All time high for Bway Ticket Pricing - $1,009 to see Hello Dolly!

[edjames]

$998 to Say Hello to Dolly? That’s the Price for Some Front Row Seats

 

 

By MICHAEL PAULSONOCT. 8, 2017

 

 

 

Getting close to Bette Midler may get even more costly thanks to new pricing for front row seats at the musical “Hello, Dolly!” at the Shubert Theater.

Broadway is breaking another price barrier.

 

Producers of “Hello, Dolly!” are now charging $998 for front row seats at many performances between late November and mid-January, when Bette Midler leaves the cast, according to a review of ticket prices on the Telecharge website. With fees, each of those seats will cost $1,009.

 

The price is a record for a non-holiday performance on Broadway. “Hamilton” is the only show that has reached that level before, charging $998 for some seats during the Thanksgiving and Christmas weeks last year.

 

The high “Dolly” ticket, which is for weekend performances, reflects strong demand to see Ms. Midler’s Tony-winning turn before her run ends on Jan. 14. And the front row provides an opportunity for fans to be quite close to her: She performs the title song on a passerelle, a walkway that arcs in front of the stage, and she often reaches out toward audience members, sometimes shaking their hands.

 

Rick Miramontez, a spokesman for “Hello, Dolly!” producer Scott Rudin, declined to comment on the show’s premium prices.

 

Although $998 for a Broadway ticket remains exceptional, prices overall are rising: thus far this season, the average ticket price on Broadway is $116. Last season it was $109.

 

Among new shows with eye-popping prices is “Springsteen on Broadway,” Bruce Springsteen’s solo concert, which began performances last week and had a top ticket of $875. (Despite efforts by producers to prevent reselling by using a new Ticketmaster system, some tickets to Springsteen are being offered on StubHub for as much as $10,000.)

 

Premium prices for hot Broadway shows — especially those with limited runs or popular stars nearing the end of their runs — have been climbing as producers try to claim for their investors and artists some of the revenue now going to resellers.

 

Although the prices are shocking to some consumers, many in the theater industry are sympathetic to the practice as a way to counter a booming secondary market that affects popular music and sports as well.

 

But Victoria Bailey, who as executive director of the Theater Development Fund both runs the most prominent ticket discounter (TKTS) and is an advocate for greater access to theater, said the stratospheric prices create a problem, both real and perceived.

 

“More and more people think Broadway tickets are $800 and it stops there, and the question is, ‘Can the industry find a way to make it clear that there are other tickets available?’,” she said.

 

For some fans, the cost is worth it.

 

”If there’s something you really want to do, and you can afford it, do it,” said Paul M. Lisnek, a political analyst and theater podcaster in Chicago who paid $750 to see “Hello, Dolly!” from the front row of Broadway’s Shubert Theater this summer. “She’s an icon and a legend,’’ he said of Ms. Midler, who hadn’t been in a Broadway musical in five decades, “and I just thought it was amazing.”

 

Asked what he thought of a $998 ticket, Mr. Lisnek said “that might turn out to be a bargain compared to what things are going to go for on the secondary market.”

 

But for others, the prices are just too high. On Friday, John Landrigan, a Memphis retiree, walked up at the box office for “Dolly!” hoping to get tickets to see Ms. Midler before she leaves, but he blanched at the $550 tickets he was offered (or $229 for obstructed view seats) on the Sunday after Thanksgiving.

[+ WilliamM]

Among new shows with eye-popping prices is “Springsteen on Broadway,” Bruce Springsteen’s solo concert, which began performances last week and had a top ticket of $875. (Despite efforts by producers to prevent reselling by using a new Ticketmaster system, some tickets to Springsteen are being offered on StubHub for as much as $10,000.)

 

Weird. As I have written before there is little difference with Springsteen whether in an arena or a Broadway Theater. I saw him at a small college gym once.

[LaffingBear]

There is not a show on earth for which I'd pay $998/seat. Or probably eve $500/seat. And I love theater.

 

But, I havent been to NYC or Broadway in a dozen years. I worked for a company out in Westchester County, and went to the home office 4-5 times a year, always extending for a weekend in the City. I frequently used the TKTS booth for less popular shows, and almost always had fantastic luck walking up to the theater box office seeking a single seat. I almost always got orchestra center. Saw The Producers opening week, seated next to Charlie Gibson. Generally paid $100, $125.

 

Times have changed. I expect inflation. But a 500% to 1000% inflation over ten years? Very little else has increased that drastically. My NFL season tickets arent quite double. I could list many other items that may have doubled or even tripled. I dont think Id pay more than $200-$300 for good seats.

 

Ive been lucky financially. Its not about affordability. When they set prices that high, figuring someone will be willing to pay it, they're also overstepping a perceived value-line, and losing out on potential customers.

[+ BenjaminNicholas]

You better believe that Scott Rudin- and his other producers- will milk this cow as long and as hard as they can.

 

Broadway is almost universally a principal loss. Very few shows have the ability to do spectacularly well. A long run on Broadway (3-5 years) doesn't necessarily mean the show has recouped. The business of show is an insane one.

 

I was able to put money into a very successful Broadway show a number of years ago. It was a lot of money for me at the time and it ended up working in my favor, paying me back 6-7 fold over the course of the Broadway run and then again when it went on the first national tour. I got incredibly lucky on that very large gamble.

 

... And I'd never do it again

[foxy]

I think the $500 I paid to see Cats seemed quite reasonable.

[+ WilliamM]

A long run on Broadway (3-5 years) doesn't necessarily mean the show has recouped. The business of show is an insane one.

 

Benjamin, I am surprised because reading some of the Broadway sites like All That Chat provides a different take. When there is an announcement that show has run for two years and recouped, it can be incorrect information?

[+ quoththeraven]

Benjamin, I am surprised because reading some of the Broadway sites like All That Chat provides a different take. When there is an announcement that show has run for two years and recouped, it can be incorrect information?

Hal Prince said in a recent interview on a local public radio show that his successful shows generally recouped expenses within a year, give or take.

[+ stevenkesslar]

The first time I went to New York as an escort was 2000. I stayed in a super cheap hotel and was just thrilled to be in New York. The only other times I'd been there was in the 1980's when I went straight to The Bronx or Brooklyn to work with non-profit housing groups.

 

One one of my first trips to NYC as an escort, I guess in 2001, I remember standing in line for last minute standing room tickets for "The Producers." I was out of luck and didn't get to see it. Of course I could have bought a ticket from a scalper for whatever it cost at the time, but I'm frugal and that just seemed outrageous. I was just getting used to what an escort buddy once described to me this way: "That's not very much in whore money."

 

One of the highlights of escorting was that by 2004 or 2005 every time I went to New York I took a day or two to go see several Broadway shows, either alone or with friends. I also went to plenty of shows with clients. But it felt like a privilege I could finally afford to go pay $100 for an orchestra seat. Sometimes I could and did get reduced price day of show tickets. But it was sort of an "I've arrived" feeling to know that I could spend an evening enjoying a good Broadway show for a $100 ticket, all by myself. or treat a friend to a show and dinner. It may sound silly to say this as a hooker, but $1000 just sounds ridiculous.

 

Having said that, for several years I did regret that I was too cheap to pay whatever it took to see The Producers with Lane and Broderick in it. So at some point they announced that Lane and Broderick were coming back for an encore. I lived in SF at the time, and I decided that whatever it took, and however much it cost, I was going to get my ass to New York and see Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick in The Producers. It was like having my own silly Jesse Jackson moment. "I am somebody."

 

Here's the magic part. At the time I had a particular client who was from the South, but I only met him in New York, when we both happened to be there at the same time. He loved Broadway shows, so he travelled to NYC often. Typically we did a show and an overnight. So within a few weeks of reading that Lane and Broderick would be back in The Producers for a limited run, I had already booked a plane ticket to New York. Then I get a call from this client. He said he was going to be in New York the following month, on exactly the dates I'd already planned to be there, in part so I could go see The Producers. Then he said, "Steven, I have two tickets to see a play called The Producers. Have you ever heard of the play, and would you like to see it?"

 

The evening of the play, we walked into the theater through a VIP entrance, and he had front row seats. I will go to my grave being eternally grateful that for once in my life, Nathan Lane spit on me. Granted, it's not the same as having Jeff Stryker fuck me while saying, "Tighten that ass, boy. Tighten that fucking ass." Perhaps that will come to pass in my next lifetime.

 

But I can now die knowing that I lived a good life, and that God smiled on me. She made sure I got to have my magic on Broadway, and got to be spit on by Nathan Lane.

[+ BenjaminNicholas]

Benjamin, I am surprised because reading some of the Broadway sites like All That Chat provides a different take. When there is an announcement that show has run for two years and recouped, it can be incorrect information?

 

Sure, it's possible for a show to recoup in 2 years, but not the norm.

 

It's all dependent on the overall cost, weekly production nut, if the show has tours on the road, etc. All That Chat is useful for some things, but it's mostly a ton of theater armchair psychologists expounding a personal opinion.

 

Hal Prince runs a tight ship with minimal staging for many of his productions (Phantom excluded). It's a wise move for any director/producer.

[+ quoththeraven]

Sure, it's possible for a show to recoup in 2 years, but not the norm.

 

It's all dependent on the overall cost, weekly production nut, if the show has tours on the road, etc. All That Chat is useful for some things, but it's mostly a ton of theater armchair psychologists expounding a personal opinion.

 

Hal Prince runs a tight ship with minimal staging for many of his productions (Phantom excluded). It's a wise move for any director/producer.

I was wondering from some of his other remarks whether his experience was atypical.

[+ WilliamM]

It's all dependent on the overall cost, weekly production nut, if the show has tours on the road, etc. All That Chat is useful for some things, but it's mostly a ton of theater armchair psychologists expounding a personal opinion.

 

Of course, I do not pay a lot of attention to individual posts, or what eventually becomes huge controversies like replacing Josh Groban in "The Great Comet."

 

But, isn't the announcement that a show has recouped an official document from the producers not just gossip?

[+ BenjaminNicholas]

But, isn't the announcement that a show has recouped an official document from the producers not just gossip?

 

It's a press release. And it's about as 'official' as a press release can get. FWIW

A good example of a longer running show not returning: Jekyll & Hyde. It had several national tours, ran for 5 years on Broadway and still didn't recoup. As this 2015 NYP article mentions, 4 out of 5 Broadway musicals don't meet their investment return need. That's a huge gamble.

 

http://nypost.com/2015/01/25/4-out-of-5-musicals-failed-their-investors/

[+ WilliamM]

Somehow I need to find a list of Broadway shows that did return investment. Some big stars from the 40s and 50s stayed with shows for that specific reason. I do understand that something could happen that nobody expected and shows would not recoup.