Touts clean up oil ‘Phantom’
NZPA-correspondent z London
Locals who thought tickets to the hit musical, “Phantom of the Opera," would be easier to come by once the tourists went home are having to think again. Tickets for the New Zealand-backed Andrew Lloyd Webber show, which is virtually booked out until next October, are being sold by ticket touts for as much as £990 ($2480) a seat The sudden upsurge in price — the seats officially sell for about £l9B ($496) a pop — is explained by the departure from the London stage of the star, Michael Crawford.
Crawford, the phantom and one-time star of television sit-com, “Some Mothers Do ’Ave ’Em,”
will leave the show to prepare for the Broadway production in January. But the manager of the Her Majesty's Theatre in the West End, Ray Mansell, is not impressed with the touted ticket prices. “It is outrageous, disgusting,” he told the “Daily Express." “The touts are getting £640 ($1612) even for the worst seats. • . . ■
“The worst thing is that there is nothing we can do about it It is not illegal." Describing how as many as 250 people will queue overnight in the the hope of buying returned tickets, Mansell said, "I’ve never seen anything like it”
The London production of “Phantom of the Opera” is almost 40 per cent New Zealand-funded.
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19871008.2.149
Bibliographic details
Press, 8 October 1987, Page 40
Word Count
222Touts clean up oil ‘Phantom’ Press, 8 October 1987, Page 40
Using This Item
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Press. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0 New Zealand licence. This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.
Copyright in all Footrot Flats cartoons is owned by Diogenes Designs Ltd. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise these cartoons and make them available online as part of this digitised version of the Press. You can search, browse, and print Footrot Flats cartoons for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from Diogenes Designs Ltd for any other use.
Acknowledgements
This newspaper was digitised in partnership with Christchurch City Libraries.
Log in