Wicked at Gershwin Theatre seats
 

Hi friends, I am close to booking 6 tickets to Wicked in February. I need to act fast because there aren't many seats left. For those of you who have been, you can tell me how bad the seats are in the rear mezz? These are $120 and I just don't want to spend more than this but I also will be very disappointed if I spend that much and the seats are terrible. Thanks!

The Gershwin Theater is huge by Broadway standards--almost 2000 seats. Wicked is is wildly popular and widely loved for reasons I don't understand. Rear mezzanine seats are the worst in the house, but they would be easier to tolerate at $76 rather than $120. I found some at "$76 here: http://www.broadwaybox.com/shows/wic...c_tickets.aspx

HTTY

happytrailstoyou; I have never paid full price for theatre tickets in NY, always have gone to TKTS and found something good to see. Going for a weekend to celebrate my sister's birthday so to get tickets for 6 at a show we can all agree on i think is very risky.

I checked broadwaybox.com but we will be there the 18th and the seats are much higher than early in the month like in your link.

Tell me, what don't you like about it?

Also, of course, at this site you can select your own seats. I found some for $124 in the orchestra, which is a heck of a lot better than $120 in the last row: http://www.wickedthemusical.com/land...FQF6hwodUSE-uw

HTTY

Our big family went to see Wicked when it played in Seattle a few years ago. Everybody loved it except me. The story doesn't interest me and neither did the music. Don't go by me. It's been sold out for many years in NYC and on the road.

Mary Poppins and Anything Goes (great Gershwin music) are delightful shows for which discounts may be available here: http://www.broadwaybox.com/

HTTY

Wicked is my fave musical ever! I just love it. Read the book first, then buy the CD and listen to it, then see the musical. As for seats at the Gershwin, I've never sat in the Mezzanine but I have had friends who have. They say it's just fine. I almost always buy my tickets at broadwaybox.com or playbill.com. My most recent trip, just three weeks ago, I purchased at the TKTS booth...but Wicked does NOT sell tickets there. HAVE A BLAST!!! I heary NY!!! ;-)

happytrails, I agree with you. When we saw Wicked, we were clearly in the minority, but we didn't care for it.

HTFY; I don't see those orchestra seats at broadwaybox.com on the 18th of Feb. Not sure how you found them. Oh, maybe you are talking about single seats; i put in for 6.

I'm sorry, I missed that you are interested in the 18th.

If only Wicked will do, it looks like it's going to cost at least $120 per seat.

Maybe you can talk your group into taking a chance on picking up something at TKTS on the 18th.

HTTY

Hey, I think it's a great show. You'll have a blast. Do all your seats have to be together? We went in December 2007 with 7 people. Split up in the theater. Worked out fine.

The reason why tickets are so expensive is because you went to what I'll call a "secondary" site, rather than Ticketmaster.com or wickedthemusical.com. Admittedly, it may be too late to find tickets at either of those sites for a February performance, but I'd check them anyway.
For future reference, sites like broadwaybox.com are great for discount tickets, but not for full-priced ones.

Thanks HowardR, I am actually going back and forth from ticket master and broadwaybox. I have just started to play around with splitting up. Does anyone know about the 1st and 2nd row right and left orchestra whether they are a terrible view of the stage because they are the low price, so close to the stage and off to the far side. If it isn't a great vantage point of the stage, there might be a thill just being that close for the 2 we can have take those seats.

Check out wickedthemusical.com as well. I did a quick search there and noticed that there were some tickets available for some February performances. The six of you may have to split up, but the lower price may make it worth it!

HowardR, thanks. I did go to wickedthemusical.com but it goes right to ticket master, same site. Anyway the update is after a few conversations this morning with my sisters I got to get us on the same page which will mean not paying $120+ to be in the left or right rear mezz and to find a show at TKTS we will enjoy for half that. Who knows, maybe we will wind up with tickets to Wicked after all. I just can't see spending that money (I am paying for 3 seats). I know theatre tickets go up a lot higher than that but I am sure I will be happy seeing any great show.

I rather go the city more often (have a son who lives in the city) and not leave a bundle on one show. Thanks everyone!

I thought that the Wicked website would end you up at the same spot. I wanted to emphasize that these are the only sites to go to for the lowest possible FULL PRICE tickets.
What you might want to do is check out the discount offers on broadwaybox.com or playbill.com and take advantage of one of the offers in advance. It'll cost a few dollars more than TKTS, but it'll save you "waiting-in-line" time! And, if you can get your son to take discount offers to the box office and get the tickets, you'll save the handling charges. (Or you can take a chance and wait until you get here to take the discount offers to the box office yourself.)
Again, I want to remind everyone that broadwaybox.com and similar sites are NOT the places to go to for FULL-PRICE tickets!

<i>Again, I want to remind everyone that broadwaybox.com and similar sites are NOT the places to go to for FULL-PRICE tickets!</i>

Interesting point. Are full-price tickets a new "service" of Broadway Box?

HTTY

As far as I know, broadwaybox has always sold full-price tickets. If you go to its website, you'll see a section for full-price tickets in the center near the top of the home page. And, since they are a ticket agent, naturally, there's a commission added onto the price of a ticket.
Obviously, when i say, broadwaybox.com is not the place to go for full-price tickets, I am talking pricewise!

I can tell you that I found in looking for Wicked tickets, broadwaybox.com had seats available that are not available on ticket master. Since I can't click on them on ticket master to see the price if they were available, I don't know how much more broadwaybox.com is. Rear Mezz seats are 120$ on broadwaybox.com.

Juldie, what date in February? If there are any available on Ticketmaster, rear mezzanine seats will be a lot cheaper that $120....a lot cheaper!

2/18 is the date.

Oh, I missed the previous comment that the OP was looking for tickets for a weekend performance.
I think the OP can pretty much forget about getting anything at a price cheaper than what has already been found. Weekend performances for Wicked pretty much sell out well in advance. By the way, if OP had been able to get tickets through Ticketmaster, they would have been at least $20 cheaper.
(PS: In the interest of full disclosure, like htty, I was underwhelmed by Wicked!)

HowardR, I appreciate your input and also your opinion of Wicked. The reviews are overwhelming positive so its good to hear another side.

What do you recommend for a musical commonly available at TKTS these days? Just curious what your experience is of a top notch show?

How to Succeed in Business, Sister Act, Memphis, and Spiderman are all available at the TKTS booth. I will tell you that Spiderman is the worst musical I've ever seen in my long life of watching musicals...just my opinion. Memphis has a great story line...lots of the original cast still there. Sister Act is funny and entertaining...all but one person from original cast is still performint. How to Succeed in Business has a great story line too, is funny, entertaining. On my recent trip, How to Succeed was my favorite (next to Wicked, of course).

I usually agree with HowardR on everything, but Wicked is the one thing we've disagreed on. :-)

I love it. I love musicals and it's my favorite musical ever. I've seen it many times (you don't want to know how many) ;)

Yes, if you were going to buy the tickets you need to buy them directly from Ticketmaster. Broadway Box is great for discount codes, and you are linked to the official ticket seller to actually purchase the tickets. I agree that splitting up the group is a good way to get better seats for particular shows.

I highly recommend buying the CD ahead of time and listen to it first. I absolutely love the music. I don't agree that reading the book is important. The book is a hard read and IMO the musical is "inspired" by the book but doesn't follow the book.

I prefer buying discounted tix via Broadway Box ahead of time vs spending vacation time waiting in line at the TKTS booth. I didn't mind the line when there was a booth at the World Trade Center because the wait was inside - a/c or heat. The discounts at Broadway Box are often as low as the discounts at the TKTS booth. I agree that How to Succeed, Sister Act and Memphis are great choices. I'm seeing Memphis on the national tour next week.

Have a great trip!

If you're talking about a weekend performance, I honestly can't strongly recommend any show that have a good chance of being available at TKTS. And, I emphasize the word "strongly." On second thought, there is one: Chicago.
Instead, I'd recommend looking for a discount offer for Anything Goes.
My second Wicked PS: I readily admit that we Wicked detractors are definitely in the minority.

I didn't like Wicked, either, I just thought it was silly and didn't have any great music. Few musicals do, however, but that show only has one good song IMO. A bunch of adolescent behavior and jokes, that's why it appeals to young teen girls, I guess. It's okay to view if you don't pay a lot of money. There aren't a lot of great musicals on Broadway nowadays.

I disagree with the whole concept of buying a soundtrack ahead of time and listening to it before the show. First, I don't think that soundtrack is any good so I wouldn't want to own it. But the whole concept of (most) musicals is that the music is never that great and doesn't mean much without the show. It is supposed to be related to the show and the songs are supposed to enhance the action and plot and be related to it, listening to it in a vacuum in advance doesn't make any sense to me at all. I can understand buying it afterward if you really like it and replaying it aftger you have seen the show and the songs make sense in some context and you can remember what was going on.

Now Chicago is a good musical, with good choreography, I'd much rather go to that if it's available. That is a good show. There have been good musicals (I consider Rent, Les Miz and others in that category, as well as old timers such as South Pacific), but a lot of shows now don't have very good musical scores. That includes Billy Eliot which I don't think is very good, either. The score of that isn't going down in history (unlike South Pacific, Oklahoma, Carousel, etc.).

I might consider Memphis.

Christina,

I love your out-spoken opinions about Wicked and musicals in general. Now, sit back and wait for the attacks from those who are so insecure about their preferences that they are outraged by those who don't share them.

HTTY

PS If I have to read a book and listen to a soundtrack before going to a musical, I'm not going to it either.

Just one person's opinion ;)

Question; Our trip to NY is to celebrate my sister's 60th birthday. She said she would love to see a show with political satire. I don't know the specifics but if anyone has something to suggest the might fit her request, I would love to hear. Thanks!

The only show that comes to mind is "The Agony and Ecstasy of Steve Jobs," which will be playing on 2/18. This one-man show is about as far as you can get from "Wicked."

http://www.publictheater.org/compone...id,141/id,1043

Here is the New York Times review:

http://theater.nytimes.com/2011/10/1...bs-review.html

HTTY

That's great happytrailstoyou. I am passing this on to my sister. Yes, certainly different than Wicked! She does want to see a musical and something political however.