Saturday, March 03, 2012
West End eyes Olympics
Variety: The massive summer influx of U.K. and foreign tourists traditionally spells bonanaza at the London legit box office. But this summer all bets are off - thanks to the London Olympics. Of all those fans flooding into town for the Games (July 27-Aug. 12) and the Paralympics (Aug. 29-Sept. 9), how many want to see West End shows? Initially, the mood was grim. Andrew Lloyd Webber was the first to fire warning shots, telling the BBC in late December, "I think the theater will have a bloodbath of a summer."
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4 comments:
It is weird to think about the fact that what the theatre companies in London need are not just tourists; they need the right kind of tourists. I think that it is a bit general to say that the type of tourists who go to the Olympics are not the same type of people who go to the theatre. I personally would love to go to the Olympics at least once in my life and if the Olympics were in London I would defiantly make sure to see some of the performances. I agree with the statement "I cannot believe people will come here and only see, say the 100-meter final, why not take in London's attractions and culture?"
I don't really think tickets sales over the Olympics will be less, in fact, with the International Shakespeare Festival that summer, as well as so many out of town tourists, I would venture to say that all of London will experience an economic spike, both in the West End and the rest of London. I think what people tend to forget is that the Olympics is not a just a sporting event, it is a cultural one, attracting people for a wide variety of reasons including national pride and the ideological impact of an international even based on sportsmanship and friendly competition. I think a great many of the spectators would certainly want to soak up as much of London as possible, including a world-class theatrical hub. Even if the proportion of tourists seeing theatre is lower this summer, the fact that millions of people will be flocking to London must increase ticket sales.
I'm on the fence about the Olympics being an issue. Yes, sporting people are different from theater people. But the people going to London for the Olympics are also likely to do tourist-y things, like experience the culture of London and get out to see some shows. Plus, the city of London is only so big, the people have got to go somewhere when they're favorite Olympic sport isn't happening on a certain day. In conclusion, I don't think the West End will have any financial problems this summer.
Even if you look at the Olympics as a different group of fans, the sheer number of people should be a large boost in ticket sales. Plus with the theatre culture in London you should see a large number of fans with crossover to the theatrical market.
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