Phantom matinee question

[Scott Rosson]

Posted: 12/29/17 at 12:35am

Hi all,
I am seeing the Thursday Matinee of Phantom next week and I was wondering if Laird would be on or would a understudy/alternate play the title role.

Thanks!

[uncageg]

Posted: 12/29/17 at 1:32am

Who is Laird? Just went to the website and saw nobody with that name.

[Phantom4ever]

Posted: 12/29/17 at 1:40am

This week has Jeremy Stolle doing the Thursday matinee. Really no way to guarantee a certain Phantom even if someone is assigned a particular performance.

[Scott Rosson]

Posted: 12/29/17 at 2:23am

Laird Mackintosh is the current Phantom. The website hasn’t been updated.

[Justin D]

Posted: 12/29/17 at 7:17am

Yea you never really know, I am thinking based on their instagram trends that Liard seems to be doing the evening shows mostly, but you never know.

[thedrybandit]

Posted: 12/29/17 at 9:44am

A friend of mine was there this week, Jeremy Stolle is listed in the playbill as doing matinees, Laird Mackintosh is doing evening performances.

Not sure if that's going to be the case for Laird's whole time filling in, or if that will change after this week.

[mozgrrl]

Posted: 12/29/17 at 9:59am

Phantom4ever said: "This week has Jeremy Stolle doing the Thursday matinee. Really no way to guarantee a certain Phantom even if someone is assigned a particular performance."

I've never seen Jeremy Stolle, but I've heard he's REALLY good!! Laird is wonderful too, so it's a win/win :)

 

 

[labellaragazza1]

Posted: 12/29/17 at 11:26am

mozgrrl said: "Phantom4ever said: "This week has Jeremy Stolle doing the Thursday matinee. Really no way to guarantee a certain Phantom even if someone is assigned a particular performance."

I've never seen Jeremy Stolle, but I've heard he's REALLY good!! Laird is wonderful too, so it's a win/win :)

"

Cant go wrong with either. Both are awesome, but Laird responded to an instagram comment that he isn't doing matinees. It should be Jeremy Stolle, who is excellent in the role. 

[Lot666]

Posted: 1/2/18 at 1:14pm

labellaragazza1 said: "Cant go wrong with either. Both are awesome, butLaird responded to an instagram comment that he isn't doing matinees. It should be Jeremy Stolle, who is excellent in the role."

Indeed, both are far superior to the former lead who recently left. I would be delighted to find that either one of them is on.

[upinlights]

Posted: 3/14/18 at 11:58pm

Hi all-- not totally sure if this is the right place to ask this, but I just searched "phantom matinee" and hoped I would find a thread. But it is a phantom matinee question! So, I'm going to the city next thursday with 5 friends, and we're hoping to see the matinee of phantom. We don't want to shell out the cash to pay in advance. Would it be better to rush (we can get to the city as early as about 11), or hope we can get a good deal at tkts? I've never bought more than 3 tickets at tkts, so I don't know if 5 is too many. Alternatively, is there a discount code that would make these tickets super affordable? Rear mez online is $45, but I'm wondering if we can do better seating wise. 

Updated On: 3/14/18 at 11:58 PM

[haterobics]

Posted: 3/15/18 at 12:08am

$99 prime orchestra?

http://www.playbill.com/discount/playbill-discounts-for-the-phantom-of-the-opera

[Fosse76]

Posted: 3/15/18 at 12:11am

The Thursday matinee should have plenty of ticket availability the day of the show. Is so poorly attended I'm shocked they haven't moved back to Wednesdays.

[PatrickDC]

Posted: 3/15/18 at 12:38am

Fosse76 said: "The Thursday matinee should have plenty of ticket availability the day of the show. Is so poorly attended I'm shocked they haven't moved back to Wednesdays."

Ok, I’ll ask: Why would a Wednesday matinee be more or less well attended than a Thursday matinee? 

[Lot666]

Posted: 3/15/18 at 8:07am

Fosse76 said: "The Thursday matinee should have plenty of ticket availability the day of the show. Is so poorly attended I'm shocked they haven't moved back to Wednesdays."

I've been to the Thursday matinee many times and have never noted "poor attendance". I also think it's quite savvy of them to have their matinee on a Thursday, when there's virtually no competition. Why schedule it on the same day that everyone else has a matinee?

[Lot666]

Posted: 3/15/18 at 8:08am

upinlights said: "is there a discount code that would make these tickets super affordable? Rear mez online is $45, but I'm wondering if we can do better seating wise."

Have you checked TelechargeOffers.com, BroadwayBox.com, Playbill.com, or TheaterMania.com?

[labellaragazza1]

Posted: 3/15/18 at 9:25am

upinlights said: "Hi all-- not totally sure if this is the right place to ask this, but I just searched "phantom matinee" and hoped I would find a thread. But it is a phantom matinee question! So, I'm going to the city next thursday with 5 friends, and we're hoping to see the matinee of phantom. We don't want to shell out the cash to pay in advance. Would it be better to rush (we can get to the city as early as about 11), or hope we can get a good deal at tkts? I've never bought more than 3 tickets at tkts, so I don't know if 5 is too many. Alternatively, is there a discount code that would make these tickets super affordable? Rear mez online is $45, but I'm wondering if we can do better seating wise."

Phantom doesn't have rush tickets, but it does have box seats for $45 only avail at the box office. They're partial view, technically, but rather close and you only miss what's in the corner. TKTS seats are usually around $80 (but I also got to sit front row, sooo) when I've checked there, but I've only gone to the evening show during weekdays because of work.

You also could all try entering the lotto for $40, as long as you enter before 9 am -you would find out early in the morning if enough of you had won to all get seats. Those seats are usually the first few rows on the side of the orchestra 

[Fosse76]

Posted: 3/15/18 at 12:48pm

Lot666 said: "Fosse76 said: "The Thursday matinee should have plenty of ticket availability the day of the show. Is so poorly attended I'm shocked they haven't moved back to Wednesdays."

I've been to the Thursday matinee many times and have never noted "poor attendance". I also think it's quite savvy of them to have their matinee on a Thursday, when there's virtually no competition. Why schedule it on the same day that everyone else has a matinee?"

Unlike your anecdotal evidence, I have access to actual attendance figures (which for what should be obvious reasons I cannot disclose). Not only is it the least attended performance of the show each week, it also under-performs when compared to the former Wednesday matinees.

Phantom is no longer the "it" show, so it has to target people who specifically want to see it, or hope that there are tourists roaming around on a Thursday afternoon looking for a show to see. But with a 30-year old show, many of those tourists (limited as it is) may have already seen it or may just not be interested in it.

That's why.

[haterobics]

Posted: 3/15/18 at 1:10pm

PatrickDC said: "Ok, I’ll ask: Why would a Wednesday matinee be more or less well attended than a Thursday matinee?"

Wednesday matinees are more standard. Having lived in areas outside of NYC, it is more obvious. My hometown runs a "shopper's special" bus trip to NYC only on Wednesdays, and mentions catching a Broadway matinee as one of the reasons to go. And when I take the NJTransit into NYC, parking is hell, and I even ended up going into the paid lot, and the attendant said, you have to get here early on a Wednesday with the matinee crowd, and this is like 2 hours outside of NYC, and the parking attendant knows Wednesday matinees are a thing (although, obviously, you could take the train in on a Thursday).

So, while Phantom does get to own Thursday afternoon, and anyone wanting to see a show then has to see Phantom or nothing, it is also detaching itself from a lot of mechanisms that bring the people nearby into the city and just the knowledge people have that Broadway shows have Wednesday matinees.

[Phantom4ever]

Posted: 3/15/18 at 2:17pm

To the post-resurrector: I would print out a discount code from one of the sites already mentioned and bring it to the theater when you arrive on Thursday. There will most likely be some decent seats left. If you aren't happy with the selection, the good ones might have been sent over to TKTS already and you can head over there. But that $99 prime orchestra offer sounds tough to beat. 

As for the Thursday matinee popularity, I've seen Phantom's Thursday matinee 10 times, and it has only been badly-attended one of those ten times. That said, all 10 of the times were during summer, spring break, or Christmas week so obviously the crowds are bigger anyway. I wonder what it would take for the producers to move the matinee to Wednesday. For me, someone who has to see Phantom every time I'm in town, Phantom having a Thursday matinee has meant I've had an extra slot to see another show. I'm too much of a Phantom-lunatic to ever skip Phantom    The other posters have been right, I would venture that the vast majority of theater fans have no idea that Phantom has a Thursday matinee. I would think a Friday matinee makes more sense, but I suppose it was designed for the midweek group sales crowd. I guess Phantom isn't getting enough of that business anymore? 

[Lot666]

Posted: 3/15/18 at 2:51pm

Phantom4ever said: "For me, someone who has to see Phantom every time I'm in town, Phantom having a Thursday matinee has meant I've had an extra slot to see another show."

Same for me, so I'm quite happy that there's a Thursday matinee.

 

[upinlights]

Posted: 3/16/18 at 1:23am

Thanks for all the responses! I think I'll take Phantom4Ever's suggestion to bring the codes and then check TKTS. $99 prime orchestra IS quite the deal, but I am SO CHEAP, so this is gonna be my last resort. I've never seen the show, so I'm really looking forward to it!

As for the discussion about the Thursday vs Wednesday matinee, I'm still in school, so in the summers I'll go to Wednesday matinees. I've known about the Thursday mat for a while, which is why I've never seen Phantom b/c I figured I'd save it for when I have a Thursday off and want to see a show, like next week. I doubt Thursday attendees' reasons are similar to mine, but I think that on a Wednesday, with every other show available, Phantom is simply not peoples' first choice anymore. They're cornering the Thursday market because there is literally no other option. I cringe at the thought of a $99 ticket, but I'd pay it because I can't go to anything else! At the same time, I think it's interesting that the Thursday mat prices aren't higher or something, because with nothing else going on and maybe some desperate tourists, they could make a killing.

[Lot666]

Posted: 3/16/18 at 8:13am

upinlights said: "$99 prime orchestra IS quite the deal, but I am SO CHEAP, so this is gonna be my last resort. I've never seen the show, so I'm really looking forward to it!"

Seriously, if this will be your first time seeing the show, all the more reason to splurge and get the best possible seat because vantage point can have a significant impact on your enjoyment of the piece. Save the cheapo options for a return visit.

[adam.peterson44]

Posted: 3/17/18 at 4:46am

I had never seen Phantom on Broadway despite a couple of years of theatre trips until they switched to having thursday matinees.  Once they made that switch, i have seen it in that slot on almost every NY theatre visit, with the only exceptions being those times when another show (rarely) has a thursday matinee.  (E.g. Cagney was a recent one).  So they had gotten much more of my business since making the switch, and there are lots of theatre super-fans on here that fill every show slot with a show when visiting.  But perhaps that audience isn't enough to justify leaving it on a less-popular day.  But i hope that it will be enough, for selfish reasons.