Trini

My guess is that 3rd and 4th rings will reopen in the future but with new subscribers paying higher prices

Thanks for sharing. Interesting response.

Thank you, Eileen. I echo vipa. Violin Concerto, I must admit that I cannot remember if the person identified himself as a volunteer. In the past the calls I have gotten (not for this ticket price increase but for other reasons) were from volunteers so I may have assumed so. But I am sure he did not say he was marketing, that I would have remembered. Maybe he assumed I would know. He did state a number of times that he enjoyed going to NYCB and it was his favorite ballet company. Fortunately for me I had a chart with all the prices that I had written down which I called and asked for on receiving the first renewal package with xeroxed copy of a theatre seat map and no prices. So, when he tried to convince me that the far off center seat in second ring © would be fine viewing in comparison to what I had this past year, I went for my chart and was able to talk with him based on facts. I am sorry your friend had this experience. Sounds like NYCB folks need some training in dealing with long time subscribers. Seems to me someone who has been subscribing since the 70s needs special consideration. I must admit I am sorry he called since it awakened all the feelings I had on first learning of the price changes, and with no positive outcome. They should not call unless they have something positive to offer. I also want to thank all on this board for everything. This is a period of mourning for me NYCBwise and you are all being very helpful. Thank you.

We were also loyal through good times and bad, good ballets and not so good ballets, because, as you state, we understood the essence of the company. We also appreciated the high standards and spread the word about the NYCB and introduced many to NYCB over the years. Sadly, that has come to an end for some of us loyalists with the outrageous increases in ticket prices. Loyalty cuts two ways. It takes two hands to clap. Kudos to you for considering writing an Op Ed piece.

As a result of not renewing my third ring subscription I got a call last week from a volunteer at the NYCB. He was very pleasant and tried very hard to convince me that a far off center seat in the 2nd ring would be a great seat to view the ballet at an affordable price. I did not buy it. He finally said that NYCB was restructuring its prices to be more in line with other entertainment venues in NYC and was way behind in doing this, and later on that they had a $6m deficit and had to deal with it by increasing ticket prices. I pointed out that the new subscription price structure and the various strange "turn off" mailings sent to me as a subscriber said to me that NYCB was looking for a different level of clientele (i.e. richer) than those who occupied the center seats in third and fourth ring, and while I do not like the new policy, they are certainly free to do as they wished, but it now excluded me. The gentleman was very pleasant and spent quite some time on the phone trying to convince me to resubscribe. Now NYCB prices have increased over the years but I always felt that they kept the prices in line so that NYCB was affordable all round and kept to the original aim of bringing ballet to as wide an audience as possible. Now there is a new policy in place. I hope it works for the sake of ballet in the spirit of Balanchine and for the dancers. I look forward to seeing NYCB maybe once or twice a year depending on what is on and whether I can get decent seats at affordable (probably discount) prices. But this is also an opportunity to see other ballet companies that visit NYC with the $ I would have used for NYCB. When I hear the music on the radio I am already nostalgic for the ballets to these scores I will probably no longer see after 20 years of subscribing but I am sure that this, too, will pass with time. Cheers!

I agree with you. I have no idea about the decision making process but I do believe that one of the best promotions was the bring a friend with a free ticket sent to subscribers a couple of years ago. I brought a friend who has since attended a number of programs at NYCB but now will not with the single ticket price increase for decent view of stage seats in 3rd and 4th ring. I still think that instead of drastically increasing the prices in 3rd and 4th ring, dropping the prices in orchestra would have filled the house. Then, when times get better financially folks who had the opportunity to see NYCB for decent prices in the lean years will pay more and continue to come, but not if outrageous increases ocntinue. Sad all round. Hopefully, someday in the future prices will readjust....not holding my breath, but always hopeful.

Agreed. My experience with marketing/corporate decisions like this is that they will prevail since they are purely data and formula driven. Whether they are successful or not remain to be seen. It is a new world, the NYCB is taking a new diretion, and is no longer affordable to me since I would like to have a decent view if I attend and that costs too much. To all those who can still afford to go I wish many years of continued enjoyment. I myself am moving on. Cheers!

Maybe Martins has to create new ballets as a condition of his employment as artistic director? They must be expensive though especially those that include commissioned music or scenery, in addition to rehearsal time.

Good points. Sorry to hear the house is not filled which may have something to do with the house prices. Maybe NYCB should decrease prices in the house to 3rd and 4th ring prices and leave the 3rd and 4th rings alone. BTW the third ring is always full or near full on the days I attended. Do not know about the 4th ring but the few times I have sat there on single ticket purchase it was full too. I think that NYCB is going the way of all entities now, emulating for profit companies with shareholders, that is the changes happening in all nonprofit companies, education, health care etc. A business model that emphasizes the bottom line above all. Hope is that it can retain the spirit of adventure and risk taking with high level of choreography that its founders envisioned. Hard to do if profit reigns supreme, but not impossible, I hope. I wonder what Balanchine and Kirstein would have done? From what I read they always seemed to have unique perspectives when times got tough, like they are now economically (and for the theatre goers too, not just the NYCB).

I am new to this forum and am glad I found it. I am a very long time 3rd ring NYCB subscriber and my subscrition price is increasing 75%! It is about the only thing (apart from health care) that has increased this much in recent memory. So I cannot afford to attend NYCB anymore after 20 plus years. I realize that ballet is expensive to produce but as a fan I sat in seats now deemed the worst (based on current pricing) at the same price as the best seats and worked my way up as the years went by. An increase I understand ($10 at most per year) but 75%? I also do not understand why the prices were not sent with the first mailing and the need to call in. Then just got a second mailing with a long letter of explanation which was, in my opinion, just a post hoc way of trying to appease angry subscribers. angry not at the need for some increase, but for the way it was handled, and the unjust manner of the increase. By the way, the reasons in the letter for the drastic increases in 3rd and 4th ring appear to be a try to come up with reasons and were illogical. It is clear that NYCB is now angling for patronage from only a higher income level of persons, and time for me to explore other happenings in my local area. I enjoyed going to the NYCB ballet, may still go off and on, treasured seeing wonderful dancers and especially the Balanchine ballets in their home company, but this has opened up an opportunity for me to move on. Cheers!