Checking Lottery while also seeing Matinee

Hello, I'm currently planning to take my first real trip to Broadway over Labor Day weekend, and was hoping for some advice. I want to get the most out of it and am aiming to see both a matinee and evening show on the days both are available (Sat and Sun it looks like), and am trying to go cheap so I'm mostly relying on rush and lottery, with TKTS as last resort if I don't win any lotteries. I'm already planning on rushing my Saturday matinee, Sunday evening show, and my Monday show. However, since I'm guessing it's not feasible to be able to rush two shows in the same day, I have one already set/pre-bought show for the Sunday matinee so I can rush the Sunday evening. Friday I'm coming in mid-day so I won't be able to rush, and will just be applying for digital lottery for every show that has it and leaving what show to see up to chance, and if I don't win any lotteries will just go to TKTS and see what I can get.

My issue that I need some advice on is Saturday. My current plan on this one is to rush for the Saturday matinee (Considering Matilda, but this may be up for change), and leave Saturday evening up to the lottery, which again I'll be entering for almost every available show, and just going to TKTS if I don't win anything. However, I see that for a lot of the digital lotteries, the results are posted shortly after the lottery closes (usually at 3), and then you only have 1 hour to pay for the tickets or else you lose them. I will be attending a matinee which, judging from what I see on schedules, will start at 2 PM regardless of scheduling. I'm hoping that Intermission should be somewhere between that 3 and 4 window so that I can check my phone to see if I won any lotteries and pay for my ticket all during Intermission so that I don't need to bother anyone with a turned-on phone during the actual show, while also making sure I don't lose a winning seat.

Is this feasible? My biggest worry is that Intermission will happen a lot later than I think it is (ie, too close to 4:00), and that if I do win a lottery I'll end up losing it just from the time limit running up just before I can finish paying. I really don't want to have to leave the theater and miss the second act just for the sake of making sure I get hard-to-get tickets that I might get by chance, and as said, I also don't want to bother people during the actual show, but I'm paranoid. Sorry for the length, but it would be much appreciated for any advice on this.

ClumsyDude15, thank you for your response. Unfortunately I will be going on this trip solo, as I do with most, and I don't know anyone in NYC so that wouldn't be an option. Though I thought you can pay for these online? All the ones I read policies on that do give that one hour limit said payment was credit card only, and seemed to imply you paid online. Is this wrong and I'd actually have to physically go to the box office to pay within the hour? If that's the case then I shouldn't even bother with those lotteries for that day it sounds like.

I did see some of the other lotteries didn't have that 1-hour policy as you mentioned, and will definitely keep those in mind to probably focus on more for the Saturday evening performance. Thanks again for your help and clarification!

Do you fit one of these criteria:

• Full-time students (high school+)
• Full-time teachers
• Recent graduates (26 or younger)
• Full-time union members
• Retirees (not working and 62 or older)
• Full-time civil service employees
• Full-time staff of nonprofit
• Full-time non-exempt employees (full-time hourly workers - 40 hrs/wk - eligible for overtime)
• Full-time arts professionals
• Members of the armed forces
• Freelancers
• Full-time clergy

? If so, you may be able to join TDF (Theater Development Fund), which allows folks to purchase tickets to many Bway, off-Bway, and other events for prices ranging from $9 to $49ish in advance. Not all shows are available for all performances and you have no control over seats, but it's awesomely convenient for situations like yours. I've gotten tremendously lucky with them as well, e.g. front center orch and front center mezz for Bway shows.

Hairspray0901 said: "Usually matinees coincide with the time. A 2pm performance will have a 3:15ish-3:30ish intermission; and a show will usually be out by 4:30. From my experiences, digital lotteries will let you know 4h before the performance, usually give you notice at 4pm and you have til 5 or 3pm and you have til 4. Either way you should be fine as long as you check at intermission or directly after the performance is over



"

^^^^ A lot of the time when I see a Saturday matinee I'll enter the Hamilton lottery for the evening show and I've always gotten out of the matinee with more than enough time to check my results before 5:00, which is the deadline for lotteries that close at 4:00. So if you want to do the Hamilton lottery at least then you should probably be fine. And no, you do not pay for the tickets at the box office, you have to pay for them online.

Updated On: 8/14/16 at 12:50 PM

That's a good point. I won a digital lottery once and I had to call my mom and she paid for the ticket (although that's also because I don't have a credit card lol). I had to give her my email username and password because it didn't work when I forwarded the link to her.

Also, thanks for clarifying which lotteries end at which time. Do you happen to know when the SocialToaster Sat and Sun lotteries open? I was trying to win tickets to School of Rock last weekend but I couldn't figure out when it opens.

Updated On: 8/14/16 at 02:03 PM

Thanks a ton to everyone who has posted advice on this topic. It's been very helpful. The 2 PM lottery times definitely wouldn't be doable. So if I stick to rushing the Matinee and doing lottery for the evening,

Patty3 - That's a very good idea, but I was under the impression that a lot of the shows, even when they do both, only do lotteries for the evening performance, and that only a select few offer lotteries for the matinee as well. Is this not true? If all the shows that would be up for lottery for the evening are also up for the matinee I may very well take your advice - that definitely would be a lot less worrying!

Most if not all shows do both lotteries on 2 show days. Patty3 has the best suggestion of doing the matinee lottery and rushing for an evening show. I will remember that myself for when I rush a show and do a lottery. Last time I won On Your Feet and I was in another show at the time the notifications were sent out. ClumsyDude15 helped me out though.