Balcony at the Palace

[The Pud]

Posted: 1/11/11 at 10:11pm

Has anyone seen a show from the balcony at the Palace? I was just wondering how good the view was. I called about tickets for Priscilla for april and they were $135 for orchestra and mezz. Wow

[thetinymagic2]

Posted: 1/11/11 at 10:18pm

DO NOT sit in the balc of the Palace theater. It is the highest balcony out there on Bway. And steep!! If you have vertigo, you'll die. Trust me - I used to work up there. If you want to see the tops of people's heads like little pinheads, by all means......

[TimesSquareRegular]

Posted: 1/11/11 at 10:30pm

The worst! (I've sat in the last row at the top of the huge Metropolitan Opera House and had a better view than from the Palace balcony.)

[rougeduck]

Posted: 1/11/11 at 10:57pm

I saw aida from the balcony. It was hellish.

[legally_popular]

Posted: 1/11/11 at 10:58pm

I sat in the balcony at the Palace for West Side Story and it was fine. I obviously didn't expect to see facial expressions and it is high up, but once I sat down I was fine. I just wanted to see the show without paying orchestra/mezz price.

I think that the rear mezz at the Broadway seems further.

The only bad thing is that if someone in front of you leans over, you'll have to lean over, but I was sitting in the very last row of the center section so I could lean over all I want without worrying about getting in someone else's way.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 1/11/11 at 10:59pm

I wouldn't sit up there. Not on my life. That and the balcony at the Kerr are the worst.

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 1/11/11 at 11:02pm

What is it that makes this balcony so bad as compared to the other balconies on Broadway? Just curious!

[jv92]

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

I've never sat in the balcony of the Palace- only the mezzanine and orchestra, so I can't give an opinion, but adamgreer, what makes the Kerr's balcony so bad? I don't think it's all that terrible.

[ljay889]

Posted: 1/11/11 at 11:06pm

I think the Kerr's is worse than this.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 1/11/11 at 11:06pm

SO MUCH VERTIGO. Never again.

[dragonlp86]

Posted: 1/11/11 at 11:11pm

The balcony at the Kerr feels SO steep. I felt a little unnerved walking down the steps to my seat. And was half-afraid that if I leaned forward too much, I'd go falling forward.

[thetinymagic2]

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

The Kerr's balc. is not a real balc. Before it was the Kerr, I believe it was called the RITZ, and I sat up there for LuPone's 1 woman concert yrs. ago. That "balc" used to be a lighting booth area. It was not built as a legit balc. The converted it strictly for $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$, period!

[TheatreFan4]

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

I've never had a problem with the seating, but those stairs getting there is a bitch. I started to get dizzy.

[jeffmiele]

Posted: 1/11/11 at 11:55pm

tinymagic that's funny you say that.. everytime I've seen that balc at the Kerr, although I have never sat there, something always looked off to me and I assumed that was why but never bothered to find out

[jim]

Posted: 1/13/11 at 12:39pm

Yes, years ago when I saw SWEET CHARITY. Never again. It's
really high up there.
I don't think the front balcony (first few rows) would be too bad. The mezzanine level is much better. May cost more but depending on sight lines, it's much better.

[wonderwaiter]

Posted: 1/31/12 at 12:07am

Sorry to bump an old thread, but I couldn't find anything specific to Priscilla with regards to the awful, horrible, high and far Palace balcony. I bought my tickets with a Playbill discount code through Ticketmaster, and that horrid timer in the lower right corner is so stress-inducing that I booked the best-looking cheap seats on the seating chart without doing proper research.

I'm in the center of the front row of the balcony. Is the rail that's been referred to going to cause me to lean forward (Much to the consternation of everyone behind me)? Will I be staring at the tops of headdresses the entire night? Will the flying divas be cut off mid-torso? Will the disco ball obstruct my view in any noticeable way?

If it were just me I would roll with the punches and not worry about it, but my best friend and I are meeting in New York after a two year separation and I don't want to disappoint her with my I-Waited-For-A-Discount-Code seats. What can we expect?

[thetinymagic2]

Posted: 1/31/12 at 12:17am

OK, so it's super high AND steep, but try and forget about it, and have a good time. If you can get binocs, USE them Then, after intermission (or before), try and cop a seat in the mezz. (w/o the usher noticing, that is. lol.) You never know..

OH, btw, I think I saw Priscilla tix on TDF last wk, maybe this wk.....?(so I'm saying that the mezz switch might work, if it's not really busy. Good luck!)

Updated On: 1/31/12 at 12:17 AM

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 1/31/12 at 12:26am

Maybe this should be its own thread, but...

Growing up (in Canada) I always knew the balcony as what Americans seem to call the Mezzanine, and then some theatres would have a second balcony. I swear I did go to some theatres in this country that had a Mezz but it would simply be a slightly raised section to the back of the orchestra. Is this just a semantics issue--the way UKers call an intermission an interval?

... Just curious... (I do have to think twice sometimes when people here complain about even the front row of the bvalcony being much too high and far)

[wonderwaiter]

Posted: 1/31/12 at 12:30am

Hehe - I don't think either of us would be into trying to sneak our way into different seats after intermission (just because it sounds more labor-intensive than keeping our original seats.) But, thank you!

Bear in mind, we're both from the Atlanta area, so our concept of a theater is the 5000-seat BARN that is the Fox Theater. ANY Broadway house is going to seem cozy by comparison, so I'm mainly worried about Priscilla-specific sight issues (i.e.- the flying divas, the proscenium arch from the balcony, etc.)

[wonderwaiter]

Posted: 1/31/12 at 12:47am

"Growing up (in Canada) I always knew the balcony as what Americans seem to call the Mezzanine, and then some theatres would have a second balcony. I swear I did go to some theatres in this country that had a Mezz but it would simply be a slightly raised section to the back of the orchestra. Is this just a semantics issue--the way UKers call an intermission an interval?"

Eric, I grew up in the American South and I can sympathize completely with your misunderstanding. We called the lower level the "floor", and when I referred to it as the orchestra people thought it meant a special section of seats close to the band. It didn't help that my local theater only had one "balcony" which they separated into Mezzanine, Dress Circle, and Upper Balcony with only arbitrary distinctions on the seating chart. Nobody knew what anything meant!

[THDavis]

Posted: 1/31/12 at 1:04am

When I sat front row center for Legally Blonde, the bar/railing wasn't an issue at all and it didn't obstruct anything. There were time when I'd sit a little taller to see the very front edge of the stage, but there's nothing that will be missed or obstructed from the balcony. The height, however, obscures the way you view the show by giving you such an angled look at the stage. I enjoyed the show, but never quite felt a part of the experience from way up there.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 1/31/12 at 1:07am

I always thought dress circle was the UK (when I spent a year there I started to understand their "rules") but I guess every theatre is different, and I'm glad I'm not alone with my ignorance

(I have a feeling technically most theatres I've been to in Canada also refer to the orchestra as only the front half or so of the floor orwhatever you call it :P )

[ElphabaGoodman]

Posted: 1/31/12 at 3:28pm

I've never sat in the balcony at the Palace, but I've heard that it is VERY bad. I bought a $52 TKTS ticket in the mezzanine for Priscilla and thought that it was just fine.