NYC Encores Seating

Front of the balcony

Maybe it has improved since the renovation, but I thought the rear mezzanine sightlines were terrible: the rake was bad and there was that balcony overhang. I have front center balcony seats now. The sound is great. No one sitting forward to get a better view. Not as good a front orchestra (the orchestra pit is the best, IMO), but better than rear mezzanine. And, I think, less expensive.

I would agree with what's been said here: Front of balcony > Rear of mezzanine. I've seen a number of Encores shows and can support this statement wholeheartedly for a number of reasons:

(1) The front of the balcony overhangs Grand Tier Row E (http://www.nycitycenter.org/getattachment/Home/Visitor-Info/Seating-Maps/seatmap-mainstage.pdf.aspx), so you really don't feel that far back.

(2) The incline of the balcony is so steep, you actually feel like you have more legroom since your feet are touching the top of the seat in front of you.

(3) The sight lines from the balcony aren't too cut-off, which is surprising given how high up you are. Plus, Encores shows don't do too much (if anything) high in the air, so you really won't miss much.

I've always sat in the cheap seats for Encores shows (the closest row and the furthest center a $25 seat can buy in the balcony!), and you can usually move down/in once the show starts given that selling out NY City Center is difficult. Of course the sucky thing about the balcony is that the only entrance to a row is on eihter side, which means latecomers can be really disruptive to a lot of people if they are sitting in the center.

On the same topic, however, I actually have my own question about Encores seating, for future reference. I'm seeing "The Wild Party" in July, and at the time of purchase, the $25 seat options I had were either the orchestra pit seats (Rows AA, BB, and CC) or the far sides of the front row of the Grand Tier (e.g. Row A, Seat 15). I chose to sit in the latter, but I'm not sure I made the right choice.

Does anyone have experience with either seating area? I was afraid the orchestra pit seats would be too close to the stage (I'm pretty sensitive about being too close -- my rush ticket seat in the first row of the Walter Kerr made "Gentleman's Guide" a terrible theater experience.)

Updated On: 6/25/15 at 12:10 PM

I had the same choice for A New Brain, and I chose side orchestra, 4th row a few seats from the wall. It was the first time I'd sat here, after being in the balcony 10+ times, the rear mezz a couple times, and center orchestra a couple times for some less-demanded shows.

Balcony - well described already

Rear Mezz - you are pretty far back, and between the overhang and the people in front, the window of show you can see is pretty small. That said, Encores rarely has tall sets or aerial choreography, so you probably won't miss much. The raking/spacing is better since the renovation.

Side Orch - was a little disappointed in this last night. Leg room is nice, but the angling is not--you're facing the side speakers, not the stage. The raking and slope is also poor, so I was bobbing around to maintain a decent view between the few rows of people in front of me that I had to look diagonally across. It was nice to be 25 feet from the action instead of ~100 feet, but I'm not sure it was worth it relative to an unobstructed view higher up.

Updated On: 6/25/15 at 01:40 PM

This is interesting. In previous topics about City Center seating lots of people have complained about how high up the balcony is, and that's part of the reason why I've mostly chosen Mezz over Balcony. I've never been up there, but you can tell it's very high.

What I have done the last 2 Encores, was use the 20% discount and then buy the side mid mezz tickets for $56 (and buying them at the BO to save the $10 online fees). I've liked those seats a lot and got them again for Cabin In The Sky. It's good to buy them as soon as you can though, to get the better seats in that price section. For Pain Your Wagon we were pretty far to the side, and had an extreme side view, but could move in a few seats because those seats remained empty. For Zorba I bought them longer in advance and ended up on a few seats from the aisle, and that was a great seat.

Chi, I'd pick the Row C mezz as well. The side orch could be fine, depending on where they are in that section. The ones close to the aisle are probably very good too, if they're further on the outside I'd prefer to go to the mezz.

I've been in the pit for New Brain and Wild Party because I had a student friend by the $25 tickets for me, and I loved it, but I've never had a problem with being close. If you're sensitive to that, the first 3 rows are indeed very close to the stage, and I saw a lot of spit, esp. New Brain with the black backdrop haha.

For me I think the best overall sightline value is front side mezzanine. So I agree with IrisTinkerbell.

i think City Center has one of the best websites when shopping for best sight lines. Once the section seating chart displays you can click on the camera icon in the upper left corner which provides you an accurate photo from at least 10-15 seat locations in that section. I find this tool very helpful and wish other sites offered such (real photo) functionality.

Mezz C is actually one of the best seats in the house for any venue. Being that Encores is an in house production sightlines are always good for most of the house since they have the common sense to stage the projects DS.

Some theatre companies do no adapt their works to the stage so sightlines can be very bad for HL and HR. The proscenium protrudes and blocks USR and USL action.

The Balcony is much better than Upper Mezz H through M. Many people ask to move to the balcony if there are available seats.

Once in a while there are sound issues because a company does not want to use microphones. If this is the case the balcony is not that great for hearing purposes.

If a company comes in and is using subtitles the screens are awkward for Upper Mezz and some of the balcony.

Without saying much more I am very well aware of the theatre and can tell you about any seat.