| re: Bravo producers of Inishmaan! | |
| Posted by: | ryhog 10:01 am EDT 03/13/14 |
| In reply to: | re: Bravo producers of Inishmaan! - Chazwaza 10:54 pm EDT 03/12/14 |
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| If folks are willing to pay those prices, then they are appropriate. We are talking about a commercial enterprise, not a charity. Some people here (you included) talk about pricing as if they have some entitlement to see Broadway shows (and we are talking about a show that is being produced on Broadway ONLY because its star is thought to be a magnet for ticket purchasers). I would love to have a Degas hanging in my living room. But I would not call Christies insane for selling it for millions of dollars more than I can afford to pay for it. Do you go on fashion websites at rail about the prices at Bergdorfs? Had you said that you thought producers would be wise to consider a different pricing scheme (such as the one they seem to be employing here), I would have respected that and perhaps even agreed with you. But that's not what you did, and I don't think I was any ruder to you than you were to producers who you called insane. I think pricing down the very non-lux balcony tickets and the preview tickets may well be a good decision, but do not mistake it for charity-it is a function of the demand the producers are seeing for those seats. | |
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| re: Bravo producers of Inishmaan! | |
| Posted by: | Chazwaza 11:23 pm EDT 03/13/14 |
| In reply to: | re: Bravo producers of Inishmaan! - ryhog 10:01 am EDT 03/13/14 |
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| It has NOTHING to do with charity, whether it's what you consider my assumption of entitlement to see a Broadway production, nor the producers of Inishmaan's reduction of preview prices (though I dare say what they actually did was price previews and normal rates and raise the prices for post-opening performances). It is about a fair price for a product. If I wanted bread, and only a few stores in my area sold bread, and they all agreed to charge $10 a loaf even though it really is only worth $5, most people would figure out how to pay it if they wanted bread, or they'd do without bread. There are two points to be made here: 1) The market supporting the price does NOT make it a fair price for what you're getting. Do not mistake what a market can bear for what is right. And do not pretend to think that producers are pricing things so they can just scrape by... it is not a situation of "these are the lowest prices we can give and still turn a modest profit". Just as it is not my concern how much less profits Walmart has to take in order to pay workers fairly AND keep their prices low/fair, it is not my concern how producers figure out how to make money. If that means the starts have to agree to longer contracts, then that's what they should do. If I were a star actor I'd be embarrassed to be in Cabaret (or even maybe Inishmaan were it not at least for the cheaper preview tickets) and have them charge such astronomical rates for normal non-premium tickets. 2) Like bread (or like bread used to be consider), I think culture and theater, and the theoretically best of American theater, should be something people should have and not be completely priced out of. It shouldn't only be for the very wealthy. And don't tell me "oh there's plenty of cheaper theater around the country"... that doesn't excuse the disproportionate pricing of Broadway AND off-Broadway shows. It seems clear we don't agree on this, so you can happily go on defending the annually shocking ticket price raises, and I will go on rallying against them. And I will hope that I can continue to get away with seeing these shows for much cheaper than the ticket prices, otherwise I simply will not be able to see most of them anymore, or I would go broke doing it. (and for the record it is very time consuming and effort-intensive to find all the cheap ways to see shows and actually get those tickets or deals, most people coming to nyc and seeing theater don't have the time or know-how, or even the knowledge that there are other ways, so using my abilities to get cheaper tickets against my argument is also not valid, far as I'm concerned, for the general public or for excusing the high ticket prices). | |
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| re: Bravo producers of Inishmaan! | |
| Posted by: | ryhog 01:32 am EDT 03/14/14 |
| In reply to: | re: Bravo producers of Inishmaan! - Chazwaza 11:23 pm EDT 03/13/14 |
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| Here is where the bread analogy breaks down: there are lots and lots of opportunities to see theatre for less than the budget-busting price of the most highly-priced shows (shows, I might add, that were designed to make money and for no other reason). If you want to fight for public funding of the arts, I will stand with you; if you want to fight for fair wages and benefits for Walmart employees, I will stand with you. Bring Harry Potter back to Broadway to do a play no one is pining to see because some producers think they can make a fast buck? You're on your own. Fair price for a fair product? The market determines that. What is right in the pricing of luxury goods does not factor into what is fair. Ask Paul Krugman. Ask Milton Friedman. You'll get the same answer. I think this is important not so much as a defense of capitalism but as a challenge to the idea of equating theatre and Broadway. Broadway is a luxury entertainment destination that the less affluent can (by making an effort such as the one you describe enjoy sometimes); theatre in New York is a lot more and a lot better than that. Go see Hand to God; it's a much more fulfilling way to spend an evening than Inishmaan. | |
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| re: Bravo producers of Inishmaan! | |
| Posted by: | Chazwaza 12:38 pm EDT 03/14/14 |
| In reply to: | re: Bravo producers of Inishmaan! - ryhog 01:32 am EDT 03/14/14 |
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| I'm sorry but I do not think it as simple as Broadway theater being designed to make money and for no other reason. It's just not true. | |
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| re: Bravo producers of Inishmaan! | |
| Posted by: | ryhog 01:06 pm EDT 03/14/14 |
| In reply to: | re: Bravo producers of Inishmaan! - Chazwaza 12:38 pm EDT 03/14/14 |
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| well there are certain productions in which producers decide to spend their money in the fact of improbable odds of making money, but commercial Broadway is (as its name clues you in) about making money. You can live in denial of that, but it really doesn't aid in understanding Broadway. And whatever you might think is not true in general, surely you could not seriously think there is a noncommercial reason Inishmaan with Radcliffe is being produced on Broadway in the spring of 2014. | |
| reply to this message | reply to first message | |
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