197 posts
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Post by dan on Aug 5, 2016 6:48:57 GMT
Not that this helps the discussion, nor does it interest everyone, but I was at queue number 75 at 00.40am as they sold out! After 14.5 hours queuing! Gutted! It started at nearly 100000, and down to 75! (I realise I'm not alone!)
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4,361 posts
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Post by shady23 on Aug 5, 2016 7:22:21 GMT
Same. Finally get my turn and it's a "sold out" sign.
What an incredible waste of time!
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837 posts
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Post by duncan on Aug 5, 2016 7:58:00 GMT
...only if you didnt get tickets
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Post by Deleted on Aug 5, 2016 8:04:33 GMT
Oh, dan and shady23 :-(
We will all cross our fingers for you with the Friday Forty/returns, if that's an option!
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816 posts
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Post by stefy69 on Aug 5, 2016 8:05:21 GMT
Not that this helps the discussion, nor does it interest everyone, but I was at queue number 75 at 00.40am as they sold out! After 14.5 hours queuing! Gutted! It started at nearly 100000, and down to 75! (I realise I'm not alone!) Oh how annoying, mind you if it's any consolation imagine how the person who was number 1 in the queue when it sold our feels....
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408 posts
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Post by maggiem on Aug 5, 2016 8:16:47 GMT
Congratulations to anyone who managed to get tickets yesterday.
It's only because they released the extra tickets (late 2016/early 2017)the first time around that I'm going at all (in November). I' would have had no chance this time around.
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736 posts
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Post by dippy on Aug 5, 2016 8:19:48 GMT
I'm very confused, I just thought I'd have a look at the ticket situation and for some reason it's not putting me in a queue. Maybe those of you who got to the end of the queue and couldn't get tickets might have some luck after all. I've managed to put some tickets in my shopping basket so I reckon there are still tickets going. Funnily all the tickets were for part 1 but I guess I pressed that. If you're desperate and can get through to the booking page try the 31st of August and the 2nd of November. Those are the two I randomly tried and am about to remove from my basket. It came up with errors but when I looked at the shopping basket there were tickets in it. Also just tried the 14th of October for both parts, it gave me one seat in the grand circle.
So if you can get to the booking page just try loads of dates, you may find some. Good luck!
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571 posts
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Post by westendwendy on Aug 5, 2016 8:45:34 GMT
What is the situation on reselling tickets?
I know with Hamilton it is allowed but the box office take a cut!!!
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Post by profquatermass on Aug 5, 2016 8:56:12 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Aug 5, 2016 8:57:05 GMT
So it looks like Potter will sell out a year and a half in advance. They need to get more productions open to cope with demand it would seem. I suggest building a new double auditorium theatre, where Parts 1 & 2 could be performed both nights in different spaces. The casts alternate so that you have the same actors on successive performances of Parts 1 and 2(as much as possible anyway). People wouldn't be able to turn up at the wrong building, but separate front of house areas would be best to avoid spoilers. Your suggestion effectively runs two additional productions of both parts. Why not schedule each acting company's Parts One and Two in the same theatre, on a similar schedule to that at the Palace? It's one play in two parts and it would spoil the atmosphere to have to decamp to a different auditorium at the midway point. The Palace system of the same seat for both parts is ideal.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 5, 2016 9:10:26 GMT
This wont get another theatre. They're not gonna want to cut into all the money they've made by building one/hiring another cast and if they took up two West End theatres they'd be the enemy of a lot of the theatre community. Like The Matthew says, they're making the money either way so why should they care if you're seeing it this year or in five years.
I'm a bit confused with this queue business though. I know there probably aren't quite as many people trying to get Hamilton tickets, but they can still sell 6 months worth of tickets within an hour and there's no online queue, they just let people onto Ticketmaster. Yes it crashes for some people, but at least you would know whether you had tickets or not within a couple of hours rather than waiting 15 hours to find out there wasn't any.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 5, 2016 9:18:50 GMT
Pure speculation, but maybe the queue system and the slow and long booking process is because of new safeguards to prevent touts' automated bots from trawling vast swathes of tickets?
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Post by Deleted on Aug 5, 2016 9:20:04 GMT
I don't know why Nimax is claiming it's sold out - having been in the queue yesterday, I can see quite a few tickets available this morning. You wouldn't be in much luck if you were shopping for a family, but individuals would have quite a lot of choice from what I can see, so lord knows why they've blocked off the booking site with claims of having sold out.
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Post by profquatermass on Aug 5, 2016 9:56:48 GMT
I don't know why Nimax is claiming it's sold out - having been in the queue yesterday, I can see quite a few tickets available this morning. You wouldn't be in much luck if you were shopping for a family, but individuals would have quite a lot of choice from what I can see, so lord knows why they've blocked off the booking site with claims of having sold out. They may want an allocation of house seats, spares in case of people with legitimate booking problems, a few for competitions and prizes etc etc. Risky to genuinely sell every singe ticket for 18 months. What is Her Maj decides to go?
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4,155 posts
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Post by kathryn on Aug 5, 2016 10:01:35 GMT
But then they wouldn't be showing on the booking system at all (or at least, not until they were released at the last minute).
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Post by firefingers on Aug 5, 2016 10:25:08 GMT
So it looks like Potter will sell out a year and a half in advance. They need to get more productions open to cope with demand it would seem. I suggest building a new double auditorium theatre, where Parts 1 & 2 could be performed both nights in different spaces. The casts alternate so that you have the same actors on successive performances of Parts 1 and 2(as much as possible anyway). People wouldn't be able to turn up at the wrong building, but separate front of house areas would be best to avoid spoilers. Your suggestion effectively runs two additional productions of both parts. Why not schedule each acting company's Parts One and Two in the same theatre, on a similar schedule to that at the Palace? It's one play in two parts and it would spoil the atmosphere to have to decamp to a different auditorium at the midway point. The Palace system of the same seat for both parts is ideal. I more meant transferring out of The Palace, so two separate companies, two productions, one building. You could of course build identical auditoriums so it would be the exact same view and seat. The idea of having dedicated part spaces was to streamline stage management, allow for things dedicated to one part to not need to be replicated, and to make it clear where you should be so audience members don't end up being in the wrong place. You are right about the schedule though, no one will want to see Part 2 in the matinee... Didn't think of that.
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Post by profquatermass on Aug 5, 2016 10:35:00 GMT
Your suggestion effectively runs two additional productions of both parts. Why not schedule each acting company's Parts One and Two in the same theatre, on a similar schedule to that at the Palace? It's one play in two parts and it would spoil the atmosphere to have to decamp to a different auditorium at the midway point. The Palace system of the same seat for both parts is ideal. I more meant transferring out of The Palace, so two separate companies, two productions, one building. You could of course build identical auditoriums so it would be the exact same view and seat. The idea of having dedicated part spaces was to streamline stage management, allow for things dedicated to one part to not need to be replicated, and to make it clear where you should be so audience members don't end up being in the wrong place. You are right about the schedule though, no one will want to see Part 2 in the matinee... Didn't think of that. Actually I imagine a lot of people are travelling huge distances for this and would like to see Part 2 for a matinee. i remember a lot of complaints about His Dark Materials that it's not always easy to take children to the theatre in the evening especially on a school night. Some people would definitely want a matinee of both. But two concurrent productions just ain't going to happen.
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2,775 posts
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Post by daniel on Aug 5, 2016 11:19:06 GMT
I wonder if they would consider hiring a second cast, to do double shows Monday and Tuesday, and Part 1 / 2 Thursday and Friday afternoons respectively? With an extra 6 shows per week they'd get a whole lot more audience members through!
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Post by profquatermass on Aug 5, 2016 11:24:40 GMT
I wonder if they would consider hiring a second cast, to do double shows Monday and Tuesday, and Part 1 / 2 Thursday and Friday afternoons respectively? With an extra 6 shows per week they'd get a whole lot more audience members through! It's not just cast though. There must be the same number of backstage crew and front of house staff who'd be needed
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816 posts
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Post by stefy69 on Aug 5, 2016 11:48:45 GMT
Thinking more about the bookings thing, really, it's just giving all those born after around 1990 a taste of how it used to be in the West End. Remember when you waited a year or more for "Cats," "Miz," "Phantom" and "Saigon?" The only difference was that they took longer to sell out because there were only a few phone lines and staff to process postal* bookings. Given the pace of life at the time, though, they still sold out very fast for years ahead, and you were lucky to get anything at all. Most people didn't. The more things change, the more they stay the same, I guess. *Postal Booking: You took a piece of paper, wrote with a pen your name and address at the top, and asked the box office to send you some tickets from one of a list of dates you had written. You added a cheque (another bit of paper that says your bank will pay the person named on it) left "open" to a maximum amount, added another envelope and stamp (bit of paper you stick on an envelope to pay the postal service - people who carry your letter to the theatre) with your name and address so they could send tickets back to you. And then you put it in the pillar-box (red tube shaped thing in the street, postal service collects letters from it) and waited. ...and waited and waited and waited....
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2,389 posts
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Post by peggs on Aug 5, 2016 12:14:05 GMT
True, it wasn't that long ago that i'd have save dates all over my diary, yes not a phone, as i waited to see if and what tickets i'd been allocated for theatre.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 5, 2016 15:20:03 GMT
Just went past the box office, already people outside lining up for returns.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 5, 2016 15:27:55 GMT
Just went past the box office, already people outside lining up for returns. For 2017?
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Post by Deleted on Aug 5, 2016 15:32:25 GMT
Just went past the box office, already people outside lining up for returns. For 2017? God knows, I am assuming tonight haha if there is a performance tonight?
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736 posts
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Post by dippy on Aug 5, 2016 15:45:10 GMT
There's a part 2 tonight but I'd imagine the returns queue starts a lot earlier than the afternoon.
When I picked my tickets up a couple of hours before seeing the show (so I wouldn't be in the massive queue) there was a loud cheer as I was walking towards the theatre. It appears that the whole queue get excited when someone gets a return. I guess the person at the front is very happy and the pepole behind are one closer to the front.
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