I’ve been to NY Philharmonic concerts a few times and usually sit in the middle, orchestra section assuming it was the best for view and noise, but when I was looking at ticket prices for first tier, box seats I noticed they are just as expensive as the best orchestra seats, why is that? It seems counter intuitive to me because the box seats are to the left and right of the orchestra and higher up.
Box seats are more expensive because you don’t have to rub elbows the unwashed masses and are literally above the common folk.
Also, there are VERY few box seats, which, I suspect, is part of why they’re a status symbol. (sort of a chicken and egg thing).
Just as, in the sense of no more expensive, or just as, in the sense of costing even more though the sound is worse? (And I’d not be sure of that, since I’m sure the acoustics are checked where the hoi polloi sit.)
I’d guess they are more, because of the improved experience. We got last minute box seats for a musical on Broadway once, and it was a great experience for the kids. I could see people paying extra for it.
Depends on the venue. They could be placed with the best sound and sight lines. Some have waiter service. Most have more room.
Most places I’ve been to, the boxes have terrible views of the stage.
The regular audience does get a pretty good view of who’s in the box though.
Definitely a status / vanity thing.
That’s why I like them. I get uncomfortable in crowds and a little hight and space really enhances the experience for me, and I would glad trade that for a better view of the stage.
ETA: Not a status thing for me, I’m not really the kind of guy to get noticed other than “who let that guy into the good seats?”
Sometimes for view but usually not for sound. I can’t speak to Avery Fisher Hall’s acoustic design, but as a general rule you get much better dynamic range, space, and balance a bit higher up. When I buy concert tickets at a venue I’ve never been to before, I try first for the middle or middle-right of the first balcony, then the sides of the first balcony, then the same on higher balconies. Only then will I try orchestra. Each hall is different, though, so if it’s somewhere I expect to go multiple times, I might try orchestra just to see, since indeed it’s nice to be up close for visual reasons, and it works for some halls.
The Avery Fisher Hall boxes don’t look too far to the side to be necessarily bad for symphonies, and for opera they would be fine. (Orchestra seating has some downsides for opera, e.g. you don’t get as good a view of the stage as a whole.)
You don’t have to crawl over people to get to your seat. No one’s head in front of you. There might be wait service. Bigger softer seats. There might be (but probably aren’t) better accoustics. You can chat with the people you’re with, without disturbing everyone else. Depending on how fancy the box is, potentially you could bring in some women of ill repute and -really- enjoy the show.
Most of these aren’t things that are relevant to the average middle aged American. But for the elderly or for a 19th Century noble, there was almost certainly a bunch of advantages to a box seat.
Remember that Opera and Symphony used to be the big entertainment venues. It’s what people did instead of sitting at home in front of the TV. So with everyone there, regularly, these shows were a lot more social than they are these days. The lights used to be on and people used to talk so loud that often the orchestra and singers could barely be heard. It took a lot of pressure from the artists to get the lights turned off and force the audience to pay attention.
At the Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre in downtown Rochester, the first box seat on the right is literally George Eastman’s chair, complete with the specially built top hat holder underneath the seat.
You can buy a ticket for the seat today as an ordinary mortal and it is a great location to view from. You’re looking down at the entire stage, with no heads in the way and no craning your neck up from the front row.
And the plebians in the mere orchestra seats can look up and see you looking down on them.
Kennedy Center Opera House, box seat, The Nutcracker (my first ballet). Everybody should feel like royalty once in their life.
Another answer is that we’ve all grown up seeing it in the movies and on TV - any costume period piece showing a theater / concert hall always has the lead characters sitting in a box, though less of a showing them enjoying the acoustics as advancing the plot!
We had seen this musical like three times before, so a different sight line was a plus. But it is also a way of getting close to the stage. Being three or four rows back is a far better experience than being in the back of the house, no matter where you are.
They’re fab for the various reasons laid out here. I was disappointed a few weeks ago when I scored box seats at the Apollo in the West End to see Let the Right One in, and it turns out they still weren’t letting people up into the circles or box seats because of continuing work on the roof.
I ended up in what should have been a decent seat in the stalls, but was sat behind a tall, fidgety guy with an enormous head. I spent the entire show trying to peer around this twit, but he must have had a live badger down his trousers or something. We must have looked like a pair of synchronised swimmers. :mad: