?? about Broadway shows
 

I was told to use Broadway Box. They have a column called comparison which they say is the price for the ticket at the box office??...does that mean I should call the box office?...these comparison prices are so much less..

When we get to NY should I go to the box office?..or call them ahead of time?
Naturally I want the sold-out shows.

I am confused..

If you want shows that are truly sold out (only a few are) you MUST get tickets ASAP. While each theater does hold back a few tickets for each performance for celebs or friends - and will sell them off that AM - but there are often 40 or 50 people waiting for 4 tickets - so chances are not good. No o ther tickets are held back - if they say gone, they're gone.

If it's too late and the official online seller has none left for your dates you will have to go to a scalper - stubhub.com is reliable.

Brodwaybox.com is perfectly legitimate in terms of providing discount codes for shows that are NOT sold out. You take the code and go to the official online seller and buy tickets now at a discount. This will get you the best choice of seats and prices.

If you wait until you get here there may be no seats left, they may have only poor seats or they may have only single tickets. Why wait when you can get discounted tickets in advance?

I think the ones listed on the broadway box website as "sold out" shows are those that regularly sell out and don't offer discounts. You still may be able to buy the tickets at full price for the dates you want. For any particular show just go to its website, and it will provide a link to the ticket seller.

Thank you for your help... I want to find Billy Eliot and Jersey Boys for less money...but it doesn't look good.Even the discounted tickets are too high for us. Sigh! We are not going to NY till October so I will wait..

It's very doubltful that you'll find discount tickets for either Billy Elliot or Jersey Boys in October. And if "even the discounted tickets are too high for us," then your best option seems to be: 1. Forget about those two shows; 2. Settle for shows that are not selling out and realize that the least expensive tickets for those shows are available at the TKTS booth in Times Square or downtown, usually 50% off plus a $3 handling fee per ticket. (These prices are lower than most of the discount offers on line, which usually are, at most, about 35-40% off the regular price.)

Consider other shows -- Mamma Mia, Phantom, In the Heights, Wicked. I've used the discount codes from Broadwaybox.com without a problem.

You're not going to find discounted tickets to Billy Elliott or Jersey Boys. The latter has been playing for several years now and has still not started offering discounted tickets. If you want to see a particular show, then my suggestion would be to simply buy tickets asap. By October, you won't be able to get a seat at any price.

If money is an object, then do as Cringo suggests and see what plays are offered at a discount. If you want to wait until you arrive in NYC, then TKTS is a great option. I often use it, but you can't count on a particular show on a particular day. You can check the Theater Development Fund (www.tdf.org) web site, however, to find out what shows have appeared within the last week. Broadway Box lists all the other relevant discounts and offers, and some are pretty good.

There are also discounts available through www.playbill.com. You can sign-up for their free "club" to receive them.

If you want to see what's likely to have discounted tickets available, check the <i>Playbill</i> site and under "Features" at the left select "Broadway Grosses." Shows showing a low percentage of capacity will try to fill those empty seats. For the current week, <i>Billy Elliot</i> and <i>Wicked</i> are selling 100% and <i>Jersey Boys</i> and <i>West Side Story</i> are selling 101.2% (standing room).

Of course, those numbers could change, but you can look at several weeks to see the trends.

Keep in mind that new shows will be opening. <i>Ragtime</i> will be starting previews October 23, so tickets will be less expensive until the official opening on November 15. <i>Bye Bye Birdie</i> starring John Stamos will be in previews from Sept 10 through Oct 15.

I cannot imagine discounts being released for either Jersey Boys or Billy Elliot (or Wicked or Lion King, for that matter.) The best option, as others have said, would be to buy the tickets now via telecharge. If you would like to spend a little less, get tickets near the rear of the mezzanine. Since it won the Tony and October is a busy time in NYC, Billy Elliot will not be on discount, and as Doug mentioned, Jersey Boys hasn't been on discount since it opened.

I highly recommend both shows - they are superb for different reasons.

Actually, Lion King has been offering discounted tickets for some time now. However, they are not offered all the time, just periodically during lulls in business.

In most cases (about 90% of the time) the discount offers are the same at broadwaybox.com and playbill.com. Still, it's a good idea to check both out.
It's extremely doubtful that discounts will be available for these shows in October: Billy Elliot, Jersey Boys, The Lion King, West Side Story and Wicked. For other shows, there is a better chance for a discount for midweek performances versus weekends. Also, for the sold-out shows, the same applies, i.e., there's a better chance of getting full-price tickets for midweek performances than for weekends.

I've noticed that sometimes there are better deals at the TKTS booth than at broadwaybox - I've never tried playbill.com, but I will be sure to now since you mentioned it, HowardR.

My wife and I were in NY last week, and the best discount I had previously seen for South Pacific on broadwaybox was $99 for the $125 seat. But we were lucky and got it at TKTS on Thursday for $62.50 - very good seats, too! Of course it's a pain to wait in line all that time (about 40 min. for us), but it's a decent Plan B if you don't really care whether you go to a show that particular night - just walk by the booth and see if anything strikes your interest.

You are right about TKTS. Its discounts are usually better than the offers available on broadwaybox, playbill and other sites. But, as you recognize, the downside is having to wait in line!