gtrekker2003

Hi!

Apart from the Times Square Tickets Booth, are there any secrets, tips, sites, or places for getting cheap tickets for Broadway shows? I'm NOT a student.....I believe that university students with ID can get discounts at some places.

Cheers,

gtrekker2003

escargot

here's a good link for you to Frugal Theater
http://tinyurl.com/jmlez

nytraveler

If you go to Broadwaybox.com they will list in advance shows that are offering discounts. Listings come up 60 to 90 days in advance and are for many shows but never the biggest hits- which simply don't offer discounts. Saves standing on line at TKTS- esp if the weather is bad.

Neopolitan

Just for the record "cheap" and "Broadway tickets" probably don't belong together in the same sentence, but as others are instructing there are ways to get them for "cheaper" than normal.

There is also:
playbill.com (register for free to get specials)
and theatremania.com

But recently is seems that the above mentioned Broadway Box will list all the discounts available on those other sites -- sort of a one stop shopping site.

Lena456

If you go to the TKTS location, http://www.tdf.org/tkts/#, they will tell you their hours, etc. Something that I especially like is that if you go to their downtown site (at South Street Seaport) you can pick up tickets for the next day's matinee - something you cannot do in mid-town. They also list what shows have had cheap tickets in the past few days so you can get a sense of what is available. If you decide to use TKTS get on line about 1 hour or more before they start selling.

Neopolitan

Lena, I'm curious about that suggestion to get in line an hour before they open. Most people say they wait in the line less than an hour if they wait until after it is open (especially not when it first opens). Do you feel they sell out some shows right away or what? I don't see the point of standing in a line that doesn't move for a full hour unless there's a good reason.

I say this because at London TKTS (which I'm far more familiar with) I rarely wait in line more than 15 minutes. Yet others stand in line for an hour or more waiting to open. I just never understood why they do that.

HowardR

If Lena is talking about the TKTS booth in Times Square, then it is good advice to get in line early. The lines can get very, very long there, expecially on matinee days.
However, if she's talking about the TKTS booth downtown, then getting there an hour early is unnecessary.

Neopolitan

Howard, as you know, I am not a fan of TKTS, and I don't like standing in lines. But are you saying that the wait in line (if not there ahead) is LIKELY to be more than an hour at most times?

HowardR

Neopolitan, what I am saying that that at peak times in the Times Square facility (i.e., from pre-opening to about a couple hours after TKTS opens), the lines can be very long. The obvious negative is that you have wait a while. When the booth was right in Duffy Square, you could judge the waiting time. Each block-long length of the line would mean a 20-30-minute wait. (The lines would snake back and forth between 47th & 46th.) We haven't stood in the TKTS line for awhile (choosing instead to spend a little more on the discount offers in advance.) I assume, based on observations of the lines that they are just as long as they used to be.
The positive of waiting in line early is that you have the greatest choice of shows when the facility first opens.
The best time to avoid the lines in Times Square is around an hour or two for the evening performances. There are usually short or non-existing lines. Sometimes you can luck in with tickets given to TKTS at the last minutes. Other times, it's the opposite, with significantly fewer offerings.

Neopolitan

Thanks for the clarification. The last time I used TKTS in New York was about an hour before evening performances, and I walked right up to the window.

I was curious about the offerings which may be different from the London TKTS, where I've learned that when they open they actually do not have tickets to a number of shows that get added during the day -- or at least until after the theatre box offices open mid morning.

HowardR

The Broadway TKTS is similar, in that there's a chance that tickets for additional shows will be added as the day progresses when the theaters figure that they will have tickets will go unsold at full price for that day's performance.
Obviously falling into that category would be shows that are doing better than those with discount tickets available earlier.