OnStage Blog: Picture it: Times Square at 6:30 p.m., a line curling around the block, buzzing like the overture before a big number. Tourists in sneakers, locals in work clothes, theatre students clutching Playbills before the ink’s even dry. And when the doors finally open, they all sweep inside, without paying a dime.
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When I read this article’s first few paragraphs, I genuinely thought that every theatre-goer’s fantasy had come true, and Broadway was finally offering free tickets to previews! However… Once I read the article, I came to the solemn realization that this article was only dreaming about the same thing, not reporting it as reality. That being said, though I already agreed with the idea, this article provides plenty more evidence for why free tickets to previews wouldn’t just be a dream-come-true, but also an incredible opportunity for the shows themselves from a marketing standpoint. I hold a strong belief that one of the biggest issues with theatre, that has only slightly gotten better over the years, is its lack of accessibility. Thanks to soundtracks, the internet and pro-shots, people who may not have previously been interested in theatre can find it in their everyday lives. However, the price of the “ideal” theatre experience on Broadway comes with a very hefty price tag that keeps many from experiencing it. The possibilities would be endless and the theatrical industry would only benefit from free preview tickets to the public.
I found this article to be really cool! I feel like the idea of making theatre more accessible in any way that we can is always an amazing idea! Making Broadway previews free or heavily discounted would be a great way to do this. Although it could cause some money issues, it would likely provide an overall benefit to the production. Like the author suggested, it would likely help with marketing and create lots of buzz around the show. In addition, it would help to inspire the next generation of artists that wouldn't be able to get into a Broadway show otherwise. For the producers that are concerned about money, I would suggest two things that the author listed, a lottery system and pay what you can tickets. This would mean that everyone would have a fair chance to get tickets, and people who can afford to pay the high Broadway ticket price can and those who can’t don’t have to. This would also be a great strategy, as most current "accessible" Broadway programs such as rush and lottery often provide pretty bad seats to the recipients, which would not be an issue with my suggested strategy.
I really enjoyed this article because it made me imagine what Broadway could look like if accessibility was truly prioritized. The thought of different kinds of people all sitting together in the theatre felt very meaningful to me, because I feel like theatre is a place that can bring people together. While I completely understand that free previews are not financially realistic, the article also shows that Broadway is still something many people can’t easily experience. Ticket prices alone make it difficult for people who might be curious about theatre but don’t have the money to take that chance. That’s why the author’s suggestions about community partnerships and pay-what-you-can nights stood out to me. Even small efforts could bring in a more diverse audience and give new people the chance to fall in love with Broadway. In the end, I believe that giving more people the chance to see theatre would only help it grow.
I absolutely loved how this article gave hypothetical scenarios about what it could look like if Broadway was in fact able to give free previews. For example, when they mentioned the single mother with her teenager that wouldn’t have been able to see a Broadway show otherwise. In addition, theater should be accessible to everyone regardless of their socioeconomic status, which is why it is so important that Broadway takes this step considering that it is and has always led the world in theater. There are many ways people have tried to make it accessible whether its programs, or Gofundmes, or even paying for someone's ticket, but the majority of people (especially teenagers and young adults) would never get this offer. In addition, theater is also something that heavily impacts the world and conveys messages in a way that nothing else can do. People deserve to see these shows and understand these messages to make the world a better place and we need to start with making theater accessible to everyone.
I was hoping by the title and beginning of the story that shows were starting to move to a model of offering free Broadway previews for the audiences to come in and see the works as they are in their workshopping phase. I think this is an excellent idea, as this would allow for so many more people to see the productions and would also allow for a lot less pressure on the creative team to have a perfectly polished product for previews, and instead really allow them to try things out and experiment. I have been seeing a trend of having reduced ticket prices for previews, which I appreciate, but they will usually be in the back of the mezzanine or balcony on the far sides. I can see how this may lead to physical congestion with people camping out for tickets, but I think overall it would be a net positive for audiences and bringing people in.
I really like this article, while it is more of a proposal of an idea rather than reporting on an actual occurrence, it would be awesome to have this be a thing. While yes, Broadway exists to make money for return on investment for investors and producers, having this free preview week the article proposes would fix so many accessibility issues people are complaining about. The current solution is people illegally recording shows to produce “bootlegs” and post them on youtube, however, doing a week of free performances would solve that issue and not make bootlegs the only solution. Bootlegs also only make the uploader money. With the free performances, instead of only making the uploader money, the show would generate money from merch sales and concession sales, some of the primary places theatres get money from. Along with that, the word of mouth marketing would be huge for the show, and help get smaller and brand new shows the marketing they need to succeed and not shut down after 1 month. Overall, I really like this idea and I believe it would really help every side.
When I saw the title of the article, I didn’t really believe it. I mean think about it, if shows on Broadway were to start giving free tickets, their funding to keep the show going would get tighter. However, I think if planned properly it could work out. If given the opportunity, I believe many people would take it up to attempt to see a show on Broadway. Being able to share the talent and magic of these shows across a vast audience makes it even better in my opinion. It allows people to share the experience with each other, and being able to talk to someone about an amazing show has made my experiences watching live performances ten times better. Along with that, it can give people an equal shot at getting tickets. There are many people who I am sure would love to see a live performance but are unable to due to money constraints. Having this opportunity can allow those people to experience the magic of theatre that they don’t usually get to see.
I thought from the headline this was real for a hot sec but the Wattpad fan fiction starting paragraph made it clear ‘tis not. Honestly, I think that it’s a nice idea that will never happen to that capacity. This feels like a very out of the kindness of your heart move and for a Broadway show there isn’t much room to play with promising the financial return of a production. While I am not sure how it would work, it may be worth considering boosting ways in which people who cannot afford to go see shows to be able to see productions at greatly reduced costs or free. I think letting people who were already planning to see a show or who regularly see the shows should not be able to go see it for free from a business point of view. Maybe previews for groups of students who’d otherwise not likely buy tickets, people with special accessibility needs, and financial groups of people Broadway is often a barrier of access to would be good; I do see the author’s dream though.
I think this article touches on one of the biggest problems in getting new audiences interested in theatre. Theatre is expensive, both in the costs of putting the show on in the first place and the ticket prices. And the only way that someone can know for sure if they enjoy theatre is by paying hundreds of dollars for a ticket (on Broadway at least) because there is no way for advertisements to convey the magic of live theatre. While on paper free previews seems a ludicrous idea I believe it might be more sound than you might believe at first glance. These previews would be a great way to get more people engaged in theatre who might have otherwise never bought a Broadway ticket. In some cases these people might think of it as a one off fun experience and leave it at that but I believe that being able to see the magic of live performance would lead many others to being more willing to dish out the cash for a Broadway ticket.
I think this is a beautiful idea! I acknowledge the financial challenge that this would put on productions, but in this economy and current state of the world, free theatre might be a shining light. An ability to escape the hellscape that is the US and venture into the theatre to explore other worlds and others’ lives. I would never expect all of the previews to be free or even all of the seats in one preview to be free, but even if they had 20 seats available at every preview, that would provide access to SO many people. I understand that it is a pipe dream, but so was the concept of Broadway when it first started, so if we stop dreaming, then where do we go from there? We can’t just sit around while they continue to hike up the prices. The hope would be this first, then lowering the prices.
This is mine, I apologize! I think this is a beautiful idea! I acknowledge the financial challenge that this would put on productions, but in this economy and current state of the world, free theatre might be a shining light. An ability to escape the hellscape that is the US and venture into the theatre to explore other worlds and others’ lives. I would never expect all of the previews to be free or even all of the seats in one preview to be free, but even if they had 20 seats available at every preview, that would provide access to SO many people. I understand that it is a pipe dream, but so was the concept of Broadway when it first started, so if we stop dreaming, then where do we go from there? We can’t just sit around while they continue to hike up the prices. The hope would be this first, then lowering the prices.
This is a spectacular idea! Free, or even cheap tickets to previews would change the game for a lot of people, as much of Broadway, especially new shows trying to break even, remain highly costly. In general, I think we need to find a way to lower the costs for the arts in general, to create more accessibility. This also could be partially already being done with rush tickets for many shows on the day of, with the cheapest of these being Hamilton at $10. In an ideal world, all companies would have tickets at Hamilton’s price point, but I doubt that many, especially newer shows, will. Show business is business after all.
This is giving like… what if the world was made of pudding. I feel like we've all thought this, and we've all dreamed about this. The bottom line is that theater on Broadway is made for rich people now. It's only made for people who can afford the ticket. And yeah they have standing room tickets and rush lotteries but there aren't many standing room tickets and it's called a lottery for a reason. When it gets down to it tickets can be $900 nowadays, stunt casting has made everything so freaking expensive. I have a friend at UMICH and she says that there are like six people in her Theater Arts major who are in “production economics” focus (which is a thing they have there) and she says that like it feels like a lot of them don't really care about creating the art. A lot of them care about primarily about how theater can make money, and I feel like that's crazy that we have that nowadays. Obviously money is an object but it would be a great world. I wonder if to make this at all possible, could it be at all worked into the budget? It would destroy checkbooks now, but maybe it doesn’t’ have to. I don't know enough about Broadway to think critically about this, but Broadway preview fundraising maybe? I feel like it's kind of negative to talk about how this would be a thing that shreds checkbooks when it's a great thing that can make theater so much more accessible and it seems like it's just being talked about as a fantasy.
I think that this is a really interesting idea, but I also wonder if it would be bad for some Productions that still have a little more work ahead of them when it comes time for previews. I remember a couple summers ago I saw this really spectacular performance at the American Repertory Theater in Boston, but I had been talking to someone who had seen it in previews and they didn't have that same reaction to it because there are still elements of the show that were missing or unpolished due to some shop mishaps that led to certain technical elements not being ready by the time that previews rolled around. All of this is totally fine when you go into previews expecting to see a product that isn't fully finished, but if you open it up for free, you also open it up to a lot of people who don't go in there with those expectations. and that might actually lead to people thinking more negative things about your show, because they don't understand that what they saw wasn't the finished version, or that when they had to hold for some major technical difficulty in the middle of the show, that wasn't something that tended to happen throughout the normal run of a show. I do think that it's still a really interesting idea, but even outside of the financial elements mentioned in this article, I do think that I would need to consider that as a producer before I would greenlight this idea. Maybe, a good idea would be if there would be only a few seats that were lottery though.
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