I've been attending performances of the Boston Ballet for several years now and I am wondering if anyone else feels that the price of tickets has been a deterrent to attending more than one or two ballets per season. This year the ticket prices have increased to approximately $80 per ticket for orchestra seats. Boston audiences are not used to paying that much for ballet tickets. That is a lot of money (especially in this economy) for the average person to pay. I know from speaking with Nutcracker families, that ticket prices were definately a problem during the Nutcracker season. Families that would have liked to have seen the production several times because their child(ren) were in it, did not attend more than once or could not invite extended family members to the show. I think the Boston Ballet has relied heavily on Nutcracker families for its past revenues. The estimated shortfall this year for the Nutcracker was $800,000. Nutcracker revenues have always helped support the rest of the Boston Ballet's productions.
Do you think that they would have more sellouts, if ticket prices were not so high. In the end, they would make more money.
