Ticket Pricing...

I know that you'll all have a 1000 answer's to this one but still.....

I'd like to complain about the price of musical tickets these days, $16/17 for an adult!! I know that the prices of rights etc etc have gone up but really this is getting a bit much. Trying to convince my non theatre friends to pay this is like trying to pull teeth. As one told me last week for this price I could, see a movie, get into a club and have a drink, buy a good bottle of wine or several 100 other things all of which she thought might be more fun than an amature musical. Another friend who would get the student rate said he really couldn't afford $15 for one show, for this he could see 2 movies at Luna Cinemas. My own father thinks he is being ripped off!

I think perhaps the fact that Assassins sold out plus more on 1/2 price night might say somthing.

Some-one has to complain.....

Hi Phil,

I think you'll find that tickets HAVE to be that price for sheer survival of the club.

For your interest, a selection of prices from around Australia..this month and coming soon.

OKLAHOMA (Berowra Musical Society NSW) $16 Adult
LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS (Regals M S, NSW ) $18 Adult.
DIE FLEDERMAUS (Loyola M S, Vic) $20 Adult
THE WORLD GOES ROUND (Monash Uni Mus. Co., Vic) $18 Adult
LA BOHEME (Eastern Metropolitan Opera Inc., Vic ) $35 Adult
THE KING AND I (Williamstown Light Opera Co., Vic) $20 adult
THE MIKADO (G&S, Vic) $22 Adult
ORPHEUS IN THE UNDERWORLD (Savoy Opera Co, Vic) $24 Adult
CRAZY FOR YOU (Carey MTC, Vic) $16 Adult


These are all amateur productions. Most companies are not advertising their prices, so my guess is that these are the cheaper side of average. On my last trip East last year, musicals were well and truly charging $40 and beyond. (YES AMATEUR).

SO unless you want lots of productions of The Importance of Being Earnest, Shakespeare and other non royalty plays, performed in sack cloth (or naked) on a bare stage, you are going to have to pay.
AND expect a rise after July 1, because most companies do not have money in the coffers to pay the extra 10% royalties and the extra 10% hall hire etc etc etc.

My first reaction was:

1).If one would rather go to see a movie and go out to a club for a drink (and it would only be one drink on a $17 budget) then so be it! Not everyone likes musicals just as not everyone (me especially) likes the tragic noise (which makes my ears bleed) they call dance music.

2).You pay around $70 to see a professional musical and the standard of amateur shows is getting right up there.

but then I pondered the issue a little further:

I do see your point about the two-for-one thing. In my experience, shows (both amateur & pro) often suffer from poor houses. Is it better to have 100 audience members paying $10 ($1000) or 13 paying $17 ($221)? The answer appears to be clear financially
BUT
will more 'non-theatre' people in fact come to see a show because it is cheaper or have they just been using "it's too expensive" as an excuse? (Hey, come and see this amateur show - Sorry, it costs too much - It's only ten bucks now - That's pretty reasonable but I forgot that I'm scrubbing the soles of my Grandpa's feet tonight!) It would be absolutely devastating to most clubs if they were to drop the price to $10 and still only get 13 people turning up to a performance.

I would love to hear any other thoughts on all this!
Gill

Kimberley, you beat me!

Gill wrote:
-------------------------------
> Kimberley, you beat me!

And i must be coming in about lucky last :)

I'm going to side with Gillian on this one, but I think Phil is right to raise the question.

There's increasing pressure out there for leisure dollars and higher prices for theatre tickets would seem likely to weigh against large crowds attending community theatre productions.

I don't believe audiences necessarily have the same hesitance in paying top dollar for a professional show. I guess they might feel, rightly or wrongly, that there is a level of quality assurance involved for the pro' show that is not always there with a community theatre production.

I think there's a strong perception that some community theatre companies can be their own worst enemies in this respect. I'll often hear that company X put on a couple of very good shows last year, while the other two shows they did were, quite frankly, stinkers!

Unless an audience can feel assured that they will consistently see good quality productions at a particular community theatre company, then i'd consider their reluctance to pay higher prices entirely understandable.

I'll hasten to add here that I believe our professional theatre companies suffer from similar problems, if to a lesser degree.

...

My other-angle/flip-side to all this is that some community theatre companies have been attempting to absorb rising costs for years without reflecting this in their ticket prices. I believe this has had a negative effect on production budgets and standards.

Ticket prices should and will rise and i believe most community theatre productions are worth an awful lot more than what i pay to see them.

Cheers
Grant

As a lurker observing the conversation here for some time, I feel compelled to add my '2 bits' worth to the discussion:

There is a flip side to this coin - call me devil's advocate if you will - I think $16.00 to see a live musical show is outrageously low: It isn't a movie or a club, it is a live performance:

I think by charging low, you could be underselling yourselves - creating the expectation that the show isn't worth more than that: How about doing a couple of nominal rate performances before the show opens - selling rehearsals more or less: Try to get the word out beforehand that this is worth it:

Every single thing in this world is more expensive than it was: Any endevour reliant on people / talent / skill must cost more than it did. Anyone who can't accept this isn't living in the real world.

How about some 'value adding' to the performances - raise ticket price and include drinks if that is what the audience wants: Add a post performance supper - catering is a hell of a lot cheaper to produce than it looks:

Jus food for thought -

I enjoy reading your notes by the way - Thank You.

John

Ticket pricing is certainly complicated but I must say that I thoroughly appreciated being able to see Assassins (Brilliant! - I loved it!) on opening night at half price. It meant that I was able to take my husband, eldest son and his friend. When tickets are $17 a head, I really have to think before asking other people along. As it was, it was wonderful to be part of an enthusiastic full house which gave the cast all the support they so richly deserved. Those 145 people then no doubt went away, as I did, and spread the word, which should augur well for the rest of the season. I'm not saying that tickets should always be this price, but it seems reasonable to provide everybody with the opportunity to see theatre, even those without a healthy bank balance, a long as they are prepared to put themselves out by attending on a certain night - just as professional companies do with previews. Half price tickets to members on certain nights is also a great incentive to purchase membership which can only be beneficial to the club - the broader the membership base the better.

julia wrote:
-------------------------------
> When tickets are $17 a head, I really have to think before asking other people
> along.

You're apparently not alone Julia! An overwhelming majority in the current poll aren't happy paying anything more than $15 for a community theatre show - some draw the line at $9!!

Interestingly, people appear not to be so choosy when it comes to professional gigs with most people prepared to fork out more than three times as much to see a pro show!

Have we all voted yet? Is it time for a new poll? Keep those suggestions coming in!

:)

Cheers
Grant

I have been a member on the board of an amateur theatre company in Warrnambool Victoria. Ticket pricing was a huge issue for us, espcially since the only theatre available to us was contolled by ticketmaster and they took $2 booking fee for every ticket sold.

For our latest production of Guys and Dolls, Ticketmaster put their booking fee up from $1.50 to $2. Instead of putting our prices up we decided to absord the 50 cent rise and in fact reduce the price of a concession ticket. We charged $14 adult and $9 a student/concession/child, hoping that we would boost our attendance.

We ended up only just breaking even. The attendance was much the same as it had been for the past 2 years even though we had actually lowered the ticket price from $15/$10.

I really don't know what the solution is, if someone does please let me know!!

PS could someone involved with Assasins please let me know how many seats their venue has and how much you are chrging for your tickets. I would like to investigate the possibility of using your 2 for 1 deal in my theatre company. Did you advertise the deal or was it just word of mouth?

Hi Emmalee,

Playlovers actually operate from a community hall in the suburbs of Perth. So, the seating is flexible but a full house is approx 150-170. The show's tickets are $17/$15. As far as advertising the deal, the committee made the decision about 10 days before the show went up, so it really was a word of mouth thing. I know I told everyone I know about it and, consequently, most of the people I know came on opening night. It really is a great way of kick starting the word-of-mouth campaign for a show. Personally (and I am not a committee member of Playlovers) I feel that this 2-for-1 thing should apply to the first two performances. Two full houses at the beginning of the season really does wonders for your numbers later.

Years ago, when I was doing Playlovers publicity, we found that even a "$1-00 off if you present this flyer" deal worked very well. And recently, we sold 2 preview performances for a play I directed at another theatre for $1-00 less than the concession price. That also went very well. Selling a preview/last dress rehearsal to a group wishing to fund raise for some purpose is also a great way to kick start the word-of-mouth. The advantage is that you get a guaranteed return for selling all your seats for an agreed sum and the onus is on the buyers to fill the seats at their price.

Hope this all helps...

J (WB) ;~}

Emmalee Bell wrote:
-------------------------------
PS could someone involved with Assasins please let me know how many seats their venue has and how much you are chrging for your tickets. I would like to investigate the possibility of using your 2 for 1 deal in my theatre company. Did you advertise the deal or was it just word of mouth?

Chook tickets - special offer 2 for 1 - do work, although you stll get the bod at the box office who wants a refund on his ticket and get it for for half price, because his freind could not use the free one. If you are happy about the hassles and confussion sufered by others - go for it, anything is worth a try.

No matter how good or great your production is in a lot of cases we come back to the old marquee banner ddiscussion - Presented by ...(amature)..... - sure to comply with performances rights and liscencing you have to state who is producing the show - but there are ways and ways and ways of side stepping if you try hard.

Besides going back to the BOS's demographics, there are other things you can try, use the local media (a package is not over exspensive) and is very worthwhile, inovative promotions (we are in theatre !?!?) and there is many old drumming activies that can come into play.

One thing I would like to know from those thaetres that have moved to one of these Performing Arts Centres, has the BOS"s increased because of the venue or not?