Seven questions about the Charlie Sheen "show." PLUS, going from the ridiculous to the sublime: a special Brahms chamber bonus

KERPLUNK! GOES THE MARKET FOR CHARLIE SHEEN TIX

source: WNYC News Blog

"Day-to-day average prices paid for shows in New York on StubHub (from March 16 to April 4)": Is this a new leading economic indicator, the price of Charlie Sheen tickets? It sure seems like an indicator of something.


"On Saturday, the audience in Detroit booed Sheen and many walked out of the Fox Theater. Media coverage of the disastrous performance and the poor reviews that followed led to a significant price decrease for the New York shows, said [StubHub spokesperson Joellen] Ferrer."

-- Mirela Iverac, on WNYC News Blog

QUOTE OF THE DAY: "People bought tickets to see a train wreck, and now they're off-loading them because they heard that it's a train wreck?"

-- commenter John from Brooklyn, on the above blog

by Ken

This morning I logged onto the WNYC website to check the details of a free lunchtime performance by members of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center of Brahms's wonderful G minor Piano Quartet. Before I could get to that, I was waylaid by the, er, unexpected news of a crash in the price of tickets for Charlie Sheen's upcoming "shows" here in New York at Radio City Music Hall. This was all the more unexpected in that I was blissfully aware such a thing was happening, let alone that it's been rolling in from Detroit, Chicago, Cleveland, and Columbus like some sort of slow-moving landlocked tsunami.

I have some questions about the Charlie Sheen "show," but first perhaps we should all get up to speed on this breaking -- if not actually broken -- news, as reported by Mirela Iverac on WNYC News Blog.

Winning? Charlie Sheen Fans
Shedding Tickets to Live Show

Monday, April 04, 2011 - 03:21 PM
By Mirela Iverac

Tiger blood might be running through Charlie Sheen’s veins, but it is not helping him win over New Yorkers.

Many of those who bought tickets for his live show "My Violent Torpedo of Truth/Defeat Is Not an Option" at the Radio City Music Hall -- scheduled for coming Friday and Sunday -- are trying to get rid of them after the production got panned following its opening over the weekend.

On Monday, there nearly 2,800 tickets available on StubHub for the two shows, with the cheapest priced at $24.



"Much of this has to do with supply pacing out demand," said Joellen Ferrer, spokeswoman for StubHub. "Because of bad reviews in Detroit, the demand dipped to this low level."

A rep for Sheen said he "wouldn't know" why there are nearly that many tickets available on StubHub -- some significantly under face value.

On Saturday, the audience in Detroit booed Sheen and many walked out of the Fox Theater. Media coverage of the disastrous performance and the poor reviews that followed led to a significant price decrease for the New York shows, said Ferrer. Overall average price for the shows last week was $130, said Ferrer, but it dropped to $50 on Sunday. 



Nano Tissera, 22, a college student in New York, said he bought two tickets for the Sunday show about two weeks ago, but decided to sell them on Craigslist after reading reviews of the show in Detroit.



"I just got a really bad feeling from what I was reading," said Tissera. "It seemed like people were being ripped off, like they were not getting what they paid for. I thought, 'I should probably get rid of these.'"



He paid $150 for two tickets and posted an ad on Sunday asking the same amount of money. Tissera said he only received two inquiries and doesn't believe he will manage to sell them. He is less worried, though, about keeping the tickets after reading about Sheen’s Sunday performance in Chicago, which received better reviews. 



Ferrer thinks that many fans will act similarly and whatever happens with ticket prices for New York's shows will depend on how Sheen performs this week in Cleveland and Columbus.



"It has potential to go either way," she said. "Maybe the prices will drop further. Or maybe he will get raving reviews, and people will want to pay more."

Yes, I suppose it's always possible that our Charlie could get "raving reviews." And apparently this will make people want to pay more? Add this to the list of things I don't understand, which leads us right smack into --

MY SEVEN QUESTIONS ABOUT THE CHARLIE SHEEN "SHOW"

(1) Charlie Sheen is doing a "show"?

(2) Who would buy tickets to a Charlie Sheen "show"?

(3) Um, just what do you suppose a Charlie Sheen "show" would consist of? (Please God, no nudity. No one wants to see that.)

(4) Why would anyone buy tickets to a Charlie Sheen "show"?

(5) "Overall average price for the shows last week was $130." Huh???

(6) What would the expectations be for a Charlie Sheen "show"?

(7) How would you tell the difference between a "good" Charlie Sheen "show" and a "bad" Charlie Sheen "show"?


FREE-BRAHMS POSTSCRIPT

Greene Space was packed to the rafters for the free performance of the Brahms quartet, and the performance -- by the Chamber Music Society's co-director, pianist Wu Han (who offered some sensibly targeted introductory remarks), and three suave young string players -- violinist Arnaud Sussmann, violist Lily Francis, and cellist Nicholas Canellakis -- was fine. It's such a treasurable piece that I can't resist sharing it:

BRAHMS: Piano Quartet No. 1 in G minor, Op. 25

i. Allegro
ii. Intermezzo: Allegro ma non troppo
iii. Andante con moto; Animato
iv. Rondo alla zingarese: Presto; meno presto; Molto presto

Tamás Vásáry, piano; Thomas Brandis, violin; Wolfgang Christ, viola; Ottomar Borwitzky, cello. DG, recorded January 1982

There are more free performances this week in the Greene Space (44 Charlton Street, in SoHo): Thursday, the trio Janus (flutist Amanda Baker, violist Beth Meyers, and harpist Nuiko Wadden) playing works by Debussy, Treuting, and Negron; and Friday, the Escher String Quartet playing Zemlinsky's Fourth Quartet and Brahms's Second.

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