Feburary 15th, 2009- A crowded day on broadway

[CSonBroadway]

Posted: 2/16/09 at 10:14am

Yesterday I went into the city with hopes of winning the Avenue Q lottery. I lost of course, but it was VERY crowded. So was In the Heights..but ITH is always crowded. Anyways, after losing the Avenue Q lottery my friend and I walked around to see what rush or cheap tickets we could find for a show. We walked to Shrek...the matinee was sold out and they were sending people away. I then called the box office for Guys and Dolls and they were sold out for the matinee as well. The lady even told me.."We don't have even one ticket, sorry." Then we went back to Avenue Q (don't ask why we did such a confusing path, we don't know why we did either)..and then we asked if they had any rear mezz tickets...they were sold out as well. It kind of shocked me that Avenue Q was sold out, or almost was. Anyways, we went to Chicago...they were sold out also. So we got standing room for Chicago and enjoyed the show greatly. It just surprised me that all of these shows were sold out when they aren't doing that well. I'm guessing we will be seeing some attendance go up in today's grosses.

[Mamie]

Posted: 2/16/09 at 10:19am

It was the same way Saturday night. I heard that Valentine's day is the most popular (or second most popular) day for theatre.

[jordangirl]

Posted: 2/16/09 at 10:25am

The conjunction of Valentine's Day falling on Presidents' Day weekend meant a crap load of tourists all over the place.

My personal favorite (yes, that is sarcasm) were the tour groups of teens walking in a long line two by two. I kid you not, I saw a group on Saturday night and then another different group on Sunday. If they hit a don't walk sign, they would take up the entire block to stay in their little linies.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 2/16/09 at 10:39am

I happened past the TKTS booth twice this weekend. On Saturday evening at about 7:00, and the Broadway shows up were 33 Variations and August: Osage County. On Sunday afternoon at about 1:50, it was August: Osage County or Chicago. That was it.

My personal favorite (yes, that is sarcasm) were the tour groups of teens walking in a long line two by two. I kid you not, I saw a group on Saturday night and then another different group on Sunday. If they hit a don't walk sign, they would take up the entire block to stay in their little linies.

Hehe. You're a teacher too, though. Didn't that remind you of class trips, when you've insisted on those perfect little lines?

[winston89]

Posted: 2/16/09 at 10:40am

jordangirl, If I had seen those girls I would have been VERY pissed off.

My day started out at the Wicked lotto (I knew I wasn't going to win, but, nothing wrong with trying) and then went down to TKTS. I saw how crowded it was and just ended up walking passed it. For kicks I decided to see if I could get a SRO ticket for Little Mermaid. However, I had no luck with that. So I decided that I would see if Mamma Mia had standing room, or if that didn't work, go across the street to get a ticket for The Fantasticks. I ended up doing SRO for Mamma Mia.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 2/16/09 at 10:42am

Goodness, how did NYC get the rep for being so rude?

[winston89]

Posted: 2/16/09 at 10:48am

Are you refering to me in your post Joekv?

[jordangirl]

Posted: 2/16/09 at 10:54am

adamgreer ~ Our "field trips" are to the garden our school has. Our kids don't usually get to go anywhere else, and if they do, we have related service people so everyone has a hand. There's a big difference between 2nd and 3rd grade special ed boys and high school kids. The two trips I made up here when I was in high school we didn't walk in lines.

[CSonBroadway]

Posted: 2/16/09 at 10:56am

I really don't like when kids are on field trips in the city. Although, my grade had a trip to Hairspray last year and I was getting so pissed at everyone in my grade...they were shouting the whole time and complaining about where our seats were.

Updated On: 2/16/09 at 10:56 AM

[jordangirl]

Posted: 2/16/09 at 10:57am

And JoeKv, if you were referring to my post, I didn't SAY anything to them, I just walked around them. It actually got pretty comical. The ones I saw yesterday were on the other side of the street and they really weren't making progress because there was no way they could all make it across during one walk cycle, so it was taking them at least two cycles per block. (I was at a Starbucks to witness that across the street.)

[dramamama611]

Posted: 2/16/09 at 11:09am

Yes...its a busy weekend...since it is also the begining to a very popular school vacation week, I think we will see a boosted grosses for the week we are starting.

[jordangirl]

Posted: 2/16/09 at 11:13am

Around here it's a vacation week. But not all over the country. Lots of my teacher friends in other parts of the country are jealous. :)

But yeah I think this is usually a bump week. It's usually the start of "rolling spring break" for college students. (Where they don't all have it at the same time but rather over a series of weeks they will all have their breaks.)

[CSonBroadway]

Posted: 2/16/09 at 11:17am

I really didn't want to start a new thread..
However, how long do you think Avenue Q will last? I'm not sure if I should book some tickets in advance for my spring break, and I don't want to risk it not being there.

Updated On: 2/16/09 at 11:17 AM

[dramamama611]

Posted: 2/16/09 at 11:18am

Most of New England has vacation.

[TheCharleston]

Posted: 2/16/09 at 11:19am

You will get a refund if it closes by then... which it won't.

same company, d.t.e, that produced ALTAR BOYZ (which is doing well and selling through September) has confimred that AVENUE Q is just fine.

[jordangirl]

Posted: 2/16/09 at 11:22am

By "the area" I meant the northeast. The south, the midwest and the west generally do not.

[hubee]

Posted: 2/16/09 at 11:22am

I tried to get The Story of My Life rush on Sunday mat and the ticketlady told us it was almost sold out so they weren't going to do student rush. WHAT? Even 33% capacity TSOML was almost sold out (though the fact that they still had a few tickets left just 2 hours before the show and weren't willing to rush them annoyed me and now I'll probably never be able to see it since it'll probably close before I return to NY).

[CSonBroadway]

Posted: 2/16/09 at 11:35am

Hubee- I know! Even the not so popular shows were sold out as well.

Updated On: 2/16/09 at 11:35 AM

[CyCoSpAz2]

Posted: 2/16/09 at 11:42am

Avenue Q was also sold out on the 14th.

[CSonBroadway]

Posted: 2/16/09 at 11:47am

Good for them!

[TheCharleston]

Posted: 2/16/09 at 11:55am

Yes. So to answer your question again...

AVENUE Q isn't going anywhere.

[CSonBroadway]

Posted: 2/16/09 at 11:59am

Okay thanks!

[Eris0303]

Posted: 2/16/09 at 12:04pm

I hate when people walk on the sidewalks. They're in my way.

My office is open today and I am at work but a lot of people took off today. In my section of the office there are three people out. I know the woman who runs the front desk is out as well. I don't even know about the other side of the office.

So, if it's like this I here I'd have to imagine it's the same in many other offices that are open. I bet any shows with performances today will be sold out as well.

Updated On: 2/16/09 at 12:04 PM

[dramamama611]

Posted: 2/16/09 at 12:07pm

how can you be annoyed that they weren't willing to sell tix that were most likely going to go for full price at a discount?

NOBODY discounts merchandise that is selling on its own...its a business.

Good for them for selling out...maybe word of mouth will give them a boost. Hopefully most were pleasantly surprised by the show!

[dancingthrulife04]

Posted: 2/16/09 at 2:41pm

We had an awful time trying to get tickets yesterday. Lost the lotto for In the Heights twice, then couldn't get tickets for anything else. We ended up seeing Mamma Mia (which, IMO, was totally not worth it).