WEL: How much did a ticket to a Broadway show cost in 1961? In The Season, Goldman mentions $7.50 - $10 as being about standard, so I assume five years earlier it was probably a dollar or two less; maybe $5 - $7?
In 2003, the average ticket price was $67 per ticket (I'm sure many of you are laughing at that figure, more than likely having recently shelled out $100+ for a ticket to something you really wanted to see, but that's the official figure). Broadway ticket prices have increased by 30% just since 2000.
Quite simply, Broadway ticket prices are outstripping inflation by a considerable margin. Most people today are not making three times what they were in 2000 (since that's when the economy collapsed, many people are in fact making LESS than they did four years ago). Meanwhile, there are many more forms of entertainment in 2004 than there were in 1961 that compete for discretionary income (I won't bother to list them, as they're known to us all). All of these new forms of entertainment, including tickets to Disney World, for goodness' sake, cost far less than a Broadway ticket now does.
Of course, there will always be those among us who far prefer live theater to movies, DVDs, theme parks, mini-golf, and yes, wrestling-themed restaurants. But are there enough of such people to keep Broadway from breathing its last gasp sometime in the next 15-20 years?
I would sincerely like to know, however, how it is that London is able to so successfully keep its ticket prices within reach of the average person, while Broadway seems destined to wind up the sole province of the rich. I'm not being sarcastic here, I truly can't figure out why the difference is so striking.