ACT Three – TICKETS
PLAN YOUR
THEATRE WEEKEND
REMINDER
the home stretch!
ACT ThREE
How many shows can I see on My Theatre Weekend?
Hoorah — it’s finally time to start narrowing-down your shows and pic the finalists!
As discussed in Act One, you’ve already made your big Wish List, and decided which show will be your Anchor Show. If you haven’t already, it’s time to prioritize the list and decide which shows you want to see most.
Literally…. list out your 1st, 2nd, 3rd choices and so on…
BROADWAY PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE
What days and times do shows perform?
Nearly all shows on Broadway perform on the 8-shows-a-week schedule above (though there are a few exceptions). Take a look at how this performance schedule meshes with the days of the week you’ll be in New York, and come up with the actual number of shows you can book for your weekend.
Are you arriving Thursday afternoon and leaving Sunday night? Then you might be able to squeeze in 5 shows.
Just staying Saturday morning to Sunday night? Then 3 is your magic number!
Keep in mind that there are numerous exceptions to the above schedule. For example, Chicago and a few others buck the trend and perform on Monday nights, as do many shows still in Previews. And any production not designated specifically as a Broadway show (Off-Broadway, Off-Off Broadway, Cabarets, Operas, etc.) will have a different performance schedule altogether.
Click here to see a sample
How do I find out what shows have good tickets available on my travel dates?
Now that you’ve determined your travel dates, how many shows you can see, and what your top show choices are, it’s time to see what’s available via the online ticketing agencies.
This is where the “good note-taking” I mentioned in Act One comes into play!
You’ll want to keep track of the following for each show:
- show title
- the various performances on your available dates – both matinee and evening
- the availability of seats at each performance (I sometimes even note exact row/seat numbers)
- ticket costs and the booking site for the show (i.e., Ticketmaster, Telecharge, TodayTix, etc.)
If you’re already familiar with the ticketing process, click here to skip down the page to Next Steps.
How do I navigate the online ticket agencies? They look intimidating!!
If you’re really intimidated by booking tickets online, we’ll explain the process as best we can in this section. We also have a video on this process coming soon!
Good news: it you really, reeeeally don’t think you can handle booking online, the ticketing agencies still have phone lines and humans! See our Resources page for their numbers!
There are only two major ticket sellers for Broadway shows: Ticketmaster (which you’ve most likely already used to buy concert or theatre tickets in your home town) and Telecharge, which you may be less familiar with as it caters predominantly to New York and Boston theatre. Every show will only sell tickets through one of these sites — not both — and if you’re on the wrong one, you’ll be politely referred to the other.
All but four Broadway theatres use these two ticket agencies: The American Airlines Theatre and Studio 54 (which use the Roundabout Theatre Company’s proprietary ticketing service), and the Hudson and Lyric Theatres (which are part of the ATG Theatre Group and use their own service).
On any of our show pages, you can click on the show’s logo and be taken directly to the official site of each play or musical. Once there, click on the “TICKETS” icon and you’ll be taken to the appropriate ticket agency to see what’s available.
(Important Note: Most Broadway shows have a webpage URL that’s similar to: www.ShowNameOnBroadway.com. As you do your research, be aware that some dubious 2nd-hand ticket brokers grab official-sounding names to lure you into buying tickets from them at a marked-up price, so it’s always good to cross-check with our listing here on MyTheatreWeekend.com.)
Booking with Ticketmaster
If you’ve ever bought tickets to a major concert or play in your home town, chances are you’ve been on the Ticketmaster site before. It’s a fairly straight-forward booking site that’s used to sell tickets of all kinds (concerts, sporting events, plays, etc.) — literally all around the world.
Once you’re on Ticketmaster, and have found the page for the show you’re interested in, all you need to do is indicate a date and the number of tickets you want, and click “See Tickets” ( see image below left).
You’ll then be taken to an interactive map of the theatre which you can zoom in and move around (see image below right).
Ticketmaster
Click image to enlarge
The great benefit of this interactive map is that you can check out the various price points in the theatre all at once: Orchestra, Mezzanine and Balcony all appear on a single seating chart. Click any available seat (indicated by a blue dot) and a small window will open with the seat number and price.
In the far right column of the page, you can also click “Lowest Price” or “Best Seats” for Ticketmaster’s take on the best in either category.
Nose around the seating chart and down the best available tickets for each date of your weekend based on your budget. Move on to the next show and repeat.
Your notes can be very general if lots of seats are open (“First 4 rows of Orchestra and First 2 Rows of Mezzanine all avail”) or very specific if few seats remain (literally, write out the exact seat numbers and their price). Note-taking is very subjective, of course, but learn from my past mistakes: you’re going to want as much detail as possible as your shuffle through multiple shows and dates to make the best purchase once your research is done. So just write it all down. Really. Just do it.
Remember, in this first phase we are just doing reconnaissance on availability and not booking the tickets.
Booking with Telecharge
Telecharge has a similar interactive map, but it takes a few extra cumbersome steps to get to it.
Once you’ve found the page on Telechage for the show you want, make sure you click on the “FIND TICKETS” tab (see image below left). Then use the drop down menu to choose the number of tickets, and a date.
Scroll further down the page and check the box “I’ll sit in any of the listed sections” (see image below right). Then check the box for “Pick from Seating Chart” and enter the Captcha Code to prove you’re not a ticketing bot.
Click images to enlarge
After you’ve entered this information and clicked on “Search,” you’ll see a traditional theatre seating chart (image below).
At the top of the page, you can choose which section to view up-close — Orchestra, Mezzanine or Balcony — and the price range for each section.
Click on any available seat (orange or blue coloring) for pricing. Blue seats will have Premium Pricing, whereas Orange Seats are not.
Clicking “See View From Seat” will offer an illustrated view of the stage from the seat you’ve selected. If you’re not satisfied with the available seats for a particular performance, the right hand column of the page lets you enter a new date, time, and other search parameters without returning to the main page. Enter the new info and click “Search” and you’ll get a new seating chart.
Click image to enlarge
Okay, I’ve noted all the seats and pricing for my top shows on my travel dates — and I’ve identified some flight and hotel option. What’s next?
By now, you’re probably reaching for (at least) a second glass of wine as you stare at several pages of notes.
Fear not, we’ve come through it and now it’s time for a plan to come together!
Start mapping out your weekend with your Anchor Show (#1 show choice):
- Which date has the best matinée seats?
- Which has the best evening?
- Map them out on your weekend calendar, mixing and matching dates, and very quickly you’ll start to see a plan come together.
Compare this list against your airfares and eventually, your hotel availability. Shuffle and shift performances as needed and you should see a final plan.
Now it’s time for the charge card! Gather all your good research on flights, hotels and theatre tickets and — I can’t stress this strongly enough — block out a chunk of your time and book them all in one sitting — and do it as soon as you can!
Seriously, once again, learn from my mistakes: don’t book your theatre tickets without airfare, or vice-versa…. I cannot tell you how many times in the early days of my own Theatre Weekends that I would buy theatre tickets and leave the travel portion for later that week — only to find the flights or hotel prices had inexplicably sky-rocketed, or were sold out.
So use the booking strategy of starting with the most limited option of the 3 (theatre ticket availability is always the most restrictive); then move on to airfare, and finally to hotel.
How do I get my theatre tickets once they’re booked?
When you reserve your tickets, you’ll usually have the option to print the ticket at home or pick it up at the box office, or have them delivered via phone app. If you’re booking far enough in advance, you can often have the tickets mailed to you as well (this will incur a small cost, and is becoming less frequently available).
There’s no right or wrong decision here: printing the tickets at home or using the phone app is easy and lets you avoid another line at the box office to pick them. But if you’re the sentimental type who likes to have a traditional keepsake ticket (and yes, we like this too!), mailed tickets or a box office pick-up are the way to go. (After all, you aren’t limited to picking your ticket up at showtime when the box office is crowded just before a show: you can usually pick tickets up earlier in the day or sometimes even a day or two before to avoid the queue just before the show starts…)
I did it – I’m booked!!
Congratulations, you have just booked your Theatre Weekend!
Welcome to our theatre nerd tribe!!
You’re going to have a blast, and we want to hear about it so be sure to send us a note!!
If you haven’t been to a Broadway show before, or it’s just been a while, be sure to check out What To Expect At the Theatre.
But first, reward yourself with our adorable Infographic that you can print out to remind you of your success (and as a little guide to do it next time)!
Cool! Now what are my Next Steps?
Over the coming weeks, you’re going to want to think seriously about where to eat before or after your shows. Nearly all the restaurants in the Theatre District are going to require that you make a reservation at least one week in advance. None are terribly large, and our favorites usually get booked in advance for the prime pre- and post-curtain times.
When making meal reservations, be sure to look closely at the start times of your shows as they vary from night-to-night, and from show-to-show. Give yourself enough time to eat, pay, use the loo at the restaurant (seriously, it’s much less crowded than at the theatre!), walk to the show, go through security, and take your seat.
In the Theatre District, many restaurants have a Pre-Theatre Menu at a fixed price. This is usually two courses — an entree and a main course or a main course and a dessert — for a flat rate. You’ll select from a specialized Menu — a limited amount of items from the restaurant’s main menu — that can be prepared quickly, and which are designed to get you in-and-out of the restaurant swiftly to be at your show on-time.
The Theatre District remains vibrant very late into the night, so it’s not uncommon for theater-goers to have dinner after their evening performance. (This is often when you’ll run into performers, who frequently do the same!) It may sound late eating at 10 or 10:30, but it’s quite chic in New York and you definitely won’t be the only one doing so.
But note: since the COVID pandemic, fewer and fewer restaurants are open late, so if you’re hoping to do as New Yorkers do and eat after your show, you’ll have few options.
If you choose to eat after the show, check out the Running Times (length) of each performance on our show pages and make your meal reservation accordingly (being sure leave yourself ample time to walk to the restaurant from the theatre). When you make a reservation, also tell the restaurant which show you’re coming from — they often have a running list of show run-times and know exactly when to expect diners from each show!
Personally, I usually wait and have my meal after the show instead of before. I don’t like sitting though a show with a full stomach feeling full, bloated and tired — but that’s a personal choice each person needs to make. Sometimes I’ll get a small nibble before the show (appetizer sized snack) just to tide me over.
Cruise on over to the Theatre District Classics page for our take on great places to eat on Broadway. We’re constantly adding more so check back frequently (and be sure to tell us about your special finds!)….
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