The absolute cheapest tickets

[It's All Good]

Posted: 1/22/07 at 10:25pm

I am very shortly taking a week off from school and heading to NY. As a victim of private college tuition, I am broke. Well,basically. Anyway, I am aware of the policy for student rush but am wondering if there is perhpas any way even cheaper to buy tickets to a show. There are about 5 shows I would love to see and definitely can't afford all of them. So, anyone have any ingenious ideas or insider tips about how to buy "the aboslutely cheapest tickets possible?" Help a poor theatre lover out!!! Thanks.
Updated On: 1/22/07 at 10:25 PM

[DRSisLove]

Posted: 1/22/07 at 10:29pm

25 dollars is really the cheapest you're gonna get.

[admanrich]

Posted: 1/22/07 at 10:31pm

You could join play by play, but they rarely have mainstream Broadway shows up. I'm not exactly sure how to join/ if there are membership fees, but it's like $3 a show. However, they probably won't have any well-known Broadway shows on there.

$25 is really the cheapest for rush/lotto. Some shows are $20, but that doesn't really make a huge difference.

[Mistress_Spouzic]

Posted: 1/22/07 at 10:33pm

all the papering services have membership fees for around $100 so that wont really help.

what shows were you wanting to see?

[It's All Good]

Posted: 1/22/07 at 11:21pm

I wanted to see:
Company
Grey Gardens
Spring Awakening
The Color Purple
A Chorus Line

[Chrissy*J]

Posted: 1/22/07 at 11:25pm

Les Miserables standing room is only $21.25...

[craftymarley]

Posted: 1/22/07 at 11:58pm

Talkin' Broadway has all the info for standing room and rush. Several of those shows offer a pretty cheap rear mezz or balcony ticket too. Just do a little research and you'll be fine. You can probably see all of those shows for like $150.

[myManCape]

Posted: 1/23/07 at 12:50pm

Second Act?

Everyone else was thinking it, I just said it.

[ErikInTheCity]

Posted: 1/23/07 at 12:52pm

Isn't second acting relatively impossible these days, with the scanning in and out of tickets at intermission? Even if some theatres are lax in their policies, it's hard to know from theatre to theatre. Second act-ing a show was much easier in the 90s.

[myManCape]

Posted: 1/23/07 at 12:54pm

They dont scan you out at intermission.

[madbrian]

Posted: 1/23/07 at 1:06pm

Keep in mind that standing room is only sold for sold out performances, and very few shows are running at 100% right now.

[MamawhoBoreme]

Posted: 1/23/07 at 1:09pm

Spring Awakening you can get stage tickets for 31. if you can get them

[AnaGFan]

Posted: 1/23/07 at 1:13pm

Spring Awakening and Grey Gardens have student rush. I went to the GG box office 30 minutes before the matinee started and got student rush.

Chorus Line has lottery.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 1/23/07 at 1:40pm

Talkin' Broadway has all the info for standing room and rush.

They even have a link!

http://talkinbroadway.com/boards/index.php?category=&rush=show&order=

[Gypsy9]

Posted: 1/23/07 at 1:45pm

I haven't heard about second acting in years. In the 1960's I tried it a few times and it worked for me most of the time. It was most successful when it was warm enough out so that you didn't need a coat which you theoretically would have left in the theatre for intermission. It also was necessary to pick a show that wasn't sold out so that you could sit in the back of the Orchestra section. I do remember second acting FUNNY GIRL with Streisand and sittting on the bench that the Winter Garden had for standing room in the rear of the Orchestra, and the usher came along checking everyone's ticket stub and stopped checking just before me. That made me nervous. During my drinking days I second acted Noel Coward's THE GIRL WHO CAME TO SUPPER at least 6 times. I never second acted a show that I hadn't originally seen in it's entirety. I only got kicked out once, at the Shubert which had the watchful eye of a diligent usher! Ah, the good old days.

[lildogs]

Posted: 1/23/07 at 1:52pm

Yes, play by play rarely has Bway shows--though this month they had Color Purple and Little Dog up, it's $99 member fee and $1 per ticket--I THINK--my ex is a member and I've used the service.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 1/23/07 at 1:53pm

People definitely still do it, and relatively easily at that.

FYI, Talkin' Broadway's information for Company's rush is incorrect; they have rush for all performances now. But as has been said, that's the cheapest you're going to get. They're $36.25, but you can also buy rear mezz seats in advance for the same price.

Aren't Spring Awakening's regular rush tickets cheaper than the on stage seats?

[dramaqueen2]

Posted: 1/23/07 at 2:04pm

yes spring awakening's regular rush IS cheaper than onstage seats.

i would say that onstage seats for SA are for the more diehardish fans, and i wouldn't really call the onstage seats "rush" because you can get them way in advance, but i'm sure if they weren't all sold you can get them the day of? but i could be wrong. but SRO for SA is hardcore standing room, i know some shows have benches and whatnot, but it is really standing.

ahhhh spring awakening *sigh*

alright i'm finished.

[DRSisLove]

Posted: 1/23/07 at 3:34pm

Like NO shows have benches for SRO, most shows you STAND unless theres a seat open.

[steven22]

Posted: 1/23/07 at 4:51pm

go to broadwaybox.com
there are discount codes you enter on ticketmaster.com
or broadwayoffers.com
so many shows have discount codes

[Gypsy9]

Posted: 1/23/07 at 5:29pm

DRSislove: The Winter Garden used to have a velvet bench at the back wall of the Orchestra section which was there for SRO people to sit on, or they could stand behind the glass partition that used to be there. The last show that I saw at the Winter Garden was 1980's 42ND STREET, so that may all have changed. No other theatre had such a bench.

[LorelaiGilmore]

Posted: 1/23/07 at 7:19pm

I did A Chorus Line standing room on Sunday and it worked out really well, you see the entire show and it's not too long to stand.