Broadway Ticket Prices

[PeterRS]

I'm curious. How much would you pay to see a Broadway show? A show you really wanted to see?

Back in the 1980s and 1990s I took in a Broadway show almost every time I was in New York. I can't recall ever paying more than about $75 for a seat. Then came the Mel Brooks musical "The Producers". It took Broadway by storm and demand far exceeded supply. In true free market economics, the producers of the show hiked top price tickets to a whopping all time high of $500. And that was in 2001! Thankfully I saw it later in London for not much more than £60. The highest I have paid on Broadway was $150. The last time was for "Wicked", a show lots of people love but for whatever reason I loathed! I walked out at the interval.

I was thinking about pricing when I read the article below in today's Guardian newspaper. A 15-week run of Shakesepeare's "Othello" with Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhall in the cast could set you back a whopping $921 for a top price centre stalls seat. Want to see George Clooney in "Good Night and Good Luck" opening on April 3? That will set you back $799!

I am old enough to recall when famous artists toured theatres in the UK relatively regularly for a tiny fraction of these prices. One I vividly remember is Franco Zeffirelli's production of "Much Ado About Nothing" with a cast including Maggie Smith and her then husband, the wonderful actor Robert Stephens, Derek Jacobi, Anthony Hopkins, Frank Finlay and other wonderful British actors. Changed days for poor theatre lovers!

https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2025/mar/24/othello-broadway-ticket-prices

[floridarob]

I think I've been to 4 plays in NYC all paid for by friends in NYC that love the theatre.... I think the highest cost was The Lion King 2 yrs ago, about $300-400 per seat, if I remember correctly....

I'd say I'd be willing to pay $50.... or watch it on TV for free 🤷‍♂️

I did pay for me and a friend a LONG time ago at the Kennedy Center in DC...Beauty and the Beast.

Same goes for sporting events and concerts.... don't understand people spending obscene amounts for those, but I guess I'm stingy,  to each their own... I fly business class, stay at Hilton and Conrad in most cities and take car service to/from pattaya and airports.... we all spend our money differently 😉

[bkkmfj2648]

I remember back in the day when I started out my career in banking directly across the street from the World Trade Center (WTC) in lower Manhattan.  One of the charms of this location was the nearby TKTS booth in the WTC South Tower up on the mezzanine level.

What was great with TKTS was that you could take advantage of the bargain basement pricing to see a great Broadway show - as the overstock (unsold tickets) were made available in BOTH of the TKTS addresses in the WTC and also in Times Square on West 47th & Broadway.  In my opinion, the WTC location was the best because you could do the transaction within the WTC (in case the weather was not good this was a big bonus) instead of the sometimes very long lines up in Times Square.

As my banking career in Manhattan was only from 1981 through 1987 - I cannot remember the prices that we paid back then, but I remember for sure they were 50% off of the normal ticket price.  We were able to see some great Broadway shows back in the day thanks to TKTS.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TKTS

 

[Pete1111]

I definitely have a price point limit what I'm willing to pay, even for a beloved performer.  

I recall Bette Midler appeared in a one woman show at the Geffen Playhouse a few years back.  The ticket prices were ridiculous, IMO, but the venue knows what they can get.  I'm a huge fan, and saw her perform in the past.  Love her so much.  I wanted to go so badly, but I opted out. 

Who is paying these inflated prices?   I'd guess folks are willing to charge more to their credit card debt and some seats are corporate expensed. 

I was able to see a Geffen play with Laura Linney and Seth Numrich 4 times.  I'm a huge fan of both actors.  That production was a bit more reasonably priced.   I expect those days are gone now.

[tm_nyc]

The last Broadway show I saw was 'The History Boys' with Richard Griffiths & the original London cast in 2006 (?).  So, at least my NY theatre-going ended on a high note.  As the prices of Broadway shows kept rising, I more or less lost interest in the NY theatre.  Now it's very hard to imagine paying the current nosebleed prices as there really isn't anything that seems worthwhile (to me).

Incidentally, the Guardian's review of the Denzel Washington/Gyllenhall Othello described it as 'underwhelming' in spite of the ticket prices.

[PeterRS]

13 hours ago, bkkmfj2648 said:

I remember back in the day when I started out my career in banking directly across the street from the World Trade Center (WTC) in lower Manhattan.  One of the charms of this location was the nearby TKTS booth in the WTC South Tower up on the mezzanine level.

London also has - or used to have - a similar half price booth in, I believe, Leicester Square.

4 hours ago, Pete1111 said:

I recall Bette Midler appeared in a one woman show at the Geffen Playhouse a few years back.  The ticket prices were ridiculous, IMO, but the venue knows what they can get.  I'm a huge fan, and saw her perform in the past.  Love her so much.  I wanted to go so badly, but I opted out.

On business trips to the USA, I occasionally managed side trips to Las Vegas. One year she was performing her one-woman show, "The Showgirl Must Go On", at Caesar's Palace and I purchasd a ticket well in advance. What a woman! What a performer! When she wasn't singing, she was cracking rapid fire joke after joke after joke - many of them pretty risqué, but the audience loved it all. I have forgotten most of these jokes, but one has aways stuck in my mind. Slightly adapted it went like this -

She is walking along the beach in Atlantic City, admiring all the young men sunning themselves, when she suddenly notices one young man totally naked and jerking off! Curious, she goes up to him and asks quite innocently,

"Young man. You have a beautiful body but may I ask what you are doing?"

"Isn't it obvious?" the young man replies. "I'm telling the time."

"And what time is it?"

He looks down at his erection and tells her it is a couple of minutes to midday.

Thank you, she replies. Checking her watch, she sees that it is indeed two minutes to twelve. Interesting! So she proceeds on her way along the beach. Within minutes she sees another handsome Adonis, also totally naked and also enjoying a wank. She decides to ask him the same question.

"Can't you see I'm telling the time?"

To her next question he tells her it is exactly midday. How strange, she thinks, he is exactly right. She thanks the young man and continues walking. Then, before her she sees a third equally handsome young man enjoying a wank. She goes up to him.

"Young man. You have a beautiful body and I can see that you are telling the time. Can you tell me what time it is?"

"Telling the time? Of course I'm not telling the time! Can't you see? I'm winding the clock!"

I wanted to include Ms. Midler in my Gay Icons series as most will know she more or less started her career in 1970 singing at the large gay Continental Baths sauna in New York when her pianist was Barry Manilow. Not surprisingly she built up a huge gay following. Her 1998 album is titled "Bathhouse Betty". As she said at the time, "I kind of wear the label 'Bathhouse Betty' with pride." Unfortunately I can not find enough material to include her in the Icons series. But I'll end this with her Song of the Year Grammy in 1990 which she perfumed at the Awards ceremony.

 

[Pete1111]

6 hours ago, PeterRS said:

London also has - or used to have - a similar half price booth in, I believe, Leicester Square.

On business trips to the USA, I occasionally managed side trips to Las Vegas. One year she was performing her one-woman show, "The Showgirl Must Go On", at Caesar's Palace and I purchasd a ticket well in advance. What a woman! What a performer! When she wasn't singing, she was cracking rapid fire joke after joke after joke - many of them pretty risqué, but the audience loved it all. I have forgotten most of these jokes, but one has aways stuck in my mind. Slightly adapted it went like this -

She is walking along the beach in Atlantic City, admiring all the young men sunning themselves, when she suddenly notices one young man totally naked and jerking off! Curious, she goes up to him and asks quite innocently,

"Young man. You have a beautiful body but may I ask what you are doing?"

"Isn't it obvious?" the young man replies. "I'm telling the time."

"And what time is it?"

He looks down at his erection and tells her it is a couple of minutes to midday.

Thank you, she replies. Checking her watch, she sees that it is indeed two minutes to twelve. Interesting! So she proceeds on her way along the beach. Within minutes she sees another handsome Adonis, also totally naked and also enjoying a wank. She decides to ask him the same question.

"Can't you see I'm telling the time?"

To her next question he tells her it is exactly midday. How strange, she thinks, he is exactly right. She thanks the young man and continues walking. Then, before her she sees a third equally handsome young man enjoying a wank. She goes up to him.

"Young man. You have a beautiful body and I can see that you are telling the time. Can you tell me what time it is?"

"Telling the time? Of course I'm not telling the time! Can't you see? I'm winding the clock!"

I wanted to include Ms. Midler in my Gay Icons series as most will know she more or less started her career in 1970 singing at the large gay Continental Baths sauna in New York when her pianist was Barry Manilow. Not surprisingly she built up a huge gay following. Her 1998 album is titled "Bathhouse Betty". As she said at the time, "I kind of wear the label 'Bathhouse Betty' with pride." Unfortunately I can not find enough material to include her in the Icons series. But I'll end this with her Song of the Year Grammy in 1990 which she perfumed at the Awards ceremony.

 

One of her earlier shows is on YouTube, live from Cleveland.  Great show.

I saw her at Northrup Auditorium in Minneapolis.  Very gay and lesbian crowd.  People leapt out of their seats in excitement when she appeared on stage.

I saw her again at the arena in San Jose.  The audience sang the refrain from Crackin' Up from Having Lack of Shackin' Up.   She was impressed how 10,000 people belted out all the words.  Midler fans are true fans.