Who has access to house tickets?

Cast...crew...production staff...producers.

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press/critics

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someone who is friends with someone in the show..cast members can get house seats for friends.

Oh, you all got told. You go, CJR!

How are you going to sit there and tell a press agent that she's wrong?

And unsold/un-comped house seats are typically released for general sale anywhere from 24-48 hours before the day they are for.

Every show has a block of tickets which are house seats (and yes, comps are included in that block, unless you've sold all your house seats and are having a reviewer or someone 'important' come. In which case you call the company manager and/or box office and see what kind of availablity they have to accomodate the reviewer or celebrity you're trying to fit in on a certain night).... in most cases the house seat books are handled by the press agent.

As I said, it always helps knowing someone..... but I've put house seat requests in for people who aren't anybody in show business on many many occasions. No, they're not 'technically' available to the general public.... but that's in the sense that the general public has no idea how to go about getting them. THATS why you have to know someone, not because the tickets arent available to you.

House seats are only special if they're comped. Otherwise, they're just another seat in the theatre that cost you in excess of $100 bucks.

PS. and yes, when a show is a hot ticket (ie: Spamalot and AQ after they won their Tonys respectively), the only way to get house seats is to know someone... However, that isnt happening anyway, unless you're someone HELLA important. In those cases, I happen to know for a fact that the cast members weren't even allowed to request for house seats for a certain period of time.

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Updated On: 1/13/06 at 02:13 AM

Daaaaaaamn.....

Having been a box office manager myself years ago (in three different theatres, in three different states), I agree that CJR is 100% right with this explanation of "how it works."

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Meagan, check your PMs

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when a show is 100% sold out the only way to get ANY seats is by knowing someone in or associated with the show...
as far as HOUSE seats..they become released at a set time before the show at which time you the general public can buy them.
of all of the shows i have done i have never known house seats to be available just by having a credit card.




You didnt say what I said. You basically contradicted what I said and pretty much alluded to the fact that I was wrong.

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Updated On: 1/13/06 at 04:15 PM

OY YOY YOY...CJR...don't worry...you're right...i am not trying to make you look bad or anything. for christs sake, you probably know me and have set up house seats for me! so relax! its all good.
i was merely saying that right now i could not walk up to the box office at "wicked" and say i would like a house seat for the sunday matinee. so i didn't want Meagan to think that she could do that. USUALLY, and maybe there is something no one ever told me...there is a block of seats called "house seats" that are reserved for people involved with the show..right? and those people involved with the show can fill out a form and request those seats which are full price. in a case when not all of the house seats are requested by a certain time ...they are THEN released to the general public for sale at full price...USUALLY house seats are held and available to the cast, crew, etc until a few hours before the show(or whatever time is determined). i had a case once where one morning an out of town friend had surprised me by coming to town and my show was sold out (he had gone to the box office to try to buy a ticket but they were not available) but i was able to secure a "house seat" for him through my company manager because they were holding that block of'"house seat" tickets and there were still some available. personally i have friends in a lot of bway shows and if i ever want to go and pay full price for the ticket they set me right up! i can not get one from the box office if the show is sold out. ONE time i DID get one at the box office at 7:55pm after waiting on line for 3 hours. i asked "did someone not show up?" and the box office manager said "no, they just released the house seats".
if something has changed, then i apologize. i did not mean to start trouble or contradict you in ANY WAY at ALL. i was speaking about MY personal experiences just as i have done in this post.
let's let it go and lets all get along!

well, in the end we were ALL trying to help Meagan...so all is well...i hope there are no bad feelings.
Andrea

And knowing how to get the tickets and knowing someone are different.

Well, duh! Of course, it is different. Anyone with a brain knows that.

Yes, we know YOU have connections.

I hadn't realized this thread had turned into a "knowing someone" thread.

Updated On: 1/14/06 at 10:37 AM