The Little Big Things - @sohoplace / NT At Home

I know! I'm amazed that he keeps getting cast because it isn't for his acting or singing skills

Same cast confirmed until March as well

Interesting wording for extension: "in response to the nightly enthusiastic standing ovations from audiences".

Fairly claims people love it once they're there, but that doesn't mean large numbers are paying to go. It's not a 'due to exceptional demand' more 'exceptional acclaim'.

It could bring in extra sales from Jo public seeing its been extended and think it must be good (which it is) if its extending so I'll give it a go.

It spent about 4 weeks on heavy discount and only just came off. Looking at seats available through Nimax for the rest of the week, it doesn't look like there's been a drastic upturn in sales, especially once you account for tickets held back for various purposes.

This must surely be the unique combination of this being a new venue that Nimax are keen to keep open and in the public eye as much as possible, and there being absolutely sod all that Nica can think of to replace it? Or maybe they think word of mouth will pick up in the run up to Christmas and will carry it through? Madness. There is no way on this Earth that there are more than a dozen people sitting there on a Thursday night come February.

Fun Home. There's your answer. Get Jenna back in, get Zubin in, do a slimmed down Fun Home for a few months and we'd all be gagging for it.

But isn't it the case that the production gets none of the money charged by the papering sites (it's their 'admin fee'), or has that changed with the increased prices?

At least on the site I'm looking at, the £15 deal has been listed as "£15 ticket", which is different to "£0 ticket + £X admin fee". I wouldn't classify that as papering, just a private discount. TodayTix has run several £15 offers as well.

I may have mentioned previously that I listen to Magic Radio- Magic at the Musicals regularly and last night for the first time I heard them play the title track.

(I believe) Magic Radio is one of the sponsors of the show. I have heard them advertising the show recently but never actually heard them playing a track till last night.

Maybe, in their own little way, this may help with ticket sales; maybe spark someone's curiosity?

The business side of theatre, particularly marketing including seat filling, interests me, although I still don't understand much of it.

While it may still be classed as seat filling or papering, the offer at Soho Place is not free. The main promotion currently charges £15. I haven't used it myself because seating position is important to me but I guess the allocation is mostly £40-£50 balcony seats and singles that would probably not be sold at full price. Also unlike most special offers there's usually no choice of seats. 

I view the Soho Place promotion as a marketing choice akin to dynamic pricing online, the daily Rush and the TKTS ticket booth. It's a variant of the regular special offers and promotions like London Theatre Week and the New Year Sale. Little Big Things is, deservedly in my opinion, a hit show and does warrant an extension.

I've had seat filling tickets where I've paid a fiver and the actual ticket collected on the day is marked as complimentary. I guess the agency keeps all the revenue from that and the theatre hopes the free ticket folk will spend on refreshments or merchandise and / or spread positive word of mouth. With a £15 cost I'd be surprised if NIMAX don't get some of the money from sales. Also if people at a show look around to see a sea of faces and barely an empty seat if they are like me they feel better about their choice of show than if there are swathes of empty seats everywhere - high occupancy creates a better atmosphere.

We Will Rock You at the London  Coliseum this summer was a huge commercial success despite the usual critical mauling and unpopularity here. They used pricing so low through an agency to fill early performances, with choice of seats, that it was only a few pounds more than the current seat filling charge. Result almost full houses and a great atmosphere from the first preview and for the later performances very little discounting and the final performances sold out. Little Big Things is still only a month or so into its run and could well follow the same pattern - hope it does- but may not cos that's show business.

Where is the best place to sit for Little Big Things? Is it best to be on a long side of the stage or the short side? And what row would be ideal?