In New York City new seasons are beginning--plays, musicals, operas, dance--and all the opportunities that make it such an exciting, vibrant city. Broadway musicals are my favorite and the favorite of my daughter and granddaughter. We experienced one wonderful weekend of going to musicals together a year or so ago, and we've all been back since independently of each other to see more.
My husband and I are planning our 25th wedding anniversary celebration in New York in the spring. We already have our tickets to see the musical, "The Book of Morman." They were sold out up to April 5, 2012, when we got them . They were outrageously expensive by our provencial standards, but the play is so popular there is no choice except to pay full price. We hope to see at least one other play, and we'll try for cheaper tickets to see "Anything Goes" and "War Horse."
Student RUSH tickets started the buying cheap tickets trend with the play "Rent." Discount student tickets were offered to those who were at the box office first on the day of a performance of "Rent." Students were spending the night on the sidewalk to be first. To keep people from sleeping on the streets, "Rent" and some other plays instituted a lottery system, which now most plays use for anyone.
My daughter, granddaughter and I used the lottery to get tickets to "In the Heights" (which, by the way, is the best musical I've seen on Broadway). This meant we arrived at the theater at 2pm, put our names on pieces of paper in a hat, and waited.
About 2:30, someone drew, one-at-a-time, 25 names from the hat. These lucky people could buy tickets for $30 each, cash only. This theater allowed those of us whose names were not drawn to buy a ticket for a bit more. Our seats were up close and we loved that.
At the play "Rock of Ages," we used the same method to get tickets and were so close I could see the fillings in the teeth of the singers and when one of the characters had to fall on the stage, his head leaning off the stage, his very long hair fell in my face. My daughter and I giggled hysterically. Nevertheless, I prefer being up close at a play to being far back behind someone's tall head.
To get more details about using the lottery system check the website Anyone Rush Tickets.
There is a one time $4 charge to gain information from this site. Another online option is Discount Broadway Tickets. Actually, if you do an online word search for "cheap Broadway tickets," many, many sites come up. For more information about SRO (Standing Room Only) and TKTS booths in Times Square see the NY University Ticket Central site. In other words,
you don't have to pay full price for many shows unless you just want to be sure you have a ticket to a play you're just dying to see. By the way, most people dress casually for a play, or maybe dressy casual. I think in the old days there was more dressing up.
I love to view the videos from live-cast Broadway productions at Broadway.com . You can buy tickets at this site, but not discounted ones. You can also see videos from Metropolitan opera performances online. But that is a subject for another blog, another day. The last time we were in NYC, my husband and I attended a Met opera at Lincoln Center. Our seats were lousy (we got what we could afford), but it was fabulous to be at Lincoln Center and see the drama and excitement of an opera. People dress more for the opera than a Broadway play, at
least that was our observation.
For more first hand information about plays see Broadway and Me
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