My husband and I will be visiting NYC for the first time from March 5 - 12 (staying at Best Western on W48th St)and would appreciate help with the following questions: (I've been following a lot of your advice on this forum)

1)Since we will only be arriving at our hotel around 10:30 pm Saturday (5th) and will probably be excited to see/do something right away, do you have any suggestions for restaurants near hotel that we could go to at that hour? Should I make reservations now? Or perhaps someplace res not required. What about after our meal? - I'll be too excited to go to sleep just yet.

2)I'm thinking of setting something up with Big Apple Greeters for Monday since theatres are dark. Good idea? Any comments/advice on this?

3) Which Broadway shows are easiest to get last minute discount tickets to at TKTS? Are those tickets good seats? And which show should I definitely buy tickets for right now to ensure good seats? I want to squeeze as many in as I can.

4) Which of these TV shows are my best bet? a)Regis & Kelly b)The View c)Letterman d)Daily Show

Thanks!

1) In that neighborhood almost all restaurants will serve that late. Suggest you search some of the recent threads for the cuisine and budget you would like. And for Saturday night I would always do a resie.
2)Big Apple greeters is a great idea - just be sure you have an idea of what facet of NYC you want them to introduce you to. (A friend of mine does this sometimes and his only complaint is people who keep saying "whatever you want" - instead of having an idea of a neighborhood or a topic they're interested in.)
3) The long-running shows are easiest to get seats for. Which seats are available varies a lot - may be good - or awful. If you want to see Wicked buy tickets now. Info on Tkts booth: http://timessquare.nyctourist.com/broadway_tkts.asp Or consult playbill.com for shows offering advance discounts.
4) Can;t comment on TV shows - have never done that.

Hope this helps.

1. nytraveler has given the best advice on this one. Since you are arriving when Times Square is at its most lively, "excited" may be too mild a word to describe how you'll feel.
2. Unless you're talking about an evening tour with Big Apple Greeters, what's the difference what day or days to sign up.
3. There are too many shows for anyone to give you a thorough rundown on their ticket availability. How about letting us know what's at the top and near the top of your list, and then we'll be happy to help you out.
4. I'm not an expert on TV show tickets either, but I think you may already be too late to get tickets for the days you'll be in NYC.

Thank you for the quick response and your tips. I mentioned BA Greeters for Monday since we wouldn't have to worry about rushing back for dinner/theatre after exploring the city. I'll make a point of a specific neighborhood/site with them.

I'm interested in Movin' Out, The Producers, Wicked, Fiddler, Mamma Mia, Rent, 700 Sundays (will try calling on Feb 6). I would like at least one of my tickets to be a sure thing, with really great seats.

Any decent restaurants (casual)near W48th that do not require a reservation, in case our flight is delayed?

We did a tour with Big Apple Greeters in November. Our original plan was to do a tour of Greenwich Village, but since it was raining that day, our guide graciously agreed to change the tour to do more of the interiors of buildings in midtown, such as the Chrysler Building, the old Dime Savings Bank (used in Spiderman 2 movie), St. Patrick's Cathedral, and some of the great mosaics and murals at Rockefeller Center. He also showed us the NYC Visitors Center ticket sales office, which is on Broadway at 47th right across the street from the TKTS booth. The visitors center also has discounted tickets (though not as cheap as TKTS), and they take credit cards (TKTS takes only cash/travellers checks). We ended up getting our tickets for Wonderful Town from TKTS, but it's nice to know there is another discount option. The TKTS website lists shows that had tickets available the previous week. (I found it by googling TKTS.) The Producers was often available when we were there in November.

Rundown on the shows you mentioned, starting off with the toughest tickets:
Wicked--doubtful, as it is selling out well in advance. Hey, give it a try right now for a midweek performance, but don't have your any expectations.
700 Sundays--definitely call first thing Sunday morning. Take whatever you can get. It's a hot ticket, with a lot of the newly-made-available tickets already gone because of an Amex gold special offer.
Mamma Mia--try for a weekday performance. Weekends will be tough. They might be available at TKTS for weekday performance.
The Producers--slightly better chance than for Mamma Mia.
Movin' Out--Probably available at TKTS during the week, and possibly on weekends.
Fiddler on the Roof and Rent should be available at TKTS for all performances.
Also, heed the advice of the previous poster and stop at the NYC Visitors Center for discount offers. (However, I thought it was further up 7th Avenue around 51st or 52nd Street.) The advantages of these are you can get your tickets without waiting in a line and they are usually better seats than TKTS. The disadvantage is that they cost more than TKTS (but still less than regular box office prices.)
As for restaurant reservations, it would be hard for you to make them if your plane is late, as you won't know what time you'll be arriving!

The keys with Big Apple Greeters are to signing up ASAP, be flexible and to communicate and cooperate with your guide. I had a bad experience with them that was due to faulty communications: On the form, they asked for 3 areas of town I'd be interested in. When my guide arrived at my hotel, she knew only about my first choice. After we arrived there and started the tour it became clear that she knew less about the area than I did. BUT I gradually learned that she was a native of the Upper East Side and had spent decades in the garment industry -- If I'd known that sooner, the tour would've been so different!

Take a look at www.playbill.com. You can sign up as a "Member" (its free and easy) and then access NY ticket discounts. I got 40% discount on great seats for Fiddler on my last visit. I'm pretty sure that Mama Mia is also being offered along with a host of others. You just use the discount code on-line at either TicketMaster or Telecharge for the best seats (which you can pick yourself). Otherwise you can print the coupons and take them along to the box office for the same discount once you reach NY. I used a discount code for La Cage at 10:30 one Wednesday morning and sat in just released house seats - fourth row center - at the matinee.

Macbeth, there is a TKTS booth at the South Street Seaport also, from what I hear it is much less crowded than the one in Times Square.

for the tv shows, you will have to call the tickets hotline before you leave for nyc - preferably now! visit the websites of each of the shows - they have info on tickets.

We have had great success at TKTS a couple of times. We found it was good to be flexible. We gave them the names of three shows and said "please tell us which of these shows has the best seats available." We found that if we gave them choices, they would tell us that our first pick had terrible seats, but they had good seats left for our third choice (or whatever). We have ended up getting very good seats (I wouldn't say the very best, but certainly very good) for Aida and Movin Out. We used the Times Square location but atilla's advice is good--I hear the South Street Seasport is a much shorter wait.

1) I am not so sure about there being a lot of restaurants serving at 11 pm. One theatre district favorite that has a late-night crowd is West Bank Cafe, on 42nd Street & I think 9th Avenue.

I really recommend your getting a Zagat's restaurant book, you can use it every day and that was find the best thing you can wherever you are at mealtimes. They list late-serving places in the back.

3) You can look at TKTS on the internet and see what they had last week, or yesterday, which is a pretty reliable guide to thwt you'll find there. I don't know about the seat quality & would guess it can vary.

You may know this but - if you have a less-good seat in a house that isn't very full, you can almost always re-seat yourself, at intermission or scene change. I locate a few good possiblities in these cases and just slither forward at a non-disruptive time 1/2 hour in to the show.

It's common practice - if somebody challenged me I would just apologize & be straightforward. (i.e. I'd say Oh, I thought this was empty so I moved where I could see better.)

The one "attraction" you want to skip is the NBC studio tour. A huge waste of time and money. There are so many restaurants open late, you shouldn't have any difficulty finding one to suit your taste. Most will be chain restaurants tho.
Do yourself a favor and go to Soho and buy a rip off watch. Don't pay more than $20 for a man's or $15 for a woman's. It's just fun to argue price and you end up with a great souvenir. Oh, yeah......sun glasses should be $3-5. Have fun.

TV Shows:

Daily show might not be a problem. Call and request tickets. Letterman probably won't happen unless you get lucky on last minute tickets. I wouldn't waste my day standing in line though if that's required. I saw letterman live once, and it wasn't much better than seeing it on TV, though I love his show. Daily Show is great live. I would highly recommend it, the other two, i don't know anything about.

Broadway:

I got tickets for Rent the day of the show through TKTS with my girlfriend. We were in the 4th row, a little off to the right. We could see the entire stage except the back right corner.

Rent is a must! definately see it.

Key with the TKTS booth is getting there early. You'll get great seats if you do. It's pretty useless for the very popular shows though. I remember I couldn't get tickets for Lion King, so we went to see Rent. But there's plenty to choose from!

If you like Italian food and hit little Italy, I will post later tonight with the name of my Favorite restaruant there. Don't have the card on me. There is one called Amici II which was fantastic and reasonably priced. Good Italian atmosphere.

I just looked at TKTS on the Web. All these shows had tickets last week:

Dame Edna
Hairspray
Wonderful Town
Twelve Angry Men
Producers
Democracy

I'm afraid I've just listed my own recommendations. Al them all my highest recommendation is Hairspray, which is pure fun. For what it's worth, it's got the highest ratings from theatregoers, as reported weekly in the Wall Street Journal.

If you're anti-fun, stick with Gem of the Ocean, Democracy, and Twelve Angry Men. (Joke) - these are the serious dramas on my recommendation list.

I have high hopes for All Shook Up which has not opened yet. If you read about it and it appeals to you, post back, I think I can find a promotion to post. You'd want to reserve seats to get the discount. I think it's on in Chicago now.

It's a musical with Elvis songs. I'm hopign it will be the next Hairspray.

We were first time visitors last summer and had a great time!

Did the Big Apple Greeter tour which was okay, we had asked for someone to show us something that two teens (girls) would enjoy. The greeter was a middle-aged single guy who seemed to spend a bit too much time taking pictures of the girls and giving them hugs, made my wife REAL uncomfortable.

He did a nice job of showing us around, but there was something about this guy.

Really didn't make any restaurant reservations so no details there.

Bought our tickets ahead of time for RENT, since they were half price anyway and because we were new to the area -- I was somewhat apprehensive of how long of time I would have to spend in line at the TKTS booth. I would try things differently next time though.

One thing that we really felt was a good deal for us was the NY Passes. www.newyorkpass.com I believe. These passes gave us access to public transportation for a week as well as entrance to alot of museums and activities that we would have never tried without the pass. It allowed us to go in without worrying that we spent $20 in entrance fees for each individual museum/tourist site and possibly wouldn't care for it. Now we could come and go as we pleased without the "money" guilt.

I am not sure they give the transportation portion with it still, but even so, I don't think a newcomer to New York would feel it was poorly spent money.

Thanks, everyone, for the great tips. Much appreciated.

I called and received discount tickets (great seats) for The Producers and Movin' Out (big Billy Joel fan). Now that I'll have these in my hands, I'll try for some same-day ones at TKTS. I feel better knowing that I have at least 2 sure excellent tickets. Now... to fill up the rest of the nights I'll be there....

FOr letterman, If taping while in NYC, go to theater between 9 and 12 as earlier in your trip as possible. They have a "lottery" for 1/3 of the tickets (300?). You fill out a form and then talk to an attendant. Be prepared to talk about the show, Know the show to let them no you are a fan. I believe they are really interviewing for true letterman fans to sit up front! The more days you are in town, the more chances to get tickets! Thursday they tape 2 shows, one for Friday.

Ruby Foos is an Asian rest. right near your hotel on Broadway. It's big and might be a good idea for a late bite. BTW, you say you're arriving at 10:30. You may not get to the rest. before 11 and that might start to be late to get served.

46 st b/w 8th-9th ave. (a few blocks from your hotel) is called Restaurant Row where's there's one place after another. Joe Allen's is a popular (busy) casual place where you can also eat at the bar. There's a piano bar on the block called Don't Tell Mama that could be fun too.

There are several hotel restaurants in the area with views of Times Square. Foley's Fish House in the Renaissance Hotel and Above in the Hilton TS are both good. The View in the Marriott Marquis is generally considered a rip off. There's another bar in the Marriott that's a bit quieter (in the sky lounge I think) according to another poster here.

broadwaybox.com is another website that lists discount codes for shows. If you print them off your computer, you can go to the box office of whatever show you want and get tickets.

You should also check out the Hudson Hotel. It's only 10 blocks away from The Best Western and it has a really nice bar. It's a bit of a scene, so I'm not sure how you'd feel about that, but it's definitely a fun place to get drinks.