May 08, 2006

Broadway premium buyers subsidizing cheap seats

Since October 2001 when "The Producers" started charging more than three times the regular price for "premium" seats, the practice has expanded to most Broadway shows, according to the New York Times, even ones that aren't even half full for many performances.

Even if you're not prepared to pay the high price, the article is worth your time. First know what you're up against:

For open-ended runs the number of premium seats reserved in the orchestra can be as high as 200 a performance for the most popular shows on the biggest weekends, to almost none on slow Wednesday afternoons.

Typically, a week before the performance, half the premium seats remaining are released back into the nonpremium pool. Two days before, the number is halved again, and again on the day of the show.

That is the typical model, but now that Broadway is using the kind of market analysis long a part of other consumer businesses, the system is extremely flexible.

For savvy and flexible theatergoers there are more discounts than ever. In addition to the TKTS half-price ticket booths, there are $20 rush tickets, lotteries, coupons and discount codes through membership organizations and on the Web; these cheaper tickets are, in a sense, subsidized by the premium tickets.

May 8, 2006 11:01 PM in Broadway, Cheap Stuff

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