Theatre can be expensive – it’s true. And I know many people who would rather save up and buy the most expensive seats for a show (because they feel that gives them the best possible experience) and just go less often and that’s great because while there are people paying hundreds of pounds for tickets to shows, that means on the flip side there can be some much more affordable seats made available.
Dear Evan Hansen, the hot new Broadway musical opened this week at the Noel Coward Theatre and if you want to sit downstairs in the stalls, the cheapest tickets are £50 (apart from the matinee next Wednesday 27th November for which there are some Stalls tickets for £27.50 for some reason) and they go right up to £177.50. However, if you are happy to sit in the Grand Circle at the sides in what are classed as ‘restricted view’, then you can bag yourself a ticket for just £7.50 which is one of the cheapest tickets in the West End I have seen for a long time!
This week in went to see Funny Girl at the Theatre Marigny in Paris and bought a similar side view/restricted view ticket for the equivalent of about £13 (tickets go up to about £100 so similar to London) and it was a great view (see picture). Ok, I missed some of the action in the corner of the stage that was blocked but on the whole I thought it was great value for money.
So theatre doesn’t have to be expensive. If you’re willing to spend some time shopping around and don’t mind where you sit so long as it is affordable then there are many options out there. And whether you pay £7.50 or £177.50 for a ticket – you are still seeing the exact same show (you just might miss parts of it).