To think that West End shows are not all as overpriced as some on here say?

[Carla786]

I definitely think that people are being priced out by col and this is very unfair. But I also think some posts on here about how unaffordable West End theatre is are exaggerated.
The Globe offers standing room for as low as £5 or £6. OK, it's not ideal as most of us would rather sit down but it does at least mean a lot of Shakespeare & some others is affordable if you're prepared to stand.

Then as to West End musicals : I think an issue here is that pps who cite them as unaffordable are trying to take a whole family, 2-3 or maybe more kids, as well as them & DP. This will be a lot harder than going on your own or with one other person, especially if trying for an Xmas show (though booking in advance might slightly lessen). It does vary based on show too : the most popular will of course be more likely to be sky high.

COL has obviously increased a lot, but I also wonder how affordable West End was in the past for family trips. I was born early 2000s and my mum was able to get a lot of cheap tickets very high up just for me & her. As a child her family didn't really do musicals or plays. In the 70s-90s, were big shows a lot more affordable for family trips?

So I suppose I'd say that I agree prices are too high for a lot of families, and this is wrong : but I'd also caveat that I think there are lot more affordable options than some posts on here imply.

I think they’re over priced for me. It’s not value for money for me but others enjoy them.

I fell asleep in Les Mis, The Lion Ling, Miss Saigon, Wicked and a few more.

For me, tickets are affordable however the travel and other “on-costs” make it pricey

Why did you keep going when you always fall asleep? Surely after the second or third one it was lesson learnt?!

Oh believe me, these are all against my will.

Most of them have affordable seats if you're prepared to sit at the very back/restricted view, which often isn't restricted at all.

We don't usually pay more than £30 per ticket, although pushed the boat out for Jesus Christ Superstar at £50

That's a good point. A factor for many seeing it as overpriced may be the cost of travel into London.

I don’t think you have a valid point at all tbh. Saying that people can do it on the cheap if the compromise makes it clear that it’s too expensive otherwise

there are west end shows now where the best tickets are £350.

I used to sell west end tickets and in 2001/2 a good seat would be £40, the best might be £60/70. Tickets in the gods would be £5/10. Now May shows have the cheapest tickets at £60/75 making them very expensive for families, for not great seats.

yes you have the globe and things like my first ballet and kids week, all of which offer cheap tickets. But for a lot of people they won’t go to the theatre to see anything they want to see something they’ll enjoy. Standing for shakesphere at the globe is a niche way of seeing theatre and just because it’s available doesn’t mean west end in general isn’t out of reach for most.

Jesus Christ Superstar was amazing, I hope you felt it was £50 well spent.

I saw Six in the West End recently, got a ticket for £37, which I thought was pretty good.

Thing is if you dont live in London and want to see a show as part of your trip then you can't really leave it till the last minute or go by yourself to get a cheap ticket. I'm from the north east and saw Oliver in the 90s I'll have to ask my mum if she remembers what we paid.
If youre taking kids its also a risk there's a chance they wont enjoy it but a day at a theme park is a guaranteed hit!

Yes, I'm pretty tight financially at the moment but I've managed to book several for this summer that way. I also did splash out for Jesus Christ Superstar as I've always wanted to see that!

I've seen loads of west end shows, including all the big name ones and have never paid more than £40 ish, and usually a lot less.

Yes, of course you want to take your ‘whole family’. Theres three of us and although I’d love to introduce my dc to live shows, I cannot afford the West End. Rubbish, restrictive seats start from £20-30. You can’t justify the price for anything decent for an hour/ two per person. Especially after adding the travelling costs.
I do miss it a lot but, no - it’s not affordable to me.

I, 'splashed out', for Evita last summer, it was £25!

Yes, I think some of this is subjective. I personally would like to see Six but not yet as I think £37 is quite a lot for a fairly short show. But I can see if you really like it it might seem a reasonable price.

Whereas I think Avenue Q could charge more
(cheapest seats are £18) as it's a show I like a lot that's not on very often but it's not one of the hugely popular ones so it doesn't command that kind of price. It's good that some don't though, of course, as otherwise everything would be very high.

Good to hear you enjoyed Jesus so much, I'm looking forward to it..

I always try to get the cheap side seats by booking up as soon as something I want to see is announced. But they’ve gone up from £15 to £37 locally - and it’s a bit much for me!

That's very good! I was very busy then and only found out later, hope it comes back at some point.

On the West End subreddit quite a few Broadway fans coming for Evita were saying it's much cheaper than Broadway. I'm not sure overall how true that is though.

I didn't have great seats, didn't expect to but it's still possible to go.
This year I have my eye on JCS, Cabaret and Oliver, haven't seen any of them yet, I already have a ticket for Miss Saigon in Glasgow.

I always check out seat view before I book, and typically don't pay more than about £40.00 a ticket, however if my husband comes as well, and then we factor in 2 London Travel Cards ( with rail card discounts), and usually a pre show dinner of some sort, can bring the cost to about about £160.00 , and that's with a meal deal at somewhere like Zizzis, but add in a couple of children and I can see how that may become unaffordable. When the children were small, and we have 3 it was definitely not a regular treat, certainly not to London. But if you see when the shows go on tour you can travel to more local theatres and see the same quality of production without necessarily the other costs. Fortunately my DD now works in the west end and I have been very fortunate to have the odd free ticket, which saved a bit but still have the travel and meal costs.

It's not really the cost or affordability but the value of West End shows.

West End shows are entertainment and are very optional. I don't want to feel squeezed or have restricted view when I have my entertainment and what should feel like a treat. On the other hand I don't see enough value in this kind of entertainment for me with £100+ tickets though I can afford it.

Which May shows do you mean? Some do have cheaper tickets available than £60 or £70. Now you can get offers for below £25 for Matilda, Les Mis, Hadestown & Book of Mormon.

https://www.londontheatredirect.com/tickets/tickets-for-25-and-less?gclsrc=aw.ds&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=12914185580&gbraid=0AAAAAD_hqzRaLIdQfhd53NLokpGoB_7kR&gclid=Cj0KCQjwkYLPBhC3ARIsAIyHi3SBPlE3X1B-76OXKT3yikBxouFNd3kojPJu3DpvhG0bjYSEwEYl39UaAlQnEALw_wcB

If you book in advance for summer, you can get quite a few for cheaper prices than those. Cabaret has seats for £38, Avenue Q as I said to pp was offering for only £18 at the lowest.

Im happy to sit in the restricted/back of the room seats and have often got tickets for say £20/£30 for this.

However, as I live in the north of England, the actual ticket cost isn’t really the issue.

The last time I went to London (to see Wicked!) my ticket was £30. I then spend £80 on the train and £100 on a hotel for the night. Suddenly my bargain ticket has cost £210!

Because of this I often miss things I’d really love to see in the West End! I usually just have to cross fingers that things will tour eventually so I can see them closer to home that way!

I don’t usually pay more than £35 for a ticket by booking well in advance (using Today Tix), sometimes the midweek shows are even cheaper.

I go to London a few times a year anyway, I also get the overnight Megabus and stay in a hostel, it's how I make it affordable.
Aswell as looking nearer to you though, look at other cities to travel to touring shows with cheaper travel/hotels, most cities have great free museums, often free festivals going on so make a short break of it.

My dc love the theatre. But personally we go to the local college performance. We pay £15 for me and £10 for the dc for seats in the front row, the acting/singing is great and the actors are always happy to meet the dc afterwards. I've never been to the west end so don't know what that's like but I've been to local theatres and paid to not be able to see much.

As pps have said, restricted view is not necessarily that restricted and it can also be possible to get seats that aren't restricted for lower prices. I've booked Hadestown for just above £30 and there were other shows I saw on offer where seats were available non-restricted for lower than that.

Better seats may cost more but probably not over £100 that often.

I do get wanting entertainment to be comfortable to watch and cheaper and the COL as I said in OP is pricing people out unfairly. Otoh it does take a lot of work to put on a musical or play : how cheap can the tickets realistically be for good seats?