To think the price of tickets for theatre are insane

[Chopbob]

I was looking to booking Beauty and the beast on stage in Manchester for my dd birthday, but omg-how expensive!!!!!
Whilst they offer a very small number of tickets for £20 each (a tiny number, all restricted views) the tickets start around £40 each and go up to £100. For a children's show. In Manchester.
A family of 4 would be looking at £160-£400 for one, single kids show.
AIBU to think this is completely insane? Or am I completely out of touch?

@Porcupineintherough

Theatres are heaving, so it's not that hard to find people who will pay to "support the arts". Pity more the money doesnt trickle down to the cast, most of whom are on minimum wage. Anyway, if you dont want to pay, dont go. It's a nice to have not an essential.

Strange how people from all walks of life support football and that's never viewed as too expensive or elitist.

Some of the richest football clubs furloughed all their staff too.

Oh I get that and we don’t camp camp like slum it either. The children have bunk beds, we take a mini oven and fridge and freezer with electric remote controller heaters and lights and a sofa. 😅 just got fed up of paying again stupid money for a week in a static. Looking at you wales for 2k for a week. All that money saved pays for day trips out and things to enjoy long term for us.

@Tigersonvaseline

Yep , absolutely extortionate.

Dreadful.

I understand their costs but for a family to access the theatre it's cutting families out and with rise of competition I'd try And Keep it affordable.

And how do you propose it be done? They could of course cut costs by having a cast of 5, no sound, lighting, costumes whatsoever.. but that's not what most people think of as 'theatre', do they?

Expecting the taxpayer to pay theatre staff to sit around for months, when the majority of taxpayers can't afford tickets for shows anyway wasn't right.

You appear to have throughly misunderstood the rationale for furlough.

People complaining about the price of a theatre ticket haven’t got a clue what/who that performance entails-

Actors
Musical director and musicians
Make up and costume
Electricians
sound engineers
Theatre staff -manager to ice cream sellers and everyone in between
The script writers
Director/s of the show
Choreographer
Costume design/makers
Producers of the show (they get the money together, it costs hundreds of thousands to get a show ready)

I’ve probably forgotten several people from that list. All have to earn a living or do you expect them to do it for peanuts?

@museumum

Thats what theatre costs I’m afraid - nobody (except Disney if it’s one of theirs) is raking it in. Actors, technicians and venues are barely scraping by.

Bollocks.

You are being very very unreasonable. Beauty and the Beast is a big touring Broadway musical. There is a large cast, an orchestra, and countless people behind the scenes. Of course it's expensive.

There is plenty of theatre out there that isn't big flashy musicals and is a lot more accessible. Ever thought about going to see a play instead?

At least with theatre there is something to suit all budgets. you may not be able to afford to go and see whatever the big westend musical is but you will find an affordable non-musical show of an equally high calibre.

With football you really need to put up with a drop in quality before it's affordable.

@lightisnotwhite would you like to qualify that? My niece and her husband work in theatreand the pay is dire and (currently at lest) the security is non existent. When she toured last summer they didn't get paid if a performance was cancelled due to a cast member getting COVID and this happened about every 2 weeks.

I used to go to the theatre frequently but not so much anymore. I used to also go to my local touring theatre but even they have west end prices now. I remember a time when panto was quite cheap and being able to buy two for one tickets but I think social media advertisement helped to revive panto so prices have crept up.

The best thing to do is get your name on the mailing lists of the theatres that are easy access to you. I managed to get 3 tickets to see Joseph with Alexander Burke in September for £43 total. Booked the day the email came out saying bookings were open, but will have waited 11 months by the time the date finally comes around.

@LizzieSiddal

People complaining about the price of a theatre ticket haven’t got a clue what/who that performance entails-

Actors
Musical director and musicians
Make up and costume
Electricians
sound engineers
Theatre staff -manager to ice cream sellers and everyone in between
The script writers
Director/s of the show
Choreographer
Costume design/makers
Producers of the show (they get the money together, it costs hundreds of thousands to get a show ready)

I’ve probably forgotten several people from that list. All have to earn a living or do you expect them to do it for peanuts?

Why not pro rata the median wage though?

The shows are made up of freelancers. They get travel expenses including hotels ,plus a generous daily allowance for food whether they need it or not. They aren’t doing it for love.

I took DD to see Hamilton last week. It cost £190 for the tickets which is ridiculous. It was our joint birthday present though and we loved it but bloody hell it's expensive.

@LizzieSiddal

People complaining about the price of a theatre ticket haven’t got a clue what/who that performance entails-

Actors
Musical director and musicians
Make up and costume
Electricians
sound engineers
Theatre staff -manager to ice cream sellers and everyone in between
The script writers
Director/s of the show
Choreographer
Costume design/makers
Producers of the show (they get the money together, it costs hundreds of thousands to get a show ready)

I’ve probably forgotten several people from that list. All have to earn a living or do you expect them to do it for peanuts?

Oh I absolutely do understand the costs involved. That doesn't mean that it's not expensive, for most of us, to go to the theatre.

Yep, I paid £150 per ticket for Frozen. That's a once a year kind of treat, I take my DD to local theatres, mostly.

The staging was incredible though and she sat in awed silence the whole way through. It was worth it IMO.

I’m on a theatre digs booking website. Subsistence payments (tours only not west end or regional productions) do not cover hotel prices.

And no idea where you’ve got generous food allowances from. Dd is allowed to use the Costa machine at the theatre she works at, does that count?

I’ve just booked a lion King tickets at the Lyceum theatre over Easter and think I paid £128 each.
For us they’re not too expensive but my mum was aghast at the price.

That being said, before Covid I understand they were much more expensive so I think it’s an ok price to pay for a very rare occasion (caveat: we don’t live in UK and don’t live up in a country with Broadway style theatre shows).

[quote Porcupineintherough]@lightisnotwhite would you like to qualify that? My niece and her husband work in theatreand the pay is dire and (currently at lest) the security is non existent. When she toured last summer they didn't get paid if a performance was cancelled due to a cast member getting COVID and this happened about every 2 weeks.[/quote]
Clearly a difference between resident work force and bought in shows like Frozen. Which are the ones that people are commenting on.

The problem is, these prices can make it impossible for some people to go to the theatre and that's a real shame. It's not quite the same when you're in a seat that has a pillar half in front of it so decent seats add to the whole experience.

@Comefromaway

I’m on a theatre digs booking website. Subsistence payments (tours only not west end or regional productions) do not cover hotel prices.

And no idea where you’ve got generous food allowances from. Dd is allowed to use the Costa machine at the theatre she works at, does that count?

You are completely deluded if you think the stage crew, production team and actors on Frozen, Lion King or War Horse have to worry about a Costa.

Yanbu those are crazy prices. DD and I went to the opera recently for a fraction of the prices you quote - and opera has a reputation for being elitist...

Depends where you go, Covent Garden Opera House tickets in the stalls are very pricey!

My daughter works at Lion King

@BitterTits

YANBU, such an elitist world. I grew up in a family that couldn't afford theatre, but even now that my own kids would be considered MC, we can only afford the gods once a year for a west end show. I know this probably isn't how you intended the post, but it's exactly the kind of situation that highlights cultural poverty.

Exactly what I was thinking.

As a kid, my mum regularly took me to see the ballet all over the place, but we used to go into London regularly too. Sadlers Wells was a particular treat, and we saw The Nutcracker by the Royal Ballet several times at the Royal Albert Hall. I also remember going to matinee showings for fairly cheap as I was 16-odd and would go with friends.

It's only now I think back and wonder just how well off we must have been to afford that, as I couldn't afford tickets let alone the travel to do that. We've been to the theatre twice as a family, to see Dan TDM and once for a Marvel thing and it was definitely a treat where we had to cut back elsewhere! For context, that's two theatre trips in about ten years.

Where incidentally excellent dress circle tickets on Tuesday-Fridays in March are currently £50

Just curious…
How much do people think tickets to the big West End Musicals should be?
I'd also be interested to know what people think a West End musician should earn?