BROADWAY INSIGHTS
ACREL Fellow Steve Mezer of Becker & Poliakoff is a theater aficionado who spends his free time attending Broadway shows in NYC. He offers the following suggestions for scoring discounted Broadway tickets and enjoying your theater experience.
Lotteries: On the day of performance, many shows offer a lottery for 1 or 2 tickets to each of the winners of a lottery. Seats are usually quite good. Most lotteries are now conducted digitally. The Book of Mormon offer a $32.00 digital lottery and a $27.00 in person lottery. The Book of Mormon digital lottery can be found on the show’s twitter page and entered up to 2½ hours before curtain. Its in person lottery is held 2½ hours before the curtain at the theatre. CATS’ digital lottery opens at 10:00 a.m. and is drawn at 2:00 p.m. Winners are notified by e-mail and have one hour to pay. On Saturdays, its lottery opens at noon and closes at 3:00 p.m. Hamilton has a daily digital lottery starting at 9:00 a.m. and ending at 3:00 p.m. for $10.00 tickets, 1 or 2 per person, 21 winners each day. Yes, Hamilton tickets for 10 bucks! Hamilton does distribute turnbacks to its ever present line of hopefuls (the line starts about 2:00 a.m. and continues until 5 minutes after curtain. Aladdin, The Crucible, Kinky Boots, The Lion King, Matilda, On Your Feet, The Phantom of the Opera, School of Rock – The Musical, Something Rotten!, and Wicked all have digital lotteries. If you are flexible and feel lucky, give it a try. Digital tickets start at various hours, so check some Broadway websites that link to a variety of lotteries, such as Playbill.com and Todaytix.com. They take credit cards. If you win, you have one hour to buy the tickets. There is no rule against entering more than one lottery and there is no cost to enter the lottery.
Where to buy tickets and discounts: If you prefer the certainty of purchasing a ticket, the best source is the show’s website, which typically has a link to Telecharge, Ticketmaster or a captive system like “Roundabout” for seat selection and payment. Discount codes for Broadway shows are available for many shows from Broadwaybox.com and Playbill.com. Discounted tickets are also sold the same day of the performance at TKTS, which is run by the Theatre Development Fund. The line for TKTS at its South Street Seaport location in the rear of the Resnick/Prudential Building at 199 Water Street is considerably shorter than at its booth in Times Square. Scalping tickets is illegal in New York and as you may suspect, Broadway show tickets are often the object of scams and frauds. In short, do not buy tickets from individuals. If you do not want to stand in line at TKTS, go to the box office for your show of choice.
Day of show tickets (Rush Tickets) are usually sold at the show’s box office and often reflect a discount. About 15 minutes before curtain some shows will re-sell turnbacks and tickets belonging to “no shows.” For example, Beautiful: The Carol King Musical sells 20 Rush Tickets (1 or 2 per person) for the evening performance at $40.00 per ticket – cash or credit card. The line forms at about 8:30 a.m. and tickets are distributed at 10:00 a.m. the day of the show. Chicago sells 25 Rush Tickets at $37.00 each, starting at 10:00 a.m. weekdays and noon on weekends. Fiddler on the Roof prices its Rush Tickets at the Box Office upon opening for $37.00. September 20th marked the first mobile Rush Tickets. Rush Tickets are now available on line at 10:00 a.m. for Heisenberg at Manhattan Theatre Club. Check at the box office for details as most theatres do not have published phone numbers.
Where to Sit: Most Broadway theaters are intimate houses with narrow seats and limited leg room. A few of the theaters feature front row seating that places the tallest patron at eye level with the edge of the stage impairing the view of portions of the stage and portions of the actors, typically their feet and portions of their legs. While I prefer seating close to the stage, one has to be careful to avoid obstructed view seating. Some ticketing websites include a “view from this seat” as feature, use it! Most shows are intended to be viewed from at least 10 rows back. Many productions reserve seats in the first row of the balcony for their “special” guests or “house seats” and consider the location to be prime real estate. Ultimately seat location is truly a matter of preference, price and availability.
ADA and Essentials: When you visit a Broadway theater, remember that many qualify as historical buildings and are not entirely ADA compliant. That said, hearing amplification equipment, large print Playbills, handicapped seating and sub-titled (captioned) dialogue devices are available in some theaters. If you require assistance, contract the ticketing agency (i.e. Telecharge or Ticketmaster) or the theatre for details. They are usually very accommodating. Some features such as the bar and restrooms may not be readily accessible for some patrons. Plan ahead. Most shows sell adult beverages in branded (show name or theatre brand) sippy cups for high prices that can be taken to your seats. The soda cups are often refillable for no charge.
Off Broadway: The designation “Off Broadway” typically indicates a theatre that does not meet the size requirements of a Broadway house or offers less mainstream content. A Broadway theatre must have at least 500 seats. Off Broadway shows have a lower overhead and consequently a lower ticket price, but the quality of the entertainment is often on par with Broadway shows. Off Broadway shows sometimes transfer to Broadway houses. Among the transfers of note, Hamilton and Avenue Q began as Off Broadway productions, and both subsequently won Tony Awards for Best Musical. So if there is an Off Broadway play of interest to you, go and you will be a part of that unique experience, live theatre.