Can you get playbills form the box office?

[jennaisjamazing]

Posted: 7/26/13 at 6:11pm

I'm looking to grab some playbills of shows I'm not seeing, and was wondering what was the best way to do that? Looking to get: Wicked, Pippin, First Date, Matilda and Newsies.
I'm seeing a show at every performance time, so I don't think I'd be able to walk into a performance at the end either. So I was hoping I could stop by the box office at some point during the day.

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 7/26/13 at 6:18pm

Not sure how it works on Broadway, but I work in a box office at a theatre that gets national tours of Broadway shows, and whenever there is a show playing, we always have Playbills to give to people who want one.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 7/26/13 at 6:20pm

My cousin tried to get some from box offices a few months ago while she was visiting, and every single one of them told her no.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 7/26/13 at 6:26pm

Some will, but after all, if you aren't seeing the show, you really aren't entitled to one.

[broadwayboy101]

Posted: 7/26/13 at 6:38pm

I tried to get a playbill one morning following a show I had seen the night before. It was pouring rain that night, so my playbill got ruined before I even made it to the subway. I was told that they didn't even have any playbills in the box office to give me (though this is just one example of one box office).

[ucjrdude902]

Posted: 7/26/13 at 6:38pm

Every time I go to NYC, I allot an hour to run around and ask for Playbills and I've never been told no. In fact, twice it got me a mini backstage tour.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 7/26/13 at 6:48pm

You've not ever dealt with NYC box office personnel have you? They take the nastiest ushers from the theater and promote them to box office personnel.

[senorvoce]

Posted: 7/26/13 at 7:09pm

Some people get Playbills from the box office and then claim to have lost their tickets,using the Playbills as "proof" of admittance in order to crash the second act. That's usually why some Broadway box offices don't give them out.

[Phantom of London]

Posted: 7/26/13 at 7:10pm

Not true, they tend to get less surly with the more bucks you spend!

[Citygirl.grace]

Posted: 7/26/13 at 7:23pm

Usually they wont give them to you. I was told it was a security issue, as the don't want crazed fans/people to take playbills for free (without seeing the show), go stand at the stage door, stalking actors, get autographs and sell them.

[ClydeBarrow]

Posted: 7/26/13 at 7:33pm

How would the Playbills form the box office? Is it like a Power Rangers/Voltron thing?

[Visceral_Fella]

Posted: 7/26/13 at 7:39pm

That's interesting, senorvoce I can't think of any show that I enjoy in the second half enough to sit through without the first. I know of several shows where I could actually leave at intermission and feel fulfilled.

Actually now that I think of it, I like the second half of BoM much more than the first.

[jackieoh]

Posted: 7/26/13 at 7:57pm

When my friend and I saw next to normal with the OBC, he dropped his playbill in a puddle and we stopped by the next day to see if they'd replace it. This was around the time that Alice Ripley was pre-signing playbills so she didn't have to stage door, and so they replaced his playbill with one signed by Ms. Ripley.

[theatergoer3]

Posted: 7/26/13 at 8:07pm

Some theaters yes. Other theaters, no. It depends.

[theatergoer3]

Posted: 7/26/13 at 8:07pm

Some theaters yes. Other theaters, no. It depends.

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 7/26/13 at 8:58pm

If walk by a theatre of a show I haven't seen when it is letting out, I often walk into the theatre, grab a Playbill and often a souvenir cup someone decided to throw on the floor.

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 7/26/13 at 8:59pm

I actually asked a few theaters years ago and every one of them said yes. As others said, it depends. Doesn't hurt to ask.