I went to see a play at the municipal theater here in São Paulo last week and paid R$ 180 for the ticket. That's absurd, right? I remember that like 2 years ago I was paying way less. Is it really inflation or are the theaters just abusing the prices?
You can't really point to one single, simple cause for this, because it's a mix of factors. Inflation played an important role, especially over the last two years with increases in personnel costs, energy, space maintenance. Theaters also had to recover losses from the years when shows stopped or ran with reduced audiences. Plus, a lot of places raised prices trying to compensate because the total audience dropped - if fewer people go, you need to charge more from those who do go to keep things financially stable.
That said, there are theaters that are really overcharging, yeah. A lot of venues learned they can charge more and people will pay anyway, especially in São Paulo where people have money. But it also depends a lot on which play you saw and which theater. A big production with known actors, expensive set design, all that stuff drives up costs. A small community theater or a simpler show you can find for way less. The municipal theater in SP has some performances that are actually pretty affordable if you grab the right spot in the audience.
The way to go is keep an eye on theaters that do promotions, go to regular runs instead of previews, and see if locals are actually complaining about prices or if you're just used to the old prices.
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