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Post by Dr Tom on Apr 30, 2018 20:42:46 GMT
Pretty much all theatres have premium seats. Even the local non-London theatres have them now.
The £200 premium seats for Hamilton are £250 from the next booking period onwards, so worth going sooner rather than later (and they will still sell out at £250 and no doubt keep going up until they find the maximum price point the American tourists will pay).
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4,158 posts
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Post by HereForTheatre on Apr 30, 2018 21:20:13 GMT
It most certainly isn't selling out in the latest booking period at those prices.
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Post by lolasangel on Apr 30, 2018 21:39:10 GMT
I don't really get what's fair game about that. So they're basically normal tickets, but way more expensive? Is it any different to other shows that sell premium tickets? Just had a quick look at prices for this Saturday. Lion King top price ticket is £200.25. Book of Mormon is £202.25. Wicked is £175. Bat out of Hell is £175. Even Chicago is £150. The only difference with Hamilton is that due to it's current popularity the majority of cheaper tickets have sold out leaving only premium tickets left on sale. Well the difference is there is a hell of a lot of tickets in the Stalls and Dress Circle at that £200/£250 premium price. Much much more compared to those other shows you list. People should stop buying at thats price
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4,361 posts
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Post by shady23 on Apr 30, 2018 22:55:59 GMT
Why should people stop buying them? Cause we can't all afford them?
If people buying up all these premium seats means they have a bit of leeway to offer cheap day seats or others then fair enough.
If there were no premiums the average seat price would go up.
They are a necessary evil!
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Post by timothyd on Apr 30, 2018 23:08:39 GMT
I seriously doubt that.
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Post by Deleted on May 1, 2018 5:51:42 GMT
What I don’t like is when a show goes on sale, and the system allocates your seats for you. It did that for Matilda tour which we ended up paying premium prices for because of how badly designed the website was, making it impossible to get a better price easily.
That website also didn’t show the seating plan...
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4,458 posts
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Post by poster J on May 1, 2018 7:25:55 GMT
You do know they're not all that price? That's true. Some are just £75. For an obstructed view. Or £35 for a clear one. The ticket debate is pointless - either you are happy to pay the prices or hunt carefully for a ticket/do returns queue etc, or you're not. There is clearly demand otherwise the tickets wouldn't sell and they would be discounted, same as with any other show.
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4,458 posts
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Post by poster J on May 1, 2018 7:29:35 GMT
They now only have premium seats for the dates I can go. Whats premium about these seats? You should have booked earlier then - I'm afraid that's no-one's fault but your own, you can't blame other people for being more organised and getting the cheaper tickets. For popular shows you have to book early, that's just simple supply and demand.
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Post by Deleted on May 1, 2018 7:29:53 GMT
I've been reading 'The Story of Miss Saigon' from 1991 recently and picked up on something interesting. As a result of some ongoing tension between the then theatre owners and Cam Mac (initially over programme prices).... Interesting to see him take a 180 on this completely, although I do wonder how much of it is imposed moreso by the Broadway producers/investors rather than Cam Mac.
Although I guess you could counter argue that rather than loosing complete profit on particular performances they enable a similar situation with the lottery.
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2,763 posts
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Post by daniel on May 1, 2018 7:31:24 GMT
What I don’t like is when a show goes on sale, and the system allocates your seats for you. It did that for Matilda tour which we ended up paying premium prices for because of how badly designed the website was, making it impossible to get a better price easily. That website also didn’t show the seating plan... I agree, it's frustrating, but it's one of those "for the greater good" scenarios. The websites can handle more bookers simultaneously when it allocates seats for you, and avoids the situation I had for Hamilton whereby I'd pick some seats and by the time you get to the basket, they've already gone. So I guess it's a decision between select your own seat and longer queue times to get into the site, or shorter queue but allocated seats.
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239 posts
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Post by dizzieblonde on May 1, 2018 7:52:07 GMT
What I don’t like is when a show goes on sale, and the system allocates your seats for you. It did that for Matilda tour which we ended up paying premium prices for because of how badly designed the website was, making it impossible to get a better price easily. That website also didn’t show the seating plan... I agree, it's frustrating, but it's one of those "for the greater good" scenarios. The websites can handle more bookers simultaneously when it allocates seats for you, and avoids the situation I had for Hamilton whereby I'd pick some seats and by the time you get to the basket, they've already gone. So I guess it's a decision between select your own seat and longer queue times to get into the site, or shorter queue but allocated seats. A workaround was found for this auto-allocation problem - using Explorer and Firefox browsers allowed people to choose seats, even when Chrome auto-allocated (although I don't know if that still functions). It certainly helped me, allowing me to choose box seats that just wouldn't come up on auto-pick, even when they were available. I do agree with the whole 'buy early to buy cheap' philosophy. Just as the cheaper train tickets are only available 12 weeks before journey date, being clued up enough to know when the next booking windows are open (or just making sure you sign up for the alerts that let you know about them) is the clever way to shop for theatre tickets (or, really, almost any kind of ticket these days). Trying to book in April, and bemoaning the lack of the cheaper seats available for May and June is almost pointless - there was never any way the biggest show in London would have those seats available that late in the booking process. At that point, it becomes a case that you need to work really hard to find returns - so going onto the website every single day to see if any have popped up. It's just the luck of the draw at this stage - someone returns tickets they can't use for 2-3 week's time, and you just happen to be on the site when they are released for resale. I've occasionally seen some friendly posters here mentioning that they've just seen some spare tickets for certain dates, so it's also worth stalking these kinds of boards for mentions of posters planning to return tickets, and seeing if you can pick them up on sale instead. It's either that, or start to do long term planning, and book for 6-8 month's time, where there are plentiful lower price options still available!
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Post by Deleted on May 1, 2018 8:03:08 GMT
They now only have premium seats for the dates I can go. Whats premium about these seats? You should have booked earlier then - I'm afraid that's no-one's fault but your own, you can't blame other people for being more organised and getting the cheaper tickets. For popular shows you have to book early, that's just simple supply and demand. I don't think he was blaming other people for being "more organised and getting the cheaper tickets" though. I understand that he was seemingly criticising 'Hamilton' which you clearly don't like but there's no need to get snippy with someone for questioning that the ticket prices for this show are incredibly high. Looking back at timothyd 's messages, he doesn't appear to live in London. Not everyone is as clued up about how and where to get the cheapest tickets for this show as some career bargain hunters on here.
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3,056 posts
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Post by Rory on May 1, 2018 8:25:13 GMT
I was able to get 2 decent enough seats in Row M stalls for £100 each in November and was able to pick my own seats in the seating plan. That's an improvement on when I had booked previously. I do think, however, that £250 for a premium ticket is an extremely unwelcome development for the West End.
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Post by timothyd on May 1, 2018 8:25:36 GMT
Thanks Ryan. Where I live train tickets are the same price whenever you buy them. Same with theatre tickets. Most expensive ticket here is 80 euros. That's what premium here.
A few months ago I booked a trip to London to see a few shows and one of them got canceled. Therefore I was looking at other shows that might be good and I stumbled across Hamilton. Saw tickets for 37,5 on the balcony, bought them, but had to refund them because they appeared to have too little legroom (and due to backpain I have to have a normal seat). Two days later the seats next to those 37,5 seats I bought in the grand balcony came back for sale. Price? 200 pounds. Therefore I asked what a premium ticket was. Thought it might come with champagne and a free programme or something like that.
I don't mind them asking 200 pound premium prices for the best seats available. But asking 200 pounds for seats next to 37,5 seats is a bit weird.
Hamilton seems fun, but not 200 or 250 pounds fun. You can go on a small holiday for the price of two tickets. Maybe when the show transfers here I can buy tickets for a normal price.
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310 posts
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Post by showoff on May 1, 2018 10:06:52 GMT
I don't see how the premium tickets comp for the cheaper seats. In every theatre you have better seats and they, of course charge more. However, I haven't seen a theatre have quite so many premium or seats priced at £100 or more. Every other theatre manages to comp less expensive tickets without so many being so highly priced.
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Post by Deleted on May 1, 2018 10:28:32 GMT
It is possible for the existence of premium tickets to allow for the existence of cheaper priced seats by boosting the average ticket cost as a general rule, while simultaneously possible for Hamilton to have a very high number of premium seats and far fewer cheap seats than other West End theatres (though possibly not other theatres with shows playing to the same sort of large capacity audience such as Mormon or Lion King). These two things don't rule each other out, they can and do exist together.
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239 posts
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Post by dizzieblonde on May 1, 2018 10:46:40 GMT
This recent article in The Stage was pretty illuminating, regarding price structures and how band pricing works, on a psychological level! The Stage
For Hamilton, beyond the standard pricing structure that determines how a theatre breaks even or makes a profit, you have to add in the cost of that enormous renovation project - which isn't even finished! They're still refurbishing the backstage areas, because they ran out of time pre-opening. That work was put at an eye-watering £50 million (who knows what the real cost is), but that has to be part of any pricing plan, to recoup those costs over an extended period of time. I suspect it might be easier to think of it as this - premium tickets are the ones paying for the redone theatre, whilst the standard price tickets are basically keeping the production going! In a show where occupancy is likely about the industry standard of 75%, the fully filled standard seats are paying the weekly bills. Those £250 seats' profits are probably going into the refurb payoff! As time goes on, and the buzz dies down - and the refurbishment ends and is paid for - those premium seats might be found at more discounted costs. But that's some way into the future, and right now, they are serving a very particular purpose. Hamilton certainly doesn't have a lack of takers for them at those prices. I don't think anyone can say if the rest of the West End will automatically follow suit - it's a very particular production, in a specific theatre situation, that leads to this pricing.
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4,361 posts
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Post by shady23 on May 1, 2018 11:06:34 GMT
I don't see how the premium tickets comp for the cheaper seats. In every theatre you have better seats and they, of course charge more. However, I haven't seen a theatre have quite so many premium or seats priced at £100 or more. Every other theatre manages to comp less expensive tickets without so many being so highly priced. If they didn't have these expensive seats day tickets certainly would not be ten pound.
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2,739 posts
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Post by ceebee on May 1, 2018 12:51:27 GMT
I picked up a ticket off Ticketmaster last night for £37.50 for this on Thursday evening. Guess I got very lucky. Now I get to see what all the fuss/hype is about.
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4,956 posts
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Post by TallPaul on May 1, 2018 13:53:33 GMT
What the show pays in rent etc to the theatre is then what is used to pay for the theatre building's upkeep and costs associated with the renovation project. Financial geeks, like me, may be interested to know that Cam Mack and Stephen Waley-Cohen have now agreed on the final purchase price of the Victoria Palace. It was going to be a maximum of £26,130,000, depending on what came to light during the redevelopment. What came to light were problems costing £1,750,000, so the price Cam Mack paid, before building costs, was 'only' £24,380,000.
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Post by Deleted on May 1, 2018 18:06:35 GMT
In this case, is the show's producer and the theatre's owner not the same person?
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Post by Deleted on May 1, 2018 18:09:48 GMT
Who would people say is the “better” Alexander Hamilton? Jamael or Ash?
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Post by Deleted on May 1, 2018 18:11:41 GMT
Who would people say is the “better” Alexander Hamilton? Jamael or Ash? Not seen him but the other one I would guess. Jamael is pretty wooden. I thought a part of the set had fallen onto the stage for a long time.
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Post by Deleted on May 1, 2018 18:16:37 GMT
I've seen Jamael 3 times and I gotta say I loved him.
Haven't seen Ash so I can't compare.
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Post by Deleted on May 1, 2018 18:18:22 GMT
I liked both and think they're equally good in acting, singing, rapping.
I'd probably choose Jamael as he fits the part physically a little better (more believable that women would be falling over themselves for him) and his chemistry with the cast is slightly better too, as would be expected.
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310 posts
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Post by showoff on May 1, 2018 18:19:44 GMT
Who would people say is the “better” Alexander Hamilton? Jamael or Ash? I would have to agree with Ryan here. I saw Jamael, so I presume Ash would have to be better due to Jamael being so stiff, he also had zero charisma.
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239 posts
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Post by dizzieblonde on May 1, 2018 19:27:04 GMT
Who would people say is the “better” Alexander Hamilton? Jamael or Ash? I would have to agree with Ryan here. I saw Jamael, so I presume Ash would have to be better due to Jamael being so stiff, he also had zero charisma. I saw Jamael one week after opening, and he was as stiff as a board - which I attributed to the show being very new and him not quite settling into the role yet. From all accounts, that hasn't improved, and I'm pleased to discover that Ash is on all week, just in time for my return visit. I am curious to compare the two - and also the chance to see Miriam in Rachel's role (although I thought Rachel was really excellent), as I've heard good things about Miriam's portrayal.
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4,458 posts
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Post by poster J on May 1, 2018 19:35:10 GMT
I would have to agree with Ryan here. I saw Jamael, so I presume Ash would have to be better due to Jamael being so stiff, he also had zero charisma. I saw Jamael one week after opening, and he was as stiff as a board - which I attributed to the show being very new and him not quite settling into the role yet. From all accounts, that hasn't improved, and I'm pleased to discover that Ash is on all week, just in time for my return visit. I am curious to compare the two - and also the chance to see Miriam in Rachel's role (although I thought Rachel was really excellent), as I've heard good things about Miriam's portrayal. I thought Miriam was excellent, though I was a fan from when she was in On the Town so I may be slightly biased! I'm also a huge Rachel fan though, and having seen both of them I honestly wouldn't mind who is on whenever I next see the show! I think Jamael's ok - haven't seen Ash so so can't compare the two but I thought Jamael had improved last time I saw the show. As for the ticket thing, I think for me it comes down to the simple fact that it is a matter of choice. Everyone has their own personal pinch point when it comes to pricing and what they think is reasonable/would be prepared or able to pay, but it doesn't mean the producers are wrong for charging higher if the demand is there, and if someone really wants to see a show enough then they usually have the option to be organised enough to get a cheaper ticket - there are always ways to do so if you want them badly enough.
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4,361 posts
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Post by shady23 on May 1, 2018 20:36:47 GMT
People will pay whatever the price is if they want to go to something enough.
I went to see Gary Barlow at Sunderland Empire Theatre last night (stop laughing. My inner teenage self made me!) and all the tickets in the front stalls for this tour are sold at a premium and are £170.
Do those daft prices put off the mega fans? Nope. They're still buying multiple dates whether they can really afford it or not.
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310 posts
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Post by showoff on May 1, 2018 21:27:40 GMT
I would have to agree with Ryan here. I saw Jamael, so I presume Ash would have to be better due to Jamael being so stiff, he also had zero charisma. I saw Jamael one week after opening, and he was as stiff as a board - which I attributed to the show being very new and him not quite settling into the role yet. From all accounts, that hasn't improved, and I'm pleased to discover that Ash is on all week, just in time for my return visit. I am curious to compare the two - and also the chance to see Miriam in Rachel's role (although I thought Rachel was really excellent), as I've heard good things about Miriam's portrayal. I went in mid Feb and he was still stiff as a board.He had nothing of a young and passionate revolutionary and zero energy. I felt it made the other's flat at times too, especially in the battles, there was no energy to bounce off.
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