lantana, here's some general advice about purchasing full-price tickets:
Do NOT go to broadwaybox.com or playbill.com. Instead, go to the "original" source of the tickets, which would be either ticketmaster.com or telecharge.com. For The Book of Mormon, it's telecharge.com (or by phone, 212-239-6262).
The broadwaybox and playbill websites are great for discount tickets, but not the best source when you are paying full price.

Thank you HowardR for that info. I had no idea about the full-price ticket situation. I appreciate your help very much.
I did look on telecharge and there are no seats available for my dates (5 nights later this month). I even checked for just one ticket and there is nothing!
CPG - I agree - nothing is worth $300/$400 per seat to me either.
BoM is one hot show! Maybe we can catch it next time :)
Thanks again!

I should add that those "secondary" sites for tickets will often have tickets, while the "original" sites do not, but as you've experienced, those tickets that are available are very expensive!

OK - I saw Born Yesterday today and we saw the understudy for Billie Dawn in the role (the woman who usually plays the manicurist) and she was FABULOUS! I think she nailed the heart that the reviewers were complaining that was lacking.

Also, Wed night I saw Murrow's Boys in Brooklyn. Incredibly timely after "the wedding" and Bin Laden's demise and all the talking heads still talking. It was a play about the guys who broadcast world war II live and broadcast into our livingroom when I was a growing up in the 50's and 60's. SEE IT!

I've just completed my first full week in NYC this month and thought I'd summarize the 6 shows I saw.

Good People: Wow. Definitely the best of the best this week. This play is brilliantly written, directed, and performed. It's rare for a show to shine so brightly in all three of those categories. Frances McDormand is simply wonderful, Estelle Parsons and Becky Ann Baker back her up with great comedy. And the rest of the cast shines as well, but the real star is the great writing and perfect dialogue of David Lindsay-Abaire.

Sister Act: The best of the musicals I saw this week. I had seen it last year in London and they have improved the book considerably as well as changing a few of the songs to a greater effect. The show is, of course, pure fluff but very well done from beginning to end. A most entertaining night of theatre.

By the Way, Meet Vera Stark: A very unusual and well done play by the Pulitzer prize winning playwright Lynn Nottage (Ruined and Intimate Apparel). It has to do with a white actress and a black actress in the 1930s who are friends (or more?) and are cast as a Southerner and her maid in what becomes a sort of cult classic film -- and where their lives go from there. The rest of the play takes place in 1973 and 2003 with some of the cast playing the same characters and some playing other characters. Outstanding theatre. Karen Olivo (Anita in the recent revival of West Side Story) and Stephanie J. Block (an Elpheba from Wicked and Judy in 9 to 5) give particularly great comic performances. Act II begins with a film of the "famous" scene from the movie done by the two actresses in the show. Very clever and good.

Wonderland: This new Frank Wildhorn musical based on Alice in Wonderland does have some book problems -- not knowing exactly where it's going particularly in Act II, I'd say. But the score is simply terrific even though as usual Wildhorn tries to make every number the BIG number of the show. (Imagine Wicked with every number being as "big" as Defying Gravity and you'll know what I mean). The staging and costumes are simply wonderful and I'm dumbfounded how it could not get a single nomination in the tech categories of the Tonys, nor how Karen Mason and Kate Shindle were passed over for supporting actress nominations. I liked this show a lot more than the critics did! It pokes fun at itself as well as a lot of other things including other musicals. Comparisons between this show and Wicked are VERY obvious -- so it's not surprising that it didn't wow the critics (just as Wicked didn't), but I doubt it will get quite the audience love that Wicked got -- although the almost full house the night I saw it gave it cheers galore and an almost instant standing ovation.

Catch Me if You Can: Well, I liked this show a lot less than most of the critics. I like the story telling staging of the show, but found it just kind of dull. Ben Brantley hit the nail on the head talking about how only one number in the show really wows you. When that number came up, I instantly remembered his review and knew this was THE number. But Arroon Tveit, although an excellent singer, just didn't have the natural charisma to convince me of his incredible "con man" charms -- or enough to carry the show. And while I like Norbert Leo Butz, I really didn't get why he seemed to playing the cop as a sterotyped old man -- he seemed like a guy in disguise to me, not a real character. The show just didn't do it for me.

The Addams Family: I know this show never got great reviews, but I would have liked to see it with Nathan Lane. Roger Rees who took over his part is a great actor indeed, but simply wasn't the least bit funny. In fact the whole show really wasn't very funny. Even the usually very funny Jackie Hoffman as Grandma didn't get a single huge laugh. Maybe the fact that the house was over half empty didn't help. I will give nods though to Brad Oscar as Uncle Fester and Heidi Blickenstaff as the boyfriend's mother who had more energy and comedy timing than the rest of the cast put together.

This week includes Anything Goes, Jerusalem, and The M****r with the Hat. I'll report on those next weekend.

NeoPatrick - these are priceless reviews. Thank you!

Has anyone seen Born Yesterday?

Did anyone see Born Yesterday?

Yes - look up on the thread - a few of us have seen it - I really enjoyed it.

If you want to see Born Yesterday, you better plan on it soon, as the show probably won't be around too much longer.

The NYT writes today about "Spiderman 2.0". Too funny! Do you think we will see 2.5, 3.0 or will this update be the winner?

Based on NeoPatrick's recent show reviews, which I read aloud to my daughter last night, I bought tickets to "Wonderland" for May 23d. I just went to Playbill.com to try and look up the exact length of the performance and there on the front page is the announcement of the show's May 15th closing date! :(
What will I need to do to get a refund?

I was able to find the info I was looking for on ticketmaster's site :)
"Canceled Events - You'll get an automatic refund for tickets bought online or by phone using your purchase payment method..."

Brahmama, do you already have your tickets? If so where are you sitting and I'll check it out specifically. I'll be in front row Mezzanine on Wed. night. (my favorite seats for most musicals especially those with great choreography). And I agree with you about the difficulty of getting definite answers to such questions on the phone.

Patrick,
I apologize. I overlooked this paragraph somehow. We don't have tickets. I was poised to buy them and didn't and now I regret it. They were right orchestra row Q, but one was an aisle seat.
I'm still hoping that another will show up - and if I get another chance, I'll nab it.
Have a great Wednesday night!
I noticed your post reviewing (I assume) the shows you have seen this week, and I'm going back there now to get some ideas.

lantana, sorry about that. Yes, I found out last night also that Wonderland is closing already. It never ceases to amaze me the power of the critics and the Tony nominations with shows, as well as the lack of a big name to draw crowds. I found Wonderland far better than many of the musicals currently running on Broadway -- and I don't think it's just me who liked it.

Love your reviews, Neopatrick!

Thanks NeoPatrick. "Wonderland" sounded like a lot of fun. You made my daughter and me want to see it!
I'm looking forward to your next set of reviews :)

An interesting article below about actors' memories of Arthur Laurents who died last week:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/11/th...=1&ref=theater

We saw 'War Horse' last weekend. I thought it was so well done and moving and as has been said many times before, the puppetry was truly amazing as was the staging. I think this should be on a must-see list for drama in NY. It truly has been a very good season for drama.

The horse puppets from War Horse were out on the Lincoln Center LAWN earlier this week for the reopening of the lawn. Here's a slideshow of the puppets:
http://lincolncenter.tumblr.com/post...located-on-the

Amazing puppets. Thanks for the link.