I'm not going much of anywhere until my ankle is a lot better so there's very little chance of me being in New York in the next six months. Even if I could be there, I don't think I'd be rushing to see the new production of Gypsy there starring Audra McDonald as Mama Rose. It's in previews now and getting mostly raves from online folks who, since they aren't professional theater critics, aren't honor-bound to not review it until opening night. Opening night is December 19 and I doubt that what the critics say then will make a bit of difference at the box office.
This is "theater as an event" and people want to go to an event. The (arguably but not too arguable) biggest star on Broadway today is playing what some would say is the greatest "diva" role ever written in one of the best musicals. It's got a huge budget and Danny Burstein in the Jack Klugman role and Sondheim's name is on the marquee and…well, how could this thing not sell out every night? Even at a top price of $471 per seat?
That's for tickets straight from the box office. I just looked and someone on Stubhub is asking $893 each for two tickets in Row F for this evening. It'll probably be worth that to someone to be able to say to their friends, "Why, yes…I saw Audra in Gypsy…you mean you haven't been yet?" but it's not to me. I felt the same way about Hugh Jackman in The Music Man, which I also didn't want to see.
Anyway, it's a little before 4 PM out here and the curtain goes up on Gypsy in New York in one hour and ten minutes. They're still asking $893 for each of those two tickets in Row F and I'm wondering if and when the seller is going to drop the price just in case there's no one in Manhattan in the moment willing to cough up $1768 plus whatever Stubhub tacks on as a processing charge. I'm going to check back in a little while and I'll report here.
UPDATE, A LITTLE BEFORE ONE HOUR BEFORE CURTAIN: I did a little more sleuthing and it turns out the guy asking $893 each for the tickets has four of them for sale, all together. I also see folks offering Orchestra seats in Row G for $799, in Row K for $752, in Row M for $705 and in Row P for $658. I also see that if you buy the $893 tickets, each has a $248 service charge on it bringing the total to $1141 per seat. Wow.
UPDATE, A FEW MINUTES LATER: Hmm…At 4 PM — i.e., one hour before showtime — all the Gypsy tickets for tonight that cost more than $205 disappeared from Stubhub. Usually when tickets are purchased, the listing stays there and is marked "sold" but the ones I just listed are gone. I wonder what happens to those seats. Do they go to some other vendor or what? Can anybody explain this?