The Grand National Theater drew a lot of press coverage when it started selling standing tickets. Costing just 30 yuan each, the 100 tickets attracted a phalanx of huddled masses, some of whom had queued throughout the night.
I sympathize with them. A decade ago, I snapped up a lot of standing tickets at the San Francisco Opera. I called them "student tickets" because only financially destitute students like me would be willing to stand for a five-hour Wagner opera. Sometimes, when the action on stage came to a standstill, I - and a few fellow standees - would sit down on the floor and just enjoy the glorious music wafting across the hall.
Standing tickets, in my opinion, are the cheapest way to nurture the next generation of classical music lovers. Over here, some pundits see them as further proof of the rich-poor divide. In San Francisco, I was never treated badly because the opera house knew many of us would one day graduate to become regular patrons.
Once I came back to China, I found - to my dismay - tickets so overpriced that most of the people who go to the theater are either institutional ticket buyers or complimentary ticket holders. A lavish show costs money. In the West, a show runs for hundreds, even thousands, of days, while here in China a week is considered a long run. You do the math.
Since the initial production cost is fixed, why not lower the price and run longer so that more people have a chance to be exposed to the magic of the theater? Hopefully the Grand National Theater can create some competition and provide more access to people who otherwise cannot afford to go, even the standing tickets.
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