Pssst. Want to buy a ticket in London to "The Phantom of the Opera?" Or "Les Miserables?" Or "Kiss of the Spider Woman?" You can get the best seat in the house and pick the ticket up at the box office.
The ticket will be at the theatre's box office all right, but the ticket you paid $75 for "Miss Saigon" will be worth only $12. And instead of the best seat, you're stuck in the upper balcony in a corner, behind a post.
That almost happened to me on my first trip to London, except my "$75 ticket" for "Miss Saigon" that I purchased from a supposedly reputable ticket agency for $72 had a face value of $45.
Both you and I were victims of ticket scalpers, or as the English fondly call them, "ticket touts."
How can you and I keep from being ripped off by scalpers and ticket touts, or better, save the 30 percent commission charged by established ticket agencies? The answer is so simple it's ridiculous. I even feel stupid writing a consumer beware story about it.
Buy the ticket from the theatre's box office, either in person or by mail.
But most American tourists, like you and me, don't. As a result, the 520,000 American tourists who bought London theatre tickets last year lost more than $5 million to scalpers and ticket agencies.
"Londoners view the theatre like you Americans treat the cinema," said Jane Moss, an official with the Society of West End Theatre, during an interview in London. "It's a spur of the moment decision. They know they can buy tickets the same day at the box office."
Moss said it was very common for American tourists to pay four to five times the face value of a ticket purchased from a ticket tout often located only blocks from the theatre. Be like Londoners and go directly to the box office, she suggested.
I tried to act like a Londoner so I selected the Criterion Theatre at Piccadilly Circus to see the play, "Making It Better," directed by Michael Rudman, a Dallas, Texas native living in England. I was able to buy a ticket two minutes before the 8 p.m. curtain, toward the back of the 600-seat theatre. I also bought a same day ticket in a good, mid-center location for "Kiss of the Spider Woman," which had recently opened when I was in London.
Of course, there are exceptions. "The Phantom of the Opera" at Her Majesty's Theatre is sold out several months in advance and some of musicals like "Starlight Express" and "Five Guys Named Moe" are sold out for Friday and Saturday nights early in the week. Sometimes even the exceptions are exceptions. You might be able to find a ticket for The Phantom on the same day by checking with the theatre's box office for any returns. You can get lucky.
Moss said the belief that the ticket agencies with their block buying have the best seats is wrong. "The theatre's box office maintains the widest selection of seats. And they'll not charge you a booking fee."
If you are buying in person, most theatres are located in the theatre district in west central London and are within a few blocks of an Underground, or subway, entrance. For buying through the mail, the Society provides a free listing, London Theatre Guide, available at most tourist locations in London.
You can also receive a free Guide by writing and requesting it from the Society, Moss said. The address is The Society of West End Theatre, Bedford Chambers, the Piazza, Covent Garden, London WC2E 8HQ. A half-ounce letter to London from the United States takes a 50-cent stamp.
The Guide, which includes a map of the theatre district, lists the theatre's address and telephone number. While there is no charge on tickets bought through the mail, some theatres add a handling charge up to 15 percent for telephone orders. All the theatres accept the major credit cards.
If you want to buy a ticket from a ticket agent, the Guide publishes the telephone numbers for the established agents, who tack on a commission charge and handling fee that amounts to more than 30 percent of the ticket's face value. In a few rare cases when a theatre is trying to drum up business, the show's producer pays the agent's commission.
Most ticket touts are located in the many currency transaction shops in London, called "bureau de change." The charge may run in excess of 400 percent of the ticket's face value. Exchanging currency at these places can be very expensive, too.
You'll also run into scalpers hanging out at the Leicester Square Half Price Ticket Booth. The scalpers will charge whatever it looks like they can get from you.
If you are ripped off, what can you do about it? Send a letter to the Society and they'll add it to their collection of complaints. That's it.
"We have been lobbying to get the laws changed to protect the ticket buyer," said Moss, noting that Britain's consumer law states the seller "should" be honest with the customer. It doesn't say the seller has to be above board.
"There has never been a successful prosecution under the current law," Moss said.
One last bit of advice concerns the Half Price Ticket Booth located in a clock tower building on the south side of Leicester Square.
Travel book writers often praise its services for buying cheap tickets to theatre performances on the same day. It's a myth, and I don't believe the travel writers ever bought a ticket there. I tried buying tickets, and guess what, no tickets were available to the theatres I wanted to attend that evening. I asked Moss about this and she said that only about half of the shows and plays will have tickets sold through the Half Price Booth.
The Half Price Booth does not sell any tickets, discounted or otherwise, for the musicals, new plays, hot productions or long-standing hits such as "The Mousetrap." This is why the scalpers pack the area, feeding off frustrated tourists.
"I think that once tickets for 'Cats' when it slumped in sales were sold through the Half Price Booth. But not now," Moss said.
If you do find a ticket for a not-so-hot play at the Half Price Booth, expect to pay a service charge of about $2 per ticket. An $18 box office ticket, sold at $9, will have a $2 service charge. That's 22 percent service fee for a $9 ticket. So the Half Price Booth does not sell half priced tickets.
London has great theatres and excellent buys. The top ticket for "The Phantom of the Opera" is about $44 when purchased from the box office. A similar ticket on Broadway runs $65. That may be why American tourists -- including me -- are suckers to the ticket touts and agencies. The price they quote sounds like something we would pay at home.
So in London, act like a Londoner. Go to the box office in person to buy your tickets, or use the mail. Don't act like an American tourist and purchase them through high-priced agencies, scalpers or ticket touts.
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Rec.Travel Library
Europe - UK - England
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