Ave Q and Boy from Oz almost but not quite sold out

I've noticed that Avenue Q and The Boy from Oz have been in the 99%+ range for months, but never at 100%. (For example, if I did the math right, for this past week, there were 11 unsold tickets for TBFO and 25 for Ave Q. That's about 1 empty seat per performance for TBFO and 3 for Ave Q.) This may be a stupid question, but how come they are always so close to being completely sold out but never quite make it? Is there some weird accounting glitch, or are there actually available seats for these shows that go unclaimed? (Some other shows are at 100% (or more if they have standing room), so it's not like comped seats don't count or something like that.)

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Updated On: 8/31/04 at 05:46 PM

It may also have to do with fire codes. Both the Golden and the Imperial are older theatres and may have capacity restrictions. It may actually be a code violation to show 100% capacity. Just a thought.

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Partial Views always sell for Wicked

What's the best way to see about getting tix for Ave Q and/or Wicked? We'll be in NY later this month and are looking for what we want to see. I'd love to try for some of those last minute seats.

I got tickets the day of for TBFO row M Center Orchestra. 5 rows ahead of me there were 2 open seats. When I called to get the tickets they said the show was sold out but one seat just opened up. Either way, I got to see and happy that I did.

how do shows like the lion king get 101%?

Sometimes things happen and you miss the show. Once we had tickets for TopDog/UnderDog for a Sunday matinee. We didn't look at the tickets and assumed it started at 3:00 and realized too late the show started at 2:00. The empty seats were conspicuously third row center.