My wife and I are thinking of joing AudienceExtras.com in NYC. (Their site says "Audience Extras distributes complimentary tickets to our subscribers when a show is in previews, under publicized, expecting a reviewer or celebrity to attend, or would like the benefit of a full house.") Does anyone have any experience with it? I'd love to read details of your experiences.

I have been a member of Audience Extras for several years. I enjoy their service.

Most of their shows are for smaller off-off-Broadway shows, cabaret acts and sometimes movies. Once in a while you will get a Broadway show, but it is not often.

Audience Extras is strict about being discreet (i.e. producers don't want the paying customers knowing that you are getting in for free). If you have any other questions, please feel free to email me.

Thanks, Phillip. This is helpful.

Given your comment about discretion, you may hesitate to provide information about specific shows, but if you're comfortable I'd like to know if you usually get good seats and how much advance notice you get.

Since the majority of shows are in small theaters (off-broadway) the seats are usually very good. On the instances I've seen Broadway shows, the seats were usually in the balcony, sometimes in the balcony and to the side.

Since they've already closed I will tell you that I was able to get tickets on Broadway to "A Class Act" (Wed. matinee), and performances of "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" (Wed matinee when Whoopi Goldberg was doing it), (evening performance when David Allen Grier was in it).

I have seen some wonderful Off-Broadway shows and they were on AE simply because they weren't getting enough publicity. (I've also seen some real stinkers too.) Usually you have a 1-2 day notice, and of course certain shows keep turning up over and over.

Additionally, you can only obtain up to 2 tickets per performance and you have to pick up the tickets in a specific time slot (usually one hour before the performance).

(Same name, different guy than the other poster.) I'll second that it is worth the cost. An old girlfriend had a membership and we saw several shows together. Some were first run Broadway shows like "Swinging on a Star."