A revival of Anna Nicole will open the Royal Opera House new season, it was announced today. And students will be able to get in for £1, tweeted Kasper Holten proudly. A quid! So that’s an orchestra, an excellent cast of 17, a chorus, a production team of two or three dozen, two hours of words and music and a very good conductor all for less than one pot noodle.
The news might baffle. The received wisdom is that opera tickets are too high. Far too high. So high that they are the principal (if not sole) reason why the art form has fallen behind the others in the popularity stakes. But the reality has always been quite different. Even for adults, a portion of Royal Opera House tickets has always been dirt cheap. For as long as I can remember, it’s been possible to get in to 95 per cent of Royal Opera productions for £9.
Just to put that in perspective that’s a tenth of the cost of an England football shirt, a seventh the price of the cheapest seat at a Justin Timberlake gig, a third what it costs to go to a Premiere League football match and about double the price of Curry’s cheapest toaster.
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