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?

@houselikeashed anything from 60-100 per ticket would be acceptable to me. If not more...

Frozen is expensive, because it's a highly popular show with incredible production values and its pick of talent.

There's a whole world of theatre out there that isn't Frozen. Explore that if your budget doesn't run to Frozen tickets.

I went to the theatre in London pre covid and paid around £80 for medium price seats at a very minimalist production (a cast of about 4 and very little scenery)
I've been 2 other times where tickets were £40 for decent seats. One was a promotional offer and one was part of a group booking.
However the upkeep the old theatres must be astronomical so I can sort of see why the tickets are so expensive. We've never been as a whole family and if we did it would be a Christmas or birthday treat I think.

Some cracking deals here including frozen. Only March left now but if you booked back in November/December there was a lot more available.

officiallondontheatre.com/new-year-sale/

Local to me Ds has just used his 18th birthday money to book Chicago for himself & his girlfriend. Front stalls at £37.50 each

I saw Avenue Q locally in amateur theatre before I saw it in the Palace Theatre in Manchester. The only difference was the ticket price. The local amdram was about £12 a ticket and the performance knocked my socks off.

There are some lovely groups that I'm a member of and quite often they hire out large theatres for the week and put on shows that feel professional. I saw Chitty Chitty Bang Bang in the Stockport Plaza for less than £20. Again an amateur production but amazingly staged (and with the flying car they'd used in the West End)

As a PP said, It's possible to see fabulous productions without bankrupting yourself

You can see any play at the globe for £6 if you're standing. I've seen some stunning work there. Of course a big musical production is going to be pricy. It's a luxury leisure activity.

I think it's a massive privilege to get paid enough to live on for doing freelance performing arts which is presumably something they love doing. Lots of people would like to be paid for 'pursuing their passions' rather than working the tills in Lidl or doing a low paid 9-5 job.

Those freelancers are also eg electricians and carpenters and wardrobe people and ushers as well as actors and musicians. DH is a production electrician. He doesn't love pulling miles of dusty heavy cable around. He's doing it because it's a day's work. The downsides include antisocial hours and rarely getting to spend a weekend at home. He's definitely not doing it for the love of theatre! He makes a decent living. This is because he works very hard.

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.

The only people who get hotels paid for (Travelodge or Premier Inn, we are not talking the Hilton here) are the production crew who are only there for a few nights at a time. These people don't get daily allowances for food. They pay for their own meals and subsistence and claim it back against tax as obviously they don't have the option to take cheaper options like making sandwiches every day to take in to work as a person doing a job near their home can do.

Touring crew do get a payment for accommodation and subsistence but this is not enough to cover a hotel for the full week. As theatre digs tend to include use of a kitchen at least part of the time, the subsistence payment absolutely does not cover lavish meals out every day.

Clearly a difference between resident work force and bought in shows like Frozen. Which are the ones that people are commenting on.

Nope. DH works on big musicals as did I before having a child. Same deal. He has had several things cancelled due to covid.

Today tix are brilliant for shows if you are prepared to get them on the day and maybe go on non popular days. DD and I saw a show last week- £25 for £80 ticket.

I think there are 2 angles to come from -
Is theatre expensive relative to the amount of people involved and the cost of putting on a show? Probably not.
Is theatre expensive relative to people's disposable income?
Probably, in a lot of cases.

There was a similar discussion once about residential school trips ; OP said it was expensive, and lots of posters commented actually its good value when you took into account the activities, staff, food, travel, accommodation etc. They were probably right....but if you don't have £xxx to start with, that's almost irrelevant.

Similarly when I think of the costs (and people) involved to put on a theatre show like some of the ones I've seen in the West end, it's easy to see why the ticket prices are high. But that also doesn't mean that an average family would find it affordable to spend for example £500 on an afternoon show, probably more if you take into account travel and eating out. (We went to Macdonalds when we went to the theatre )

At Christmas I took my DC to see Operation Ouch. Dc are on the cusp of being too old for it (10 and 11).
It was very funny. But £112 for 1.5 hrs funny?
Took daughter to the ballet recently. Less than £100. 3.5 hrs.

@houselikeashed

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?

£25 per ticket.

Ha! All the people saying “it’s not a kids show”. It’s Disney’s Beauty and the Beast based on the Walt Disney cartoon Beauty and the Beast! It’s hardly Samuel Beckett!!

I went to the theatre in London pre covid and paid around £80 for medium price seats at a very minimalist production (a cast of about 4 and very little scenery)

You do realise that even a tiny show involves:

Wardrobe mistress who maintains and prepares all the costumes every single day (may also have a deputy and assistant on a big show)

Dresser(s)

Stage crew (minimum of two/three depending on size of theatre, maybe more, at least one of them prob a first aider) - needed not just for the show but also to maintain the building and for safety

LX department - one electrician in the crew room to deal with emergencies (this person prob also a first aider), one on the board, maybe more doing onstage cues or follow spot - as before maintaining building as well as doing the show

Sound department

Orchestra if a musical -could be as little as five or as many as twenty people who are all highly skilled

Stage management (company stage manager, stage manager, deputy stage manager and assistant stage manager - who all have different jobs that can't be combined and aren't all doing the same thing)

Casual show staff for specific tasks/cues

Production staff - electricians, sound and stage people who are tasked with putting the show in and moving it venue to venue (this is a specific job and can't be done by the resident theatre staff)

Lots of front of house staff

Renting the theatre

And so much more...

£25 per ticket.

Most shows start to make a profit at around 70%+ capacity and the ticket prices as they are now.

At £25 a ticket no shows would break even.

DD and I watched frozen for less than 40 pound each and still got a good seat at the stalls, but be prepared to go on Wednesday or Thursday. But tbh frozen was so well made I think the prices are justified.

Anyway, usually for most West end stuff you there is a wide range of prices and if you don't want to pay top price you just have to look for a less busy date, sometimes look for same day tickets

Agree. I'd go all the time if they were sensible, say 20-70 each.

Premium tickets in West end can be over 200 per seat! Bonkers!

Seems to just be for lawyers and accountants on the corporate gravy train

@mummykel16 well you should get on in there then. Sure there's plenty of room in the market for a company that could put on a high quality musical for £25 a head. Knock yourself out!

@MasterBeth

Ha! All the people saying “it’s not a kids show”. It’s Disney’s Beauty and the Beast based on the Walt Disney cartoon Beauty and the Beast! It’s hardly Samuel Beckett!!

It's a Broadway musical which happens to be suitable for kids. It's not a show produced specifically for children.

If you look around you will find productions that are "kids shows", not full on Broadway or West End musicals, and they can be very cheap or even free. (The city I live in has a professional theatre company for kids which stages plays for young children in libraries for free, paid for by the tax payer.) It is certainly possible to find ways to let your children experience the magic of live theatre without it being a huge expensive show.

£25 is roughly what Dd paid to see Prince of Egypt last autumn. This was her view. A little higher up but perfectly clear.

@Eucalyptusbee

Agree. I'd go all the time if they were sensible, say 20-70 each.

Premium tickets in West end can be over 200 per seat! Bonkers!

Seems to just be for lawyers and accountants on the corporate gravy train

If you don't have any knowledge of what you are talking about, it's better not to say anything at all.

@Fizbosshoes

I think there are 2 angles to come from - Is theatre expensive relative to the amount of people involved and the cost of putting on a show? Probably not. Is theatre expensive relative to people's disposable income? Probably, in a lot of cases.

There was a similar discussion once about residential school trips ; OP said it was expensive, and lots of posters commented actually its good value when you took into account the activities, staff, food, travel, accommodation etc. They were probably right....but if you don't have £xxx to start with, that's almost irrelevant.

Similarly when I think of the costs (and people) involved to put on a theatre show like some of the ones I've seen in the West end, it's easy to see why the ticket prices are high. But that also doesn't mean that an average family would find it affordable to spend for example £500 on an afternoon show, probably more if you take into account travel and eating out. (We went to Macdonalds when we went to the theatre )

Spot on. W.r.t this thread 'insane' implies a very high revenue profit ratio. So the OP is being U for the first, as productions don't make a lot of profit. W.r.t the second - relevant in the context of subsiding theatre.

The industry already received certain subsidies, but f0r acessibilty.. there are lots of options such as the NT livstream
This should be explored more, especially since it's impossible to have a theatre everywhere.
Lots of options for cheap theater in London (there are the £10 PwC previous at the Old Vic for example), Manchester (£25 for the ballet, £10 good seats various plays like Blood Brothers at the Lowry).

Frozen is fantastic though! Don't take your eyes off Elsa when she sings Let it Go...

Andrew L Webber Cinderella is good too.

Loved Pretty Woman too

Back to the Future was good

@RaoulDufysCat

£25 per ticket.

Most shows start to make a profit at around 70%+ capacity and the ticket prices as they are now.

At £25 a ticket no shows would break even.

That depends who is creaming off all the profit doesn't it