746 posts
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Post by Latecomer on Jan 30, 2017 20:11:32 GMT
Though for all intents and purposes, there are twice as many performances of Hamilton per week as there are of Potter. Is that the saying?! Please tell me I'm not the only person who's been saying "for all intensive purposes" their entire life? *facepalm* I too am guilty of "intensive purposes" .....oh dear! Lol! Still, at least I know Lol means "laugh out loud"....my mum and dad thought it meant "lots of love" ....?
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Post by Deleted on Jan 30, 2017 20:18:56 GMT
Still, at least I know Lol means "laugh out loud"....my mum and dad thought it meant "lots of love" Which, of course, leads to the classic "I just heard your whole family died in a fire. LOL."
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3 posts
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Post by feminenemy on Jan 30, 2017 21:14:52 GMT
The NYC broadway prices really are insane (I was lucky enough to see it from the front row at the performance before Anthony Ramos' final. It was spit zone central but AMAZING) But that is part of the reason I'm flying to London to see it. It's not much more expensive, and I'm sure the lottery gods won't shine on me twice.
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18 posts
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Post by flgirl5 on Jan 30, 2017 21:23:02 GMT
Wow. Impressed. I think flgirl5 was talking about resale in her posting, though? That is what is confusing. There are seats in red for resale and tickets in blue for sold from venue. (The site was accessed from Hamilton's website Ticket button). I thought the price was above face value, but maybe it was just the prices of tickets increasing. Makes me a feel a lot better about what I paid for Hamilton (West End).
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Post by Laineee on Jan 30, 2017 22:29:12 GMT
Reading through everyone's stress at trying to book for this, I had resolved to wait until the hype died down (probably about 2019 at this rate), but about 10 mins ago I thought I would take a little nosy to see if it was completely sold out. Lo and behold, I appear to now have plans for my birthday in 2018! I suspect it's not a great seat (it was the last one available for that performance), but at least it's not costing me a kidney and my right arm!
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3 posts
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Post by yoda on Jan 30, 2017 23:09:16 GMT
Can't wait to see the show - still intrigued as to how an "unticketed" audience of over 1500 can be seated by showtime!
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2,051 posts
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Post by infofreako on Jan 30, 2017 23:19:08 GMT
Can't wait to see the show - still intrigued as to how an "unticketed" audience of over 1500 can be seated by showtime! Having seen a Metallica crowd of 20000 processed into the o2 arena with no physical tickets in little over an hour i think it wiil work fairly smoothly
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239 posts
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Post by dizzieblonde on Jan 30, 2017 23:34:49 GMT
Can't wait to see the show - still intrigued as to how an "unticketed" audience of over 1500 can be seated by showtime! Having seen a Metallica crowd of 20000 processed into the o2 arena with no physical tickets in little over an hour i think it wiil work fairly smoothly Gigs tend to have far more fluid entry and start times for their audience. The whole 'gates open' and 'supporting acts' thing renders the start time of a rock/pop concert a much more variable thing, plus there's the higher likelihood that those gigs are non-seated, at least in part. In my experience, most theatre audiences arrive no more than 30 minutes before curtain up - unless they're planning on a pre-show drink in the bar - and it's getting 1500 people inside, AND seated before the scheduled curtain time. I will be very curious to see just how quickly they can process that number of people, most of whom will have little to no experience of ticketless entry (along with the venue's in-built security measures of the extra ID and payment card to check). Just how rapidly will they isolate the 'problem' ticket holders - the ones who've forgotten one vital piece of information etc - so they can push through everyone else? Staff levels, IMO, will be critical to the success of this effort - as will the design of the foyer area. I'll be watching these boards closely for those opening week's experiences. There'll be teething problems, but I hope the venue is quick to identify bottlenecks, and finds solutions, without subjecting attendees to night after night of problems. In a way, I suppose the previews are for the audience/ticket test, as much as they're for the on-stage performance!
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2,051 posts
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Post by infofreako on Jan 30, 2017 23:45:28 GMT
Having seen a Metallica crowd of 20000 processed into the o2 arena with no physical tickets in little over an hour i think it wiil work fairly smoothly Gigs tend to have far more fluid entry and start times for their audience. The whole 'gates open' and 'supporting acts' thing renders the start time of a rock/pop concert a much more variable thing, plus there's the higher likelihood that those gigs are non-seated, at least in part. In my experience, most theatre audiences arrive no more than 30 minutes before curtain up - unless they're planning on a pre-show drink in the bar - and it's getting 1500 people inside, AND seated before the scheduled curtain time. I will be very curious to see just how quickly they can process that number of people, most of whom will have little to no experience of ticketless entry (along with the venue's in-built security measures of the extra ID and payment card to check). Just how rapidly will they isolate the 'problem' ticket holders - the ones who've forgotten one vital piece of information etc - so they can push through everyone else? Staff levels, IMO, will be critical to the success of this effort - as will the design of the foyer area. I'll be watching these boards closely for those opening week's experiences. There'll be teething problems, but I hope the venue is quick to identify bottlenecks, and finds solutions, without subjecting attendees to night after night of problems. In a way, I suppose the previews are for the audience/ticket test, as much as they're for the on-stage performance! They do but the concert in question was an album launch. All everyone arrived with was a code which they had to show at the entrance along with their passport and card to gain admission. If im remembering correctly doors were 90 minutes prior to stage time with no support
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2,051 posts
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Post by infofreako on Jan 30, 2017 23:56:38 GMT
I guess what im trying to say whilst waffling on is that I think it will work fairly smoothly. Maybe a couple of weeks for oddities of the system to be ironed out and staff to get used to it but i think customers will adapt fairly quickly. Current fears stem from it being an unusual system
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239 posts
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Post by dizzieblonde on Jan 31, 2017 0:00:20 GMT
They do but the concert in question was an album launch. All everyone arrived with was a code which they had to show at the entrance along with their passport and card to gain admission. If im remembering correctly doors were 90 minutes prior to stage time with no support I don't think the issue is the paperless ticket - that works, clearly, for other events. The difference between the O2 and the Victoria Palace theatre is the timing and points of entry. People will arrive over a much more spread out timespan for gigs (90 minutes is far earlier than I've ever seen a theatre crowd arrive), and they are frequently happy to queue for decent periods before the doors open, whereas I've never seen massive queues for theatre shows, prior to the doors of the theatre being opened. The entry point thing is the big one though - how many access gates does the O2 have? Compare that to what is likely to be a single, large entry point into the theatre, and you can immediately see where the issues may well be. As I mentioned, the entrance foyer will need to be exceptionally well designed to cater for this ticket and ID check, to avoid a crush of people trying to get inside, within a very short window. I'd suggest starting to warn people early on, that they need to leave plenty of extra time - far more than they're used to. Until we see how the theatre will operate with a full house, none of us will know how it'll turn out. Fingers crossed, eh?!
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3,057 posts
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Post by ali973 on Jan 31, 2017 5:11:31 GMT
Reading through everyone's stress at trying to book for this, I had resolved to wait until the hype died down (probably about 2019 at this rate), but about 10 mins ago I thought I would take a little nosy to see if it was completely sold out. Lo and behold, I appear to now have plans for my birthday in 2018! I suspect it's not a great seat (it was the last one available for that performance), but at least it's not costing me a kidney and my right arm! TBH I think they haven't released the entire inventory yet. Once tickets become available in mid-2018, they all tend to be the same range in the stalls around row S, which is what I've managed to snag during the pre-sale for the first preview. But I'm a bit surprised that that's really the only section that is consistently appearing on Ticketmaster. I think despite pre-sale and public sale, there will be another batch released at a later date. Or who knows maybe I could be wrong. But there's something fish
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Post by Deleted on Jan 31, 2017 8:34:51 GMT
Having seen a Metallica crowd of 20000 processed into the o2 arena with no physical tickets in little over an hour i think it wiil work fairly smoothly Gigs tend to have far more fluid entry and start times for their audience. The whole 'gates open' and 'supporting acts' thing renders the start time of a rock/pop concert a much more variable thing, plus there's the higher likelihood that those gigs are non-seated, at least in part. In my experience, most theatre audiences arrive no more than 30 minutes before curtain up - unless they're planning on a pre-show drink in the bar - and it's getting 1500 people inside, AND seated before the scheduled curtain time. I will be very curious to see just how quickly they can process that number of people, most of whom will have little to no experience of ticketless entry (along with the venue's in-built security measures of the extra ID and payment card to check). Just how rapidly will they isolate the 'problem' ticket holders - the ones who've forgotten one vital piece of information etc - so they can push through everyone else? Staff levels, IMO, will be critical to the success of this effort - as will the design of the foyer area. I'll be watching these boards closely for those opening week's experiences. There'll be teething problems, but I hope the venue is quick to identify bottlenecks, and finds solutions, without subjecting attendees to night after night of problems. In a way, I suppose the previews are for the audience/ticket test, as much as they're for the on-stage performance! I think it'll be okay. They mostly just need to organise the queue, though sending out "BE AWARE OF THIS IN ADVANCE OF YOUR VISIT" emails will be vital too. The queue should be clearly signposted, have someone stationed fairly near the front to tell people to get their credit cards and ID ready for swiping and checking, and have a side-queue where they can take problem customers out of the way of all the straightforward swipe-check-admits, that sort of thing. I expect it'll be a Cumberhamlet scenario where the big fuss about ID is to put the frighteners up people so no one dares to try anything untoward, then on the day there'll be very very little actual checking. And swiping a card and handing out a slip really is only a few seconds of work. We need to arrive at least half an hour in advance (more if you can bear it, bring a book, hope the bars are able to hold enough people), they need to be organised, and it'll all come out in the wash.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 31, 2017 8:44:02 GMT
Yep. And given they are doing a total interior rebuild of the theatre presumably they can design the foyer areas to handle this.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 31, 2017 8:53:35 GMT
Yep. And given they are doing a total interior rebuild of the theatre presumably they can design the foyer areas to handle this. Hopefully! And hopefully by then at least some of the building works in the surrounding area will be done- currently that junction is a nightmare, and a thousand or so extra bodies there queuing won't be fun!
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2,655 posts
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Post by viserys on Jan 31, 2017 8:59:20 GMT
Yep. And given they are doing a total interior rebuild of the theatre presumably they can design the foyer areas to handle this. Hopefully! And hopefully by then at least some of the building works in the surrounding area will be done- currently that junction is a nightmare, and a thousand or so extra bodies there queuing won't be fun! How true. The poor theatre stands on its own little island in the middle of chaos. Though it may work in its favour: If they can clear enough space, the queue to get in can easily sneak around the building itself on its island. Much like the queue around the Palace Theatre does for Harry Potter. Speaking of which - I don't think the ID/credit card check for Hamilton will take longer than those bag checks at Potter, so I'm not worried that they won't get the audience seated in time.
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Post by stuartmcd on Jan 31, 2017 9:02:41 GMT
The only thing that will slow the system down is if people don't bring the right information or have purchased their tickets from a tout. It will be down to the theatre to have a plan in place to quickly remove these people from the queue and deal with their problems elsewhere so the queue can keep moving. And if anyone in the West End is gonna get this system right then it's gonna be Cameron Mackintosh. I hope that we get some form of proper ticket. Will be a shame if it's just a piece of paper with your seat number on
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2,051 posts
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Post by infofreako on Jan 31, 2017 9:09:08 GMT
Reading through everyone's stress at trying to book for this, I had resolved to wait until the hype died down (probably about 2019 at this rate), but about 10 mins ago I thought I would take a little nosy to see if it was completely sold out. Lo and behold, I appear to now have plans for my birthday in 2018! I suspect it's not a great seat (it was the last one available for that performance), but at least it's not costing me a kidney and my right arm! TBH I think they haven't released the entire inventory yet. Once tickets become available in mid-2018, they all tend to be the same range in the stalls around row S, which is what I've managed to snag during the pre-sale for the first preview. But I'm a bit surprised that that's really the only section that is consistently appearing on Ticketmaster. I think despite pre-sale and public sale, there will be another batch released at a later date. Or who knows maybe I could be wrong. But there's something fish Is that because theyve said all along in the marketing that there will be a further release of tickets in the autumn? Not sure thats either fishy or a big secret
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4,139 posts
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Post by kathryn on Jan 31, 2017 12:44:27 GMT
One interesting thought: if the London system works and defeats touts, will Broadway adopt it on their scalpers... or will the "free trading dollar" prevail and leave their system unchanged? If they do, the producers get the moral high-ground, if not, any rhetoric on Broadway Scalping may seem a little, well, hollow, perhaps? They'd have a fight on their hands from Ticketmaster if they try it. After all, they must be raking it in - don't they get a cut of secondary ticket sales? In my limited experience, most broadway theatres seem to use Ticketmaster as their primary ticket-selling platform. I don't think there's many theatre groups that run their own ticketing systems - the only one I've used is Roundabout's.
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4,369 posts
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Post by Michael on Jan 31, 2017 12:49:53 GMT
In my limited experience, most broadway theatres seem to use Ticketmaster as their primary ticket-selling platform. I think it's (almost) evenly split between Ticketmaster and Telecharge.
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4,139 posts
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Post by kathryn on Jan 31, 2017 13:03:03 GMT
In my limited experience, most broadway theatres seem to use Ticketmaster as their primary ticket-selling platform. I think it's (almost) evenly split between Ticketmaster and Telecharge. Ah yes, Telecharge. Do they have a secondary ticketing arm, or is it just Ticketmaster that manages to sell the same tickets more than once?
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Post by danb on Jan 31, 2017 13:10:00 GMT
I decided against the two stalls seats it offered me in April 2018 for £190! Had a major reality check; what on earth are we doing?!?! However, happily snagged a £37.50 in the second row of the grand....
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4,369 posts
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Post by Michael on Jan 31, 2017 13:14:05 GMT
I think it's (almost) evenly split between Ticketmaster and Telecharge. Ah yes, Telecharge. Do they have a secondary ticketing arm, or is it just Ticketmaster that manages to sell the same tickets more than once? To my knowledge, Telecharge doesn't offer a resale feature.
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4,139 posts
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Post by kathryn on Jan 31, 2017 14:12:11 GMT
They should have some scope to reduce the re-selling then, if they really want to combat it. Ticketmaster hasn't got them completely over a barrel - though of course theatres might have contracts tying them in for some time.
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134 posts
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Post by Kenneth_C on Jan 31, 2017 18:45:43 GMT
One interesting thought: if the London system works and defeats touts, will Broadway adopt it on their scalpers... or will the "free trading dollar" prevail and leave their system unchanged? First, they would have to change the law. The State of New York requires that paperless tickets be transferable to another party. They also require having the option of obtaining a traditional paper ticket. It is the only state to have those restrictions on the use of paperless tickets. Last year, the New York Attorney General released a report entitled "Obstructed View: What's Blocking New Yorkers from Getting Tickets". (You can find it online.) One of his recommendations was to end this de facto ban on paperless tickets.
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