Ticket buying practices- Page 2
Ticket buying practices
#25Ticket buying practices
Posted: 4/16/23 at 7:19pm
With full price tickets being quite expensive (common to see last row of rear mezz or rear balcony to cost $89+ nowadays), I also just do rush/lottery/standing room. If I absolutely loved the show from whatever seat I sat in from rush/lottery/sro, then I'm willing to spend money on a full price ticket to see the show again from the seat I want to see it in.
#26Ticket buying practices
Posted: 4/16/23 at 10:37pm
Back in the 80s after graduating from college, I'd drive into the City from northern NJ with a bunch of twofers and buy tickets at the box office. I never sent in an order with a SASE because I wanted to pick my seats. It was fun to see the attendant at the box office with all the colored tickets behind them before the advent of computer-printed tickets, and it always amazed me how they could find tickets among all those bundles so quickly. Of course, I would buy tickets for the dates in the near future keeping with discount availability on the twofers. I don't every remember buying tickets for shows that just opened. I would read the local newspapers and the NYT to get an idea of what was coming that season. I especially enjoyed the Sunday Times that was published the weekend after Labor Day that would have full page spreads advertising incoming shows as part of their season preview. I usually purchased tickets for myself and others, but if I wanted to come in to the City and see something, I often just purchased same day at the box office. I only remember purchasing tickets at TKTS a handful of times.
As Internet access/purchases became readily available, I started purchasing tickets online taking advantage of the discounts I received on mailers and on Playbill.com. I liked it when musicals sent discounts with a CD with a sample of the music from the show. I remember receiving a CD for Hairspray and Never Gonna Dance. It was a good marketing tool before we had the access to music we have today. By this time, I could see shows in previews or at the beginning of their runs. I continued to read the NYT and magazines like NY Magazine (mentioned earlier), TheaterWeek and InTheater (for the short time they were around) to get my theater news. By this time, I had already been in every Broadway theater so I was familiar with seating, but if I had a forum early to ask people about seating, I would have asked. Asking for seating advice is harmless and makes perfect sense to me, especially now when we can ask people in forum such as this one.
Today, there are more options for purchasing tickets online, Today'sTix, SeatGeek, Criterion, and many others in addition to the now traditional Telecharge and Ticketmaster, and I take advantage of them all. Yes, there are fees, but then I used to spend money on gas and tolls driving into the City all those years ago (I used to park the car directly in front of the theater and run into the box office, then drive to the next theater, repeating the parking, etc. I don't know how I never got ticketed!). The opportunities to get information and purchase tickets are much better today, so why not take advantage of them all? I only joined this site a few years ago, after I semi-retired, and I get a lot more information off this site without even asking, than I used to searching the print media. I don't know why I didn't join sooner, but for people just starting out on their "theater journeys," they can make more informed theater-going choices.
#27Ticket buying practices
Posted: 4/17/23 at 4:02am
Oh, I forgot about those CD mailers. Those were so much fun to get. I remember playing the mailer for The Color Purple often.
Before A View From Your Seat or SeatPlan I used a website called entertainment-link which has since folded. It was incredibly helpful and would list the best viewing options as well as which seats and sections to steer clear of.
Dollypop
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
#28Ticket buying practices
Posted: 4/17/23 at 10:28am
Speaking of the pre-computerized tickets:
The old tickets had a specific aroma about them--similar to what greets your nose when you walk into a Staples store. I miss that smell.
"Long live God!" (GODSPELL)
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