"London’s theater world is increasingly simmering with complaints over soaring ticket prices, and a perception that they are creeping closer to Broadway levels. Even as producers insist that a fraction of tickets must be sold at steep prices to offset cheap seats for low earners, concern is growing that a night at the theater is becoming an unaffordable luxury...
This year’s results... showed that the average price for tickets in the most expensive price group was £141, or about $170 (a decade ago, the figure was a much lower £81). This year’s average was still “a long, long way behind Broadway... However... the average price of the least expensive tickets had risen by more than inflation to £25, or $30...
For many West End producers, the perception of a price hike is a source of growing frustration. Patrick Gracey, a producer who sits on the board of the Society of London Theater, said that the news media published articles about high ticket prices because it “gets clicks.” Those stories were “misleading audiences about the availability of affordable tickets,” he said. Last year, Gracey said, theatergoers paid an average £54, or about $66, to see a West End show. (The average price on Broadway last week was double that at $125, according to data from The Broadway League.) Producers were facing soaring costs, Gracey added... Even with those pressures, Gracey said producers were working to keep theater accessible and were offering cheap tickets for those who couldn’t splurge.
The problem was with audience perception, said Nick Hytner, a co-founder of the Bridge Theater. Producers needed to develop “a compelling counternarrative” that theater was affordable or else young people would decide that the art form wasn’t for them. Discounting the worst seats at the back of cramped Victorian theaters didn’t cut it, he said, adding that theaters need to develop more innovative approaches to pricing." #westend #broadway #theatre #theater https://nyti.ms/3QzGrPr
SAG-AFTRA-AEA Actress/Singer/Writer/Fine Artist/CEO - Heart of the Matter Productions
10moYes indeed ! I have “played” Chicago 3 times in the heat of summer and the cool of winter ( ooo that wind chill off the lake !) AND I have LOVED it Everytime ! May this be your best Seadin yet !