Theatre in New York
 

It has been years since we have seen theatre in New York and are shocked at the prices on line. Is there a discount or same day ticketing process there?

Yes, you can get same-day tickets for the (obviously) less popular shows for half-price plus $3 at the discount ticket booth (TKTS) in Times Square. There are also several websites, such as playbill.com, where you can get discount ticket offers.

Thank you Howard, I think you have made my 40th anniversary.

Online go to Playbill.com or Broadway.com

More websites with ticket discounts offered: Hitshowclub.com, broadwayoffers.com, theatermania.com. Many of these offer the same discounts.

To add to Howard's note about the TKTS booth, there's another, nicer, less crowded booth at South Street Seaport. Tickets go on sale at 11am, but arrive around 9 or 9:30 to get a good spot in line, maybe later on weekdays. The Times Square TKTS booth has an insane line every day. The Web site tells you exactly where to go. www.tdf.org. If you're dying to see one particular show, you might be disappointed with TKTS because they don't offer tickets to ALL shows, and sometimes they have only the best seats 1/2-price, which can still be $50 or so. But if you have three shows in mind that you'd like to see equally, TKTS is a good way to go. I suggest you bring a Time Out or another mag that has theater listings with you, so you can check the reviews while you wait and decide based on what's available. Oh, and bring a bagel and coffee, too.

I work near the Times Square TKTS booth and I have to disagree about the line being characterised as "insane." Thursday through Sunday the line is long, but even then it's unusual to wait more than half an hour (and you're in Times Square, which is entertaining if you've never been there before).

I went on Tuesday, for example, around 5:15 PM and was on line for about 15 minutes.

That said, the South Street Seaport booth during the week is often empty. I've walked up and bought tickets without waiting. Again, weekends are a different story.

Keep in mind that not all shows are sold at TKTS. Usually you'll find shows that have been playing for a while. And none of the mega-hits will be there. So, for example, you won't find "The Producers" being sold right now, or "9," and I have yet to see "The Lion King" sold there either.

there are also discount coupons available from the tourist information centers at Times Square and at Grand Central station; probably other places too, but those are where I've seen them. The coupons can be taken to the theater box office directly; tickets can also be ordered by mail or by phone before the day you want to see the show. Address to send in the coupon or phone number to call will be in the coupon. The coupon may be intended as student discount, but I've never been ask if I was a student.

The coupons banares mentions usually offer the same specials as the websites mentioned. On the website, you can print out the infor and bring it to the box office, call for tickets and use the given discount code or order online using the discount code.