

 

In the meantime, the producers are so confident of its staying power that they may jack premium-priced tickets from $549 to $995, theater sources say.

 

Somehow $995 sounds better than $1,000. It’s like that bottle of Fiji water at the airport. If it’s $2.99, you’ll buy it. But $3? Where’s the water fountain?

 

The premium hike won’t take effect until after the Tony Awards in June, I’m told, because the show doesn’t want to look too greedy until it’s nabbed Best Musical.

 

Jeffrey Seller, the lead producer, declined to comment on the potential hike, saying through a spokesman, “No decisions have been made.”

 

While skyrocketing prices continue to turn Broadway into a playground for the 1 percent, nobody in the theater business is getting too worked up about it. The truth is, ticket brokers are getting $3,000 for good seats to “Hamilton.” After the inevitable Tony win, that price could hit $4,500.

 

“I have never seen anything like ‘Hamilton,’ ” says a savvy theater investor. “I thought you couldn’t go higher than ‘The Book of Mormon’ or Hugh Jackman. Well, you can.”

 

Producers point out that neither they nor their investors share in the broker markup. Nor does Miranda, who created the show that caused the frenzy in the first place.

It's also been reported that some original cast members, such as Lin Manuel Miranda may depart the show in July!....

[body2body]

This is why I haven't been to New York to go to the theater since 2012. London has an equally vibrant theater scene, and the ticket prices are half ( or less ), than ticket prices in New York City. My airfare is more, but hotel prices are comparable, and the difference in airfare is more than made up for in the price of the tickets.

[bostonman]

First thing to remember is that Riedel is a bit like Trump. He likes to exaggerate and tell half-truths (if not less than half at times) to get a desired reaction. Actually, it's not so much whether he likes doing that or not (though I think he relishes it) - it's his job. We might even call him "Fibbin' Michael" lol. I'm not saying he's wrong here, just that I don't always believe his snake oil the way he packages it.

 

That said, the show has been running at the Rodgers since last July - and if you then also include the off-Broadway run, this coming July will be a year and a half-ish for the majority of the cast. I'm not saying that they shouldn't stay beyond July, but these days, staying with a show for over a year is not as common as it once was.

 

The idea that the producers would even start THINKING about $995 tickets, however, makes me vomit.

[actor61]

First thing to remember is that Riedel is a bit like Trump. He likes to exaggerate and tell half-truths (if not less than half at times) to get a desired reaction. Actually, it's not so much whether he likes doing that or not (though I think he relishes it) - it's his job. We might even call him "Fibbin' Michael" lol. I'm not saying he's wrong here, just that I don't always believe his snake oil the way he packages it.

 

That said, the show has been running at the Rodgers since last July - and if you then also include the off-Broadway run, this coming July will be a year and a half-ish for the majority of the cast. I'm not saying that they shouldn't stay beyond July, but these days, staying with a show for over a year is not as common as it once was.

 

The idea that the producers would even start THINKING about $995 tickets, however, makes me vomit.

 

I just finished reading Reidel's book "Razzle Dazzle" - very interesting. I didn't think I'd like it because he drives me nuts on his interview show, "Theater Talk". He never shuts up long enough for the guest to answer a question, and can be a blowhard a lot of the time.

 

Interesting note on "Hamilton": the original cast has successfully negotiated a percentage deal of the show's take for their contributions. It seems to have been the same situation as the original cast of "A Chorus Line" had with Michael Bennett. I'm glad actors are being compensated for what they give to a show when it's in readings, workshops and pre-Broadway try-outs. Lin Manuel Miranda is a monumentally talented man but he didn't do it ALL by himself.