Okay, Sarah Jessica Parker and husband Matthew Broderick were never going to bring their smash Broadway comedy ‘Plaza Suite’ to the West End out of the simple goodness of their hearts. They are glamorous celebrities who undoubtedly deserve some compensation for setting up shop in London during January and February. They probably need paying at Broadway rates, which are about three times higher than the skinflint West End. Nonetheless, eyebrows have been more than raised at the show’s top price tickets, which will set you back a walloping £395.
UK theatre is BROKEN. £125-£395 for a ticket on a THURSDAY MATINEE to see SJP in Plaza Suite. Who is paying that? Who is able to pay that?!
Broadway prices, but Broadway performers’ are paid approx $2400/week.
In comparison, West End is around £760/week.
Sheer greed. pic.twitter.com/p6rE3nv9PT
— Ryan Nelson (@RyanJohnNelson) September 16, 2023
Just went to book for ‘Plaza Suite’ next year as I’m a huge Sarah Jessica Parker fan. But stall tickets for £350? Wtf! I was expecting them to be around £150 ish but jheeze. Ticket prices really F me off. pic.twitter.com/aHTLkwUKmZ
— Two Idiots &A Camera – Showreels (@2IdiotsAndACam) September 15, 2023
The main point in mitigation is that this does come with a load of extra stuff: three glasses of champagne, a dessert board, an ice cream and a programme (it’s also only available at the weekend, with a slight less fancy £350 package replacing it in the week). Contrast this to 2021’s hit revival of Mike Bartett’s ‘Cock’, which charged £450 a ticket for a show that didn’t even have its star in it anymore (Taron Egerton dropped out shortly after press night) and things clearly could be worse – although it’s worth saying ‘Cock’ prices were slashed in response to the outcry, while there’s zero sign of that happening for ‘Plaza Suite’.
Still, what if you just want to see the play? There is no option not to buy those seats without the package, and if you go to look at any given performance, the little line of eight £395 tickets is largely unsold amidst a sea of purchased regular stalls seats.
In fact it’s so apparent that nobody is springing for them yet that I almost wonder whether the top price is actually a bold gambit to distract us from the fact that the standard no-dessert £300 stalls price is also crazy money (a splash under a full Glastonbury festival ticket).
However reasonable you find this, there’s no denying that it’s paying a massive premium to see Sarah Jessica Parker in the flesh. While tickets start from £25, ‘Plaza Suite’ top prices are well above the average cost of the West End: a recent survey by industry newspaper The Stage indicated that the average premium ticket costs £141.37.
But the £300 tickets seem to be flying, so plenty of people obviously think it’s fair enough: it may well be SJP’s only ever UK stage appearance, and in the age of Taylor Swift’s Eras tour we’re all basically totally unmoored from any sense of what a reasonable price to pay for anything is anyway. Still, you can’t but think they could have charged £200 a ticket and nobody would have felt either short-changed or undervalued. But that’s show business!
‘Plaza Suite’ is at the Savoy Theatre Jan 15-Mar 31. Buy tickets – at a range of prices! – here.
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