March 10--Which upcoming Chicago show has posted some truly eye-popping ticket prices? Here's a hint. It's not "Hamilton."
It's "War Paint," the Goodman Theatre attraction slated to open in June. "War Paint" is a new musical about rival female giants of the cosmetics world, Helena Rubinstein and Elizabeth Arden. With a book by Doug Wright, a score by Scott Frankel and lyrics by Michael Korie, "War Paint" stars Patti LuPone and Christine Ebersole. As I've reported, this is to all intents and purposes a pre-Broadway tryout, albeit initially under the Goodman aegis.
Let's say this show sounds attractive to you and you'd like to go and see it on a nice Saturday night in July or August. If you were to make your ticket-buying decision this weekend, that would not exactly be a last-minute move. July is a few months away. Let's say you'd like the best available seat on -- oh, I don't know, Saturday, Aug. 6.
Your price per seat? An eye-popping $173. If you can snag one. On another night, the number $175 pops up on the site.
I've done some digging and I'll assert that $173 -- not just "premium" seating but "premium plus" -- is the highest single ticket price ever charged by a nonprofit theater in Chicago. I'm leaving the Lyric Opera out of the equation (the cost structure of opera is a whole different thing), but if you've ever paid more than that for anything other than a Broadway in Chicago attraction, kindly email me forthwith.
With the exception of two or three big hits that will force you, even now, into stratospheric premium pricing, you could buy a really good seat for less than that amount for every Broadway show in August. I just checked. And $173 is a lot of money. Let me do the math for you: $346 for a pair. Dinner not included. This is not just about fifth-row center. Even balcony seats cost in the three figures on many prime nights.
The last time I wrote about the Goodman's aggressive use of what is euphemistically called "dynamic pricing," (dynamic for them; there's nothing dynamic about signing a bigger charge slip), it was 2012. At that time, the theater was charging up to $120 for its production of "Sweet Bird of Youth," starring Diane Lane.
But $173 is a 44 percent increase over $120.
Has your paycheck gone up 44 percent since 2012?
When I write about ticket prices at the Goodman, the theater asserts a number of things, as a spokesman did this time. One is that subscribers avoid these charges -- in fact, you could have bought the whole 2016-17 season for less than that one ticket to "War Paint." Another is that the theater does many worthy things ensuring access for low-income students, promoting education programs, access for diverse populations and the like. A third is that there are many discount programs. A fourth is that most shows at the Goodman, especially the new work in the Owen Theatre, do not cost anything like that much to see.
So stipulated.
It's also worth noting that the Goodman is not the only place in town to engage in "demand-based" pricing, which recently made the news after it was introduced at Walt Disney World. Other theaters charge more when demand is high. In 2012, Steppenwolf Theatre told me that it did not engage in demand-based pricing -- its then-executive director, David Hawkanson, said he was opposed to the whole thing on ethical and customer service grounds. This time around, Steppenwolf told me something different. They are now engaging in this kind of variable pricing, but only to the modest tune of $5 or $10. At the time of writing, you could buy a good main-floor ticket to the new Tracy Letts play, "Mary Page Marlowe," for a very reasonable $55 on a Saturday night.
That show has no stars, you say? Not true. That show has Carrie Coon, she is a star in my book.
While we're musing the ethics of a $173 ticket at a nonprofit theater, let me reiterate the common argument that a theater like the Goodman should haul in the cash when it can, and in this case it surely can, so it then has more resources to take those theatrical risks on new works and so forth. Stick it to those who can afford it, and who want to see a show on a prime weekend night, this thinking goes.
I see that case. Broadway functions that way. If you want to see "Hamilton" on a Saturday night within the next few months, you probably will find yourself paying a lot more than $173.
But that show is aberration and, for the record, a proven hit. We've no idea what "War Paint" will be like. I also think there actually should be a ceiling on what a theater supported by philanthropic dollars should charge, even when demand is out of sight. Not everybody wants to subscribe. Part of a mission is ensuring accessibility for the middle class. And heck, people work. They need to come downtown for a show on a Saturday night. They should not need to trade a mortgage payment for four tickets.
I say $150 should be the top. Period.
There's another takeaway. If I were thinking about investing in "War Paint" for any future Broadway incarnation, I'd be very heartened by this column. Demand, clearly, is going to be very high for this show. People are compelled by the topic. People want to see these great stars.
Now it just has to be good.
In New York, there have been a couple of stories of late about how movie stars don't always sell tickets.
In Chicago, though, we're much less exposed to stars. We like stars. Many of them are stars due to their being very good. Bring 'em on.
For when stars come to town in what sounds like an interesting project, the people of Chicago open their wallets.
Chris Jones is a Tribune critic
CJones5@tribune.com
