Re: Anything we can do?

Date: Mon, 10 Mar 2003 04:54:04 GMT
Newsgroups: alt.fan.lea-salonga
Size: 1,493 bytes

> Hey, Genius, has it ever remotely occurred to you that tickets might
> be costing that much thanks to those very people that are on strike?
> Think next time, will you?
I thought this time.
Out of the price of an average ticket, no more than $6.21 goes to the
orchestral musicians, according to their union. Even if they're giving too
low a figure, I say it's worth it.
One of the shows that got a waiver of the minimum orchestra size is Aida. I
saw it, not long ago. It did not sound like Broadway music. There was too
much use of a synthesizer where acoustic instruments would have been better.
For that and other reasons, I'm not likely to pay even TKTS prices to see
Aida again. I do not want the rest of Broadway to sound the same way, even
if it were to save me $6.21 a ticket. (Who's going to buy for $93.79, or
even $83.79, a ticket he wouldn't for $100, when the quality's declined
dramatically? Not me!)
Could Broadway be cheaper? Of course it could. It could cut the number of
musicians, cut the pay of stars and musicians (probably resulting in reduced
quality), get rid of the fancy sets. But Broadway is not supposed to be
about cutting corners; it's supposed to be about creating beauty and
achieving excellence. It provides not merely amusement, but an opportunity
to watch people who are among the best at what they do and, in honoring
them, to honor the best within ourselves.
--
ALEX R. COHEN
"Last week, I went to Philadelphia, but it was closed." -- W. C. Fields