“The Nutcracker” is back, baby.
It was a surreal, unprecedented moment when Colorado Ballet canceled its entire 2020-21 season, given the COVID shutdowns and complications. But when the refreshed production debuted during the 2021 holiday season — it typically runs for a month, or about 25 performances — a Denver tradition was reborn.
This year’s 63rd installment is, as in the past, a boon for the state’s marquee ballet, as sales made up more than half of its annual revenue, which totaled $15.5 million last year. That’s one of the main reasons the pandemic was so devastating to arts nonprofits, and why “Nutcracker” and other holiday performances are so vital to nonprofit arts companies.
But with ticket prices rising for all kinds of entertainment options, how are they faring for this Christmas tradition?
The Denver Post took a look at tickets for the Colorado Ballet’s “Nutcracker” going back to 2000, and what we found was heartening: The cheapest tickets to the show have resisted inflation over the last quarter century, increasing only $22 in that time to a current price of $40. With U.S. inflation rates generally up — last year’s was 8%, a 3.3% increase from 2021, according to public data — that translates to actual value for fans of the state’s biggest holiday production.
U.S. consumers have seen a cumulative price increase for goods and services of 69.95% since 2000, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, whereas the cheapest tickets to “The Nutcracker” have increased only 45%.
So how do they stay so relatively low?
“Our sales tax is included in the price of the ticket, whereas many other performing arts organizations and concert/performance venues and businesses charge sales tax on top of the ticket price, in addition to many fees,” wrote Rachel Perez, Colorado Ballet’s marketing director, in an email.
“We have very minimal fees,” she said, “and if patrons purchase tickets online with mobile delivery options there’s absolutely zero fees, so they will literally only pay the listed price of the ticket — which in today’s world of excessive ticket fees and service fees — is a very nice benefit.”
This year’s run of 28 performances began Nov. 25 and continues through Dec. 24. The cheapest tickets were $40, while the most expensive were $175.
Leaders set prices by looking at the number of years at the current price without changes or increases; relevant comparable ticket prices; other shows in the Denver Performing Arts Complex, economic trends, and supply-and-demand, Perez said.
Yes, ticket prices for the ballet and other top-tier performing arts events can run above $100 (and much more on the after-market), but so can those for concerts and sporting events. To watch “Nutcracker” prices stay low, even as metro area cultural demand and population have ballooned, feels like some kind of miracle.
“Last week, we ran our first pay-what-you-can for a limited number of tickets to our Sunday night performance of ‘The Nutcracker,’” on Nov. 26, wrote Perez, who also noted the ballet’s student-pass discounts (see coloradoballet.org/student-pass). “They were available on a first-come, first-served basis. We plan to make a pay-what-you-can program a part of our initiatives in the future again and promote it broadly.”
