I love this thread. Read it, but don't usually contribute. But I'm going to NYC (May 24 - 28) and am wondering if "Book of Mormon" sells standing room. I know they have a lottery, but if that doesn't work, I'd be glad to wait in line at 6 AM. It's worked for me in the past to get "impossible to get" tix.

Yes, they do sell standing room. According to a post on another website, it has been suggested that you get in line for standing room at about 3 PM. They sell standing room tickets AFTER they hold a lottery. That lottery is held 2 and a half hours before the performance, then they sell standing room. Good luck.

I've posted this before, but with all the hoo-ha over Book of Mormon it might be a good time to repeat.

The organization Broadway Cares, Equity Fights AIDS can often get house seats for sold out performances. The cost is twice face value -- of which half is a tax deductible contribution to the AIDS foundation. Premium seats are face value plus $150 tax deductible donation. The link below gives specifics and phone numbers. Consider this before buying from ticket brokers. At least the premium goes to a good cause. I used them a few years back and had wonderful 5th row center seats for Hairspray during it's heyday with Harvey in the lead. Really nice people to work with on the phones. Just call, give them your dates and they will let you know if they can get tickets for your desired show.

http://www.broadwaycares.org/care-tix_tickets

Thanks for the SRO info.

Also, great info re: Broadway Cares.

I finally did a post about Murrow's Boys for my blog. See it before it ends.
http://thestarryeye.typepad.com/expl...rows-boys.html

Brahmama, I didn't get back to you about the seating at Anything Goes, but I got the impression you weren't worried about it any longer. You do enter the theatre from the street without any stairs to the mezzanine level -- BUT -- you enter at the very top or back of the mezzanine and there are a lot of very steep steps down to the front row of the mezzanine, not for the faint of heart or the slightly disabled! There is an elevator down to the orchestra level, but I sure never saw the escalator that the website says they have. So it probably would be much easier if one had seats in the orchestra, unless you wanted the last row of the mezzanine (which IS the balcony as well).

So for the week, I saw
Jerusalem: Wow. Mark Rylance is once again amazing, and I loved the entire production. It's sometimes hard to get into a play about people whom you neither like nor care about, but he manages to give this very unlikeable character enough heart that you actually understand him and even feel for him by the end of the play. The script itself is well written I thought and by the end of the play there is much to think about and reflect upon. I love a comedy that turns serious at the end and actually makes a point. I WOULD call this a must see for anyone into really good theatre. (Although my first choice for a new "MUST SEE" play would still be Good People).


The M***********r with the Hat. OK, once again, hard to get into a play about people you neither like nor care about and that was true of this one as well. I found it less well written than Jerusalem and rather heavy handed with the dialogue. One minute characters seemed to want one thing and the next minute something else. Why did any of them have any kind of relationship with any of the other ones? I was never able to figure out who really had any true feelings for anyone else, if in fact anyone did. Meanwhile, f****, how many f****** times can the word f*** be used by the f******* characters in one f******* play. It's just too f******** much for me -- maybe because I have no use for people with such a limited vocabulary. Yes, I know that's how these characters talk, and maybe that's why I really don't care what happens to them. At least the characters in Jerusalem used other words as well and actually said many more intelligent things.

Anything Goes: Well, a musical just can't get much better than this. Fantastic in every way. Yes. I liked it even better than the Patti Lupone revival at Lincoln Center.

The People in the Picture: Saw this with Fodorite Rhea at Wednesday matinee. Donna Murphy is terrific, changing back and forth in age constantly in the show with an immediate believability. But the show seems just very heavy handed sentimentality. Kind of "let's make a musical about the Holocaust and that will really get to the audience". I also didn't think that much of the music -- perhaps the Yiddish theatre songs were the most fun, but also very hard to understand especially when the whole group was singing. I don't think either of us understood more than a couple of words in the big opening number.

Patrick,

I'm taking my mom and her friend to NY in August. We'd love to see the show but I'm concerned about getting the ladies seated. Frankly, my knees aren't what they used to be either.

I'd read earlier that the mezzanine is at street level but getting down those steep stairs sounds tricky. How are the sightlines from the back of the mezzanine? Or would you suggest tickets in the orchestra and taking the elevator?

Oops, by "the show" I meant Anything Goes.

Thank you for 4 more fun reviews, NeoPatrick! My daughter and I are going to see The People in the Picture this weekend (she read through most of the offerings and this is the one she chose) and I hope we'll enjoy it. Everything I've read mentions how great Donna Murphy is. You've prepared me well, I think ;)

Lucky man to be seeing all these shows!♫

edevee, The Stephen Sondheim Theatre has a surprisingly small mezzanine/balcony with only 9 rows total. The top row of the mezzanine is actually no further back than the back row or the orchestra, and probably preferable to that last row of the orchestra, due to the high rake of the seats up there. There is a hand rail and the climb down isn't that bad -- but I was playing up the negative as the original discussion was for a partially "handicapped" person.

Thank you, Patrick. I appreciate your knowledge and willingness to share your experience.

Anybody have any thought on Hair? I booked tickets today for 5 rows back for a good price? Is this too near/are they not good seats? Its my first time in NY and Hair is one of my Favorite musicals, the cast seem outstanding on the tour. I would like to see another maybe but should I wait until closer to when i'm going to but tickets (the 13th of July) I was thinking something along the lines of 'Anything Goes' or 'How to Succeed' Did someone mention Spring Awakening too? Is that in town? That is also another fave =) Thanks, all help appreciated

Hi all,
As a Chicago theater-goer, here are a couple transplanted shows that I wanted to recommend

'TJ and Dave' at the Barrow Street Theatre. These two guys do long-form improvisation every Wednesday night at ImprovOlympic. I've watched them through the years and they're incredible to watch. Theater gladiators. Their dates aren't confirmed at Barrow Street, but they do shows there from time-to-time, and it looks as if they're coming back.
http://www.barrowstreettheatre.com/w...n/whats-on.asp

Also, I was going to recommend Steppenwolf's 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf' with Amy Morton and Tracy Letts (Pulitzer prize playwright of 'August: Osage County') but when I checked, it's not coming to Broadway until the fall of 2012. (Bit of a wait- sorry. But it was really, really good production of this play. I saw the Irwin-Turner version, and Steppenwolf's knocked it out of the park.) Keep it in mind!

Oh - and I mention 'TJ and Dave' because their improv is very "theatrical." Not what you imagine with improv comedy, with disjointed scenes/sketches. I hesitate to label this comedy -- I've seen very dramatic and dark things with these two. Hope some of you can catch it!

yk - thanks for that link. Would have loved to have seen them, but I'm out of the country. I love the one of the horse drinking water!

ArtyJones, have you seen Hair on tour? I can't speak for the NY theater, but I couldn't imagine not being up close. I got 6th row aisle seats for NY - can't wait! It's my favorite show.

ArtyJones, either you wrote down Hair by mistake or you've been scammed into buying tickets for a show that is not nor will not be playing in New York. Do you possibly mean Rent, which will be reopening off-Broadway in mid-July?

No, Howard. The National Tour of the recent revival of Hair is playing at the St. James from July to September -- 10 weeks, I think total.

Ooops! So, how come it's not included on Playbill's list of upcoming shows? I had doublechecked that before responding.

Just saw a soon to be forgotten musical - The People in the Picture. Donna Murphy was amazing. This is a grand attempt to create a history of the Yiddish theatre/holocaust musical or as CP? put it above - a cross between Fiddler and the Producers. It succeeds on lots of levels but I didn't leave the place humming the score.

Oddly, at Studio 54, the view from the mezzanine really framed the sets and action but it was difficult to understand the singing. We went downstairs for the second act and could understand the words better but had less of an appreciation of the staging.

My favorite line was a direct reference to Field of Dreams (where did all these people come from!)