Regular readers of this blog will be used to me posting entries early in the morning – it’s typically my first job of the day. When I was recently in Australia, of course, I was able to get well ahead of the game – starting the day 9 hours ahead of London meant that the day’s entry would go up well ahead of anyone actually getting up at home. But now I’m going to fall well behind for the next week, as I am now in the US again, and San Francisco (where I have begun this trip) puts me 8 hours behind in the other direction. So forgive the lateness of the posting, but better late than never!
Theatre, of course, is an industry like any that lives by the laws of supply and demand; but there’s always a finite supply in the theatre, dictated by the number of seats there are physically available in the theatre to sell (though looking through the weekly published box office figures for Broadway, theatre producers in New York seem to be able to play God and regularly exceed their 100% capacity – but that’s thanks to selling standing room).
But while Mel Brooks’ The Producers blazed a new trail six years ago when, in the immediate wake of its sensational opening, immediately hiked its top ticket price to a new high and also introduced the new phenomenon of “premium seating” that effectively turned the producers of The Producers into their own ticket touts, it seems like Brooks is going for bust with Young Frankenstein that he’s also turning into a musical now, with two levels of higher priced tickets being offered before it has even opened on Broadway. Best seats for weekend performances will, according to a story in the New York Post today, be priced at $450 (premier seats) and $375 (premium seats). Clearly, writes Riedel, “Brooks is confident he’s got a winner on his hands with “Young Frankenstein. But a lot of industry insiders say the sky-high prices reek of arrogance. ‘The show isn’t even running yet, and they’re treating it like it’s already the biggest hit ever,’ one veteran producer sniped yesterday.”
Will (false) pride come before a fall, this time? Obviously the pressure is going to be on Brooks and his director Susan Stroman to deliver as never before. The Producers arrived as something of a surprise hit; Young Frankenstein, however, is already burdened by expectation – and now by the producers’ greed.
In other news in the supply-and-demand corner, a story in The Stage yesterday revealed that “Britain’s leading drama schools are almost twice as difficult to gain entry to than either Oxford or Cambridge universities” – the ratio of applicants to places available was seven to one in 2005, with 11,184 applicants applying for the 1,550 places available at the 21 training centres within the embrace of the Conference of Drama Schools.
But if it’s hard to get into those schools, it’s still even tougher on the outside for those who’ve even managed to graduate from them. An Oxbridge degree doesn’t automatically open doors, either – but at least you don’t have to keep being re-examined and re-evaluated afterwards, as actors do afresh for each job.
Like you, I'm outraged about the intended ticket prices for the new YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN musical.
I'm also wondering whether anyone in their right mind will actually pay anything to see this show now that the greed is ruling the production. You're invited to vote in my SOB Poll.
Cheers!
The producers' thinking is simple...if tickets are going be changing hands at those prices, anyway ( via, touts, scalpers, etc. ), why shouldn't the people who has risked their shirts (and their investors' hard-earned) get some of the profit?
And , in a sense, fair enough....
I humbly submit that no show is worth $450, period.