Buying theatre tickets from secondary sellers can result in paying too much, or worse, huge disappointment.
Case in point: a woman went to one of the first websites that came up when she googled “West Side Story Denver.” She continued to order her ticket for the Denver Center Attractions production; and after paying for it with a credit card, saw that her $45 ticket cost her $110 with added “handling” fees. One of those fees was a $15 FedEx charge to send the ticket, as she was told she could not pick it up at the theatre.
She did not buy from the Denver Center’s official website. If she had, the add-on fees would have been no more than $8 and her tickets would have been waiting for her at the box office’s will call.
At the company’s recent production of Les Miserables, tickets for orchestra seats were going for $1000 on a broker’s website.
Increasingly, theatre ticket brokers—like in the sports, airline and hotel industries—are buying up large blocks of tickets and reselling them at outrageous prices, especially to those who wait for the last minute. Often the tickets are fraudulent and the patrons arrive at the theatre only to learn that they do not have reserved seats. If the performance is sold out, they are out of luck.
“We have seen instances of great disappointment when patrons find themselves with invalid tickets,” says Randy Weeks, president and COO of The Denver Center for the Performing Arts. “Using our website will guarantee this won’t happen.”
The Denver Center, however, is not immune to dynamic pricing—a relatively new practice for arts organizations of raising prices as the demand gets higher closer to performance time. Even if you buy from the official website, your ticket might be $10-$20 more or less than the person next to you depending on when you bought it.
The bottom line is this: for single tickets, buy early and buy from the official website or box office, in person or on the phone. Even better, become a subscriber and you’ll always have seats and get advanced notices of shows, plus many other benefits. You also can sign up for email alerts for the latest news, updates and offers on the website so you can buy at the earliest and cheapest prices.
For Denver Center Attractions and Denver Center Theatre Company tickets, visit www.denvercenter.org; call the box office at 303-893-4100 between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. Mon.-Sat; or stop by the box office in the Helen Bonfils Theatre Complex at Speer Blvd. and Arapahoe St.
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