Wicked Lottery change?

[MorningGlow2]

Posted: 1/23/15 at 6:55pm

Sorry if duplicate post - couldn't find an existing thread for this.

Do any of guys know if they changed the Wicked lottery front row seats? Won today and got seats back in row W and I wasn't the only one. We seemed to be split in the latter rows of house left and house right...

Not complaining since I love show and they're only $30, but if they in fact did make the change permanently, it takes a little magic out of the whole Wicked lottery as this show was unique in providing front row.

EDIT: So I was mistaken regarding the "able to buy front row". So hoping this is a temp thing!

Updated On: 1/23/15 at 06:55 PM

[someone.else's.story2]

Posted: 1/24/15 at 3:32pm

The tour has definitely changed. I won in December and got row R. They said a limited number of Orchestra seats now. The winners appeared to be scattered throughout the orchestra. We were the last pair to get picked and most other winners sat in front of us so they are all fairly good orchestra seats at least.

Posted: 1/24/15 at 6:27pm

I just looked on Ticketmaster and they have the front row released for sale for all performances. This is extremely upsetting to me.

[Tking0012]

Posted: 1/24/15 at 7:05pm

First 2 rows are for sale online.
Anyone know where the lotto seats are now?

[MorningGlow2]

Posted: 1/25/15 at 5:08pm

So reporting back post performance.

All of us were located around Row W/X and split between house left and right sections. I also asked the box office and they told me "they weren't doing front rows for lottery anymore". Seeing that they're selling them (row BB) now on Ticketmaster (thanks for the correction bes888 ), I guess that's that.

But...why now?


Updated On: 1/25/15 at 05:08 PM

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 1/25/15 at 5:58pm

Probably because they found enough people who are willing to pay full price or premium prices for those seats and were finding that the rows farther back were not selling as quickly in advance.

[haterobics]

Posted: 1/25/15 at 6:00pm

I guess that seals the deal for me, since I was doing lottery to sit in the front row. I'll just have to wait until I buy a ticket now...

[girlonbroadway]

Posted: 1/25/15 at 6:03pm

Well, Wicked isn't the top-grossing musical on Broadway right now, so maybe they're trying to get extra money by selling the front two rows as premium seats and using unsold orchestra seats as the lottery seats.

It is disappointing, because now the only way to see Wicked from the front row is to have spent upwards of $200 instead of $30.

[delongpre]

Posted: 1/25/15 at 7:27pm

I predict this will reduce the number of people lining up for lottery tickets. I have wanted to sit front and center for a long time and have never won.

I think other shows are doing the same thing....selling front row instead of using it for lottery/rush. Beautiful sells front row now. I also see the front row available for purchase for If/Then. Oh well...

[VotePeron]

Posted: 1/25/15 at 7:38pm

I would suspect that this way they can give away more tickets? Or maybe the lottery isn't as popular in there

[haterobics]

Posted: 1/25/15 at 7:40pm

They were free to distribute as many non-front row lottery seats as they want, though. It's not like a rule.

Mormon does front row and boxes, etc.

You could easily say the first 24 seats are front row, and then we're going to give away 14 seats in the side orchestra. The first 24 people would be happier, but the others would still pay up and go in.

[Islander_fan]

Posted: 1/25/15 at 10:12pm

I remember doing the rush line for Glass Menagerie. Everyone in line was under the impression that the rush tickets would be where they always had been, the extreme side orchestra seats. However, a little bit before the box office officially opened, one of the people from the box office came out and let us know that the rush tickets are no longer seats, and have been turned into SRO. This was around the time that the play just got rave reviews and was added to everyone's personal "must see" list.

I understood why they did it. There were people who'd been willing to pay full price to sit in what were once the rush seats. And, naturally producers would want that then to have it be sold for 30 or so bucks. I didn't like it, but it wasn't so bad. I had the mindset that since I trekked out there and was in a spot where I was able to get a ticket, I took SRO. However, there were some people that were pissed off and left.

[haterobics]

Posted: 1/25/15 at 11:50pm

Been a while now, but were the Glass Menagerie rush seats specified as being side orchestra? Or had they just been in the past and people assumed they always would be? A lot shows have rush "by availability," which is reasonable. If you can sell a seat for $155, why lose $120 (cue someone saying it is an important thing for students and people on fixed incomes, while ignoring the fact that SRO was offered)?!

[darreyl102]

Posted: 1/26/15 at 12:18am

It's not very unusual for the lottery seats to be front row is it? It seems like that is how a lot of shows do it.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 1/26/15 at 12:25am

^In a lot of houses, the front row doesnt provide a very good view. Off the top of my head, the front row at the Palace, St. James, and Hirschfield is rather a bad view, given the height of the stage. The Gershwin stage isn't very night at all, and like someone said up thresd, people were probably willing to pay top dollar to sit there

[darreyl102]

Posted: 1/26/15 at 12:50am

^ That i now, but what i was asking was isn't that were a lot of lottery seats are? in my many experiences that's were i have always ended up.

[haterobics]

Posted: 1/26/15 at 1:32am

That's sort of the dual reason, though. They put some of the most enthusiastic people right up front where the performers can see them (remember this started with RENT) and feed off that energy, AND it is often too close to the stage, which means they couldn't sell those as premium anyway.