Supply and Demand: I Hate You

In January, it was announced that the Broadway play RENT was going to close on June 1, 2008. At the end of March, that final run was extended until September 7, 2008.

That should be a good thing; I mean, the musical is amazing and I'm glad so many people will have the chance to experience it. But my best friend and I purposefully bought tickets for May 27, which we thought would be in the final week of the play.

It's not that I regret buying the tickets, but we spent a lot of money with the expectation that we would be seeing one of the last performances of the show on Broadway. I guarantee that we would have bought the tickets for three months later had we known -- the problem is that they only extended the run due to huge sellout rates for the supposed 'final' shows. While this makes many people happy, it's like giving the middle finger to all of those ticket buyers.

The next blow was when it was announced that Adam Pascal and Anthony Rapp will be reprising their original roles in the national touring production of RENT in January 2009. I would definitely rather have put my dollars towards seeing that.

It's unfortunate, really, because the problem feels inescapable. If I hadn't bought the tickets, and neither had anyone else, the run wouldn't have been extended and I would never have gotten to see RENT. But by buying the tickets and ensuring the extended run, I've stuck myself in a situation I'd rather not be in. And in the end, I'd rather travel less and see original cast members on tour.

Lesson learned: you will always be screwed by the mythical forces of supply and demand.