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Post by Dawnstar on Feb 21, 2019 18:57:57 GMT
I don't go to the Opera and I can only judge by an online booking I made for a friend when the price seemed astronomical to me but yes premium musical theatre seats are probably at a similar level now. I still feel that the London Coliseum is a very expensive venue. My Saturday 8 June matinee stalls seat for On Your Feet at the Curve in Leicester has cost me £45. For the equivalent seat at the Saturday matinee at the London Coliseum exactly one week later a ticket currently costs £157. I added a National Express coach return London to Leicester for £5 so a net saving of over £100 to spend on other shows. Plus I get to see it first at a lovely theatre and I won't be hassled over my refreshments... If the booking for your friend was for the ROH then yes it could potentially have been astronomical, as the most popular operas there have a top price that is rapidly approaching £300 (Forza topping out at £285 this season), although for balance the bottom prices are usually lower than the WE, if you are prepared to stand or have very little view (which I'm not!).
I did manage to see Opera North's Kiss Me Kate in Leeds last year for a combined ticket & train fare that was less than a top price ticket for run at the Coliseum but then there was a half price discount for the Coli which brought the prices much closer together. Given the size of the Coli, a lot productions there do tend to end up being discounted, often by quite a lot. I suppose the knack is in knowing what is likely to discount & what you probably have to book for at full price. I would imagine that Man of La Mancha is likely to be in the former category.
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Post by mrbarnaby on Feb 21, 2019 23:14:55 GMT
Wow this is booking really badly. So many seats available on all dates.
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Post by Fleance on Feb 22, 2019 10:44:18 GMT
I have heard that the Mitch Leigh Estate did not want Kelsey Grammar to play the lead in Man of La Mancha, but they were overruled. I think Grammar is kind of a bore as an actor, and they could have done better.
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Post by mrbarnaby on Feb 22, 2019 21:35:46 GMT
His casting is bizarre. He just won’t be able to sing it well enough. A big mistake.
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Post by asfound on Mar 12, 2019 10:26:33 GMT
Mmmm, I know next to nothing about musicals and nothing about this one in particular, but I'm a huge fan of Frasier and love Kelsey Grammar in the role and actually like his occasional singing on the show. I'm guessing by the last couple of pages of comments here that this is not going to be worth splashing out on, especially since there doesn't seem to be any AAA tickets? There seems to be a big push on advertising and I'm almost tempted to book... I guess that would make me one of those confused Blanchettas at When We Have Sufficiently etc.
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Post by QueerTheatre on Mar 12, 2019 10:44:17 GMT
Mmmm, I know next to nothing about musicals and nothing about this one in particular, but I'm a huge fan of Frasier and love Kelsey Grammar in the role and actually like his occasional singing on the show. I'm guessing by the last couple of pages of comments here that this is not going to be worth splashing out on, especially since there doesn't seem to be any AAA tickets? There seems to be a big push on advertising and I'm almost tempted to book... I guess that would make me one of those confused Blanchettas at When We Have Sufficiently etc. Unfortunately there are never AAA tickets for the musicals. They're only for Opera, as their purpose is to make opera more accessible and affordable. It's annoying - but as i mentioned further up, this is down to the producers & not ENO.
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Post by asfound on Mar 13, 2019 10:08:07 GMT
Mmmm, I know next to nothing about musicals and nothing about this one in particular, but I'm a huge fan of Frasier and love Kelsey Grammar in the role and actually like his occasional singing on the show. I'm guessing by the last couple of pages of comments here that this is not going to be worth splashing out on, especially since there doesn't seem to be any AAA tickets? There seems to be a big push on advertising and I'm almost tempted to book... I guess that would make me one of those confused Blanchettas at When We Have Sufficiently etc. Unfortunately there are never AAA tickets for the musicals. They're only for Opera, as their purpose is to make opera more accessible and affordable. It's annoying - but as i mentioned further up, this is down to the producers & not ENO. Makes sense I guess, Access All Arias. But I find the experience at the Coliseum in particular really suffers when you're up in the gods and don't have the openness and majesty of the hall around you. And if they don't do young people or student tickets and I can only afford the cheap seats I really don't find it to be worth it generally. Well I guess I'll wait and see. I don't think they do dynamic pricing but I guess if the reviews are ok I'll get a £15 balcony seat.
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742 posts
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Post by horton on Mar 13, 2019 13:23:03 GMT
His casting is bizarre. He just won’t be able to sing it well enough. A big mistake. The Ham of La Mancha
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Post by Deleted on Mar 15, 2019 0:59:50 GMT
Listened to the rich and powerful voice of Colm Wilkinson recently singing selections from this show and then heard about Kelsey Grammer taking on this testing role...wow...the mind boggles...we shall see
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1,181 posts
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Post by theatrelover123 on Mar 15, 2019 2:36:21 GMT
Petra Polyamarous to play Banjo Pantsdown in this!
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Post by learfan on Mar 15, 2019 6:58:52 GMT
He's a good actor but not exactly a star name to attract punters. Are they selling any tix for this?
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Post by Deleted on Mar 15, 2019 6:58:59 GMT
I really can’t see this selling very well.
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Post by clair on Mar 15, 2019 7:18:47 GMT
Seriously hoping for discounts for this now - had no intention of seeing it and will certainly only go when it's Cassidy Janson as I can't bear the idea of an opera singer as Aldonza but adding Peter Polycarpou means I now want to go. Luckily I know the show extremely well so should be able to zone out bits that aren't doing it for me. Who knows, I may be pleasantly surprised - fingers crossed
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Xanderl
Member
Not always very high value in terms of ticket yield or donations
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Post by Xanderl on Mar 15, 2019 7:49:10 GMT
Still selling terribly - just had a look at the ENO site for a random Saturday evening in May and only 1/3 of the seats have been sold, and possibly some of those are actually allocated to other ticket agencies rather than actually sold. For a mid-week date about 1/4 of seats have been sold. (if you hover your mouse over each seating area it will tell you how many tickets are still available)
Can't believe they won't start dynamic pricing or discounting this soon.
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Post by theatrefan77 on Mar 15, 2019 7:53:55 GMT
ENO desn't really do dynamic pricing but hopefully there will be offers or promo codes around soon. They did it for Kiss Me Kate and some tickets were reduced to half price
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4,567 posts
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Post by Someone in a tree on Mar 15, 2019 8:38:15 GMT
I think it needs to be less than half price
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1,188 posts
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Post by theatrefan77 on Mar 15, 2019 8:43:44 GMT
It'd be great if it's less, but even if it's only half price I would be buying a ticket
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Post by learfan on Mar 15, 2019 8:54:21 GMT
ENO desn't really do dynamic pricing but hopefully there will be offers or promo codes around soon. They did it for Kiss Me Kate and some tickets were reduced to half price Well they may have to bite the bullet and do something fast!
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4,567 posts
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Post by Someone in a tree on Mar 15, 2019 10:25:15 GMT
Well if the producers (not ENO) programmed something people wanted to see with good casting in the first place....
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Post by Snciole on Mar 15, 2019 10:42:45 GMT
It was announced today (Friday 15 March 2019) that renowned stage, film and TV performer Peter Polycarpou will play Don Quixote’s squire, Sancho Panza in Man of the Mancha at the London Coliseum; the first West End production of this multi-Tony award-winning Broadway musical for 50 years.
I think Polycarpou is a wonderful actor and addition to this cast but this is not the big sexy name that is going to sell obscenely priced tickets.
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Post by Someone in a tree on Mar 15, 2019 12:25:05 GMT
Loads of "no booking fee" offers out. Don't all rush at once, now. We need an LOL button 😂. Seriously. I almost spat out my tea all over the desk
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Post by clair on Mar 15, 2019 20:30:04 GMT
Now if the offers were 'just pay the booking fee' I'd go for it!
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Post by mrbarnaby on Mar 15, 2019 21:15:26 GMT
They literally can’t give tickets away.
The casting is abysmal.
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Post by horton on Mar 15, 2019 22:09:05 GMT
Let this be a lesson.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 15, 2019 22:42:28 GMT
One hundred and fifty pounds a ticket?Will the coach parties fancy it? Selling this is nothing more than an impossible dream(sorry!),methinks.Great show,but not that well known enough except by musical theatre nerds like myself.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 16, 2019 6:45:22 GMT
It's a show I'd love to tick off my list but I'd rather wait for a proper production at somewhere like chichester or menier. Those prices are ridiculous and none of the cast is appealing.
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Post by anjas on Mar 16, 2019 8:45:59 GMT
Hi all,
First time poster, long time lurker etc and I'm a little bewildered by this discussion. What exactly is wrong with the casting here? Kelsey Grammar is surely still at least a bit of a star with reruns still being broadcast on C4, is a fantastic comic actor, sings well enough from what I've heard and certainly has a charisma about him. The rest seem decent enough for a musical of this type. There seems to be a lot of criticism of the casting but who exactly would be able to sell out the Coliseum for this? Surely it is more about the fact that it is Man of La Mancha than anything else? Who would you cast that would take and fit the role that you think would shift tickets? Or do you think it would sell better if they didn't try and reel in the casuals with a star name and tried to appeal to the theatreheads instead?
Sorry for all the questions!
Anja
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5,413 posts
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Post by oxfordsimon on Mar 16, 2019 8:59:29 GMT
The main issue I think is the choice of show for this venue. It is a show with little or no UK awareness or following (other than people knowing The Impossible Dream - without knowing which show it comes from)
There isn't a name who could realistically play the title role and sell enough seats to justify being in a theatre of this size.
It is a show that was conceived as a relatively small scale chamber piece - and again it will be swamped in a venue of this size.
It is an ill-conceived project from start to finish.
Grammer would - to my mind - be a far better choice for Sancho - he doesn't have the scale of voice necessary to fill the space as Don Q.
I just think the producers got this wrong at every point in the decision-making process. Talented people are going to get lost in a show that is not going to succeed.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 16, 2019 9:19:00 GMT
Hi and welcome from a fellow recent new member to the board.As someone who travels down to London seven or eight times a year to see musicals with my wife and daughter and often stays over it would be a question of trying to find shows that are relatable to at least two of us and the cost of each ticket.Saw Chess at this venue last year so that my daughter could experience it for the first time but it was incredibly expensive for good seats.Not sure if this show would be an easy sell to my daughter like Chess was.I think the producers need to explore discounting as soon as possible but as this is a ‘high brow’ venue perhaps they are adverse to this idea.
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Post by Someone in a tree on Mar 16, 2019 16:06:40 GMT
Loads of "no booking fee" offers out. Don't all rush at once, now. They are actually waisting money on ads for the no booking fee deal. Bonkers
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