Book of Mormon SRO and Lottery - Page 2

[ClimbGuy]

Posted: 3/21/12 at 7:36pm

has anyone had any luck getting people in the front of the SRO line to get an extra ticket for you? Maybe pay them a little?

[nycserenade2]

Posted: 3/21/12 at 7:53pm

I would hope no one would let someone pay them to buy a ticket for someone who does not want to wait in line. That's just wrong. If someone ever asked me to do that, I'd tell them to get in line and wait with everyone else...

[quizking101]

Posted: 3/21/12 at 8:10pm

" has anyone had any luck getting people in the front of the SRO line to get an extra ticket for you? Maybe pay them a little?"

Not gonna lie, that is a detestable thought. When I went last August, I was flying solo and, being the front of the SRO line, you wouldn't believe how many smooth talkers tried to get me to do their bidding. I got there at 5:45 AM and I wasn't helping anyone get an advantage.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 3/21/12 at 8:17pm

ClimbGuy, I am fully willing to take your money and not get you a ticket.

[ClimbGuy]

Posted: 3/21/12 at 8:20pm

I don't appreciate the hostile posts in my direction, tickets everything from Broadway to sports are frequently sold on the secondary market.

If you would rather not participate in such an arrangement that's fine, but it isn't disgusting.

[broadwaydevil]

Posted: 3/21/12 at 8:29pm

Ticket scalping is far different than what you suggested. The secondary market for tickets for sporting events or concerts generally involves buying tickets several months in advance for hot events that will presumably sell out at face value. They are then resold, often far in advance, to anyone willing to pay an inflated rate. This occurs on Broadway too (Wicked, The Book of Mormon, The Lion King) and a few other shows that have sellouts. Just check Stubhub or any other secondary market ticketing website and you'll see them all there. I don't think this is entirely moral, but I think it's somewhat defensible as theoretically everyone had a fair shake at getting tickets when they were initially released. However, this very practice is outlawed in some states or at least heavily restricted.


However, what you've suggested is entirely different. SRO is offered with the express purpose of providing an affordable alternative for people who are dedicated (obviously if they're willing to wait for hours and then stand throughout the entire show) to the show but are either unwilling or unable to pay the ridiculous face value or secondary market price. In reality, the producers offer this to fans as a form of good will. Financially, they could probably offer SRO sold in advance for more than they charge currently and make a good amount more money but they clearly made the decision they want some affordable tickets to be available. Thus, your suggestion is to undermine the entire process which has been put in place (including the fact that you only get your tickets one hour before curtain) to ensure that people who really are committed the show get the opportunity to see it. That is why I and many others here evidently find your suggestion detestable. Perhaps you didn't realize the implications of your suggestion. Either way, if this is occurring, I would really hope people would cause a stir and people working with the show would monitor this.

[jds2001]

Posted: 3/21/12 at 8:54pm

And to add to everything that broadwaydevil said, the tickets that you receive are stamped "Not for Resale" to prevent exactly this type of thing from happening.

I assume if they knew that the tickets were resold, they could void them since they explicitly state they are not for resale.

[nycserenade2]

Posted: 3/21/12 at 9:39pm

Well said Broadwaydevil. Personally, I am completely morally opposed to scalping tickets. I would never ever scalp a ticket, and I've had some great tickets to really hot concerts that I could have made a lot of money off of that I've sold for face. I think it's just wrong.

That said, in this case, the biggest thing that would keep me from ever considering doing it is knowing that somewhere not very far behind me in line would be someone who got screwed out of a ticket because I chose to help someone out for money. That is why I would never agree to do that for someone. What about the person who played by the rules, stood in line for hours and got nothing because I chose not to play by the rules? I would feel really bad about that.

[Rage and Love]

Posted: 3/25/12 at 6:59pm

Quizking101, Same happened to me being at the front of line. I couldn't believe the woman who came up to when the line obviously had more people wishing to get tickets than there were actual tickets. I've been at the end of rush ticket lines, have been that person who didn't get a ticket. I couldn't imagine standing in line for hours and not get a ticket because of this one woman who approached me moments before I purchased my tickets.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 3/25/12 at 7:35pm

Some crazy woman came up to me yesterday around 5 p.m. and asked my friend and I if I could get tickets for her and her kid. She would give me money. (This was after she'd already been in and out of the box office and counted the line about 3 times.) Hell no! WE were the ones I'd been there since 11:30, lady -- YOU do the work.

I didn't actually say that, but I did tell her that I wasn't about to screw the people towards the cut-off point out of getting tickets. She did proceed to ask the next group of people, but no one relented.

Updated On: 3/25/12 at 07:35 PM

[Patty3]

Posted: 3/26/12 at 1:45pm

We were on the SRO line Saturday night and would have been the two people screwed out of tickets if you had bought tickets for that crazy woman. We got the last two SR tickets so THANK YOU!!!

We watched the crazy woman for quite some time go back and forth between the cancellation line and counting the standing room line. She was still waiting on the cancellation line when we went into the theater at 7:55. We had the last two SR spots by the doors and never saw her enter.

There was a guy standing in front of us who yelled toward the front of the line if anyone buying one ticket would be willing to buy him a ticket. Many of the people in line were upset at this.

To answer the original poster's question - we got to the theater around 5:00. We saw a matinee of The Best Man and our intentions were to try the lottery for BoM. When we got there the SR line did not look too long so we got on it. I was very surprised to be able to arrive that late for a Saturday night show and get SR tickets.

I also noticed that all of the lottery winners were from out of state - the closest one being from CT. No NY/NJ names were called. Updated On: 3/26/12 at 01:45 PM

[Patty3]

Posted: 3/26/12 at 1:48pm

I just reread your post Lizzie and realized that the woman asked you around 5 pm - that is the time that we arrived at the theater and got in line. Maybe if she just got in line instead of trying to "cheat" she would have gotten the last two tickets! KARMA!!

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 3/26/12 at 1:55pm

WOW! You're welcome, Patty. :)

There was also this annoying guy who got in line (tall, dark hair, looked a bit like Bobby Lopez) at the box office when the matinee was letting out and it took some coercing to get him to go to the back of the line when they moved the line back to its original spot. "Well, I was here! I didn't know you guys were over there!"

I was kind of mad that he actually did get a ticket...

[Irenka]

Posted: 3/28/12 at 6:43am

Has anyone been in the line recently? I would like to get tickets for a show on Thursday 12th April. Any advice? I was planning to get there around 3 pm...

Thanks

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 3/28/12 at 9:25am

You MIGHT be okay, but if the weather's nice, you might want to check the line around 1 to be sure.

[Irenka]

Posted: 4/4/12 at 3:46am

Hello again, sorry to be persistent but does anyone happen to have been in the line recently? I am not in NYC at the moment so I cannot check out the line during the day to ask people when they got there. Also, I will need to work in the morning of the day I want to see it (Thursday 12th April), which is why I cannot just keep checking the line earlier than 3pm.

Any estimate on what is a reasonable time to ensure tickets would be very much appreciated, thank you!

[Irenka]

Posted: 4/4/12 at 3:46am

Hello again, sorry to be persistent but does anyone happen to have been in the line recently? I am not in NYC at the moment so I cannot check out the line during the day to ask people when they got there. Also, I will need to work in the morning of the day I want to see it (Thursday 12th April), which is why I cannot just keep checking the line earlier than 3pm.

Any estimate on what is a reasonable time to ensure tickets would be very much appreciated, thank you!

[ykurland]

Posted: 4/4/12 at 8:15am

I was there on Tuesday 3/13/12 for the 8pm show. Keep in mind this was the week when it was 70 degrees outside and it also happened to be my spring break, though I'm not sure how many others shared the same vacation week.
I arrived at 1:15p and was the first in line. The next people arrived around 1:45, but I don't think the line hit capacity until after 3p. There was some question as to how many tickets were really available, but I didn't wait around to find out.

I'll probably go again in June. The only thing I'd do differently is bring a small lawn chair.

Lottery was probably 200+ people.

[[e-mail]]

Posted: 4/5/12 at 11:44am

At what time do they sell the SRO tickets?

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 4/5/12 at 11:55am

...a limited number of "standing room" locations are sold at the box office one hour before each performance. People start lining up early so be prepared.

http://www.bookofmormonbroadway.com/tickets.php

[Myglass989]

Posted: 4/13/12 at 9:40am

I did Standing Room for yesterday's 7pm performance. I got there around 1:30pm, and there were 7 people in front of me (getting 10 tickets total). People started arriving fairly quickly after that, so I'd say the line was definitely full by around 2:30/3 or so. I believe they offered a total of 25 standing room spots for that performance.

It definitely pays to go down the line and ask people how many tickets they're getting to see if its worth staying or not when the line is potentially full. At least yesterday, everyone was really friendly, and most people were only getting one ticket, so its definitely worth a shot to ask. Also, two people in front of me in line won the lottery, which freed up a few more tickets for the standing room people.

Also, the view is AMAZING. The sightlines are perfect and the orchestra is small enough that you can clearly see everything on stage while standing in the back. I'm short (5'3) and I had an unobstructed view. Totally a fairly easy (if you dont mind hanging out for a few hours) and great way to get tickets to this show.

[madbrian]

Posted: 4/13/12 at 10:20am

I'm trying for the lottery tonight, so everyone else please stay home!

[kyl3fong2]

Posted: 4/13/12 at 10:43am

I have a ticket question as well but not about SRO and Lottery.

If I wanted to purchase a ticket to sit in mid to rear mezzanine, how many months in advance would you suggest purchasing tickets given how popular the show is?

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 4/13/12 at 11:03am

Buy now for anytime in 2013?

You may luck out finding a single even for next week; who knows?

[pdg123]

Posted: 4/13/12 at 1:19pm

I made this journey for SRO/Lottery seats yesterday. I took the train with my friend and got to the theater at 11:30. It's good to get there early enough so you can get a real meal. Anyway, we went to the box office at 11:30 to check on how many standing room spots there would be, and the attendant said 22, and he told us to be back by 2ish to make sure we'd get a spot. We went to lunch at 11:45 and there was nobody in line, but when we went back to the line we were 6th and 7th at about 1:00. The wait really isn't that bad. If you're crazy enough to wait on this line you'll probably get along with the fellow people on line. Hold each other's spot in line so you can go to the bathroom or get a snack too. Anyway, as I said the wait isn't terrible, because soon enough it was 4:30 and the lottery drawing tickets were handed out. I didn't really care if I won the lottery or not because I was near the front of the SRO line where I was guaranteed a seat, but I was the third name and third pair drawn, so I got to sit front and center for $32 a ticket. It really was "something incredible." It was a once in a lifetime experience. I recommend waiting outside the stage door afterwards for autographs. The cast was really nice. I got my playbill signed by Andrew Rannells, Rory O'Malley, Nikki James, Jared Gertner and others as well as a few pictures. If you're thinking about doing this stop thinking and do it! Give yourself plenty of time and enjoy your time in NY.