NY trip tips

Hello.

I'm planning a trip to NY. Since I'll be in the heart of the musicals, I can't miss a lot of my favourites. I'm just not sure how to proceed and buy tickets. I know that for anything that is a hit and I MUST see, I need to buy in advance.

However, I've been reading about things like TKTS. How does that work? I can only buy tickets for that day, is that correct? How risky is to buy tickets for shows like Phantom, Wicked or Lion King (the usual tourist route, I know, but it's my first trip and I want to be cliche) to be bought once I'm NY? Where else can I get discount tickets?

The NYT has got you covered, rodrigo-ca! A nice guide from 3/29/2017.

New York Times: "How to Get Cheap Tickets to Broadway Shows (Even 'Hamilton')

Updated On: 4/2/17 at 12:21 AM

I guess the issue is how much you hope to save. To me, a lot of shows already offer 40% off through discount sites like BroadwayBox, Theatermania, and Playbill. And if they are on TKTS, they could be 50% (or less) off. I rather book my own tickets, pick my own seats, and free up my time in NYC (if I were being a tourist, I typically just drive in, see a show, and turn back around) to enjoying everything else the city has to offer, with the theater tickets locked in.

The problem with your selections (and I'll only speak from a discount perspective, see what you want, heh) is you are knowingly seeing the shows that every tourist sees, which means they rarely offer discounts. Discounts are for the shows having a hard time getting word of mouth and building an audience, which is... none of the shows you're seeing.

Of course, if you don't follow all of the new shows and such, you'll need to sort out the ones not building an audience deservedly, and the hidden gems. But if you start a thread asking for advice there, beyond the people complaining about people asking, and half of the people saying you must see (and the other half saying must avoid) The Great Comet (I'm in the must-see camp), you'll figure things out.

I grew up in NYC, and started going to the theater with my mom and grandma at age 4! I'm 43 now

In 2013 I moved to Florida-I desperately miss Broadway theater.



In December I was in NYC for 2 weeks. I had a lot of free time-like pretty much every day free. Prior to going I bought tickets to:

-Book of mormom

-Dear Evan Hansen

-Falsettos

Book of Mormon was gift from my mom-she felt bad I had never seen it. DEH was so highly recommended on here, plus I heard the writers and songs on Broadway Sirius I bought a ticket. I am a major fan of Christian Borle, and when I got a discount code and was able to get s 2nd row seat to Falsettos-no brainer.

However I ended up seeing also:

-The Color Purple

-The Humans

-Great Comet

-Beautiful

-Fiddler on the Roof

In all my years living in NYC I never used TKTS but since I was near Lincoln Center I went there which is where I got Color purple, Beautiful and Fiddler. The humans I won in a lottery. And Great Comet I purchased based on a recommendation from a theater loving friend once I was in the city.

Basically I would consider your must sees-if you have your heart set on Wicked and Lion King either see if you can get online or go to the Box Office. Phantom you probably can get a slight discount.

The rest I would use this board to see what people are saying about shows and then use TKTS. I LOVED Color Purple because of Cynthia Erivo but had it not been for this board I might have overlooked it since the movie and book traumatized me when I was younger. While Beautiful wasn't the best show ever, really fun and totally worth it on TKTS. Winning the lottery for The Humans was awesome. And I love Fiddler but having seen it as many times as I have I couldn't justify full price, but TKTS price was perfect!