Well, that was $125 CA - it worked out to be about $95 US when I bought my tix.But I read on TORC that it's $125 to see the musical - and no way would I spend that much for any entertainment!
For any entertainment? Not even...PAUL MCCARTNEY?!truehobbit wrote:But I read on TORC that it's $125 to see the musical - and no way would I spend that much for any entertainment!
Um - at the risk of making myself unpopular for all times - no, I wouldn't!Old_Tom_Bombadil wrote: For any entertainment? Not even...PAUL MCCARTNEY?!
You'd pay $125 to see that, wouldn't you, Hobby?
I don't think you could have purchased one of the (admittedly overpriced) T-shirts for $30, let alone a ticket to see him perform!truehobbit wrote:I think I'd be willing to pay up to, say, 30 USD to see Paul McCartney.
truehobbit wrote: I think I'd be willing to pay up to, say, 30 USD to see Paul McCartney.
$30 US might get you parking.*Ok, on second thoughts - if it were a favourite opera of mine with a whole set of favourite singers in the lead roles, under a good conductor and a loving staging - I think I'd probably pay that sum.
And I might have even sprung for some of the merchandise. 
Old_Tom_Bombadil wrote:I don't think you could have purchased one of the (admittedly overpriced) T-shirts for $30, let alone a ticket to see him perform!truehobbit wrote:I think I'd be willing to pay up to, say, 30 USD to see Paul McCartney.
That proves what I said about the price being inversely proportional to what the thing is worth!$30 US might get you parking.
- but there's also such a thing as the industry asking inappropriate prices just because they know that people will probably pay them - and I think in most cases I'd rather go without the experience than give in to that kind of extortion and feel the fool of the market. I think it's astonishing they manage to fill the house in the first place, if they are that expensive. Maybe there just are a lot of rich people around who still treat opera as a social duty and hence fill the seats. However, as long as opera is a way for the rich to show off, it's making it a posh affair, and putting of normal people.Opera tickets are very expensive, too. My wife and I had subscriptions to the San Francisco Opera for a few years when we were first married. Not only do you have to pay the face value of the tickets, but you have to give a "donation" to increase your chances of getting a better seat. Also, you have no guarantee that the marquee performers will even perfom the night that you hold the ticket for.
): tickets are from 10 Euros to 65 Euros. The attitude to opera here is that it should be a similarly normal event as the cinema, not something that is special even for the rich. Of course, Cologne opera doesn't deal in big names a lot, but it's one of the category A houses in the country.
- so, I have to disagree about your evaluation of cheap entertainment/live entertainment! 
See, I don't feel a "fool of the market" at all. I feel like "Wow, I saw a cool thing!" And what is life, if not to have experiences? I do think that the tickets to rock concerts are ridiculously high - and sometimes, the lead artist is only on stage for a short time! But for a show that last 2 or 3 hours and includes singers, dancers, orchestra...it's worth the $$.I think in most cases I'd rather go without the experience than give in to that kind of extortion and feel the fool of the market.
That may make a difference, then. If you get annoyed easily, then it would be easy to have an experience become a poor one and for you to feel like you had wasted the money. On the other hand, I don't get annoyed that easily and I LOVE live entertainment - especially Broadway-class, where you almost always get a lot of bang for your buck. I go in knowing that it won't be perfect and that there will likely be some things I don't like - but I go in for the overall experience of the live show. And it's FUN, especially if you go with a group. Then you don't just get the show, you get the company and the talk afterwards and the memory of a shared experience.I get annoyed very easily, so it needs some luck for me to make live entertainment worthwhile
I definitely think that there is some of that going on. There are people there, too, who love opera and feel that they're getting their money's worth.truehobbit wrote:Maybe there just are a lot of rich people around who still treat opera as a social duty and hence fill the seats. However, as long as opera is a way for the rich to show off, it's making it a posh affair, and putting of normal people.
*looks down at the "Lord of the Rings" t-shirt she purchased at the musical in Toronto and is wearing this moment*you just learn that things have a certain value, and that there are limits to what something can reasonably be worth - and fan-merchandise, for example, in that context has no value at all.
That's what I was referring to a couple of posts ago when I mentioned the "memorable experience". You'll cherish those moments for the rest of your life.JewelSong wrote:It makes me happy to remember the fun Connie and I had getting to the hotel and meeting up with Allison and the rest of Urban Tapestry and singing for hours in the hotel room...
Of course. But the t-shirt is part of the complete package!So, you would not be able to enjoy the memories and be happy that all that happened without the t-shirt?
Well, I get that feeling too. Which is why I usually plan ahead to buy one specific thing. Like a t-shirt. Because then I can wear it and it has a use besides sitting on my shelf!Don't get me wrong - I'm a complete sucker for souvenirs!
It's just that there are limits for me, not just economically but also ideally.But I also get that careless feeling, once you're there, that makes you buy things you'd never buy in a more normal context.
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High prices aren't necessarily extortion. A TON Of work goes into every Broadway show. They have to pay the leads and gypsies, designers, director, stage manager, the ops, stagehands, electricians, house managers, company/project managers, producers, etc. For a big Broadway show there are about four-six people in the booth every night I believe and a ton of stagehands and musicians and security. There's also wear and tear on costumes, replacing lamps, upkeep of scenery, etc. It's not cheap. Concert tours also don't bring in a lot because they have to pay for the facility in which they play, gas for semis to haul the equipment (usually around eight), union stagehands for load in and load out plus roadies and ops. (This paragraph comes to you courtesy of my theatre tech professor.)I think in most cases I'd rather go without the experience than give in to that kind of extortion and feel the fool of the market.
I think I'll end up having spent between $750-$1000 on theatre tickets, etc this year. (It doesn't help that my roommate is really rich and her dad pays for her tickets and I find it very difficult not to say yes when she's buying tickets.) But it's worth it. Seeing the original cast of Spamalot? Once in a life time experience. I will never forget seeing Defying Gravity for the first time. Norbert Leo Butz, Sherie Rene Scott, and John Lithgow in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels? Absolutely worth the $75 ticket. It's such a rush. Who needs drugs when you've got Broadway? Agreed! I like to buy a tshirt at every show I go to if I really like. I like my shirts to have character.But the t-shirt is part of the complete package!
It's a nice wearable reminder. rumour has it that Idina Menzel will be playing Elphaba in the West End production of Wicked for a few months to "kick-start" the show.
IDINA?! Oh, if that turns out true I hope you get to see her!
- and I can get that for a fraction of that price - so my choice would be clear. 
As am I.Alatar wrote:I'm hoping Mossy
LOTR is different than a lot of shows . . . it's on a much grander scale. Most of the technical stuff is necessary because it's on stage, life. Phantom, for example, is the most technically complicated show currently on Broadway. Traps all over the place, things being flown in and out, a boat, etc. But it's not the spectacle . . . if it were a movie, no one would think the special effects were anything special, but because it's being performed in front of an audience, they need a lot more technicaly wizardry. Of course, some of the best shows are also those without a lot. Lion King, for instance, is the most visually dazzling show I've ever seen and they only have two major set pieces.I think another thing I resent about these shows is the technical hocus-pocus that goes into them - and from the description of the critics the LOTR musical has a lot of that.
Exactly.in fact it has a special spice in a live performance, where you know that what you see on stage must in some sense be "really" happening.
Do they really not use lavalier or overhead mics? I find that suprising. Even so, I'm guessing that's not a reflection of the quality so much as it is the type of singing. Vibrato (for me) softens it a lot, whereas belting is much harder on the voice. Belting to the back of a Broadway house eight times a week seems like it would kill your voice. Totally uninformed impression, but that's what it seems like.they don't even need amplifiers to be heard
