If you discount it, will they come?

[maxx02]

Interesting article in today's NY Times about some of the efforts being taken to help people that can't afford the astronomical cost of theatre, dance, symphony and opera tickets in NY.

As anyone who attends theatre in London or Sydney can tell you there are all sorts of days when you can go for half or less than half the regular ticket price if you simply provide a bit of information. We have nothing like that in the US because the arts are not government funded as they are in other countries. Well that's not entirely true, we do have some assistance available but nothing formalized like the rest of the civilized world. It's also part of the reason it's so damnably hard to become an actor (as opposed to a celebrity) in the US, because it's nearly impossible to make a living without some sort of notoriety. And if you can't make a living how can you possibly have the years it takes to hone your craft?

www.nytimes.com/2007/10/07/theater/07ishe.html?th&emc=th

This article mainly focuses on those under 30 because that, of course is where the future theatre going clientèle are to be found, but I think it's a fantastic trend to bring these things to anyone who can't necessarily afford 200.00 a person for a ticket.

When I saw Rock 'n' Roll in London, the theatre was full of teens all the way up to seniors. It would be nice to see that again in NY.

Fear not, however. It is not the government in the US offering to pony up in any way. Once again, it's private industry. So while this may signal hope for the audience, it's not going to improve the calibre of performances we see any time soon.

Thank heaven for the Brits and Australians or we'd be watching Paris Hilton read The Hobbit for entertainment.

[rugirl]

"Thank heaven for the Brits and Australians or we'd be watching Paris Hilton read The Hobbit for entertainment"


....... or Lindsay Lohan playing Lady Macbeth, Nicole Richie playing Blanche Dubois, oh yeah, it would be DIRE.............

[GreenEyesToo]

Just be grateful you don't have Jade Goody is all I can say...

[rufluvr]

One of (many would say the very best) theaters in Minnesota, The Guthrie, which was founded by Sir Tyrone Guthrie, has rush seating for around $25.00. This is not a venue for travelling Broadway shows, but the shows there are top notch, and the rush line makes it affordable. Sir Ian Mckellan is doing a short double bill there. At the newly built Guthrie that opened in the past year downtown by the riverfront. I haven't been to the new one yet, a friend is seeing Jane Erye there this month.
I don't suppose NYC Broadway theaters have a rush line do they?
Maybe not if the thinking is then fewer people will pay full in advance for tickets. It's too bad, because if there was a rush line, there would be much fuller houses most of the time.

[maxx02]

In most of the rest of the world there are heavily subsidized performances for pensioners, people who might be unemployed and students. For example, the Belvoir in Sydney where some of the very best Australian actors cut their teeth has a performance of each show(they are a repertory company of a sort) specifically for people of limited means.

The theatre community in NY definitely helps it's own. Performances are often offered to acting students in the city and often free. But other than TKTS (which mind you is still very very good since you can frequently get tickets for half off) there isn't much that is formalized over the entire spectrum of NY theatre. It's typically up to the philanthropy of each organization and the big ones aren't very philanthropic because it's a business not an art form.

It costs a lot of money to mount a Broadway production in NY. You have various craft unions with their rates and fringes that must be taken into account as well as the cost of the production, advertising, trivial things like electricity which would stagger you with it's monthly cost for a working Broadway theatre. And in something like R'n'R with the actors traveling from Europe, their housing and perhaps living stipends must be factored into the equations. Even with sell out houses it takes more than a year for many shows to recoup their initial investment and of course they are accruing cost as they go forward.

Most big name actors take a huge pay cut to do theatre and work for equity scale just for the opportunity to appear on stage in NY. Musicals are hugely expensive which is why an actor like Hugh Jackman or Antonio Banderas (who did a smashing revival of Nine with Jane Krakowski and Chita Rivera) must agree to do at least a year run before they will even consider underwriting something like the Boy From Oz as a new production. You'll notice you don't see too many "big names" in new musicals because they can be losing as much as 16 months out of a lucrative film career. And musicals are demanding, quite frankly. You have to be fairly well trained vocally and with dance to do them these days. The Oklahoma and Camelot days of speaking lyrics and strutting around the stage are long gone. People expect bang for their 200.00 ticket and in NY a big film name doesn't cut it unless they have the chops to do it the way it was meant to be done.

I'm of two minds about this. I understand when Julia Roberts decides she wants to dabble in theatre it brings many people to Broadway that might not otherwise attend, but I also think that it would be better if we could give those roles to actors who are craftsman and deserve to have them rather than a celebrity who is so bad that the production founders and fails because the "famous person" has been more or less laughed off the stage by the New York Times and the theatre audience.

The difference between regional theatre and NY theatre is by the time it gets to you, it's a proven commodity with a limited run. No matter what they won't extend it because the show has another stop somewhere else. It's easy for them to offer rush tickets because they've guaranteed a certain revenue to the production company and once it's met it's all profit.

And I think people have a misconception about full NY houses--shows don't stay open when they cease to turn a profit. You'll never see a show in NY where the house is half empty. It will have closed by that time. As soon as bookings drop below a certain threshold the show is over. It can be very painful if you happen to be holding a ticket. I've missed more than one critically acclaimed show this way.

All of this being said, I agree. It would be nice for people to have affordable tickets to the theatre so everyone could attend. But how to do that without big business or government subsidies, I have no idea because production costs go up and up along with union salaries.

[magicallife]

Maxx, thanks for your insight into the theater business- very interesting, and sad that we have to endure this celebrity culture that passes for art.

B.T.W, Do you think if there was actually a strike that it would last more than a few days? Are there stagehand scabs that would come in and do the work for peanuts?

[maxx02]

all of the other crafts including Equity (the stage actors union) will honor the picketline so it doesn't make much difference. There wouldn't be any actors which makes it difficult.

[rufluvr]

Thanks for all the info Professor Maxx!