When — and why — did Broadway tickets get so expensive?

Broadway tickets have rarely, if ever, been considered cheap. But recently, they've been making headlines for how truly exorbitant they've gotten. 

For instance, Denzel Washington's star turn in Othello has become the highest-grossing non-musical Broadway show ever. At $900 USD a ticket, though, who will be able to take in the performance?

Today on Commotion, the New York Times' theatre reporter Michael Paulson, longtime Toronto theatre critic Glenn Sumi and CBC entertainment reporter Jackson Weaver join host Elamin Abdelmahmoud to discuss what high ticket prices say about the future of commercial theatre accessibility.

We've included some highlights below, edited for length and clarity. For the full discussion, including the latest on U.S. President Trump's takeover of the Kennedy Center, listen and follow Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud on your favourite podcast player.

Elamin: Michael, what are the factors driving up ticket prices like this?

Michael: Coming out of the pandemic, it's become far more expensive to produce on Broadway, and almost every new musical is now failing financially. So producers have discovered that short runs of plays with movie stars in them are far more likely to become profitable, and they've pivoted in that direction. But the other thing is that we're living in an era when people are increasingly accustomed to paying a lot of money for events like sports championships and pop concerts. I'm thinking about Beyoncé, and Taylor Swift and so on. And it turns out that some people are willing to pay top dollar for some Broadway shows too.

Elamin: Jackson, are you willing to pay $900 USD to see Denzel Washington on Broadway?

Jackson: I'm willing to pay $900 to see Falsettos if it comes back, but I'm not going to pay just to see Denzel Washington. I mean, this makes a sort of sense because if you want to see Denzel Washington in any regard, somebody is going to pay $900 for that at any time — to shake his hand, take a picture with him…. But I think this leaves a little bit of a bitter taste in my mouth because if this is about theatre and theatricality, and whether you're willing to pay for a bombastic, amazing experience, then I don't think that necessarily a celebrity who's great at TV or film acting just bumbling in with their famous face and upping the ticket prices is necessarily adding value to the work of theatre. 

It reminds me of animation, where you might have this great voice actor but then as soon as Garfield or the big animated movies come around, Chris Pratt walks in or Jack Black walks in because, "I'm famous and I'm better than you, un-famous voice actors." So, yes, if you love Denzel and you really want to see someone famous, sure, drop $900, $1,000. But for the actual state of theatre-going and people that love theatre that are looking to go to shows, the more this proliferates, the more sad I am for the state of musicals.

Elamin: Well, hang on a minute, though, because Glenn, this is not just a random actor bumbling into the theatre. This is the greatest living actor — I'm willing to say that — the greatest living actor of our time on Broadway. Kenny Leon, who is the director of this production, publicly defended the high ticket prices. He said that seeing Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal on stage is kind of like paying for courtside seats to a Lakers game. Glenn, does he have a point, you think?

Glenn: I just don't buy that. I mean, you can't compare basketball to Shakespeare. I agree with Jackson. If you want to see Denzel or Jake, go see them do a Q&A at a TIFF premiere or something. This whole story has made me think of, do you remember when Cord Jefferson won the Oscar a couple of years ago for American Fiction? He wrote the adapted screenplay for that film. He said that instead of making one $200 million film, try making 20 $10 million films or even 50 $4 million movies. And in this instance, I think, instead of paying four, five, six, seven, eight, nine hundred dollars for a Broadway ticket, go see 20 off-Broadway shows. Buy a couple of subscriptions to a theatre, see the full range of material that is out there. 

When the Mirvishs, who are the biggest commercial theatre producer in the country, when they brought the musical Hamilton to Toronto they announced that if you subscribe to their season the year before, you would have the first access to Hamilton tickets. Some people complained, but I thought that it made a lot of sense financially and artistically as well. It introduced people who wanted to see one big ticket show to a bunch of other shows, hopefully making them permanent subscribers and theatregoers. And I think that this kind of sustainability is what we need going forward.

You can listen to the full discussion from today's show on CBC Listen or on our podcast, Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud, available wherever you get your podcasts.

Panel produced by Ty Callender.