A NYC Quest To See Lots Of Broadway Shows Without Going Broke
Plan a trip to New York City for a theater kid who only wants to see as many Broadway musicals as possible in a 5 day span while also spending the least amount of money?
Challenge accepted.
Welcome to my Spring Break trip planning challenge that required me to do all of the things I love-- deep dive research mode, making a list on a Google Doc, coming up with a day to day vacation plan, and then executing said plan with great success. (That last part doesn’t always happen which made this trip even better). Oh yeah, and the other thing I love- saving lots of money.
The icing on the cake was getting to experience something I have never done before- namely, seeing a show on Broadway. (Spoiler alert- it was fantastic. All 5 musicals I saw were absolutely fantastic. This is truly where the hype lived up to itself.)
If all of this sounds like too much (I know many of you started cringing at Google Doc), let me assure you it really wasn’t and we saved so much money. I just spent time doing some internet research before our trip and we set aside an hour every morning while we were in NYC visiting box offices for last minute ticket deals in the event that we hadn’t won an online lottery already for that day. We still had plenty of time to do touristy things in New York like walking across the Brooklyn Bridge, taking a tour of Rockefeller Center, wandering through the MoMA, etc.
I can save you a lot of time too versus what I spent because I can tell you what ended up being the most successful for us after 5 days of trial and error. When you consider that I saw 5 Broadway shows for under $300, it really wasn’t much work for a big return. We never spent more than $90 a ticket and had good seats for MOST of the musicals (“Phantom of the Opera” was the outlier- for reasons I will explain below).
The biggest takeaways for us was that online lotteries are by far the easisest and cheapest way to get tickets, so it is worth learning how to do that. Visiting box offices is also a good way to find the best seats on the day of the show. Plus, you don’t have to pay any ticketing fees at the box office which makes it competitive with large discount ticket sellers.
Waiting to get in to see “Phantom of the Opera”. We got SRO tickets (standing room only) for only $29 so definitely a compromise between price and comfort there. But the show was great and this one of the ways we saved lots of money on Broadway. But not one I would do for just any show, 2.5 hours is a long time to stand…
Terms You Need To Know When Buying Tickets For Broadway Shows
Before you start this process, familiarize yourself with these terms. I was a complete newbie so it took me a minute to figure out all the lingo while I was researching the best ways to get tickets for cheap.
Ticket offers- This refers to all the cheap ways to get tickets for a show, e.g. ticket lotteries, general rushes, and other giveaways. Look for this tab or heading on many websites to find out what kind of cheap tickets the show is offering. Every show has different offers; some will do digital lotteries but not general rush, for others it will be the opposite.
Digital lotteries- Most shows reserve a certain percentage of seats (it’s a low number so don’t get too excited) to give away for a nominal price, usually between $30-$50. You enter your name online through an app or website usually the day before the show (sometimes it is a week or more though) and they will email you if you have won. A few shows do in person lotteries right before showtime but digital lotteries are far more common now. These are almost always the cheapest way to get tickets so worth figuring out how to do.
General rush- Some shows will reserve tickets to sell for a cheap price (again like $40- $50) for shows that same day. You have to buy these in person at the box office so they are different from digital rushes which are online. It is often only 10 or 20 tickets though and lines start early for popular shows, especially in summer or on weekends. So if the box office opens at 10 am, you will want to be there by 830 am or 9 am for these popular shows. Even on a weekend in March it can be busy. We got there only a little before the box office opened for one show and missed rush tickets by about 5 people. If we had been 20 minutes earlier, we probably would have gotten them. Besides the lotteries, these are your best bet for cheap tickets though, so worth waiting in line for a show you really want to see.
Digital rushes- Same idea as the general rush tickets but online. You enter an online drawing similar to the lottery tickets, but digital rush tickets are more last minute, usually opening for entries the morning of the show.
Ticket limits- All of the lotteries and rushes I found had a limit of up to 2 tickets per winner so if you have a party of 3 or more, you have some decisions to make. And they don’t 100% guarantee you will be seated together, although I haven’t had them split me up yet (to be fair, I have only done the lottery and rushes a couple of times so it could be more common than what I have experienced).
Singles- Means exactly what you think- a single seat. These are your best chance of seeing a show for cheap and also getting a good seat.
Partial view- This means seats that don’t have a complete view of the stage. Often this means you are at the end of the row at the edge of the theater so you can’t see far upstage on your side of the stage. For many shows it doesn’t really matter as they try to keep all the action front and center, and some theaters are worse than others. You just have to decide if the cheaper price is worth not seeing everything.
In previews- This means the show hasn’t officially opened on Broadway yet. It may mean ticket prices are cheaper as there aren’t reviews yet and so no buzz.
Standing room only (SRO)- Another term that means exactly what you think. You will probably be behind the last row of the orchestra level, leaning on the railing behind the last row of seats, trying not to breathe too hard on the people seated in front of you. You cannot sit on the floor at any time as it is a fire hazard and the ushers will enforce this strenuously. Be sure to carefully consider the length of the show and your footwear before committing to this.
Broadway- The term for the 41 theaters in NYC that have more than 500 seats and are in the Theatre District, which is along Broadway near Times Square (where Broadway crosses 7th Ave). Basically, you will find theaters from 52nd street all the way down to 41st street all within a block east or west of Broadway. Lincoln Center, located in the Upper West Side, is not near Broadway but is considered a Broadway theater because of its size.
Off- Broadway- Any theater in NYC seating more than 100 but less than 500 people. Some are only a couple of blocks from Broadway but they can be anywhere. in the city. Prices are often better for these shows but not always if the show has a lot of buzz because of the small number of seats available. Off-off-Broadway refers to theaters that seat less than 100 people and are usually avant-garde.
TKTS- There are 2 TKTS booths in NYC - one in Times Square and another at Lincoln Center. Run by TDF (Theater Development Fund). These booths sell discounted tickets for same day shows and next-day matinees. You have a large selection of shows to choose from in one place which is great but there are often incredibly long lines. The booth at Lincoln Center is better because of shorter lines and you can wait inside. Shows are up to 50% discounted and you pay a $7 surcharge per ticket for TDF to support their work. It has an app that was useful for seeing what tickets were available on the board but you have to buy in person. And again, these are only tickets for performances that day and sometimes the next day matinee- only.
Rush.telecharge.com- The website that handles digital lottery and digital rush tickets for all the Schubert Theaters (17 of the Broadway theaters and 6 off- Broadway theaters). Annoyingly, you have to create an account with Social Toaster using Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn.
Broadway Direct- A digital lottery site for a number of Broadway shows. Does not do digital rush tickets. Does not require you to set up an account; you only enter your email and birthday info (YAY!).
Lucky Seat- Another digital lottery site for Broadway shows. Does not do digital rush tickets. Does require you to set up an account with an email and password.
TodayTix- An app for discounted tickets for lots of Broadway shows, more plays than musicals I feel like. You can get some really good last-minute deals occasionally. Does handle digital lotteries for some shows as well.
What Do You Need To Do Pre-Trip To Get Cheap Broadway Tickets?
The 4 Pre-trip Planning Steps To Get Discounted Tickets For Broadway Shows
This is the plan I would use in the future as it has all the steps that worked the best for us and none of the things I tried that didn’t work. I also included some things I would do differently based on what I learned on our adventure.
***You can eliminate all of the following steps by just going to the TKTS booths in Times Square or in Lincoln Center and waiting in line to get discounted tickets for same day shows and next day matinees.
Reasons we did not use TKTS:
While the prices are 30%-50% off regular ticket prices, they can still be expensive, especially if the seats were expensive ones to begin with. Typically, nothing is cheaper than the lottery and rush tickets, which is why they are worth spending some time to figure out.
The TKTS booth can still be a significant investment of time because the lines can be so long, especially at the Times Square location. We easily spent less time walking around to multiple box offices than we would have spent in the line that had at least two hundred people in it everyday we were there.
You still have to pay a $7 fee on each ticket. At least the fee goes to the good work that the TKTS people do but it still makes the tickets more expensive than they might seem.
The TKTS booth is definitely an option if you would rather do one stop shopping and be done with it. Go to the booth in Lincoln Center over the one in Times Square as it tends to have shorter lines. The same shows are offered at both locations.
Step 1: Start with the fun part- Find out all of the shows currently playing on Broadway and choose your favorites.
Find out all the shows that are playing while you are in New York City. Luckily, there is a very handy website for that so this step is easy peasy.
BROADWAY ON A BUDGET keeps a running list of current shows, the theater it is playing at, and even has links for lotteries and rushes. Very handy website indeed.
Make a list of the Broadway shows you want to see and rank them. If one show is your do or die, make that the priority each day. Decide if you are okay splitting up into single seats or into small groups if there are more than 2 of you. This will make ticket prices significantly cheaper. Singles are hands down the way to go for the best seats on the cheap if you are buying at the box office.
Step 2: Deep Dive Research Mode Activated! Find out lots of information about each Broadway show.
Spend an evening before your trip on the internet finding out all the info about each show (this is where paper and pen or a Google Doc comes in handy). Specifically, you want to find out these things:
What theater the show is playing at.
What time the box office opens.
What ticket offers the show has, e.g. do they have digital lotteries, digital rush, general rush (at the box office), or does the show use their own app (Hamilton does this). There are several websites that were super helpful for this (see below) and you may have to look in a couple of places to get all the information.
What days and what times are the performances, i.e. do they have a matinee and a night performance and do they take off Mondays, for instance.
If you have younger kids, check the recommended ages for the show. With an almost 14 year old boy with me that is in junior high school, there was no language or sexual innuendo on a Broadway stage that would shock him so I didn’t really worry about this.
Where do you get all of this information for each Broadway (and off-Broadway) show, you ask?
Each show’s official website is a good place to start although some did not have great information about box office hours or lottery information.
Check BROADWAY ON A BUDGET to find out the theater names for each show and get some links to lotteries and digital rushes.
This blog on Playbill’s website- Broadway Rush, Lottery, and Standing Room Only Policies was also a good resource and often had more detailed information than Broadway on a Budget. The Playbill website in general is a good place to read up on news about Broadway and Off-Broadway shows or find out about shows you are unfamiliar with.
I also googled each individual theater to re-check box office times. And sometimes I found lottery or rush information on those theater websites. For the 17 theaters that belong to the Schubert Organization, their website lists their theaters. Click on “Tickets and Showtimes” under each theater to go to the telecharge.com page for each show which lists their ticket offers, box office times, run times, age recommendations, etc. Super helpful.
The 17 Schubert theaters use rush.telecharge.com to manage their lottery and rush tickets which you have to make an account using Social Toaster to use. Other big websites for general show information and that manage lottery and rush tickets are Broadway Direct, Lucky Seat, and TodayTix.
Call box offices to confirm info. I found that sometimes the information on the internet was not accurate (shocking, I know). The box offices might also tell you how many tickets they have allotted each day for the rushes or lotteries or if they do something special like a last minute lottery right before the show. “Wicked” had an in person lottery an hour before showtime that I didn’t know about until we actually went to the box office looking for tickets. I wish I had called the box office before our trip to confirm information for this show as it was one of my nephew’s most wanted and we did not get to see it. I might have planned differently had I known.
Step 3: Now channel your inner trip organizer/planner
Take your list of all the Broadway plays and musicals you want to see in New York and group them together by lottery or rush website.
Make a list of all of the shows and group them together by what lottery or digital rush website or app they use. Or don’t use. Include all the information you found out- what theater, box office times, how many tickets they allot for lotteries or rushes, etc.
Make a timeline for your trip starting at least a week out.
This timeline should have a list each day for what shows you need to be entering lotteries or rushes on that day. This is so you know when you wake up each day, you already have planned out the times when the lotteries and rushes open for what shows you want to see. Many of the shows don’t open their lotteries until 11 am the day before but sometimes it is later, like 6 pm. Digital rushes may open at 10 am or 11 am. Doing this extra step will save you some time and extra mental effort while you are on your trip.
You will also need this timeline to keep in mind what shows are playing each day. Many shows are off on Mondays for instance, making the few that are playing quite busy. But some shows are off Sunday or Tuesday for instance, so you don’t want to bank on seeing your favorite show on a day it is not playing.
*This is a step I did not do and I would add for next time. I only had a master list so I kept having to run down the list checking off that I had all the things for each show. I wish I had taken the time to make a timeline/ to do list for each day so I spent less time double checking myself while in NYC. It wasn’t a big deal but something I would change for next time.
Make a map on Google of all the theaters
You can make a personal map on Google My Maps which is a super handy tool in general for travel. I do it for a lot of places we visit. Make a pin for each theater that not only labels the theater name but also the show. Obviously, you only have to do this for the theaters that have shows that are on your list.
The map will come in handy when you are walking around Broadway looking for rush tickets or to see what prices are like for last- minute tickets in general. We used the map I made each day when walking around so I could see what theaters were closest and we based our route off of that. For instance, we would start at the box office for show we most wanted to see. If we didn’t get tickets for that, then we would walk to the next closest theater showing something we wanted. Most days we walked to two theaters, and one day we walked to four. But don’t get discouraged by this, because all of the theaters are so close together, this did not take long. I don’t think we ever spent more than an hour tops getting tickets for a show that night.
Step 4: Finally, pack your most comfortable shoes, cross your fingers, and start singing “New York, New York”
Do a rain dance/say a prayer/rub a bunny foot—whatever works for you to bring you all the luck. Best case scenario, you win a digital lottery for a show everyday you are there and you never have to do anything more.
*If you really want to roll the dice, forget all of the above and head to the box offices about an hour before showtime and see what’s left. You might catch some fire sale prices at the last minute. This will definitely not work with famous musicals though, like “Hamilton” or “Wicked, ” and probably won’t work for most of the other ones either, especially if you need more than one ticket. But you never know and this could be your big break!
How Exactly The “Lots Of Broadway Tickets For Cheap” Plan Worked IRL On Our NYC Trip
The plan worked really well - hence the “5 shows in 5 days for $300” tagline (my nephew was only on the trip for 4 days so he saw 4 shows in 4 days for less than $250). We accomplished this through a mix of luck (we won 1 lottery), a lot of walking (we visited a few box offices), and some compromising (we did standing room for Phantom of the Opera and partial view seats for Six). It was a decent amount of work ahead of time but well worth it in the end when you look at the money we saved.
Pre-Trip Planning: My 4 Step Plan For Cheap Broadway Tickets In Action
Step 1: I started with the fun part and looked at all Broadway shows that were playing while we were in New York
I started with Broadway on a Budget to look at all the shows playing over the 5 days in mid-March that we were in NYC. I began a list of shows we wanted to see for sure- “Phantom”, “Wicked”, “Sweeney Todd”, etc and also shows that sounded interesting that I hadn’t heard of before.
Luckily, my theater kid was not picky about what shows we saw, just that they were musicals. He did have a couple that were at the top of his list, like “Phantom of the Opera”, “Aladdin”, and “Wicked”, but really he didn’t care too much. So my list of Broadway shows we wanted to see was pretty long actually. It meant there would be a lot of lottery entries in my future.
And we were fine splitting up if that meant we could get cheaper seats. My nephew is almost 14 years old though so this might not be an option for all kids.
Step 2: Deep Dive Research Mode activated! I learned all I could about each Broadway musical before our NYC trip.
(Research is always my favorite part, no lie.)
Wine glass in hand one Sunday evening, I started with googling each show to begin my deep dive. I quickly realized that you will get sent to a bunch of different ticketing websites doing that. It took me awhile to find some good websites which I shared above and will do again here. And many times, all of the information I needed was scattered across a couple of websites so I ended up with a system.
Cheap Broadway Tickets Research System (patent pending):
I started with each show’s official page
Then I checked the blogs Broadway Rush, Lottery, and Standing Room Only Policies and Broadway on a Budget for theater names and lottery/rush information for each show. Sometimes the websites had conflicting information so it was good to check more than one.
I googled each individual theater name to get accurate box office times. Many of the theaters were owned by the same group or used the same website for lottery and rush tickets so I started making a note of that, i.e. I wrote down whether they used Lucky Seat or were a Schubert Group theater because they all used rush.telecharge.com. The Schubert Group had a handy webpage listing of all of their theaters with links to show descriptions, box office times, ticket offers, etc. Once I found that website, it made my life much easier. I put a sample picture of that webpage earlier in the blog.
You should call each box office to confirm the information you found for the shows you really care about, such as what their ticket offers are and the exact box office hours (exact hours matter a lot for general rush tickets when showing up 20 min late can mean you are the 11th person in line for 10 available tickets).
*I didn’t actually do this for this trip but I am writing it here because I wish I had. In some cases, the box office told me something different than what was online. Box office hours were different in some cases too. So I wished I had taken the time to call for our top shows at least and confirm info. Depending on how the box office person feels, they might also give you some very helpful info like how many tickets they usually have for rush or lotteries and what time people start lining up. Some box office people were more chatty than others.
I made sure I had accounts for the major lottery/rush websites like Lucky Seat and rush.telecharge.com. I downloaded the TodayTix and TKTS apps on my phone. Broadway Direct does not require you to make an account (bless you Broadway Direct). I clicked around on all the websites and the apps so I felt familiar with them.
Step 3: Planning Time! I organized all of the information I accumulated about the Broadway shows we wanted to see.
I made a Google Doc of the Broadway shows we wanted to see and grouped them together by what lottery/rush website they used. I included all of the information I thought I would need- theater name, box office hours, what ticket offers they had, etc.
*You could even go a step further and make a timeline for your trip: for example- on Saturday enter x, y, and z lotteries at 9am, go to x box office at 10 am to try for rush tickets, and as a last resort, try for x tickets right before the show. It would make even smoother planning while on your trip whereas we spent some time every morning coming up with the plan for the day. Small step and it didn’t make much difference without a timeline but I might do it next time if we do this kind of trip again.
I made a Google My Map of all of the theaters and that came in handy on the 4 days we ended up walking around to box offices. We started at the theater with the musical we most wanted to see that day and then proceeded from there to the next closest theater with a show on our list. The map worked great except I only labeled the pins with the theater names and not what the show was so we had to keep referring back to my google doc to match up the theater name with its show. That was a fail on my part. Next time I will label the pins with the theater name AND what show it is.
Step 4: Wish for luck and put the plan in action
We crossed our fingers and set out for Broadway, hopefully seeing one musical every day of our trip but not spending more than $100 for any ticket.
Our Day To Day Itinerary While In NYC For Cheap Broadway Tickets
*The trip is Friday- Tues, March 10-14.
Friday (a week before we left for NYC)- try to enter our first Broadway show lottery
No luck on Hamilton lottery tickets because of user error
I opened up the Hamilton app to enter the lottery for the next Friday since they do their lottery a week in advance. I realize I have dropped the ball and misread the website because the lottery closed yesterday (Thursday) for that whole week of shows.
I thought when it said the lottery would take place a week before it meant 7 days before the show you wanted to see so they would run a lottery everyday. But instead, they do a batch run for a whole week at once.
My error took Hamilton out of the running for lottery tickets for the whole trip which I hated because they have one of the best lotteries- $10 tickets. I put them on the list for trying for last minute tickets at the box office right before the show. If you want to see Hamilton, make sure you pay more attention than I did to the specifics on the special Hamilton app you have to download to enter the lottery.
Wednesday (two days before we leave for NYC)- enter 2 digital lotteries for Broadway shows
No lottery tickets for us so far
“Little Shop of Horrors” and “The Play That Goes Wrong” both had digital lotteries that took place 2 days before the show so I entered both of those this morning but no joy.
Thursday (the day before we left for New York)- enter lots of Broadway show lotteries for the next day
We won cheap lottery tickets for 2 Broadway shows!
I entered lotteries for a number of shows on Lucky Seat, Broadway Direct, and rush.telecharge.com. I started at 9am, even though many of them don’t close the lottery until the afternoon. I found it easier to do everything at once in the morning before the day got too busy and I forgot. Some of the lotteries choose winners at 10 am, some chose at 10 am and 3 pm, and some only at 3 pm or later. I just entered everything I could at 9 am to make it easier for myself.
We won $45 “Kimberly Akimbo” tickets in the digital lottery that morning
I got an email from rush.telecharge at 10:17 am on Thursday morning that I won 2 tickets in their digital lottery for the Friday night 8pm show of “Kimberly Akimbo.” I had 5 hours to purchase (until 3 pm) or the tickets would be released for the 3 pm lottery. Whoo hoo! We purchased our 2 tickets for $40 each plus a $5 service charge each. The tickets were fantastic, located front and center of the theater - literally we could not be any closer to the stage without learning the lyrics and getting costumes to be a part of the cast.
We won $35 Aladdin tickets later that night
At 3:01 pm, just after I completed my purchase of “Kimberly Akimbo” tickets, I got an email from Broadway Direct that I was on the stand-by list for “Aladdin” tickets. At 8 pm that night, I learned I won 2 tickets for the Friday night, 8 pm show of “Aladdin” off of the waitlist. Yay!? There is unfortunately no way to de-enter yourself from the lotteries once you have entered.
I was bummed because we had already bought the “Kimberly Akimbo” tickets so we had to pass on these, but I was excited that I had already won twice before we even left on the trip. I thought it boded very well. (Spoiler alert- this would be the only 2 times we won on our whole trip so my optimism was misplaced. But at least we won!)
How it started…
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How it ended…
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Friday (we fly to NYC)- enter more lotteries for Saturday’s Broadway shows
Saw our first Broadway show- “Kimberly Akimbo” after winning lottery tickets for $45
We flew out of Knoxville, TN at 621 am and I entered most of the ticket lotteries for the next day while waiting at the airport before our flight boarded. Because I already knew what 4 websites I wanted to use, it was pretty easy to click through the available shows on each one (1-Lucky Seat, 2- Broadway Direct, 3- rush.telecharge, and 4- TodayTix app on my phone).
During our trip, it took me about 15- 20 minutes each morning to do the lottery entries and double check my master list that I did all the ones we wanted. (This is where a timeline of what to do each morning would have made this even faster because I would not have had to keep referring back to my main list.)
We landed at 11 am at LaGuardia and took an Uber to our hotel in Long Island City, the Hyatt Place Long Island City. This is a great hotel if you are looking for something cheaper and quieter than being in Manhattan itself but still a short subway ride away from it and also Brooklyn. Lots to do and see in this part of Queens and there is a large waterfront park, Gantry State Park, that has wonderful views across the East River to Manhattan. Great skyline shots of the Chrysler Building, the Empire State Building, and the UN.
We walked around Gantry State Park, and got some good food at JAXC & CO, an upscale food court place with lots of different food vendors before we headed over to Broadway for our evening performance of “Kimberly Akimbo.” I had gotten notifications all afternoon that we had not won any lotteries for Saturday so we realized we would have to try for digital and general rush tickets tomorrow morning.
“Kimberly Akimbo” was fantastic, maybe my favorite show that we saw during the whole week and the fact that we paid $45 for our front row seats was just the icing on the cake.
This is taken from my seat before the curtain went up for “Kimberly Akimbo.” Literally could not be closer unless we joined the cast. Best seats we had out of all shows and at $45, one of the cheapest tickets as well. Lottery tickets were definitely the way to go.
Saturday (day 2 of our NYC trip)- Enter lotteries for Sunday’s performances, walk around box offices for rush tickets for today
Got SRO tickets for the matinee performance of “Phantom of the Opera” for $29 each
Over the complimentary breakfast at the Hyatt Place Express LIC, I did my usual round of lottery entering on my 3 main websites- Lucky Seat, Broadway Direct, and rush.telecharge. I also checked the TodayTix app on my phone to see what digital rush tickets they had available for today.
We talked about the musicals we wanted to see so we could come up with a plan. “Wicked” and “Phantom of the Opera” were 2 of our most wanted shows so we decided to go to those box offices first to see if we could get any single seats for cheap. Those 2 shows did not do rush tickets nor did they often appear on the TKTS board for discounted tickets.
“Phantom of the Opera” in particular was a hard one to get because it was going off Broadway in a month after being there for 35 years. So tickets were popular. We decided to go to that box office first, the Majestic Theater, and try our luck. Then we would go to the Gershwin Theatre where “Wicked” was playing if we didn’t get Phantom tickets. This is where my labeled Google My Map of all of the theaters came in handy.
We were at the box office for the Majestic Theatre at 101o am just after it opened and there were 4 people ahead of us in line for “Phantom of the Opera” tickets. The cheapest seats were $225 apiece, which was way above our price limit. They did have SRO for $29 (standing room only) for the matinee show so we decided to go for that. The box office made sure we realized that it was a 2.5 hour show and advised us to show up 5 minutes before curtain because there was “no reason to stand any longer than necessary” as they helpfully pointed out.
We spent the rest of our morning touring the awesome New York Public Library and Bryant Park. We sat and rested up our feet during a nice lunch at The Perfect Pint just off of Times Square. The Perfect Pint is a little touristy but had a lovely enclosed rooftop deck and the prices weren’t bad. Then back to the Majestic for our 2 pm matinee performance of “Phantom of the Opera.”
The show was great and turned out standing for 2.5 hours went better than I thought it would. After the first 30 minutes, I thought for sure I wasn’t going to make it but by about an hour and a half, you got used to it.
A couple of tips though if you decide to try for standing room only for a Broadway show:
Comfy footwear is imperative.
They aren’t kidding about literally being “Standing Room Only”- the ushers will admonish you if you try to sit on the floor even for a minute as it is a fire hazard for blocking aisle ways. You can leave and go to the lobby where there are chairs anytime you like though.
I would not pay for seats in the last row of any theater that had SRO. We were leaning on a railing directly behind the people seated in the last row of the orchestra level of the Majestic. I tried not to lean too much as I would have been breathing right down their necks. Put it this way, if gum fell out of your mouth, it could be a real problem for somebody.
It started out a little crowded but it was decidedly less so after intermission because a number of our fellow SRO people called it quits. It felt a little like one of those games where last man standing wins a free car. You definitely needed a bit of perverse determination to see your commitment through and stay for the whole show. Especially as we couldn’t see anything that happened above the stage itself because of the huge overhang of the balcony in the Majestic. For Phantom, that meant we couldn’t see the chandelier come crashing down, among other things.
SRO was certainly a trade-off in exchange for the cheap price of our tickets but we felt it was worth it. If we had paid full price for Phantom tickets, it would have been the only show we got to see in New York. And Phantom was one of the shows I really wanted to see ON Broadway as I wanted to see it with the crazy expensive set at least once. It did not disappoint- there were candelabras coming up through the stage while a boat made its way through the mist and all of the costumes and sets were so incredibly ornate and detailed.
We were tired after the show though and just went out for an early dinner afterwards and then back to the hotel. I would not plan on doing much walking or touring around afterwards if you do a SRO ticket to a Broadway show.
I got emails throughout the day notifying me that we did not win any of the digital lotteries for Sunday :( . So once again, we were planning on visiting box offices and doing digital and general rushes.
My nephew in his “place” in the standing room only section of the Majestic Theater. Even though we didn’t have seats, we still had assigned places to stand that came with our ticket. You can see the little numbered brass plaques along the railing. You can also see in the picture how far from the stage we were but that didn’t end up being as big a deal as the low sightlines. The huge overhang of the balcony above meant you couldn’t see anything happening above the stage, which turned out to be a lot in “Phantom of the Opera.” Still glad we did the SRO though, especially as it was our only option to see the show.
Sunday (day 3 of our NYC trip)- Only a couple of lottery entries for Monday tickets and more box office visits for rush tickets for today
We scored partial view seats for “SIX” at $79 each
By this point in time of our NYC trip, we kinda had our routine down. We would get up at around 815 am, get dressed and ready, and head down to breakfast at the Hyatt Place Long Island City. While making the most of our included breakfast (my 13 year old nephew that is growing like a weed on steroids definitely got his money’s worth for sure), I would enter lotteries for the next day on my three favorite websites-- Lucky Seat, Broadway Direct, and rush.telecharge.com. TodayTix did not end being as helpful as those three as it had more rush tickets for plays versus musicals and no lotteries. I checked it everyday just to see what was on offer though.
Since the next day was Monday, a traditional day off for most Broadway shows, the lottery entering didn’t take long on Sunday morning. Only “Chicago”, “SIX”, “Shucked”, and “Phantom of the Opera” were playing and we already saw Phantom so that left only 3 shows to enter. Plus, a play that looked like fun and we agreed should go on our list of otherwise all musicals- “The Play That Goes Wrong.” It only took me about 10 minutes to do digital lotteries for those 4 shows for Monday and then check the digital rush websites to see what was available for today, which wasn’t much.
After breakfast, we took the subway to Times Square and began walking to box offices. The box offices open later on Sundays, usually 11 am or noon, rather than the 10 am on weekdays so we enjoyed a slower start today.
Today was the day we walked the most around Broadway- 4 box offices in total and my labeled map came in super handy
Since “Wicked” was high on my nephew’s list of shows he wanted to see, we started at that box office. They did not do rush tickets and they did not have any seats less than $100, our agreed upon price limit. They did do an in person, last minute lottery an hour before the show started. You had to be there to write your name down on a piece of paper which they put into an actual raffle drum with a crank. Since it was only noon, we decided to try some of the other box offices and come back to “Wicked” if we had no luck.
We walked to Westside Theater which is actually Off- Broadway to see if we could get tickets to “Little Shop of Horrors” which had great reviews and is one of my favorite musicals. I was hoping since it was Off-Broadway, we would have more luck but the small theater combined with great reviews meant there were no tickets available for any price, let alone cheap. So we consulted my map to see which theater we should try next and decided to walk over to the Ambassador Theater for “Chicago” tickets. The tickets for Sunday were more than we wanted to pay but the nice ticket person did tell us that Monday’s performance had some good seats left because one of the big draws, Jinx Monsoon, was not performing. Sometimes the box office person is full of good information.
While waiting in line for “Little Shop of Horror” tickets, we met a nice couple from London who were spending their vacation doing the same as us. They told us that “SIX” was fantastic and was impossible to get tickets for in London so they saw it here. It was not a musical I was familiar with but I had heard it had great reviews so we had it on our list but farther down. Based off their recommendation though, we decided to give it a try and walked over there. I was not hopeful because the box office had been open for a while and the line was still at least 10 people long but luck came through for us.
Success at Broadway box office #4- we got great seats for “SIX”
We got partial view seats for $79 for 3 people for “SIX” for the evening performance. (My nephew’s Mom flew up to meet us for today and tomorrow so now we were a party of 3.) The lovely English couple we met had also told us that partial view was fine for “SIX” because the show takes place almost completely front and center so you won’t miss much not seeing the complete stage. We got 2 seats together and 1 just in front of them.
Finagling seats close together is another reason that buying tickets at the box office can be better because that would have been hard to do online. And you rarely have to pay extra fees at a box office, unlike online where there is often a $5 handling charge per ticket or at the TKTS booth where there is a $7 fee.
“SIX” was utterly fantastic, just like the people said and was easily my nephew’s favorite show. And it was the soundtrack I purchased when I got home. The songs were so catchy and witty. The whole show was awesome so thank you English couple for recommending it!
The moral of the story for Sunday was “Talking to other people in line at box offices can be very helpful.”
Our partial view seats in the Lena Horne Theater were off to the side and you couldn’t see anything on stage left really if it was set back from the front. But luckily, almost all the action in SIX takes place front and center so we didn’t miss much and we thought the seats were great.
Monday (day 4 of our NYC trip)- More digital lottery entries and box office visits
Got $90 full view seats for Chicago
We woke up at our hotel and started our daily routine- get up, get breakfast downstairs, enter lotteries for tickets for the next day performances, and come up with a plan for box offices we want to visit that day.
Since it was a Monday (when many Broadway shows are off), we only had a couple of shows to try for general rush tickets. We never had much luck with digital rush tickets over the whole trip as only a few shows did that. I kept checking the websites but most of the shows only did general rush or released their extra tickets through the TKTS booths.
We decided to start with “Shucked,” a new show still in previews, but that we had heard from another person we met in a line was great. (I am telling you, talking to other people was so helpful as we were also were told which shows to skip or who never had tickets.)
“Shucked” had $35 general rush tickets so we headed straight to the box office of the Nederlander Theater to try our luck. We were there just before 10 am which is when they open but there were already about 20 people in line. I should have realized that the demand would be high because there were so few shows playing on Monday. Anyway, they only had 20 rush tickets to sell and since people can buy up to 2 each, they ran out when we were about 5 people away from the window. So close! Regular tickets for the show were over $100 so we passed on “Shucked.”
We headed straight to “Chicago” to see if the tickets that the box office worker told us about yesterday were still available. They were and even though they were the most we paid for a show so far at $90, the seats were all together and full view, so we decided to go for it. Plus, it started pouring rain so we didn’t want to walk around any more ; ). We could have gotten the tickets for cheaper if we chose single seats but we decided to pay a little extra to sit together.
Like everything we saw on Broadway, “Chicago” was also great. The choreography was the most intricate out of all the shows so I am glad we saw it on Broadway because every cast member really knocked out it out of the park.
We got 3 seats together last minute for Chicago on Broadway for a decent price. This is where talking to box office people can come in handy because we would not have known to come back on Monday for these tickets if the box office person had not told us about them on Sunday.
Tuesday (day 5 of our NYC trip)- No more digital lotteries, only rush tickets for today
$50 single seat for Bad Cinderella
Since it was my last day in New York (my nephew and his Mom were leaving this morning so that left only me for tonight’s shows), I did not have to worry about entering any digital lotteries for the next day. So breakfast was a bit more relaxing because I didn’t have to do anything besides read the news on my phone. I set out after breakfast to see what today’s box office visits brought me.
I started at the Imperial Theater that was showing “Bad Cinderella” which was still in previews. I had written down that they had general rush tickets but by the time I got there, those were gone. But they did have a single for $50 and it was a great seat- 5th row and near the center. So I decided to go for it since it was my last night in New York and complete the “5 for 5” bit -- 5 Broadway shows in 5 days.
“Bad Cinderella” was a great show with a very cool set and costumes. Maybe not the most memorable of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musicals but worth $50. That is part of the reason I loved getting cheaper seats, because then I felt more adventurous and willing to give a show that I maybe hadn’t known about before a shot.
Final Thoughts About Getting Broadway Musical Tickets For Cheap
My theater nephew challenged me to see how many musicals we could see in New York in 5 days and his parents challenged me to not send them into debt to do it. Planning any trip is always a balancing act of logistics and money, this one just happened to have a theme. But I love trip planning and finding out everything I need to know about a place. My “Cheap Tickets For Broadway” plan worked out pretty well in my estimation, especially as the kid in question, the whole reason for the trip, loved every minute of it.
Planning out how to get the maximum number of Broadway tickets for the minimum amount of money definitely required a decent amount of pre-trip planning but no more than I typically spend on trips, especially once I found a couple of helpful websites for Broadway show information and figured out all the lingo. I wish we had won more ticket lotteries because that was definitely the cheapest and least time intensive way to go but overall, I am very happy how things worked out.
Why visiting the box office is a worth it
Visiting box offices ended up being one of the best things we did on our NYC trip. We never did end up getting rush tickets (we were not as early bird as we should have been sometimes and many of the shows we liked did not do them) but we were able to find good deals from helpful box office people. They were able to talk us through various combinations of seats and prices so we could decide what worked best for us. And you don’t have to pay online convenience fees or other discounter’s handling fees when you visit the box office so that always saves you some cash too.
I can’t believe I had never seen a show on Broadway before and I will absolutely be back. This was one of my favorite trips to the Big Apple.
Other Information You Might Find Helpful
Where We Stayed
We spent the 4 nights in this hotel near 3 different subway stations in Long Island City. It was a great little hotel and only 20 minutes from Times Square on a direct line. And only 10 minutes to Greenpoint or Williamsburg in Brooklyn. The 2 queen room with pull out sofa was huge and easily had space for 3 people to sleep in separate beds and unpack all of their stuff, a rarity in New York. And the included breakfast meant we saved a little cash each day as well.
I moved here for my last night when I was solo in the city. The location was great, on 42nd street and super close to Times Square and many of the Broadway theaters. But despite being on the 35th floor, it was still louder than the Hyatt Place in Queens and I missed the ease of walking downstairs for breakfast without having to pay additional money. The room was nice though and a good size for a NYC hotel room.
Where We Ate
In Times Square and Downtown Brooklyn
With 2 locations near Times Square, Junior’s is a super popular place to go before and especially after the theater. I love the cheesecake but the food in general is pretty good and for decent prices (for New York). We ate on the one on 45th street (right next to the Booth Theater) after “Kimberly Akimbo” and my nephew still raves about his massive BLT and fries that he got to eat at 11 pm.
We stopped again at Junior’s after “Chicago” to get cheesecake slices to go from the location on 49th street and again, it did not disappoint. If you are looking for a large menu to satisfy different tastes, especially kids, or just some awesome cheesecake, Junior’s is a solid choice.
In Greenpoint, Brooklyn
We found this small restaurant in Greenpoint after we saw “Phantom of the Opera.” This area of Brooklyn is known as Little Poland and there were lots of Polish restaurants around but since pierogis are my jam, we picked this one. And it was amahzing! We ate so many pierogis we had to take an Uber home since I didn’t think I would make the stairs down to the subway. (Another plus to staying in Long Island City was that an Uber back from Greepoint was like 5 minutes and $10.) Definitely try the raspberry and cheese pierogi for dessert- so good!
In SoHo
If you like Mediterrean food or even just hummus, you must go to Shuka or its sister restaurant, Shukette. We went to Shuka before “SIX” and it was one of my favorite meals I have had all year. It is great to go with family because then you can order lots of small plates and share. We had several dips, several mezze, the crispy cauliflower plate, and a shrimp kebab and it was all so tasty. Again, another “I ate way too much to take the subway” moment for me. More expensive than pizza but I thought very reasonably priced for the quality of the food and service. I can’t wait to go back.
In West Village/ Greenwich Village
We wanted traditional New York style pizza and this restaurant has been slinging pies since 1929. The pizza was delicious, the ambiance was unfussy, and we got a whole carafe of wine for $36 (you have 2 choices- red or white and that kind of says it all about what the place is like). We got a traditional pepperoni pizza and a fancier white pizza and downed them both. 2 thumbs up for Johns of Bleeker Street.
In Long Island City in Queens
An upscale food court on Jackson Avenue in Queens, this nifty place was just up the street from the Hyatt Place hotel we were staying at. I really like it becuase you had a lot of choices in one place, from fried chicken to sushi as well as juice bar and a pastry counter. My nephew got a huge sushi variety box , I had tacos, and we watched sports on the TV.
We stopped here mostly because it was on our way to the theater to see “Phantom of the Opera” and I like a good Irish pub. This place was huge- several floors and a rooftop deck. There are 2 Irish pubs right next to each other here that both look nice, The Perfect Pint and Connolly’s, but Perfect Pint is the only one with a rooftop deck I believe. The food was tasty and not as pricey as I would have thought with the proximity of Times Square. We enjoyed the break off our feet watching sports on TV and the glass roof allowed us to feel like we were outside even on a cold March day.
Helpful Tips If You Are A Broadway Newbie Like Me
Dress Code Is Casual
I was excited and ready to dress up for my first Broadway show so I packed nice pants, heels, and a fancy sweater (it’s cold in March). Turns out, Broadway shows are way less dressy than I imagined, even on a Friday night - which is the night we saw “Kimberly Akimbo” our first Broadway show. There was a school group of teenagers behind us in line to get in and they were all wearing sweatshirts and jeans. My nephew was not happy with me requiring a button- down on him. I will never hear then end of it I am sure. And I never wore the heels again the whole rest of the trip.
“Phantom of the Opera” had the most dressed up people out of all of the shows we saw even though it was a matinee. The fancy people were still outnumbered by people in jeans and fleeces though. I guess it was a bucket list item for some people so they dressed up but most everyone just went for comfort. Maybe it would be different on opening night?
Show up about 10- 15 min before curtain
Also, another tidbit I did not know ahead of time, there is really no reason to be early for these shows. They don’t open the doors until 30 minutes before showtime and it takes awhile for everyone to go through the metal detectors and have their bags checked. We got there 45 minutes before “Kimberly Akimbo” and stood in line in the rain for a while before we got in. After that, we never arrived at a show until 10 min before curtain.
The concessions in the theater are really expensive
I went to get a glass of wine in the theater and since my sister-in-law and I were sharing, I decided to splurge and get a triple serving. $52 dollars later, I realized I should have asked prices first before handing over my credit card. Totally my fault and it was because I was in a hurry as the lines were long and the show was about to start. I wasn’t expecting cheap but considering I did not find alcohol prices in NYC in general to be that much higher than in Tennessee, I was not expecting that. Most expensive room temperature sauvignon blanc out of a box I have ever had.
Uber prices will be super high after evening performances
Many of the shows have similar performance times so many finish within an hour or so of each other. That meant trying to catch an Uber right after the show was uber expensive- like $90 for what cost us $20 at other times. We popped into Junior’s Cheesecake to eat a late snack and wait for prices to return to semi- normal levels. We also took the subway back after some shows when it wasn’t absolutely bucketing rain.
I hope all of this information helps you plan an awesome trip to Broadway. Break a leg!
-Amanda
Other Blogs About NYC
Find out how we scored cheap tickets for 5 Broadway musicals in 5 days. (And also how I am an obsessive researcher and planner.) With a combination of a lot of pre-trip internet surfing, some walking around, and a little luck, we saw 5 fantastic shows on Broadway for less than $300 per person. I will give you all the details of how we did it- from how the ticket lotteries work, to what rush tickets are, and why walking around to box offices can really pay off.