BCEFA FLEA MARKET COLLECTORS UNITE!! — Page 8

Cape Twirl of Doom said: "I was working the event so I only had a short amount of time to browse but I got the one thing I actually was looking for: a full cast signed poster of the current Barrow St production of Sweeney Todd -for $5!"

How did you manage to get it for $5? When I walked by, they wanted $60 for the signed posters and $40 for the signed playbills.

mattyp4 said: "Jordan Catalano said: "I got a full OBC Book of Mormon windowcard for $5."

WHUT? Signed??"



Yes.

Jordan Catalano said: "mattyp4 said: "Jordan Catalano said: "I got a full OBC Book of Mormon windowcard for $5."

WHUT? Signed??"

Yes."



Double damnit! What table was that at? I would have paid A LOT more, if you feel like flipping it.

VintageSnarker said: "It's really hard to justify CD's now unless you want a keepsake or you're paranoid they're going to go off streaming."

Yeah, I primarily stream these days but for some reason I still like buying physical Broadway albums. I guess b/c I like the linear notes. And I'm fortunate enough to have a lot that are signed. (But yes, I also keep physical copies of my favorite albums or more obscure stuff in the event they're ever pulled from streaming services. Streaming is convenient but I don't want to rely on it for everything.)

The most frustrating thing about Flea this year was the amount of people who were obviously, even blatantly, buying up Playbills to re-sell. I watched a grown ass man in his late 40's/early 50's with all the hallmarks of a re-seller (huge pile of Playbills for purchase, picking multiples of everything, distinct lack of joy or humanity) find three identical copies of Newsies early in the morning. A teen girl also looking through the Playbill boxes screamed, said "I've been looking for Newsies forever," and sort of waited for the man to take one and put the rest down. The man heard her scream and then took all three copies and hurriedly placed them under his arm. The girl said again, this time with her voice cracking, near tears, "There's three copies of Newsies there. Could I have one please? It's my favorite show of all time." The guy didn't even look her in the eye, and just mumbled "Sorry, I need all of these."

"I need all of these." Give me a break. This was just one example of the re-seller infestation that cast a shadow over this years' Playbill hunt. It sucks.

Updated On: 9/25/17 at 04:35 PM

Lol @ grown ass men buying Playbills to resell. Because there's such a huge market for that. And every table was overflowing (as always) with tween girls grabbing everything they could and also sobbing when they found the most common Playbill imaginible.

Cape Twirl of Doom said: "ren598 said: "Cape Twirl of Doom said: "I was working the event so I only had a short amount of time to browse but I got the one thing I actually was looking for: a full cast signed poster of the current Barrow St production of Sweeney Todd -for $5!"

How did you manage to get it for $5? When I walked by, they wanted $60 for the signed posters and $40 for the signed playbills."

I just managed to hit it at the exact right time. When I arrived before 10am I took a look at that table and saw the posters were $60 and thought I'd try again later. About 3:20ish after the Autograph/Photo booth was done I headed back over and they were carrying what was left to the table next to then so they could pack up and leave. I asked the new seller how much for the posters and she said $5! Amazing!"

I wish I knew that. I wanted one, but not for $60. I didn't think to look at a different table when I saw they were gone when I went back around 4:15.

The early selling is frustrating. I was worried about going 5 minutes before 10 and being rude. I mean, there should be some restrictions since it says the event starts at 10. Unfortunately, I don't have an answer to solving this issue since they can't close off people from walking into the area.

I'm happy with my mini haul because I got a lot of Hedwig merchandise I missed out on when the show was still open. I got 2 Hedwig t-shirts, 2 Hedwig magnets, and a Hewig mug. I bought a Bridges of Madison County poster, On The Twentieth Century poster, and Annie 2012 poster signed by the whole cast for $5 a piece. I also bought some movie magazines/booklets from the early 1960s and 1970s for $2 because I'm a fan of Elizabeth Taylor and Lauren Bacall. My friend gifted me a Matilda hat.

Agree that the early start was frustrating. I saw an item thats pretty rare and that I really wanted around 9:30, they only had 2 of them, so I asked if they knew how much it’d be and when they’d open. Was rudely told they wouldn’t be priced or sold until 10, but I figured that’s fair, so I went to take cash out and came back to wait around quarter of. got there to see them selling the last one to someone else, despite their insistence of 10 oclock. I was crushed, but it wasn’t the girl who bought it’s fault, so I wasn’t rude at all. There was another rare/special item that went with what they bought, and they were planning on getting it too, and decided not to so that I could. With how often people grab and shove, and how incredible the item is (or at least it’s special to me), I was shocked and very honored. They first offered not to buy the original item but I could never do that to them. Anyway. It was nice to see such polite buyers, but still frustrating that the start time was early as well as inconsistent. If you start early, fine, but don’t tell me to leave and then sell to the next person!

mattyp4 said: "VintageSnarker said: "It's really hard to justify CD's now unless you want a keepsake or you're paranoid they're going to go off streaming."

Yeah, I primarily stream these days but for some reason I still like buying physical Broadway albums. I guess b/c I like the linear notes. And I'm fortunate enough to have a lot that are signed. (But yes, I also keep physical copies of my favorite albums or more obscure stuff in the event they're ever pulled from streaming services. Streaming is convenient but I don't want to rely on it for everything.)

I just can't deal with the bulk. The CD's that I have that are unsigned are ones I'm planning to get signed or ones that I couldn't find on streaming. Though that's changing. I might not keep Amazon Prime forever but Spotify has recently gotten off the top of my head... Lady Day, Violet, Far From Heaven, Porgy and Bess, Andrea Burns' album. Most times I just want to listen to an album once and then have it in my shuffle rotation. If there's something I really love, I might get it if it goes off streaming but I'm rarely worried that it's so rare that it won't be accessible should I feel like purchasing it.

On a somewhat related note, does anyone ever get the vinyls? There's usually one table selling them for $1 or $2 and this year there were some really interesting old shows that aren't on CD that I'm curious about... but I have no way of playing them so I skipped over them.

The story about the Newsies playbill was sad. I saw a couple of kids searching for Newsies playbills during the day. I'm guessing the renewed interest was due to the movie/tour.

Just WOW! Every year I take my nieces to a Broadway show. This year we saw Miss Saigon (really great production BTW). While I knew the Flea Market existed, I didn't realize it was Sunday until I accidentally bumped into it. I ended up spending a few hours! What a great weekend!

mattyp4 said: "I saw one of these ogres ganking a bunch of Deconstructing Patti Playbills on Sunday night. It was before the show even started. I was hoping to snatch an extra copy for a friend on my way out but there were none to be found."

So you're against people taking extra since it means you can't take extra?! Sounds about right.

@z5 said: "But there IS a difference between taking an extra one or two and taking an extra 20."

Easier justification?

In any event, good news, you can get one for your friend after all: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Deconstructing-Patti-Lupone-Playbill-Broadway-Seth-Rudetsky-/263228632126