Everytime I have to deal with a show at the Pantages, I end up frustrated. I’m looking for tickets for Rock of Ages in February. It is only here two weeks, and we need the first weekend. There appear to be no mezzanine seats available; the cheapest seats through Ticketmaster are $58+$11.30 fees for side orchestra (and, of course, you don’t want Mezzanine seats—for the sound quality is terrible). Ticket brokers are worse, and I’ve seen nary a discount code. Generally, if the Pantages puts tickets on Goldstar, it is only for Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday anyway, and we need Saturday or Sunday.
This goes so contrary to most theatre tickets in LA. If you work a little, you can usually find some form of discount: subscriber discounts, discounts through Plays411, discounts through LA StageTix or Goldstar… but with the Pantages, nothing. Even for the big theatres (Center Theatre Group), they have Hottix and Rush tickets.
This is why I hate the Pantages as a venue (and always have since I first went there in the early 80s). Overpriced tickets, and in general the sound quality of the productions is poor, because they are more of a touring house. But this also means, for certain shows, they are the only choice if you want to see it without adding the price of an airline ticket.
In a few weeks, we’ll probably go down to the box office to get tickets and save the $11.30/ticket in fees. If you hear of any discounts, please let me know.
