Feedback on my one-day whirlwind trip to NYC
 

Next week I have one precious day to spend in New York City. I'm staying in Long Island City so it should be an easy subway trip into Times Square.

I've been to NYC numerous times, but there's always more to see. What I love: tours, museums, musicals, and great burgers or pizzas.

I'll be there on a Wednesday, so I thought I could go to a 2 pm matinee. My budget though is under $100. Luckily I'm all by myself, so that makes me flexible (and easy to seat!). The last musicals I saw and loved were WICKED and AVENUE Q. Kinky Boots was my initial plan but then it won the Tony, darn it. Then I had settled on ROCK OF AGES only to discover it doesn't play on Wednesdays! Woe is me. I'm now going back and forth between buying tix through Broadway Box for "Old Jews Telling Jokes" (which is not a musical but the ones listed are not calling to me) or hitting the TKTS booth first thing Wed morning and seeing what's available. If I do the latter, how early should I arrive? I hate to eat up my one day with line-waiting.

And then there's the "let's see what miracle might happen" part of me that thinks I should try the lottery for Kinky Boots or Book of Mormon. But mob scenes can be scary. Dither dither.

Around the show, I'm planning to go on a guided tour at the Met (although if I don't buy my show tickets ahead of time, I might waste a lot of the morning ticket hunting.) I'd like to take a Central Park tour later in the day with FREE TOURS BY FOOT.

So just writing this up, I see the show has become the tent pole around which I need to plan my other activities. If you were me, what would you do regarding your love of Broadway and your not-huge-budget?

Go to the theater at night, saving the day for other things.
Get tickets in advance and avoid wasting time and winding up with nothing (or spending more than you want). There are plenty of options on the left column of broadwaybox.com. What about Annie???

If really nothing appeals, what about the Wonderful Wizard of Arlen?
I dont think you have time for the park, the Met and a matinee in one day.

There are tickets available for Kinkyboots for next Wednesday on the regular telecharge site.

Thank you for your replies!

It's supposed to be very hot next week, so a matinee might be the perfect afternoon-out-of-the-heat event. I saw Annie before.

Here was my tentative plan: 1 hour guided tour at the Met, which ends at 12, giving me 2 hours to eat lunch and get to the matinee. Matinees last about 2 hours, so show would be done by 4ish. Then I'd have time to eat dinner before a 6 pm tour.

>>There are tickets available for Kinkyboots for next Wednesday on the regular telecharge site<<

Yes, but the cheapest I've seen for Wed (2 pm or 8 pm) is $150- much more than my budget.

Ironically, it's often more difficult to get good tickets to musicals for Wednesday matinees, so if it's a matinee that interests you, I'd go at night. But you will not find any discounts for Kinky Boots, which remains with Wicked and Book of Mormon one of the top tickets on Broadway right now; you'll have to pay full price for those tickets. Motown rarely offers discounts right now because it's also been very popular, but tickets are often available even at the last minute. Pippin has been offering 20% from time to time, and it's really great. And you might consider Once, which is also quite good.

But for a single day in the city, it is absolutely not worth the loss of time to do one of the ticket lotteries unless the chance of seeing Book of Mormon is the reason you are coming into the city. And I'm not sure there's a lottery for the matinee in any case.

(If you are seeing a musical, the show will end between 4:30 and 5, but definitely not by 4.)