Theatre Ticket Price Watch

Ticket Price Watch update 03/02/12 - As prices rise we have to ask ourselves what we are getting for our dosh, and at the same time remember VAT is charged on theatre tickets and that rate is now 20%. I have just noticed that a new production arriving in the West End this summer from New York breaks through that £100 barrier for its Premium Seat charge. The Top Price is £77.50 with a Premium rate of £117.50. Previews are cheaper. But before we vow never to enter a theatre foyer again, I must point out that the production runs for eight hours! This is Gatz, a theatrical 'reading' or 're-enactment' of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel 'The Great Gatsby'. Performances begin at 2.30pm, there are intervals, of course, including a 75 minute one for an evening meal, and just think of the stress on the 13 actors involved. It received rave reviews when it ran in New York and the same company is performing it here, four days a week. Cheap at the price - totally collectible and I have to see it.
Ticket Price Watch update 20/12/11 - Prices everywhere are increasing and the cost of going to the theatre is no exception. I regularly complain about the introduction of Premium Seats which often puts a large proportion of the best seats out of our price range. BUT, and I'm sure you have noticed this (!), we do try to keep our prices as low as possible while still giving you Top Price Seats. Prices for groups are often very reasonable, and this year those nice people at Covent Garden even arranged a specially reduced price for La Traviata for our group only, as we are such good customers. I am particularly pleased to report that in 2011 we were able to take you to more than 40 shows where the ticket price for best available seats was *£35 OR LESS.* That is indeed a welcome price when West End theatres are asking up to £65 for Top Price seats and £95 for Premium Seats. We also try to keep your coach fare from Southend to the theatre below the cost of the train fare....and it's certainly more convenient! Theatrically speaking, we offer you the soft option in hard times!
Poor Thandie Newton - she makes her West End stage debut at the newly renamed Harold Pinter Theatre then no-one wants to go. Already closing notices have been posted for 31st December. But if you really really want to see Death And The Maiden, ATG have a Special Offer. Already they have been advertising reduced priced seats first for matinees, then weekday evening performances, and now you can have a Top Price seat + a programme + a glass of champagne for ONLY £34.50 at any performance including Saturdays. Hold the champagne and it's even cheaper. You can find your way to their booking website by clicking HERE.
Ticket Price Watch update 15/11/11- We all look towards next year's Olympics with a certain apprehension, not knowing how it will affect theatreland. There are rumours that some theatres may close for the duration, assuming people will be worrying about transport or thinking more of Games than plays. The first sign of trouble ahead (and I mean trouble for the Box Office return figures) is a group price reduction for one of the West End's musicals - the group rate is being reduced for the period 1 July to 6 September in the hope that group bookers will decide now and worry about transport later. But we are worrying now and postponing decisions until later...
Ticket Price Watch update 04/11/11 - Here's something really stupid from lastminute.com. They are advertising Top Secret Theatre Tickets. They say "The secret is, we can only confirm you’ll be in one of the theatre’s top three seating bands - you’ll find out exactly where once you pick up your tickets on the day of the performance." The prices are fixed at £35.00 for musicals and £27.50 for plays, giving you "up to £30 OFF". Beware that "up to". You could be disappointed to be sitting in the back of the Stalls (saving little) whereas for a few pounds more you could probably buy tickets at the TKTS Booth in Leicester Square and be guaranteed specified Top Price seats at a little over half price. Today, for example, lastminute.com are offering seats for Crazy For You at £35.00 which means you could be getting Rear Stalls seats at only £4.50 OFF whereas TKTS sell Top Price £62.50 seats for only £39.50. Caveat Emptor! And our Crazy price was only £29.50!	Top Secret Theatre Tickets ?
Ticket Price Watch update 21/10/11 - I heard a rumour that at least one show had started charging £100 for its Premium seats. Maybe it was less a rumour than a Chinese whisper as I can't trace the culprit. Of course with a booking fee added, a seat at several shows may cross that £100 barrier if booked at one of the independent agencies. As I have said before, you get the best deal if you book with the company that owns the theatre (Ambassadors Theatre Group, Delfont Macintosh, Nimax, or SEEtickets for Lloyd Webber's theatres). But for a show nearing that £100 Premium seat charge, look no further than Billy Elliot where Premium seats are now £95 (but with only a £1 booking fee at SEEtickets). Their Top Price Stalls are £30 cheaper at £65.
Ticket Price Watch update 03/10/11 - The latest show to break through the 'highest price' barrier is The Lion in Winter, another high priced production at the Haymarket Theatre. We mentioned that no group discount was being offered (see below) but now we see although their Top Price is £60 they hope to sell Premiujm Seats at £90. Both these prices are barrier breakers for a straight play. While Joanna Lumley and Robert Lindsay take a break from their tv appearances, we are expected to pay 'event' prices for the honour of viewing them live on stage. Both can be good actors and I'm sure they are very nice people, but are they (plus James Goldman the playwright) worth paying £90 (+ fees) for a 'best' Stalls seat? Unless the producers come up with a good discount for groups, the answer is No.
An article in Time Out asked recently "Is the West End worth it?" (You can read it HERE.) Well, you have to decide that but, with half West End seats being sold last year at a discount, our recommendation must be 'shop around for those discounts', 'don't pay inflated fees at unscrupulous agencies', 'avoid Premium seating' or of course 'buy tickets from us!' We don't charge a fee and we do tell you what discounts we are offering.
Ticket Price Watch update 13/09/11 - Last words on South Pacific, I promise! Those infamous £85 Premium seats are now often being sold off at the TKTS booth for £43. Let's hope the producers of this show and of other future shows have learned the lesson that they cannot exploit their customers by pretending regular Stalls seats are special just because they hike the price and label them Premium!	£.00
Ticket Price Watch update 23/08/11 - Apologies for going on and on about the prices for South Pacific. But really this show is currently leading the way in what the profession likes to call 'dynamic pricing'. This is a polite pseudonym for charging whatever prices bring in the most cash. The number of seats at those notorious Premium Prices mentioned earlier is increasing or decreasing from date to date, depending on whether tickets are selling at the higher price of £85. If not, they are being reduced to £65 with "an invitation to upgrade your seat to a Premium Seat - FREE" Ha, ha! At the other extreme, I have discovered a website trading under the misleading name of discounttheatre.com which is charging £106.50 per person for £85.00 seats on the night we are being given £65 seats reduced to £45.00. Crazy!
Ticket Price Watch update 19/08/11- You don't have to travel far to escape the inflated ticket prices of the West End. Take a trip on the Bakerloo line to Swiss Cottage and the Hampstead Theatre there still only charges £29.00 to sit in their Stalls. It's a flat price rate so the earlier bookers get the better seats. You still see top grade productions of new plays with interesting casts, but for the theatre the overheads are smaller. We are taking our first coach trip there to see The Last of the Duchess. We hope the Group will find it good value and up to West End standards.
Ticket Price Watch update 03/08/11 - It's now the turn of The Lion In Winter to follow The Tempest by offering no discount for groups. The prices are high AND the Haymarket Theatre, or rather the play's producers, insists on charging a booking fee on each ticket if we phone to reserve seats. Booking fees are not normally charged on group bookings by phone but obviously the producers think they can get away with it for these two productions, the third and fourth in the Trevor Nunn season. For the first two plays, Flare Path and Rosencratz and Guildenstern Are Dead, they gave group discounts with no fees but they assume star names will sell tickets at high prices. We wish to differ! We sold very few tickets for Ralph Fiennes in The Tempest so please let us know what put you off - the play, the high top price, or us offering alternative Upper Circle Seats? We think that Joanna Lumley and Robert Lindsay (remember the fiasco of Onassis?) will not attract our Group to The Lion In Winter at £60 +£3.50 booking fee +£1 restoration fee (plus coach fare). Are we right? We have no plans to offer you this production unless a good discount is offered to us.
Ticket Price Watch update 28/07/11 - Two legendary award-winning actors return to the West End...so prices are high, of course. This time, for Driving Miss Daisy, we do receive a group discount of a fiver on the Top Price of £58.50. But this is better than at first it seems. Book with the 'wrong' agency and you will pay additional booking/admin fees of, for example, £9.28 ('See TICKETS'), or £12.50 (London Theatreland, Time Out, etc), much higher than the norm. The 'right' agency is always the one authorised by the producers/theatre owners - Delfont Mackintosh for this play. Tickets at face-value can only be purchased at the theatre. *For an explanation of why agencies have to charge these fees, click* HERE.
Ticket Price Watch update 19/07/11 - The National's smash hit One Man Two Guvnors is moving to the West End. And its prices are going up. At the National the top price was £45 but at the Adelphi the Top Price has been increased to £52.50 plus an extra £1 'restoration fee', and there are Premium Seats at £85+£1. There are no reductions for groups. Of course at the National your seats are subsidised, but in the West End you have to pay what the producers decide will maximise their profits. Any profits from the West End run of One Man Two Guvnors will help to subsidise future productions at the National. War Horse is currently bringing thousands to the National. One Man Two Guvnors has completely sold out at the National so you can't blame them for cashing in by transferring it to the West End and giving a far wider audience the chance of seeing it.
Ticket Price Watch update 14/07/11 - Tickets for The Tempest with Ralph Fiennes have gone on sale with no discount for groups. We regard the top price of about £65 including a booking fee as too expensive to offer to our Group as the price including coach would have to be £78. We are offering seats in the Upper Circle instead, but will buy top price seats for anyone who requests them.
Price Watch update 4/07/11 - The group rate for South Pacific has now been revised, giving a £20 discount on the top two prices. This has enabled us to offer £65 seats for £45, a much more reasonable price for groups to pay.
Although prices are creeping up, show by show, we always try to keep down the costs to you. As you know, if you have been reading my News here, The Children's Hour was one of the first plays that tried to charge £85 for their so-called 'Premium' seats and £65 for their regular 'Top Price' seats. They soon had to reduce their number of those Premium seats as they just weren't selling at that exorbitant price. We decided NOT to book for South Pacific at the Barbican as most of their Stalls and Dress Circle were £85 with no reduction for groups. Recently they relented and knocked a tenner off for groups (still too expensive!) and now this week they are offering to "upgrade your seats - buy £85 seats for only £65". No thank you! West End prices usually follow the trend on Broadway so Be Prepared. This year's big Tony award winner (it won 9 Tonys) was The Book of Mormon, a new musical which all the Broadway critics fell in love with. The producers are now hoping audiences will love it enough to turn Mormon into mammon and are introducing a new price schedule as follows - 'Top Price' seats: $155; Thanksgiving week $175; Aisle seating $182 'Premium Seats': $302; Fri-Sun performances $352 At about $1.50 to the £, that's at least £100 for what they think is a good, but not the best, seat. I wonder who the first West End producer will be to try selling us tickets at £100 each. It could be the end of the regular theatre-going we know and enjoy. On the other hand, we cannot expect prices to be frozen - everyone involved with a production needs to earn a living wage and we must expect to pay for the pleasure they give us. In the subsidised theatre sector, minimum wages are standard, even for Jude Law at the Donmar. We remain eternally thankful to the theatres who appreciate our regular group bookings, offer us good reductions and keep their prices affordable. Let us hope London will not follow New York just yet. Mike 14/06/11	$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Theatre Ticket Price Watch: This is where we update you on the higher prices the producers hope you will pay. And occasionally we give you news of any special Discounts we hear about.
It is customary for discounts to be offered to those making group bookings. It ensures that more tickets are sold earlier than may otherwise be expected and this of course is to the producers' advantage as well as benefitting their group customers. But as the prices of theatre tickets increase generally, the group offers are decreasing. And the best seats are being sold as Premium Seats at even higher prices than the regular Top Price. This ploy does not always swing to the producers' advantage. If bookings are slow or the higher priced seats do not sell well, then discounts may be offered or a number of Premium Seats may be reduced to 'Top Price' prices, or less. We do not like 'event' pricing and the trend of trying to make a theatre visit a one-off occasion, as expensive as a weekend break. We shall always try to offer you the best available seats at a discount because we think it encourages regular theatre-going and regular theatre-goers are the backbone of the theatre industry. On this page of our website we shall try to keep you informed of price trends and let you know the shows which, for our Group, are just charging too much.	Ask us about Show Pairs tokens They are FREE - you make the booking yourself by phone or on line and get 2 Top Price tickets for the price of 1 Tokens recently available for: DREAMBOATS AND PETTICOATS BLOOD BROTHERS LEGALLY BLONDE THE RAILWAY CHILDREN Conditions and exceptions apply. See www.showpairs.co.uk
Our Ticket Price Watch update is shown below with the latest update at the top. We should appreciate your comments, observations and reactions to these pricing trends in the Comments box at the bottom of this page - your reactions could influence future prices and what shows we offer to you.