This BOOK OF MORMON Lottery...- Page 2

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 2/25/11 at 10:46am

Sounds just like the old RENT lotto, which was one of the most rigged things in town. It was impossible to win unless the guys thought you were hot/if you wore skimpy clothes and threw yourself at them. Total joke.

And frankly, Mr. Nederlander VP, I don't buy it.

As for WICKED... he does go inside but that's to signal the end of the collection. He sits directly in front of the glass door, in full view of everyone, and does it. Nothing shady there.

[Marianne2]

Posted: 2/25/11 at 10:53am

^ When I did the Shrek lotto, I won as a single. So, maybe some do, but some don't.

[KirbyCat]

Posted: 2/25/11 at 11:33am

Maybe it was the person who pulled yours, but the Shrek lotto was one of the best organized and fair drawings I've ever witnessed. They had you drop your own entry in, you hung out indoors in the front lobby (we chatted with the lovely girl who was behind the counter for a while), and then they spun the golden drum right in front of you. When I did it on closing night, both my friend and I won separately.

[mamaleh]

Posted: 2/25/11 at 11:59am

If you don't win the lottery, does anyone know if they're making standing room available, either now or after opening?

[Yero my Hero]

Posted: 2/25/11 at 12:08pm

I won the West Side Story lotto once. So it wasn't a scam.

Because you happened to win once, the lottery was never rigged in its entire year+ of performances?

No one is saying that the concept of the lottery was a complete scam, but it was fairly regularly rigged so that friends of the cast would win. That was known.

[TonyVincent]

Posted: 2/25/11 at 1:09pm

You didn't win...get over it. There's no reason for them to "rig" it.....

Except to use it for additional, discounted house seats for friends and family of the theater staff.

Sounds just like the old RENT lotto, which was one of the most rigged things in town. It was impossible to win unless the guys thought you were hot/if you wore skimpy clothes and threw yourself at them. Total joke.

I did the Rent lotto probably about 10-12 times over the years, won about 6 times, and I never suspected anything like that. I'm a guy, and I was an awkward teenager for most of them at that.

[Yero my Hero]

Posted: 2/25/11 at 1:32pm

I also won RENT 5 or 6 times over the years, most of that time in college and pretty decidedly not hot. (I was a lot heavier than I am now.) I heard accusations of cheaters at the RENT lotto, but never rigging on the theater's part.

[maxximumvolume]

Posted: 2/25/11 at 1:34pm

The performance wasn't 100% sold out because after lotto I got a pair of obstructed seats for $69 a piece. Second row of the mezz all the way on the left side. The only obstruction was the heads of the people in the boxes but for the most part the seats were just fine.

Loved the show, by the way.

[ArtMan]

Posted: 2/25/11 at 4:53pm

KirbyCat.....she did not allow me to place it in the basket, nor did she put in the basket. She took it from me (she was sitting down) and did something with it from under the counter. I did not say anything to her about it at the time...because I did not want to give her a reason to disqualify me. Everybody participating were pairs and a family of four. Marianne2, was there another single winner? If there was..then there would not be an unever number of tickets distibuted. Possibly thats the reason. Who knows? I ended up with a great student ticket, for not that much more.

[tking001]

Posted: 2/25/11 at 5:37pm

^ Student ticket for book of Mormon?
I didn't know they did student tickets

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 2/25/11 at 5:38pm

Read the thread. They don't.

[binau]

Posted: 2/25/11 at 5:40pm

I'm curious to know when lotto's are 'rigged', in what fashion are they rigged?

Like, there was talk about choosing the hot (girls?)...what other criteria aids selection :P?

[tking001]

Posted: 2/25/11 at 5:43pm

I didn't think they did
I got the impression that they did from this post
"Possibly thats the reason. Who knows? I ended up with a great student ticket, for not that much more."

[#1Elphie]

Posted: 2/25/11 at 5:45pm

tking, they're talking about Shrek.

I'm curious to see if they change the Book of Mormon lotto at all now.

[singtopher]

Posted: 2/25/11 at 5:47pm

1) Even if the names are drawn in full view, it's not that hard to rig a lotto.

2) If one person is handing out the names, it's not that hard to be deliberate about not handing out more than one slip to the same person.

[kyle4]

Posted: 2/25/11 at 5:58pm

my lottery experiences have been clean and cool... i have won them... and lost them... i never left feeling cheated or scammed...

american idiot
next to normal
in the heights
hair

nice to see the jujy people responding !!!! cool move....

[liotte]

Posted: 2/25/11 at 7:04pm

For anyone interested, tonight's Mormon lotto was done out in the open in front of everyone.

They had the front row, and then a couple of boxes for lotto.
Nothing mentioned about SRO.

It was a huge crowd, so I just bought tickets to see it next week and not bother with lotto anymore.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 2/25/11 at 7:17pm

Ok, well good. I'm glad I posted this last night.

[April Saul]

Posted: 2/25/11 at 10:38pm

Hey Liotte--I'm with you, I just scored a single front mezz ticket on eBay tonight for the bargain sum of $43 for tomorrow night! The lottery sounds way too hard, especially for anyone living a distance from the city. But very glad for all the info here, and for Jordan helping to keep things honest...so excited for this show!

[ahhrealmonsters]

Posted: 2/25/11 at 10:55pm

I've seen fair and rigged lottos.

Hair:
A friend of mine won. Her friend was picking names.. he picked hers "coincidentally".

Rent:
I've seen the guys hold a name to the side and then "pick it".

WSS:
That was so sketchy. I can't even begin to describe it.

Yep- some honest, some not.

[n2nbaby]

Posted: 2/25/11 at 11:14pm

What was so sketchy about the West Side Story lotto? I never heard anything and I've never tried it.

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 2/25/11 at 11:23pm

You're kidding me, right? RENT was always rigged by those morons.

[matty159]

Posted: 2/26/11 at 2:46pm

I was there for the lottery at the first preview and was the third name called. Absolutely not rigged (at least in my case). I called it a miracle.

I have heard stories from friends about the WSS lottery...totally sketchtastic.

[n2nbaby]

Posted: 2/26/11 at 3:02pm

WHAT ABOUT WEST SIDE STORY?!?!

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 2/26/11 at 6:12pm

Now, I wanted to chime in and say that, to be fair, some lotteries can certainly seem questionable, but aren't. I've been at lotteries drawn by people that I know and I have been one of 3 people to walk away with no ticket.. at the same time, I once jokingly said that I would motorboat the woman (I knew her beforehand) if she drew my name first.. and my name was drawn first! But it certainly was not rigged and it is still a running joke.

As far as lotteries drawn inside, I can certainly see why some people prefer to do that.. and it isn't to pull friends' names. Many times I have seen lotteries where - tourists particularly - crowd the table, try to peer right into the bucket / barrel and physically do just get in the way of the lottery worker and that is frustrating. At Hairspray, one of the lottery workers almost ALWAYS had the table / drawing set up inside the lobby and everyone was required to wait outside so as to not clog the box office - and that man is the LAST person who would EVER rig a lottery for ANYONE. Others would do it inside in bad weather.. and they ALWAYS stated that there would be 20-24 seats for each show because the company retained the right to withhold 4 for company use.. and you were always told how many would given away that day. For a time, they prevented company members from entering, but they would still show up with a crowd of friends when the friends would try for tickets - legit, I might add.

The problem at West Side Story, to me, had NOTHING to do with drawing tickets inside or whether or not some seats were given to company members.. it's that the man who usually ran that lottery, to put it mildly, was an arrogant @$$. You HAD to fill out the form standing right in front of him, you had to use a pencil he provided, you couldn't place it in the bag yourself, he would void your entry if you lingered in the lobby, he would void your entry if he noticed you standing in front of the crack he designated in the sidewalk while waiting or while he was drawing, he would void your entry if you didn't have cash and ID out WHEN he called your name, or if you didn't stand completely against the door while waiting to buy tickets or if a member of your party wandering into the lobby while you waited to purchase.. and he would void your ticket if you used your phone inside...
The man absolutely got off on having absolute power of people trying their luck...