NYC Day-of Discount Ticket Box Office for Lincoln Center (opens Jan 7 2010)
 

http://new.lincolncenter.org/live/in...scount-tickets

<i>The David Rubenstein Atrium is now your destination for day-of discount tickets to all 12 Lincoln Center resident organizations. Choosing a show and getting your seats for less is hassle-free! Come to the Atrium Tuesday through Sunday to peruse that day’s performances campus-wide, or ask questions at the information desk, then step up to the box office to purchase your tickets for that same evening. Credit cards are accepted, though there is a limit of two tickets per person and discounts vary by performance.

<b>Day-of Discount Tickets/Zucker Box Office opens January 7.
</b>
Donald and Barbara Zucker Box Office Hours:
Tuesday–Saturday 12:00 pm–7:45 pm
Sunday 12:00 pm–5:45 pm
The box office is closed on Mondays. When available, Monday tickets are sold on Sunday.</i>

I think this will be great news for ME. Does anyone know any further details to this? I'll be in NYC in Jan and again in Feb, and would love to take advantage of this (altho I've already purchased 4 tickets directly from the Met Opera).

I know the Met already sells $20 Rush tickets Mon through Thurs, does anyone know if this new box office will take over that, or the rush tickets remain unchaged but now there will be more tickets available (at half price, not $20) via the discount box office?

If anyone has any more information now; or after Jan 7 2010, I would really appreciate it!

Wow. This IS good and interesting news. While my main thing is theatre, I've often wanted to attend more concerts, ballets, and operas but hesitate at their cost (taking away from my theatre budget). I've splurged on Carmen at the Met in January, but being there a month, I'll have some free days and would love to grab something exciting at half price.

Thanks for posting this---I'd like to check this out in the next week or two...I wonder what the availability will be like during the week between Christmas and New Years. I'd love to go see something. Will report back.

Patrick, please report back after your experience.

I know I'll be in NYC about the same time as you in Jan, but my stay is quite short and I don't know if I have time to even check out the box office.

In the meantime, this morning I thought I would like to see Carmen, but when I checked Met's website (Sat of MLK w/e), it was completely sold out. I didn't know Carmen is that popular!

I work across the street and have been watching this space, they've done a great job with it. There are also free concerts on Thursday evenings, sponsored by Target (I think).

A "witchcraft" is in the space along with a bar.

I can check out for ticket availablity if anyone has any specifics.

Just to be clear, the Atrium is OPEN now, but the discount box office will not be open until <b>Jan 7 2010</b>, so it won't benefit the Xmas/New Years crowd.

And since the box office only sells "day-of" tickets, I don't know if one can predict what the availability will be like for a show/performance on a future date.

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I thought I would report back my UNsuccessful attempt this morning. I signed up for their email list; and I get an email every evening at 6pm that tells me which show(s) have discount tickets available for the <u>following day</u>. So, I knew there were discount tickets available for the NYCB matinee performance of Romeo + Juliet today. Here's the deal:

Every morning, when the atrium opens (8am for weekdays; 9am for weekends), the staff starts giving out "numbered bracelets" to people interested in buying the discount tickets. There is a limited # of bracelets given out each day, ranging from 80-400, depending on how many shows (and how many expected tix for sale) there are on sale that day. After you receive your bracelet, you're free to leave and return by 11:50am to get in line for the box office.

However, if you arrive at the atrium AFTER all the bracelets have been passed out for the day, you can still try for tickets when the box office opens - but AFTER all the people with numbered bracelets.

Discount tickets go on sale at 12 noon. Each person can buy 2 tickets max. At 11:55am, the staff will start calling out #s by group (# 1-20; then #21-40; then #41-60 and so forth), and people get in line according to their bracelet #s. After all the numbers have been called out, then the "general public" are allowed to get in line (sort of a mad rush).

Anyway, today is Sunday, and I arrived at the Atrium at 10:45am. The last bracelet today (#90) was given out about 20 minutes earlier. I spoke with a woman who got bracelet #75 - she arrived around 9:30am (remember, the atrium opened @ 9am). I decided to wait at the atrium until 12noon and see if I can still get a ticket. I rushed in with the "mad dash" and I was probably among the first 15 "general public" people, but the NYCB show was sold out when there were still at least 10+ people ahead of me.

I'm going to try this again for Tuesday - if the shows I want to see have tix available, but I'll plan to get there by 9am.

yk, interesting report. I plan to go on Wednesday and thought I'd go early, but I'm also confused about two different lines for matinee and evening -- I thought I'd try to get South Pacific for one and something else for the other, but not sure if I have to be in two separate lines, get two bracelets, or what.

Patrick, I don't know either - like you said, there's supposed to be a separate line for matinee. However, since all the shows for sale today were matinee, there was no distinction.

If you're in the area, you can stop by the atrium before Wednesday (closed Mondays) and ask the helpful staff there. Otherwise, I can find out for you when I head there on Tuesday and I can report back.

I don't think "South Pacific" is included in this. That's considered "Broadway" and is sold at the TKTS booths run by tdf.org If you look at the link yk provided at the top, it doesn't list the Vivian Beaumont theater as one of the venues they cover.

mclaurie, the emails I've been receiving from Lincoln Center discount HAVE listed South Pacific as one of their shows offering discounted tickets.

Their website says:
<i>The David Rubenstein Atrium is now your destination for day-of discount tickets to <u>all 12 Lincoln Center resident organizations.</i></u>

The "list" you saw shows where the regular box offices are if one wishes to buy full price tickets to any of the Lincoln Center performances.

After reading yk's description of the procedure, it almost seems not worth it considering the time (and inconvenience) involved in getting tickets.
As for South Pacific, assuming the discount is the same, I wole think it would be easier to go to TKTS at Times Square.

Well, Howard, right now the tickets at the Lincoln Center Box Office (until next week) are all $20! That's worth a little time to me. After that, I'm not so sure either what the advantage will be of getting them at LC instead of TKTS unless they hold out much better seats. And yes, McLaurie they are including South Pacific in those sales -- it's on my email from them every day.

I'm just back from getting tickets to 9 shows -- all from box offices. The worst? The discount codes for A View from the Bridge are all ONLY good for the last four rows of the mezzanine. I did not buy one. I don't think I could see Ms. Johannson emote from that far back (and only hope I could from close up). LOL I'm curious if they will be having that show at TKTS -- with better seats than they are offering for discount codes.

A Little Night Music -- the one show I knew I'd have to pay full price for, I spent about 20 minutes holding up a line trying for decent seats and finally getting a front row mezzanine one -- but at extreme end for a couple weeks from now on a Tuesday. I thought sure they'd be able to come up with a good single sometime, but he couldn't seem to find any -- only way under the balcony in the rear of orchestra, etc. I could have planned to go back daily and try for a single cancellation, but I just felt like getting my tickets out of the way.

Right - the current promo for the Lincoln Center discount is $20 for all seats to all shows. The promo runs for 20 days until Jan 26. I don't think it's that bad now that I know what to expect. So, if I get there tomorrow around 9am, I'm pretty sure I can get a bracelet. Then I'm free to go sightseeing for the next 3 hours and be back by 12noon. Buy my discount ticket, then off sightseeing again.

After the $20 promo period is over, the discounts will be anywhere between 25-50% off full value. Sure, it may not be worth it for South Pacific, but one can also get tickets for the NY Phil, Met Opera, NYCB etc which normally don't have many (if any) discounts.

Patrick, I stopped by the Atrium earlier this evening (I was wrong in my previous post - the box office is closed on Mondays but the Atrium remains open) and inquired about the matinee vs evening show situation.

I was told that even if you want to buy tix for both events, you only need one bracelet. You then can get in the matinee line and buy all your tickets at the same time.

Anyway, I need to get some sleep. The guy told me that people start lining up for bracelets at 7am. And that if I want to get a bracelet, I should get there no later than 8am. We'll see what happens.

Hmmm. That sounds good -- about both times in one line. I'm anxious to see what's on store for tomorrow and will go then, but that's good news. I'll try to get an early start and get my bracelet (God, I hate wearing flashy jewelry, lol). With two performance options for South Pacific, I should have a decent chance, then maybe I could also get something else at the same time for afternoon or evening. I deliberately avoided scheduling anything else for tomorrow.

Patrick, I think you should be able to get a ticket for South Pacific, given that there will be 2 performances on the same day.

FWIW, I dragged my butt out of bed early this am and arrived at the Atrium at 8:10am. I got bracelet #62. Will report back after I (hopefully) get my ticket at noon.

Initially, I have my heart set on South Pacific, but now that I've looked at the NYCB programme for tonight, I'm undecided. The NYCB is doing "short stories" - three one-act ballets of Pordigal Son, Fancy Free, and Firebird. The Firebird has sets & costumes designed by Marc Chagall. I guess I'll decide when I get to the box office and see what seats are left for either show.

I see that TKTS has already announced they will have tickets for South Pacific tomorrow, so chances are good they have quite a few at Lincoln Center. (I signed up and started getting daily emails for TKTS as well as for the LC Atrium tickets).

By the way, I've noticed that TKTS only discounts South Pacific 40%, not half price. So the difference in price between buying one for tomorrow at TKTS and at LC -- is $75 opposed to $20 for a $125 ticket.

But geez. #62 bracelet at 8:10? I'd better get there at 5:30 tomorrow morning. (Right, like THAT'S gonna happen)

SUCCESS!

I bought a ticket for South Pacific tonight. My seat is first row orchestra all the way on the side, but hey, can't complain about it for $20, right? Plus, I believe the Vivian Beaumont Theatre is fairly small, so it shouldn't be too bad.

Anyway, I found out that only 100 bracelets were given out today, and the last one went out just before 9:30am.

Apparently, people started lining up at 6:30am to be first in line - well, they do get the best choice of seats I suppose. Another woman I chatted with got bracelet #14 - she arrived around 7:30am.

FWIW, my first choice was actually the NYCB, but before they even got to #50 in line, they already announced that all seats <u>except Fourth Ring</u> were sold out. By the time it was my turn, I asked which rows the seats were for the ballet, and they were rows G/H in 4th ring on the side. These seats normally are $20 regular price, so obviously I wasn't going to buy them after going through such hassle!

So, the bottom line is, if you want the best seats, go early (by 7:30am) for a low # bracelet. If you don't care as much, then you can probably still get a bracelet by 9am.

But remember, having a bracelet <u>does not guarantee</u> you'll get a ticket!