rushing and lotteries post-covid?

With the Hadestown announcement today, I am starting to plan for cheap tickets in the fall. No matter how much I want to, I unfortunately cant get full-price tickets to every show for their first nights...

Will rush and lotteries be put on break for a few months? Is standing room over capacity and a no-go in post-covid theater? What are peoples guesses for how these options will start to be offered again?

I would love to try for SRO for Hadestowns first night back, but I am not confident they will even offer it.

Oops, I was typing as Hogan was submitting. Pretty much just a duplicate.

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Updated On: 5/24/21 at 12:19 PM

Toll357 said: "I have been wondering about this. I live in NYC and try to see lots of shows, but I can't do full price for a bunch of it. I know that Rush/TDF and lotteries serve a purpose - to keep the seats full. I was thinking they might not do it right away as they need to get used to new protocols and HogansHero points out that yes, the creative team has to see what's going on in the beginning. I felt a little bad about the topic as the theaters and all the people that work in the theater need to be making $$ on these shows.

I hope there will still be a mechanism for discount tickets as there are ALOT of local theater fans that see alot that way.

I actually think having a few months to sell tickets also fans the flame of excitement for broadway - the anticipation is building! I did get full price tix for SIX for my family. I can't wait to fill out my theater plans!"

The same forces that prompted producers to use all of these tools for putting bodies in seats (or the soles of shoes on carpet, in the case of SRO) will result in the availability of these options. Discounts are a way to split the difference with the customer when demand is not high enough for a show. There really is no alternative. I just think we will see the means altered for some, because the world is more digital than it has been.

FWIW I also think that complicated protocols will be retreating as we establish vaccine protocols. I think the biggest challenge right now, and the powers that be are working hard on it, is accelerating the date by which all children will be eligible. I read something yesterday about the fact it may be by the time Broadway reopens, although that will still have a delay that will have to be worked out. I don't know, and we shall see. (That's my new motto. My old one, Patience, paid off and can now be retired.)

Toll357 said: "When you say "it will all go digital" do you mean the lotteries ? Many of them were online before the pandemic. Do you think "rush" tickets will be online too? I think that will make them near impossible to get, as we've all know what it is like trying to get a precious ticket at the strike of the clock with zillions of people going for it. I was also thinking that by the time the shows do start, protocols will be lessened.

Thanks for pondering with me."

I meant the rest of the lotteries, SRO, rush, and eventually comps and the like will go digital but there is another layer that will not be and for a few years I think it will still be possible to print out or get a printout at the box office for those who don't have smart phones. But I also think we will be close to cashless within a few years and not having a capable mobile phone will not be viable. I know there are those around here who mourn the loss of rush. We went through this already for Shakespeare in the Park (which is in essence the mother of all rushes) and somehow everyone has survived. I hear you about making the tickets impossible but others would say it makes them fairer. Most people have zero chance of rush now because they can't/won't stay outside all night, or even for a few hours or whatever. Regarding protocols, it's useful to remember that the premise of the reopening is that it will be safe because people will be vaccinated. And yes we all have to wrap our heads around what has been life for what by then will be a year and a half.

Ponder away

Fosse76 said: "I'm not sure standing room will become digital. It's only offered when performances are sold out, and it's not unusual for that to happen in the minutes leading to curtain."

You could be right of course, and that may be a part of a second wave of digitization, but I think it will happen once the tech catches up. Ditto, for example, TKTS. My tea leaves say that over time box offices will be reimagined somewhat in the same way that token booths have been. They will deal with the problems and exceptions but not the routine.