Threaded Order Chronological Order
| from the "bygonebroadway" Instagram - ticket price increase for Fiddler | |
| Posted by: Ncassidine 10:56 am EDT 08/28/19 | |
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| Link | fun instagram post |
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| even by today's prices that's only $55, adjusted for inflation | |
| Posted by: Chazwaza 05:59 pm EDT 08/30/19 | |
| In reply to: from the "bygonebroadway" Instagram - ticket price increase for Fiddler - Ncassidine 10:56 am EDT 08/28/19 | |
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| It's amazing that if Broadway's economy now were active in 1968, a top priced ticket of $7.50 would actually have been $21.50 or more. | |
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| re: from the "bygonebroadway" Instagram - ticket price increase for Fiddler | |
| Posted by: RLand 11:31 am EDT 08/28/19 | |
| In reply to: from the "bygonebroadway" Instagram - ticket price increase for Fiddler - Ncassidine 10:56 am EDT 08/28/19 | |
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| This was, of course still at the time when Wednesday and Saturday matinees were less expensive then evening performances. I wonder what the top price for evenings at Fiddler was---possibly around $11.50? I think by the mid seventies, the matinee prices on Broadway, which had been in place for so long, were gone. |
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| re: from the "bygonebroadway" Instagram - ticket price increase for Fiddler | |
| Posted by: FleetStreetBarber 02:40 pm EDT 08/28/19 | |
| In reply to: re: from the "bygonebroadway" Instagram - ticket price increase for Fiddler - RLand 11:31 am EDT 08/28/19 | |
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| It appears that the year in question was 1969 and when the matinee prices increased on April 14, the rest of the pricing for "Fiddler" at the Majestic was as follows: Orchestra Monday through Saturday evenings: $9.90; Front Mezz $8.50; Rear Mezz $8.00, $7.00, $6.40, $5.40 & $4.00. The cheapest seats to "Fiddler" at the time sold for $2.40 on matinee days in the rear mezzanine. My guess is that standing room would have sold for about $2.00. At some point in the run, "twofers" were available for "Fiddler," but probably not until after the show transferred to the Broadway for the remainder of the run. |
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| re: from the "bygonebroadway" Instagram - ticket price increase for Fiddler | |
| Posted by: mikem 03:24 pm EDT 08/28/19 | |
| In reply to: re: from the "bygonebroadway" Instagram - ticket price increase for Fiddler - FleetStreetBarber 02:40 pm EDT 08/28/19 | |
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| Interesting that the orchestra was all one price, and the front mezz was all one price, but the rear mezz had 5 different price points. Although the rear mezz at that theater, at least as it is currently configured, is large-ish: 12 rows, and up to 41 seats in each row. Was it typical at that time to have one price point for all of the orchestra and many different price points for the rear mezz? I was under the possibly mistaken impression that there were more price points in the orchestra back in those days. The orchestra at the Majestic is quite large as well: about 25 rows. I looked up current Phantom pricing, and almost all of the orchestra is the same price point, except some side seats in the back that are about half the price of the rest of the orchestra; all of the front mezz is the same price point; and the rear mezz has 5 different price points. So not much of a change! |
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| re: from the "bygonebroadway" Instagram - ticket price increase for Fiddler | |
| Posted by: FleetStreetBarber 08:53 pm EDT 08/28/19 | |
| In reply to: re: from the "bygonebroadway" Instagram - ticket price increase for Fiddler - mikem 03:24 pm EDT 08/28/19 | |
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| "Was it typical at that time to have one price point for all of the orchestra and many different price points for the rear mezz?" For the most part, yes. In looking at the ABC theatre directory in the New York Times from April 14, 1969, I couldn't find any shows with multiple pricing in the orchestra. Unlike "Fiddler" however, most shows at the time had lower pricing for Monday through Thursday evenings as opposed to Friday and Saturday evenings. I did find that shows at both the Lunt-Fontanne and the 46th Street Theatre (now the Rodgers) earlier in the decade advertised "divans," which were more expensive than orchestra seats and which I took to be the first few rows of the orchestra. I'm not sure when the "divan" seating faded away. As far as variable pricing in the orchestra is concerned, I do recall that Harold Prince experimented with it with one or more of his shows (possibly "A Little Night Music" and/or "Superman"), but I cannot recall the details or how successful the experiments were. I also remember that most previews had reduced rate tickets that were far less than post-opening night prices. |
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| re: from the "bygonebroadway" Instagram - ticket price increase for Fiddler | |
| Posted by: mikem 10:48 pm EDT 08/28/19 | |
| In reply to: re: from the "bygonebroadway" Instagram - ticket price increase for Fiddler - FleetStreetBarber 08:53 pm EDT 08/28/19 | |
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| Thanks, FleetStreetBarber! I'm curious what the "divan" seating was all about. Were they wider seats or just closer? It would be interesting to see whether a theater would experiment with having wider seats at a higher price, and whether the market would support that. I would not have thought that people would pay $50 or more to have the use of a private lounge with bathrooms at intermission, but I don't think that would be a continued option for the Hudson and Lyric if people weren't paying it. | |
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| re: from the "bygonebroadway" Instagram - ticket price increase for Fiddler | |
| Posted by: FleetStreetBarber 02:20 pm EDT 08/29/19 | |
| In reply to: re: from the "bygonebroadway" Instagram - ticket price increase for Fiddler - mikem 10:48 pm EDT 08/28/19 | |
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| I wish I could help you further, mikem, but divan seating was before my time. I only know about it from ads that I've been able to find online. In the case of the Lunt-Fontanne, I saw an ad for Sid Caesar in "Little Me" from 1963 which said divans were the first 12 rows of the orchestra. It may just have been a sales ploy, the same way some theatres referred to loges rather than mezzanines or balconies. | |
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| re: from the "bygonebroadway" Instagram - ticket price increase for Fiddler | |
| Posted by: RLand 02:12 pm EDT 08/29/19 | |
| In reply to: re: from the "bygonebroadway" Instagram - ticket price increase for Fiddler - mikem 10:48 pm EDT 08/28/19 | |
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| I remember Divan seating first coming out in the late fifties in a few theaters---I think the Morosco and Helen Hayes (then the Fulton) were two. They were usually situated around fifth or sixth row orchestra center, and to my knowledge (I never sat in them) they were slightly wider. then the normal orchestra seat. Re the Fiddler prices: In the fifties and sixties (and before) it was normal for shows to sell balcony seats for lower prices as the seats got further away from the stage. Usually there were for or five price scales, even in theaters with small balconys like the Booth or Music Box. Even musicals that opened with enormous advance sales or had great demand for tickets after they opened (My Fair Lady, for example) kept the four or five price range balcony tickets in tact. No matter how successful the show , never at that time did it sell tickets at one price for say, the first ten rows of the balcony, and then lower them a bit for the last two. |
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