Sweet Deal if Anyone Wants To See If/Then In Chicago!

Thanks. Got four in the center orchestra Row R! (although by the time all the service fees, facility fees, and order processing fees were added, the $19 ticket became $30 - still a deal!)

And, in the category of look before you leap, Idina Menzel is not appearing in Chicago. Which is fine because we get Jackie Burns!

Updated On: 2/16/16 at 11:18 PM

TFMH18 said: "Christ I knew this tour would tank once Idina departed

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Yeah, she was the primary reason the show did so well on Broadway. I wasn't planning on seeing it again in Chicago without her, but the prices were too cheap to ignore and I was curious to see how Jackie Burns would do in the role. I also thought some of the other supporting roles on Broadway felt miscast so I'm curiuos to see how those roles will fare with different actors.

Yes, discounts were available at certain times during Menzel's run too. Some of the tour venues were nearly twice as large as the Richard Rodgers. Pantages is 2,703 compared to RR's 1,319, for example.

KJisgroovy said: "Broadway in Chicago was extremely slow to put out discounts for this production. I'd written off seeing it and I'd imagine other folks might have done the same thing.

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Yeah, I was the same way. All of a sudden this last week they released like 3 different discount codes for it, but the $19 sold me.

Pootie2 said: "Discounts only matter for nonsubscribers, right? The Oriental Theatre has a capacity of 2,253 and they have a five-show weekend immediately after those specific discount dates. It looks between 50-60% sold on the weekend, probably mostly from subscribers, with about the same sold for the weekend after. I have no idea what tour running costs are like and major differences from Broadway business, though; that could be decent or not.

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You are correct. I also wonder what the costs of running a tour are. I think what stands out the most to me (and it could be thsi way in other tour stops as well) is that they have been advertising If/Then here since July. We have a summer Browadway In Chicago concert where they'll bring cast members to Millennium Park to sing songs from the shows that will be playing during the upcoming season and I remember their "big draw" this year was the cast of If/Then, which turned out to just be Jackie. And there have been posters throughout the city since then. I was shocked to see how many seats were still available leading up to this week. I honestly don't see why producers thought it would be a good idea to tour an original show that depends on it's big name star to sell tickets without the star. They should have just done the west coast tour with the original cast members and called it a day, then maybe a few years down the line when Idina's schedule cleared up a bit they could have brought it to other cities. That being said, I am still excited. This show really spoke to me and I'm looking forward to seeing if it works without Idina.

On a very different note, to me, the entire principal cast (with the exception of Anthony Rapp) is too young for their roles. If anyone is going in Chicago or elsewhere, let us know how the replacements are!