Anyone Have An Extra Ticket?- Page 3

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 3/29/11 at 6:42pm

You got two comps to the hardest show to get into because a crazy woman grabbed your ticket?

[singtopher]

Posted: 3/29/11 at 6:58pm

Can I have your extra ticket, bmwpjager?

And MB- Do tell us how this benefactor thought you were a hooker.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 3/29/11 at 7:33pm

And I just got asked again. Ugh.

[tking001]

Posted: 3/29/11 at 7:54pm

^ At what show Jordan?

[KChenowethfan]

Posted: 3/29/11 at 8:42pm

I got asked for a free ticket when I went to see High on Sunday. I've seen these people around at various shows with their pathetic cardboard signs, but I've never been asked before. At first I was perplexed because High had PLENTY of tickets available (and possibly gave away a lot of comps), but then I put two and two together and realized the older man wanted me to give him a free ticket.

Ummm no, just no.

[juice23]

Posted: 3/29/11 at 8:44pm

It's as if the creator of this thread read my mind!

I have never seen this before, and experienced it for the first time at the Friday night performance of Kathy Griffin @ the Belasco. I was waiting outside the theatre for my cousin to meet me, and this old woman would not leave me alone.

She then proceeded to tell me she had no idea who Kathy Griffin was, because she doesn't have a TV. I asked her why she wanted to see the show, and she said she "thought it looked good." She kept coming over to me, and wouldn't take a hint, even talking over my phone conversation to ask if I was sure my cousin was coming to meet me.

Things got hilarious when a man was working the line doing the same thing, and the two of them got into a screaming match.

The employees of the Belasco knew this woman well, and one of them said "UGH I hate this woman."

It was extremely awkward/uncomfortable and I have never been so happy to disappear inside the theatre in my life.

[ljay889]

Posted: 3/29/11 at 8:55pm

I can't wait for this to happen again to me. I'll be prepared to tell them off.

[pennydreadful]

Posted: 3/30/11 at 12:13am

I just started going to the theater a lot (thanks, TDF!) and I had no clue those folks with the cardboard signs wanted a *free* ticket! No wonder the guy at Bengal Tiger (holding up a "I need a ticket" sign) ignored me when I tried to be helpful by pointing him to the TKTS booth. I even started telling him excitedly about the wonders of TDF membership, and he looked at me like I had 3 heads. Awesome. That takes balls, blatantly asking for free crap. I'll try that the next time I'm in Macy's, see what they say.

Can I also take this opportunity to complain about the "help the homeless" guy bellowing and shaking his huge plastic jug full of change at the line? "Come on, you people know you have money...won't you share it with the less fortunate." So obnoxious, as well as being wrong, at least in my case! I felt like telling him I'm a librarian who's about to be laid off by the city. Maybe next time I will.

[bwaylvsong]

Posted: 3/30/11 at 12:43am

I can't believe I've never noticed/been approached by these people! I'll have to be on the lookout!

[itsahopi]

Posted: 3/31/11 at 12:14pm

This thread is brilliant. I have seen them before at benefits. I need to get to the theatre before 5 til just for the pure entertainment.

[Eris0303]

Posted: 3/31/11 at 12:23pm

You got two comps to the hardest show to get into because a crazy woman grabbed your ticket?

Are crazy women rentable?

[Tom1071]

Posted: 3/31/11 at 12:53pm

These people irritate me to no end. The little short bald man with the glasses is the worst. I too have blasted him one time at an invited dress when he asked for an extra ticket not once, not twice but three times.

December of 2009 I went to see Sandi Patty when she was doing her Christmas concert at Carnegie Hall. That particular vulture managed to get an extra ($100, 9th row center) ticket from a group of 3 well-heeled female tourist (a woman, her daughter and her teenage granddaughter) sitting in front of me who had bought 4 tickets but because of the major snow storm that hit NYC that weekend their forth person was unable to get in due to cancelled flights.

The women soon regretted their decision because he would not leave them alone and was asking them what else they had bought tickets for during their stay and that maybe he could accompany them. He was inviting them out for coffee and desert after the concert...probably expecting them to pay for it. At intermission I leaned forward and told one of the women all about him and the ticket beggars. She said that they wouldn't make that mistake again.

What I found remarkable was that he had never even heard of Sandi Patty and had no idea who she was. He had not shown up because he was a fan. He was just looking for some place to be that night.

Even I did have an extra ticket I certainly wouldn't give it to any of those people.




Updated On: 4/1/11 at 12:53 PM

[Vespertine1228]

Posted: 3/31/11 at 12:59pm

I was accosted by one of these people last night when I was going into Bengal Tiger. I guess I had seen these people before, but I'm kind of a big guy so maybe I look too intimidating to ask for free things.

Anyway this older man shuffled right along side me and asked me if I had an extra ticket. It was in a voice that the creepy pedophile in the van might've used in an old classroom movie to warn kids about the dangers of strangers. I actually laughed out loud and said yes and asked him how much he thought the experience would be worth. He could pay me that much.

He said he wanted it for free. I asked why he would want to sit through something if he thought it would be worth nothing. That sent him slithering away.

Needless to say, I didn't actually have an extra ticket. And I didn't see him anywhere inside during the intermission.

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 3/31/11 at 1:25pm

I have never seen such a thing! I cannot WAIT to have one of these pigs try to sidle up to me. It'll be like target practice for me.

[singtopher]

Posted: 3/31/11 at 1:42pm

"He said he wanted it for free. I asked why he would want to sit through something if he thought it would be worth nothing. "

LOVE this.

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 3/31/11 at 2:33pm

I've been to many shows and have never seen these people! I had fun reading this thread.

[Tom1071]

Posted: 3/31/11 at 3:07pm

You will typically see them outside of an invited dress, first previews, opening nights and one night only events like Broadway Cares benefits.

[musikman]

Posted: 3/31/11 at 9:04pm

You think these people are bad? Try going to the Met on any night of the week, regardless of the performance. Gala opening, or 7 billionth performance of Carmen, they are ALWAYS there.

[wdwfreak]

Posted: 3/31/11 at 9:35pm

OMG! Recently at the BOM final dress, this woman in a fur coat was asking everybody constantly. Like shouting,"does anyone have a free ticket? Anyone at all?" I think I heard it 5 times until the line started moving until an old guy asked and I was just excited that I was almost at the door. I can't believe these people sometimes.

They must have no conscience because I would feel horrible to take a ticket from someone without re compensating them for it.

[Tom1071]

Posted: 4/1/11 at 10:41am

"You think these people are bad? Try going to the Met on any night of the week, regardless of the performance. Gala opening, or 7 billionth performance of Carmen, they are ALWAYS there."

I overheard the man I mentioned in my previous post say that he goes to Lincoln Center every Saturday and Sunday to try and get tickets.

I want to know how this all began and how far it goes back because clearly this is a way of life for these people.

[WithoutATrace]

Posted: 4/1/11 at 10:58am

The birdwoman was outside the Cort last night trying to get a ticket for the first preview of BORN YESTERDAY...not sure if she succeeded (but she looked worse than ever). Somehow, we have to run these people out of town.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 4/1/11 at 11:17am

I'm sorry I missed seeing the BIRD WOMAN! I wish you'd taken a pic WAT. Maybe she'll be at the Roundabout tonight!

[Kalimba]

Posted: 4/1/11 at 11:17am

This scum of society should be run out of town. I'm going to start calling them out and immitate them when I come across them at the theater.

[bwayintern]

Posted: 4/1/11 at 11:37am

So I felt the need to start posting on here again after a 6 year hiatus because this thread is equally amusing / horrifying to me!

Re- the "bird lady"(?) at the Cort last night...oh YES she got in!! I was waiting outside for my friend with 2 tickets in my hand (fatal error) when I heard her wandering around mumbling "extra ticket?!" under her breath. I thought...no...it can't be....but it was. Shoved my tickets into my pocket. Miraculously she got a ticket from a man whose friend couldn't make it last minute. I silently cursed his kind ways and shook my head. She didn't look as crazy as one lady I remember seeing at Lombardi/Wicked outside who kept stopping inside the revolving doors and yelling "extra ticket?" and preventing people from getting inside (creepy). This lady was rocking an old parka and Jackie Hoffman glasses. Then, she was met up with by an older looking man who already had a ticket(?!), a lady in a nice fur coat (if this is fur coat lady...she does NOT look like she needs free tickets!) and 2 other guys who seemed to know her and it made me wonder if she just chose to meet these people here expecting to get a ticket before they got here so they wouldn't know? It was very strange. I almost told her off thanks to my building anger from reading this thread, but then I had a moment of doubt that she was just a confused old lady meeting friends...but without a ticket...yeah. They get ya.

[AC126748]

Posted: 4/1/11 at 12:05pm

I encounter these people at nearly every show I attend. Most recently, it was the bespectacled man that Tom mentioned in his post at a Sunday matinee of Good People. The security guard at the Friedman actually asked him to leave, because several patrons had complained about him harassing them for tickets. Needless to say, he didn't, and continued to pester people until the doors were opened.

Sometimes, of course, they're looking to get a free ticket to sell. I've seen this many times at places like Encores and Shakespeare in the Park. One guy managed to snag a ticket to Hair, back when you couldn't get near the show, walk out to 81st and CPW, and sell it for something like $100. And this phenomenon isn't limited to just Broadway. The Met has its own legion of unhinged beggars always looking for a way in. Many of them stand outside at intermission and try to beg tickets off of exiting patrons. I can't tell you how many times I've gone outside to have a smoke or get a breath of fresh air at an intermission break and been descended upon.