Discount Broadway Ticket Strategies

Discount Broadway
Ticket STrategies

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A GOOD discount ?!

For theatre-goers who live in or near New York City, there are lots of ways to find discount seats. The majority of these plans are for last-minute ticket purchases — usually the day-of the show, and ocassionally the day before.

But for people (like me) who are non-NYC residents traveling across the county and spending money on airfare, hotel, and transportation into New York for a Theatre Weekend — well, yeah, we’re going to want to be sure our tickets are booked ahead of time, which sadly means conventional ticket purchasing (i.e., full price).

So are out-of-towners completely out of luck? Not necessarily.

If you’ve made your list of Top Choices for your Theatre Weekend, and already have a couple of shows booked through Ticketmaster or Telecharge — enough to feel confident that your weekend overall will be fulfilling — and are just looking to round-out your schedule with one or two more “bonus” shows, these on-the-ground discount schemes aren’t a bad way to go!!

So let’s walk through a few of them…

The most affordable price

IS ON THE GROUND!

HERE ARE NINE SOLID

DISCOUNT TICKET IDEAS

BOOK A SHOW IN PREVIEWS

Before a Broadway show’s official opening night, the production will feature about 4 weeks of “Previews” — performances where the actors and director work out the final kinks of the show in front of a live audience, and before theatre critics come to see it. These performances are usually offered at a slightly discounted rate (5-10%) — and the good news is that you can book these tickets in advance. Perfect for planning ahead for your theatre weekend.

RUSH TICKETS

Rush Tickets are a great opportunity to see a Broadway show at a huge discount! These tickets are usually around $40 and can be almost any available ticket in the house (including Orchestra) that the box office decides to release. You must line up at the theatre’s box office when it opens (usually 10am daily - Sundays usually later) to get any available Rush Seats, and you’ll have to pay on the spot — though you’ll only be able to buy two at a time and they will be for that day’s performance only. Not every show offers Rush Tickets, and you must know that there are two types: those available to everyone, and those available only to students. (Check out our individual Broadway Show pages for specifics.) More and more often Rush Seats are open to all, so be sure to arrive early as lines form for popular shows well in advance of the Box Office opening.

STANDING ROOM

Another great option for obtaining a discount ticket is to try to buy standing room. Standing room tickets are just behind the last row of the orchestra section and allow patrons to stand and watch the show in designated, numbered positions. These tickets are usually sold at a very reasonable price, and usually sold on the day-of-the-show only, but there are no chairs at all (hence the name) so you’ll be on your feet the whole time. Not every theatre does this, so you may need to call the box office and inquire.

AGE-BASED DISCOUNTS

If you live in or near New York, and are under 35, it may be worthwhile to join one of the theatre groups which offer discounted tickets based on your age. Manhattan Theatre Club, The Roundabout, and Lincoln Center Theatre all offer these discounts (as do a handful of Off-Broadway houses) — but you will be asked for I.D., so it’s one time we encourage you not to lie about your age!!

TKTS BOOTH

The most famous of the Broadway discounters are the TKTS Booths run by the Theatre Development Fund, with the largest of these booths located in Times Square. (Additional booths are at Lincoln Center and South Street Seaport). TKTS offers unsold, same-day seats to a wide variety of Broadway, Off-Broadway and dance shows at from 20% to 50% off. Though lines and wait times can be long, they offer the widest variety of discount tickets. A large electronic board outside each TKTS booth posts what’s available for the day, and at what price. They also recently introduced a phone App which let’s you learn in advance what’s available at each of the booths before schlepping off to one of their locations. The App also lists approximate wait times for each of the booths, and lets you to create a wish-list of shows you’d like to see in order to be notified when those shows come up for discounts. Again, while offering substantial discounts, the shows can only be booked for the same day — so this strategy may prove challenging for planning a Theatre Weekend in advance, unless you’re just hoping to fill an open slot on your theatre last-minute.

TICKET LOTTERY

Many Broadway shows offer a daily lottery for discounted seats. The Lion King, Dear Evan Hansen, Book of Mormon, Harry Potter and many other hard-to-get plays and musicals now participate in some kind of daily lottery. Hamilton is among the most generous offering $10 Front Row seats via lottery to every performance! For other shows, the seating area will vary based on availability, but you’ll still end up with a tremendous discount on a ticket. That being said, your chances are slim: dozens if not hundreds of people enter these lotteries every day for only a handful of seats — but why not try your luck?! You never know! See our individual show pages for more information on which shows offer these lotteries and how to enter.

JUST ASK

It sometimes pays to simply inquire at the Box Office — especially on the day of a performance — whether they have any discounted tickets they might be able to offer you. I’ve heard stories of Box Office Managers letting unsold tickets go at a discounted price (especially on weekdays), so as the old adage goes: it never hurts to ask!

BUT WAIT…THere’s More!

WEB-BASED DISCOUNTERS

TODAYTIX

Today Tix is a ticketing agency which offers access to last minute tickets with a low per-ticket surcharge — many at a discount. They can be purchased on their website or via their app. Depending on the show, you’ll either be met by a “Concierge Agent” from TodayTix right outside the theatre, pick your tickets up at the Box Office, or be send mobile tickets via the app. TodayTix also manages a few of the Ticket Lotteries for Broadway shows via their app, so check it out. Click the icon to the left to access their website.

BROADWAY ROULETTE

This relative newbie to the Broadway ticket scene is a lot of fun, especially if you haven’t seen many Broadway shows and don’t mind having someone else pick tickets for you. WIth Broadway Roulette, you can tell them what day you want tickets for (and how many), pick a genre (Play, Musical or either), eliminate a few shows you’ve already seen (or have no interest in), accept a price cap… and then the morning of your show, they’ll alert you as to what show they were able to get you tickets for! Easy-peasy and a lot of fun. Click the icon to the left to access their website.

HOW TO