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minsin May 16th, 2010 07:59 PM

Cheaper broadway tickets
 
I will be in New York for a few weekends in June and July and wanted to see a Broadway show. Would love to see Wicked or the Lion King. One of my children is a college student (but not from NY). I have seen lots of posts on student discounts. How can we access that? I've been on theatremania and playbill. Broadwaybox has free codes only for a few shows. Is there anything else out there? Thanks so much.

mclaurie May 17th, 2010 03:44 AM

Lion King and Wicked are never discounted since they regularly sell out. Wicked has a lottery that you can try if there are just 2 of you. http://www.playbill.com/celebritybuz...-Only-Policies

doug_stallings May 17th, 2010 05:06 AM

The Lion King is sometimes discounted, though rarely in the summer. Wicked is never discounted, so the cheap rush tickets are probably the best alternative. You can, of course, always buy same-day discounted tickets from TKTS. Expect long lines on weekends.

mclaurie May 17th, 2010 05:19 AM

But I've never seen either of those shows at the TKTS booth. tdf.org/tkts will list which shows were available last week.

HowardR May 17th, 2010 05:52 AM

You're right mclaurie. Neither show has been at TKTS!
Look again at broadwaybox.com, minsin. Though A Lion King and Wicked are not among them, there are a lot of shows discounted on the site.

travelbuff May 17th, 2010 07:45 AM

The Lion King and Wicked are still doing VERY well at the box office so no discounted tickets are generally available, since they don't need to discount.

The TKTS booth in lower Manhattan is a better choice since it opens at 10am I think and the lines are short. Head there and then walk up to Chinatown for some Dim Sum.

The booth is on the back side of the Prudential Building (at the South St. Seaport) at Fulton and Water St. Subway is just a few blocks away. Most of the subway lines stop in the area.

ekscrunchy May 18th, 2010 03:29 AM

Since your son is a student, you could join TDF. It costs $12 per year for out-of-towners.

As members, we just paid $74 for two tix to South Pacific. (No, I do not know the seat location and it might not be great)


http://www.tdf.org/TDF_SupportPage.aspx?id=76

http://www.tdf.org/TDF_ServicePage.aspx?id=59&%20do=v

MFNYC May 18th, 2010 05:50 AM

Also, the TKTS booth downtown, sells matinee tickets the day before (evening the day of).

HowardR May 18th, 2010 06:38 AM

Fear not, ekscrunchy, there are no "bad seats" in that theater. The sight lines are fine, even from the last row in the balcony.

nytraveler May 18th, 2010 06:40 AM

Have never seen Wicked disocunted - it sells out every night. Lion King also has a policy of not discounting. If those are the only shows you want I would get tickets immediately - at full price - or you might have to buy from a scalper at a premium. If you ant better dealslookat showsdiscounting on broadwaybox.com orplaybill,com - which will be few in summer due to the huge numberof tourists.

And the only time I have seen student discounts is when a show is discounting heavily.

HowardR May 18th, 2010 07:16 AM

Not so, nytraveler. Student discounts are indeed available for a lot of shows, including big hits like Jersey Boys, Billy Elliot and A Little Night Music, plus other popular shows including Mamma Mia, Fela and La Cage Aux Folles. Info on all sorts of discounts and lotteries is available on playboy.com.
Further, while there may be fewer discounts in the summer, there will still be a goodly number to choose from.

starrs May 18th, 2010 07:32 AM

I kind of wish Wicked would slow down some so they'd make the movie...but don't expect any Wicked discounts any time soon.

I've seen Lion King for sale at TKTS but it's nothing you can count on. I agree - if you really want to see these two shows buy your tix ASAP.

MFNYC May 18th, 2010 09:49 AM

I think HowardR meant to say playbill.com

HowardR May 18th, 2010 09:58 AM

Ooops, I did. Thanks for the correction, MFNYC. (But, then, maybe playboy.com has something better to offer!)

MFNYC May 18th, 2010 10:07 AM

;)

ekscrunchy May 19th, 2010 03:40 AM

HowardR: Right you are! What a great theatre! Our TDF South Pacific tickets ($35 each) were 6th row orchestra, on the far left side. I thought they were fabulous and I loved the show. That music certainly stands up after all this time! I did not think any of the performers were superstars (understudy in the Frenchman's role; Nellie a little weak maybe) but it hardly mattered. Wonderful evening! Thanks for your comments.

starrs May 19th, 2010 04:20 AM

ek, glad you loved it. I did too! Because of the stage, you feel like you are "right there!". The show was a favorite since childhood but I still didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I did. In fact, I gave away my tickets to the national tour when they were in my city. I just knew I'd be disappointed after the Lincoln Center show. I want to check my Playbill but I think the Matthew Morrison from Glee was the Lt when I saw it. I've fallen in love with that theatre now. :-)

HowardR May 19th, 2010 04:48 AM

Yes, Starrs, you are correct about Matthew Morrison. He was also the original boyfriend in Hairspray, which was his first major role.

happytrailstoyou May 19th, 2010 07:15 AM

When we were in NYC for a month last year, we joined Theater Development Fund, which is the best source of low-priced theater tickets. You won't find Wicked or Lion King, but you will find much much more: http://www.tdf.org/TDF_ServicePage.aspx?id=59

After we joined, I discovered there is a lower rate for out-of-towners.

HTTY

ekscrunchy May 19th, 2010 08:59 AM

Yes, I mentioned that and gave the links above. $12 a year if you live more than 100 miles from NYC.


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