To think these theatre prices are outrageous?

[takeharry]

Currently looking at HAMILTON tickets, now I understand they have a ‘star’ casting in Leslie Odom Jr, original broadway cast but FIVE HUNDRED fucking pounds? For one ticket?

There are a few £250/£275 tickets left but the vast majority left are £500.

AIBU to think there should be some sort of regulatory body to prevent this kind of bullshit pricing?

£1k for a couple to have an evening at the theatre

Going to set a few comments off, but i have never heard of of him (had to look at google )and still none the wiser lol

I've had a google of a random date and there's a few for $175. Course you would have to fly over, etc.

(Top price $575 if you want to start another thread! 😁)

Yes, but you're clearly not a Hamilton fan. The point is that an original cast member who created the role of Burr back in the days when Li-Manuel Miranda was workshopping it, appearing in the West End is a huge deal for people who are. And he's a bona fide Broadway star in other shows too.

Such as? Stopping charity donations? Banning A list actors from appearing in shows?

Don't go to theatre much these days, but, £500 does seem excessive.

However still go frequently to the Opera. Mid £200 for decent stalls at R.O.H. even Wagner ( often 4 hrs+ ).

With greatest respect, think Opera production costs are axiomatically significantly higher. With 'Stars' and large cast, big chorus, large orchestra, over a shorter run.

Oh no 😂

I hate how extortionate tickets are nowadays. 10 years ago I’d pop to see wicked if I was at a loose end after work mid-week for around £15. It’s becoming an upper class thing again, we have gone back in time. But I blame the people who pay it! They can charge it because people pay it.

Or you could pay much less for one of the greatest dancers of our time in a special performance…… for under £200:

https://www.rbo.org.uk/seatmap?performanceId=74457&transient=%255B%257B%2522seat%2522%253A838170%252C%2522priceType%2522%253A7%257D%255D

Abso-bloody-lutely!!!

I saw the show yesterday evening… paid £250 for my ticket in the 5th row of the stalls, and to me the price was more than worth it.
It was my 4th time seeing Hamilton and by far the best. Genuinely it was SO GOOD, LOJ was unbelievable and the rest of the cast were amazing too.
On the train home I decided to check if there were any other tickets available during his run, and saw the £500 price tag for anything remaining. I can’t justify spending that personally (especially since I’ve already been), but good for anyone who can!
As soon as I saw this thread title I guessed what it would be about though.

Good seats for the hot shows have always been expensive. I remember paying almost £100 to see Angela Lansbury in 2014 in Blithe Spirit, and a little more later the following year to see Hamlet (Benedict Cumperbatch). £50 to see Maggie Smith in Talking Heads way back in 1996. Fabulous memories to cherish forever and worth every penny.

Girl, let’s be 100% clear: you made a whole thread and multiple follow-up posts complaining about £500 tickets all while ignoring that those were the optional charity premium tickets, not the standard price. That isn’t some minor detail, it completely changes the conversation. You built your entire argument around the most expensive optional tier, then acted like it represented every ticket in the theatre. You weren’t having a 'sensible discussion' about theatre pricing, you were complaining about optional premium pricing without the context that made it different and now you seem offended that people are pointing it out.

To the PP who has never heard of LOJ – I take it that you are not a fan of MT or Hamilton in particular? I mean that's fine ofc. People like different things. Maybe you have not heard of Keely Hodgkinson – to see whom run twice round a track in Paris (among other athletes doing other stuff tbf) I paid a huge amount of money. She won Team GB&NI's only T&F gold that Olympics, so to me it was well worth it. Even if she hadn't won tbh. It’s unlikely that I will go to the Olympics again.

Sometimes the big tickets and big ££ tickets are niche events or stars. Tbh I bet you would be hard pressed to come up with a star that everyone had heard of. I was talking to someone in their 20s today who had no idea who Bob Dylan was. And I am sure I could find an oldie who couldn't put a face to the name Harry Styles.

Anyway. I don't actually think people have had a go the OP as such. I think they said pretty much, well people will pay these prices and you don't have to.

Maybe it's a fair point that as long as someone pays, prices will continue to go up. But in fact it's clear that there were lots of cheaper tickets for the event. Just these are the equivalent of £1k hospitality footy tickets.

You can use Todaytix or similar for cheaper tickets on the day, use rush tickets and lotteries for tickets that are cheaper too if you want to go to London

Regional theatres are usually cheaper and often have offers on or membership schemes for cheaper tickets. Locally we have a variety of schemes for under 25s, for example, to get cheap tickets on the day (usually £10 or £15)

£500 tickets are the exception not the rule

Not quite in the same league but got on the day tickets for Jersey Boys in London 4 rows from the front at £55 each. It then went on tour, same tickets in a regional theatre, double the price. It's wild! And then you get hit with a booking fee on top.
Saw Texas at the Hydro at £45 plus booking fee for tickets. Same level of Girls Aloud £99 each! Now Texas were sold out multiple times and obviously still made their sweet money so why can't other artists/shows do the same? It's going to get to the stage where performers are not going to have any bums on seats to see them strutt their stuff.

Wicked is such a weird show to use for this argument because it has never been discounted. It has a lottery, yes, but even that was around $25 twenty years ago and wasn’t just sitting there on TKTS or TodayTix for $15 whenever someone decided they wanted to go after work. Also, telling people to use rush tickets for Wicked or Hamilton is not helpful when neither has a normal rush. You can be annoyed that theatre is expensive now without rewriting history and pretending Wicked used to be casual $15 midweek filler.

The people justifying it as ‘business’ is why we can’t have nice things anymore and art has become as monetised as everything else in the world. Go to small local gigs, support small local football teams and go to small local productions. The business comments show just how much capitalism has ruined everything. And we wonder why the world is having a mental health crisis 🙄

You're using $ compared to £ which suggests Broadway not West End

This sounds a lot like suggesting artists and staff don't deserve proper payment....

I know where I live, thanks. The currency symbol doesn’t change the argument though. Wicked has never been the kind of show where you could jast casually pick up dirt-cheap tickets whenever you felt like it whether you’re talking Broadway or the West End.

Are you saying that theatres should not stage big shows and pay the people involved proper wages? because doing so will mean that ticket prices will be high?

Tbh it’s always been ££ to go to the theatre in London. Many years ago when I lived there, I made a point of going to live theatre and music as I knew I wasn't going to stay forever. Often and often I went to concerts and plays on my own, bc the ticket prices meant it was a lot to ask a friend to come if they weren't especially interested.

Anyway – there are tickets that are cheaper even now. DD is under 25 and can go to the RSC for £10 for almost all seats. Other theatres offer similar schemes. I especially like the U25 one as it accepts that YP may be short of money, not just when they are students.

Look, you can dislike capitalism all you want, but Hamilton still costs millions of dollars to produce. Jeffrey Seller isn’t running a charity and Lin-Manuel Miranda didn’t write it as a community outreach program. Calling it "business" isn’t anti-art; it’s just acknowledging how professional theatre actually functions.
So go support your local community gigs and small productions all you want—please do!—but don't pretend a massive, commercial blockbuster is a public utility.

The currency symbol does matter because £ and $ are different things...

Most shows you can usually pick up cheap on the day tickets in London. They don't like to have empty seats

We all know that it’s not the artists and writers and theatre staff making a fortune here, maybe one or two. This is like suggesting musicians, bar staff and crew make all the money from Ticketmaster charging a fortune for a concert tickets.

Next time I see one of those threads about how mean MN has become, this one will be at the forefront of my mind. It has everything - condescension, pedantry, hyperbole, pomposity, aggression, accusations of entitlement and superiority.

You’d think the op was presenting a bill in parliament, not posting an innocuous opinion on MN.