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Variety: "Robert F.X. Sillerman wants the legit community to know that he agrees with them: That $450 ticket was a mistake."
5 comments:
Anonymous
said...
It's interesting how Sillerman said that he wants theatre ticket prices to be similar to airline ticket prices. Just browsing ticket prices for Feb. VS May, his system does not take into account how far in advanced you purchased the ticket and that is one of THE largest factor in airline ticket prices.
He also acknowledges the fact that he gave the press an opportunity to focus on the commerce and not the art, but that really seems to be his intent with such high prices and hiding the weekly grosses. There is no intent to lower the prices, because people will actually shell out the $120 for the cheapest ticket in the house. The Premium tickets are enough to do a round-trip to Hawai'i.
One of the main reasons I have been wary of going to see Broadway shows is because of the obscene ticket prices. Sure you can get tickets the day of and so forth, but shouldn't Broadway be leading the way in bringing the theatre everyone? By keeping ticket prices high they really knock out a huge amount of people who could be potential audiences. That's really why the movie and television industry took off, because it was accessible. Of course cheaper ticket prices would result in more advertisements/commercialized theatre, but wouldn't it be great to have a range to choose from?
There is something about Sillerman I do not trust. First, he's going against my belief that tickets should cost less to make theatre more accessible. Second, he's hiding weekly grosses of the show. There's just something here that seem fishy, especially when he won't change the prices. What the hell is the point of apologizing and take blame for a mistake and then to no correct it? Something about him just screams rat.
I read somewhere that back in the early days of Broadway people could afford to go every night if they wanted to, they could bring a date, go to dinner or just eat a hot dog. The whole night would not cost an obscene amount of money but would be an entirely understandable place to take the wife, or whomever. At these prices that would be ridiculous. Theatre is for the people, not the producers. And I agree with Nicole, this guy just doesn't feel right.
I agree with Elize and Kevin. The scarity and excitement that goes along with Broadway is all well and good, but there is something to be said for just going into New York and being able to see a show. Although the tkts booth has made some progress in that area (half off tickets the day of), I still wish that Broadway was more accessible to the masses. If it was, maybe people would branch out from Legally Blonde and Spring Awakening and see something really new and exciting.
This guy sounds like a pretty big hypocrite. I agree with Kevin that that is extremly ridiculous to relate plane tickets to theatre tickets. A lot of people can not fly because of how expensive it is. Also I think $450 for any form of entertainment lasting 2-3 hours is overpriced. Even though these are very expensive tickets you can normally go into the city and buy tickets for $40-$50 dollars the day before or a few days before, they won't be very good seats but personally I like sitting farther back.
5 comments:
It's interesting how Sillerman said that he wants theatre ticket prices to be similar to airline ticket prices. Just browsing ticket prices for Feb. VS May, his system does not take into account how far in advanced you purchased the ticket and that is one of THE largest factor in airline ticket prices.
He also acknowledges the fact that he gave the press an opportunity to focus on the commerce and not the art, but that really seems to be his intent with such high prices and hiding the weekly grosses. There is no intent to lower the prices, because people will actually shell out the $120 for the cheapest ticket in the house. The Premium tickets are enough to do a round-trip to Hawai'i.
One of the main reasons I have been wary of going to see Broadway shows is because of the obscene ticket prices. Sure you can get tickets the day of and so forth, but shouldn't Broadway be leading the way in bringing the theatre everyone? By keeping ticket prices high they really knock out a huge amount of people who could be potential audiences. That's really why the movie and television industry took off, because it was accessible. Of course cheaper ticket prices would result in more advertisements/commercialized theatre, but wouldn't it be great to have a range to choose from?
There is something about Sillerman I do not trust. First, he's going against my belief that tickets should cost less to make theatre more accessible. Second, he's hiding weekly grosses of the show. There's just something here that seem fishy, especially when he won't change the prices. What the hell is the point of apologizing and take blame for a mistake and then to no correct it? Something about him just screams rat.
I read somewhere that back in the early days of Broadway people could afford to go every night if they wanted to, they could bring a date, go to dinner or just eat a hot dog. The whole night would not cost an obscene amount of money but would be an entirely understandable place to take the wife, or whomever. At these prices that would be ridiculous. Theatre is for the people, not the producers. And I agree with Nicole, this guy just doesn't feel right.
I agree with Elize and Kevin. The scarity and excitement that goes along with Broadway is all well and good, but there is something to be said for just going into New York and being able to see a show. Although the tkts booth has made some progress in that area (half off tickets the day of), I still wish that Broadway was more accessible to the masses. If it was, maybe people would branch out from Legally Blonde and Spring Awakening and see something really new and exciting.
This guy sounds like a pretty big hypocrite. I agree with Kevin that that is extremly ridiculous to relate plane tickets to theatre tickets. A lot of people can not fly because of how expensive it is. Also I think $450 for any form of entertainment lasting 2-3 hours is overpriced. Even though these are very expensive tickets you can normally go into the city and buy tickets for $40-$50 dollars the day before or a few days before, they won't be very good seats but personally I like sitting farther back.
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