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 don't get this argument. People often spout it on here "By the time you've spend £200 on train tickets, £300 on hotel rooms, £200 on tickets, £100 on a meal you could go on holiday for that amount!"

a - the majority of those things are optional or could be done a lot cheaper - you can get flixbus tickets and national express for cheap, even if it takes longer. Do premier inn rather than an expensive hotel. Book medium price tickets or book well in advance, taking advantage of deals like the london theatre week. Eat somewhere cheap rather than a restaurant.

b - Those costs would be the same for any type of activity where you have to leave your home town, it's hardly the theatre's fault if you live in Aberdeen and want to take 6 people to eat at the Ivy!

Given what they are and the costs they incur, I think tickets are reasonable. There are lots of ways to get them cheaper if you're prepared to go at an awkward time, or see something after it's been going a few years, or plan in advance using the various offers, etc. They're still far cheaper than most big name music gigs. If it's really too expensive most of the big shows end up touring regionally eventually anyway, and there are things like the cinema screenings of live theatre. At the end of the day, if tickets are selling there must be enough people willing to buy them!

No, the whole point of your thread was to argue WE theatre is accessible, but you can only demonstrate it to be so if people are prepared to accept really terrible seats. Even then it's not really affordable, just less than the good seats.

We paid £60 a ticket for Cabaret but two rows in front were £120 and the front section was twice that apparently, dd was amazed just how much cheaper it was just 10 rows from the front!

I was right at the top, in the gods. Not ideal if you don't like heights, but you could see and hear everything perfectly, inc the pre-show.
To be fair, it was a couple of years ago, so may be a little above £30 now.
I think 17 is a perfect age for "Cabaret" - they are nature enough to understand the resonances, and cope with some of the more 'shocking' aspects.

I'm not saying it should be btw, you can see why it costs a lot to put on a WE show, but let's not pretend its accessible to everyone.

I've mentioned plenty of shows upthread that have seats for lower prices and not restricted view.

Cabaret has those for £38, Hadestown for just above £30 to name two. I've mentioned others to pps. Avenue Q I misread, it was not £18, but it is below £40..

Can I ask what prices you'd class as affordable?

We paid £40 each for Cabaret in February. Upper circle. We could see and hear everything perfectly. The seats are so steeply tiered that the people in front could stand up and not be in our way.

I do think it’s too expensive to see a show in London. I was thinking about taking the kids to see Matilda, we don’t live in London, we’d need to do the weekend matinee, I’d want good seats, which are around £300 (for great seats its around £500), it’s a lot to spend with also the trains, food etc, it all adds up for 4. Too expensive for us to do. I do wonder how they sell all the seats every day.

I also think calls to subsidise more are unrealistic. It would be great if the government could but there clearly are a lot of things that should be prioritised first.

YANBU.

Tickets for West End shows are set by normal market forces of supply & demand, and the people running commercial theatres are not stupid.

If tickets for a popular show are in high demand, the price will inevitably increase to reflect that, and the show will still sell out. Therefore, however high the price, the product cannot, by definition, be ‘overpriced’. In exactly the same way that £100+ Arsenal & Chelsea tickets are not overpriced because every game sells out.

I'm taking the DC to Paddington in October, fortunately DH would rather remove his own eyes with a spoon than watch a musical so it's only the three of us. Tickets cost about 100 for the 3 so £34 sounds about right (and no they aren't restricted view just not in the stalls). Yes I had to book way in advance but that was partly due to uncertain availability over the summer, the want to go on a weekend etc. Cinema tickets are almost 20 quid each for the big screen at the local multiple so less than double that seems like good value for a live show.

@Lomonald - I tried but was 128k in queue so it wasn’t happening. I actually joined queue, went by public transport to the airport, sat there 2 hours and boarded plane without reaching the front. Out of curiosity I looked when I landed 2.5 hours later and got in but only the high prices left. We went in last summer for my oldest 18th and my youngest also has it pencilled in for hers so I restrained myself.

I don’t think you’re being unreasonable OP.

A lot of tickets are pricey, that’s for sure. But then again, a lot of cost must go into putting on some of these performances.

I do agree about them only sounding so pricey when someone is quoting the price for an entire family. If you’re going alone or only paying for your own ticket, that’s clearly a more reasonable sounding figure right there.

Furthermore, I think a lot of people who complain want the best seats. “I’m not going to the theatre if I can’t have the best view, a comfy seat etc”. But if you’re willing to have a less good view - not necessarily obscured but further back - the cost comes down. For the young and/ or physically able, a lot of places do standing tickets, bench sets etc - might not be perfect but it’ll be the same show! And again, a slightly obscured view doesn’t always make much difference- many shows are as much about what you hear as see, and unless it’s one with amazing staging, it often doesn’t matter if you miss a bit.

Then the best thing of all - lotteries! And rush tickets. Now, you do need to be able to be flexible for these, so it clearly suits people living near the show they want to see best often in London. But I think that’s fair enough, bearing in mind what it costs to live there! And local people really shouldn’t be priced out of local amenities because people on their holidays will pay more.

Lotteries - usually you’ve got a bit of choice as to when you apply for, or sometimes you get the notification you’re a winner and then can go in and choose a date.

Rush tickets are cheap tickets on the day - the equivalent of turning up and queuing back in the day. So you have to be able to go that day (usually).

I’ve just got a ticket for Dracula in the Stalls for £30!

Matilda has a really good lottery system. You might have to have a few goes applying for different weekends, school holidays, but you’ll generally win eventually.

Some will be reduced on the day, some go via rush on the day at £20/£30. In really unsold performances the may go to a seat filling agency. A few years ago I got rear stalls tickets to Grease for £6.50 - it hadnt been selling well.

Had an amazing stalls seat for Cabaret for £65. Very close to the action, albeit not the tables.

Also - I cannot stress this enough - you do not need to buy food and drinks in the theatre!

Nowhere will stop you bringing in a bottle of water.

No show is so long you with expire if you don’t eat something (edit - except Harry Potter and the cursed child, and there’s a long break in that), but tbh rarely would you be stopped bringing in a packet of sweeten or similar

No one needs an alcoholic drink or sweetened drink. They don’t even sell hot drinks.

To be fair, Six is wildly overpriced for what it is. Total garbage. I agree in general.

We've just booked tickets to see the new Sinatra musical - it's our 15th wedding anniversary and will be our only trip to London this year so we pushed the boat out and paid £204 for 2 reasonable seats in the circle. The most expensive seats are £375 each😮

Yes, I mean it hasn't got much plot to speak of. I love Cats which doesn't have much ot either but it does have far more songs & elaborate dancing.

I’ve seen Six with each of my children and enjoyed it both times. Maybe it is a bit silly but I found it enjoyable.

Paid reasonable prices although the time I went with dd was touring.

Dd is now 17 and gets brilliantly priced 16-25 tickets for a lot of things. She prefers plays to musicals at the moment.

Phew, that is a lot. I suppose because it's new? Still, it's worth it if it's really good.

I was aghast @Carla786 I was expecting a proper musical not a subpar Little Mix tribute act

Good post, I agree with all of this.