The hottest celebrity on the London stage is a four-foot-tall bear with a fondness for marmalade. Tickets to “Paddington: The Musical” are hard to come by — the show is consistently sold out — and costly, by British standards: The best seats, when bought directly from the show itself, are 250 pounds, which is about $330.
But that price pales when compared to the top tickets in New York. Want to see Jonathan Groff, the loved-by-everyone actor wrapping up a yearlong Broadway run as Bobby Darin in “Just in Time”? The best seats are $975.
West End theater tickets are regularly less expensive than on Broadway, even for the same shows. Last year, the average West End ticket price was about $81, while last season the average Broadway ticket price was roughly $129.
That’s because production costs are significantly lower in London — for everything from actors’ salaries to the cost of wood used to build sets. The phenomenon is not new, but it is a growing concern — in London, prices have been creeping up, and in New York, they are sometimes stratospheric.
Here, we look at how prices differ in two theater capitals.
Same show. Very different price.
There is overlap between Broadway and the West End — many shows transfer from one city to the other — making some comparisons straightforward. Right now, 11 shows are playing simultaneously in both cities, including the musicals “Wicked,” “The Lion King” and “Hamilton,” and the plays “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,” “Oh, Mary!” and “Stranger Things: The First Shadow.”
In January and March, we looked at prices listed on each show’s official website for the least expensive and most expensive seats available at the orchestra level. We sought tickets for the following week, reviewing the prices for evening performances midweek and Saturday night.
The cheapest available tickets for the two midweek showings of “Wicked” were almost three times more expensive on Broadway than in the West End, while at “The Lion King,” the midweek difference was narrower — in one case a New York seat was only 1.4 times more expensive, at $142 for the cheapest orchestra-level seat, compared to $98 in London.
The differences persisted at a variety of shows — new and long-running, plays and musicals, big and small.
At “Hadestown,” a midweek ticket cost $277 in New York and $187 in London. Why? Wages are lower for actors in London, but so are some of their costs. “One reason prices are lower in London is artists are not worried about where they will get their health care from, because of the national health care system,” said Rachel Chavkin, the “Hadestown” director.
The differences widen when a celebrity is involved. For “Oh, Mary!,” London’s top price is $220. In New York, the top price was $375 last week, but that goes up to $499 next month, when Maya Rudolph joins the cast.
Hot shows, starker contrast.
The most eye-popping development at the Broadway box office over the last year is how high the prices have gone for the most sought-after tickets. Prices have reached $900 or more when a performer or performance has been in high demand.
Last season, “Romeo + Juliet,” whose stars — Kit Connor and Rachel Zegler — appealed to young audiences, charged $1,478.50 for the best seats in its final days. “Othello,” later that season, didn’t have to wait until its run was ending: That show, starring Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal, charged $897 for many orchestra seats starting with previews.
And it’s not just starry Shakespeare productions.
“Operation Mincemeat,” a musical comedy with performers that only die-hard fans could name, last month charged $975 for the best seats during the original British cast’s final week.
This month, as Groff prepared to leave “Just in Time,” that show commanded $975 for the best seats — at cafe tables, often close to the star. At the box office, an agent told us plenty of people “don’t even blink” at that price.
If prices ever got that high in Britain, it’d be a national scandal. When Sarah-Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick took “Plaza Suite” to the West End in 2024, outraged theatergoers complained on social media about the top-priced seats, which were $526 — a level rarely seen in London.
Leslie Odom Jr. in ‘Hamilton.’
“Hamilton” is an unusually clear case study this season. That’s because Leslie Odom Jr., who won a Tony Award for playing Aaron Burr in the original Broadway cast, has returned to the role again on Broadway (last fall) and in the West End (this spring).
In London, the top price to see Odom will be about $365. In New York, it cost $1,200 at the start of his run and rose to $1,500 by the end. So seeing the same performer, in the same show, from the best seat at the most desirable time, was ultimately four times more expensive in New York than it will be in London.
“I know, as a producer of ‘Hamilton’ in London, we have tickets under £100 here, which hardly gets you into the foyer in New York, let alone an orchestra seat,” said the British producer Cameron Mackintosh. “Here, I’m not saying it’s cheap, but it’s certainly affordable.”
And why is that? “The costs of running a show are ludicrous in New York,” he said. “I won’t do it anymore.”
Fans are still showing up.
James Hanington, 26, a musician seeing “Paddington” in the West End on a Friday in March, said he had to close his eyes while paying for two $160 tickets. “Money’s not great for us,” Hanington said.
Still, he said, such prices were “what you expect nowadays.”
That same night, at “Just in Time” on Broadway, Melina Kiely, 34, a New York bartender, said she felt like she had scored a bargain by finding a $374 ticket — the first she had spotted below $600.
“I’ve been trying to see this since it came out, but it’s been so expensive,” she said, calling the prices “ridiculous,” but adding, “I love Jonathan Groff, and I wanted to get a good seat.”
And, she said during intermission, “honestly, I’m loving it. I’d do it again in an instant.” Across the Atlantic, Hanington was happy, too; he even bought a Paddington plushie.
Of course, patrons can save money on theater tickets in both cities. Cheaper seats are always available — including those farther back or higher up (delightfully called “the gods” in London) or on weeknights. And there are lotteries, rush seats, half-price ticket booths and discount codes.
“You can find many bargains if you shop around,” Joanna James, 57, a nurse manager, said while seeing “Paddington” from an $87 seat at the end of the front row. “I don’t mind restricted views.”
A few shows are outliers.
As we tracked prices, a few performances were — surprisingly — cheaper on Broadway than in the West End. In March, for instance, the two performances we looked at for “Stranger Things” had less-expensive orchestra seats on Broadway. “Moulin Rouge!” was also often more affordable in New York.
What’s the reason? Patrick Gracey, a producer and board member of the Society of London Theater, suggested that theater size could be a factor — in larger theaters, prices are sometimes lower, because more seats are available.
He may be right. “Stranger Things” plays at the 1,600-seat Marquis Theater on Broadway and the 1,000-capacity Phoenix Theater in London.
“Moulin Rouge!” has 1,300 seats in New York, and roughly the same in London. But prices in New York have softened lately as the show has become less popular (and then decided to close). Its prices could rise, though: Megan Thee Stallion has just joined the New York cast.
London’s snacks are better, if not always cheaper.
We might as well just say it: The snacks in London theaters are better — they have more variety, and are less likely to mirror a supermarket candy aisle.
“Paddington” offers ticketholders marmalade sandwiches, which patrons can order upon arrival for delivery at intermission. (We got a “Paddington” package that included the sandwich, a marmalade martini and marmalade popcorn.)
In Britain, grown-ups eat ice cream at intermission (which they call interval). It’s a thing. They also often drink alcohol in glassware. (In New York, it mostly comes in sippy cups.)
Prices for some concessions are comparable, but not all. “I’m surprised how cheap the drinks are,” said John Friia, 33, an American interviewed while seeing “Paddington.”
On Broadway, snacks are generally big-brand sweet and savory goods, highly marked up. And beverages are expensive: At “Just in Time,” a bottle of water cost $8, while a glass of wine ranged from $19 to $30 ($50 for a premium double).
Things could change next year.
London’s Barbican Center has booked a surefire hit for 2027: A revival of Sondheim’s Pulitzer Prize-winning “Sunday in the Park With George” will feature Ariana Grande and her “Wicked” co-star Jonathan Bailey (last year’s sexiest man alive, according to People magazine).
Tickets go on sale in May. It’s obviously going to be a hot show. But at what price?
Stay tuned.
Ticket prices for “Hamilton” are from the Broadway League and the show’s London producers. For all other shows, prices are for the best orchestra seats available on the shows’ websites the week before the specified dates. British prices were converted to dollars; all prices are rounded.
Produced by Hollis Johnson, Jolie Ruben and Rebecca Lieberman.
Michael Paulson is the theater reporter for The Times.
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