Current state of West End musicals

I haven´t been going to the theatre regularly for as many years as most of you. But I do keep every PDF and physical ticket I´ve bought since 2019, and it´s the perfect way to see how prices change.
Just some examples: the seat I paid £42 for Wicked, is now £63. Paid £42 for Mamma Mia. Same seat is now £53. The seat I got last winter for £23 at Lion King is now £33 (the cheapest seat, by the way). The horrible seat I had at Frozen for £20, is now £30. And don´t get me started on Les Mis. All of them full price, booked direct.

Screaming into the abyss? Or maybe just facts? Ticket prices ARE rising. Theatres are mostly not selling out. Regular people see those prices and decide not to go.

Completely agree! Sat in many half empty theatres on the last Sunset tour sadly!

Not huge jumps in prices then. But more in keeping with increased costs across the board then. Which is understandable

Ergo, considering all optics, they offer financially and quality wise less value for money.

I'm going a little off topic here but to me, the revivals only make sense when they improve on the previous production or bring something very fresh to it (rare) EG I saw Alan Cumming and Emma Stone in Cabaret in NYC in 2014 and thought that production was excellent. Having since seen the current West End revival it's not a patch on the Mendes version. I fear the same will apply to this new Sunset 'BLVD' having seen Glenn Close in the Broadway revival with a full orchestra, this just won't compare.

Obviously, as I'm always keen to point out, these are just my opinions and many clearly love the new Cabaret and will likely enjoy the Savoy BLVD. Unfortunately, I likely won't.

Wasn't there a joke on one of the Forbidden Broadway numbers about 'welcome to the Revival of the revival of the REVIVAL of...' Ironically, I think it was about Cabaret.

I'll sit down. Worried I'm rocking the boat.

Lyonesse has sold extremely well in advance sales… despite the prices for anything not behind a pillar being pretty steep even when it first went on sale. Conversely, Backstairs Billy and Sunset, despite them also having star casting, don’t seem to be doing nearly as well.

It really depends on the target audience and the popularity/reputation of each show, I think. SIX has 10 rush seats per performance, never do offers; yet they sell out frequently. And it has a young fanbase who´d be "waiting for TodayTix". Les Mis don´t even do rush or offers, and also sell fairly well. But then, you´ve got Crazy for You not selling well, even when there´s a weekly "lottery", rush, TodayTix sales... Other shows (aimed at younger audiences) like Heathers would never sell out if it wasn´t for the diehard fans buying though rush and offers.
Of course, if a show has seats on the cheaper side, some people will book those to avoid waiting for offers and choose the date they want. That´s why there were 5000 in the queue for the Moulin Rouge weekly seats (since it´s a much pricier show), and most likely not for Crazy for You or Wizard of Oz.

I think problems start when productions start seeing themselves as premium, because they have a good six months and withdraw all discounting. Phantom & Les Mis have both had periods off the TKTS booth which is fine, but not great for your concession or bar sales. More people in the theatre is more money in the till. £6 ice creams, Plush Olafs, Phantom jewellery boxes etcetera. Not spending much on the ticket does not mean that they won’t spend in the theatre; normally quite the opposite if our gin guzzling at Frozen the other week is anything to go by. We spent more on 4 drinks than on our Disney day seats.

I know Nicole has the marmite-factor so won’t get into her effect on Sunset sales, but I guess I’m just surprised that people aren’t as excited at the chance to see Luke Evans and Penelope Wilton making rare West End appearances as they are KST and Lily James in Lyonesse.