Theatre Prices

I agree with EmiCardiff on having to plan ahead when travelling and wanting to risk disappointment. Sure, it's often possible to get in cheap last minute. I have to smile at my luck that I was able to get a decent seat for Half a Sixpence at £25 about twenty minutes before curtain up when Ragtime was cancelled. But, it was luck, as the stalls seemed pretty much sold out and what if the lady at the box office had decided to not sell me the ticket at a discount? I would have had to fork out full price for a mediocre seat in row R (just going back to the hotel to twiddle my thumbs all evening hadn't been an option as I wouldn't have wanted to "waste" an evening in London).

Recently I talked about Paris with people here in the international section and someone wondered about buying a ticket to Le Rouge et le Noir at the box office on the day of performance and I was all like "sure, shouldn't be a problem". In fact I looked at the seating plan and it seemed there were still quite a few empty seats for the performance I had booked months ago so I asked myself "Geez, why did you bother, perhaps you could even get a discount?" But when I arrived at the theatre last weekend, I saw women with a "seeking ticket" board outside, so obviously it had sold out in the meantime. I was suddenly VERY glad that I had booked months ahead and had a great seat.

And as Kathryn says and the "Rent" thread currently proves, if something sells really well, producers will bump up the prices for the few remaining seats. With "Rent" as well I had initially though "Nah, it didn't sell out back at the Shaftesbury, why should it now, might as well wait for discounts" - but something enticed me to book ahead to be sure and now I'm immensely relieved that we did book ahead.

In short, when I travel, fork out for accommodation, transport and everything and there are shows I really want to see, I want to be certain of a decent seat at a decent price. That pre-planning obsession of mine at least also enabled me to see Hamilton on Broadway for $165 from a good seat

ALSO booking ahead means I can do a thing called PLANNING MY LIFE which Lord knows I need as much help with as possible. In my experience the 'I'm glad I booked that or I'd have not managed to schedule it" FAR outweighs the "I have to return this due to a conflict I can't alter"

Some of us are just inveterate planners, anyway. I'm planning a trip to Sydney and New Zealand for 2018 right now, in fact I've been planning it for well over a year and will be ready to book it in early January. Definitely going to be checking out what Sydney Theatre Co are putting on while I'm there and booking as soon as I can - it's not like I can drop by Oz any time!!

I think that planning happens in part because of the need to budget carefully, whether it's for holidays or theatre tickets. If you don't need to be very careful about what you pay you can be more spontaneous. If you're going to New York to see theatre you're probably looking to find the best prices for flights and hotels - buying a ticket in advance might mean you pay more than someone who buy at TKTS on the day, but it is cheaper than paying for another trip because you missed the show you really wanted to see, and may well mean you can get a cheaper flight/hotel.


But it's also just a fun way to pass the daily commute, to sit and work out exactly what you're going to do and exactly how much it will cost and how long it'll take you to save it up and, oh, maybe it'll be cheaper to do it that way so then maybe I can stay a bit longer......

Booking ahead - as I usually do - can backfire on you when shows are cancelled or travel problems arise. Luckily I tend to buy cheaper tix but if the issues on Southern Rail continue I might have to cease booking anything, as the total loss mounts up even for the lower-price seats. Some theatres will allow you to change a booking but most of those who do now add a fee (for the Arcola it was more than an extra 20% of the original ticket cost, which is pretty steep), but others won't; there is also the issue of not having another date on which you can go, or when tix are available - often the case with limited runs, tours or productions in repertoire, e.g. at the NT.

Yes Southern trains are a nightmare at the moment and so booking ahead - especially something expensive is an absolute no-go at the moment for me living in Brighton. Perhaps there are bargains to be had on train strike days for those folk up in London with cancelled tickets?

When is this train business going to be resolved?

Apologies Emily 😰😰😰

Anyway I understand why you paid the money you did for comet, I paid just over $100 bucks on TKT's. With Falsettos it wasn't on TKT's and I was walking to the Walter Kerr expecting to lay down full ticket price, not full some reason I asked if they had any lottery loser tickets and I got lucky, it saved me over 100 bucks.

Which I need to, I still have £4000 to knock off my visa. America ain't cheap apart from public transport and clothes?

However you Emily and me Peter have to live that American Dream.

Thanks mistressjojo!

It's how I justify my London trips, really. One regular-priced West End show, one fringe show and one day seat combined cost about as much as one ticket in Germany. For example we paid £55 each for best seats at Aladdin in London (preview prices admittedly) whereas a similar seat in Hamburg would cost around £130-150.

The Eurostar to London costs no more than a regular German train to Hamburg, so it's only one or two hotel nights more, so I am willing to add that for the infinitely better quality and range of shows in London.

I've only paid £100 to see a show four times (The Elephant Man at the TRH, An Evening With Pacino at the Palladium, the Rolling Stones in Hyde Park and U2 at the O2), other than that I try to limit myself to to a top range of £60-£70, what with the travesty of a train service in London at the moment, I don't want to expose myself to any possible losses that can't be refunded/credited (booked to see The Human League at the Royal festival Hall tonight, and due to the strikes, won't be able to go unless I start walking now)

With places like the NT in the future, I'm only going to go if I can get the cheapest seats, especially after seeing rubbish like Evening At The Talk House and Peter Pan (thankfully didn't pay full price for either) I can't see how some theatres can justify charging over £50 for what they're putting on.

Strictly Ballroom wasn't on tonight or that would have been an option.

The rest too much faffing on with trains so the pub it was. Was either that or seeing Scotty T in the local panto.