TheaterMania Gold Club, Audience Extras, Play By Play — Page 9

Hi Nasty Khakis,

Send us an email @ goldclub@theatermania.com at your convenience and we'll tell you more about the club and give you great reasons to give it a try...

Look forward to hearing from you...

Scott

Some of the papering sites list their sold out offers so you can see what you've missed, others do not. It is possible you just missed what you were looking for (I'm assuming Broadway) since they go very quickly. There have been several high profile Off-Broadway offerings, but even those can sell out in a matter of hours. Also, unless a show is simply not selling, most try to limit papering to the first couple weeks of previews (if you keep on offering comps after that, it can be hard to build an audience of paying customers if everyone knows they can get in for free). So, for several shows opening soon, its possible you missed the window on those.

While not comps, TDF has seen an increase in the number of broadway shows listed. In my experience, its the newer shows that offer papering the most.

Gold Club is the worst one. Nobody wants to give them tickets because the guy in charge is a crazy ass, and it's not worth any producers hassle when there are so many stress-free options to get butts in seats. Check out Play by Play and Theater Extras. They both get plenty of Broadway, and high profile off-Broadway, tickets but you have to check the sites daily.

Updated On: 3/10/16 at 01:35 PM

Regarding all of the clubs:

I have a feeling the next couple of weeks will have some major off-Broadway offers (shows that are closing, shows that are starting previews). However, the calendar shows that off-Broadway tends to be heavier in the autumn months up through February. Also, 20@20 ends on Sunday, which is a reason why the past couple of weeks have been lighter with off-Broadway.

Regarding Broadway, there is certainly room to paper for many shows (judging by the latest grosses), but for whatever reason, Broadway producers would rather the houses play to 50%-70% capacity instead of papering via the clubs (they are still papering via the industry). That's demoralizing to cast/crew and results in lost drink/merchandise sales as well.

I signed up for Gold Club last month and will be cancelling. The offerings have been absolutely paltry; I've used it once, blind, for something I never would have paid for. Definitely not covering the cost of membership.

There are enough off-Broadway shows at certain theaters that I'm holding out hope for that I'm not ready to cancel anything yet. But I agree that, looking back, February was a particularly bad month.

I'm not going to weigh in on what Just_John is saying tonally but I have my own issues with the customer service of Gold Club. I've said in the past that I find them to be very condescending and unhelpful. Every question you ask is copy and pasted the same response. If you ask to be put on a waitlist for a show that's previously been on they never tell you it's available and in the past I've had to email them after I've already seen the offer and gotten tickets. Honestly it's not my fault if they have a small staff because I don't think I'm being unreasonable by asking the occasional request. Maybe if they had a better selection of shows they'd make more money.

Gold Club is awful...rarely has anything decent to go to, and their website still says that have "Recently" had tickets to shows that closed WELL over a year ago. I wish I could get my money back from when I was a member.

I was a member before the last month or so and there was nothing to offer, it's more of a scam than anything.

just as you say no broadway BOOM



gone already

Updated On: 5/3/16 at 03:09 PM

This is a bit of a old thread, while I've lurked on this board in the past the desire to ask a question on this topic has caused me to finally register.


I was wondering what the current opinions are about some of the services mentioned here as many of the posts in this thread are years old. I also didn't notice anyone mention studentrush's Will Call Club, I was a member a little over a year ago & they used to be great for off and off-off Broadway shows (unfortunately I was using the club several times a week and got extremely sick without notifying them of the cancellations and had my membership revoked without any recourse for reinstatement). Does anyone have any information on what they're current lineup has been like?
I currently only belong to TheaterManis's Gold Club because they offer monthly memberships, they're selection is fairly disappointing with mostly cheap cabaret type shows but around twice a month I'll find a small play that interests me enough to keep my membership going.
I'm hesitant to join any of the programs that require a year long membership, especially when they insist on keeping their show listing hidden until after they have your non refundable year long membership fee.

I suppose what I'd really like to know is how the other sites compare to the Gold Club and if any of them are currently worth joining?

Thanks.

I also have play by play and have been pretty happy with it. I only joined a few months ago and have seen 2 broadway listed (1 musical and 1 play), tons of off and off-off broadway, 2 ballets, both walking and bus tours, and stuff at BB king. There is much more, just naming the ones that caught my eye. I went the Bway musical listed and that alone paid for my membership. I don't care for the $5 fees on top of the membership fee, but my guess that helps keep people from making reservations and not showing up. Shows at LIncoln Center are particularly likely to show up. If it keeps up the same I will renew for next year.