#Today Tix

[playbillionaire]

Down in the Cheap Seats

How to get more affordable theatre tickets in New York City. Here’s the same post on my Substack!

I’m not a professional, but I have been lucky enough to be attending theatre in the tri-state area my whole life, so here’s everything I know to help anyone who wants to get into seeing theatre without spending too much.

The trick of seeing great theatre without skipping a meal is to look beyond Broadway. Theatre tends to be more fluid than its marketing- almost all of the winners of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in the 21st century have premiered in smaller (more accessible) venues. Staying informed and being willingly to go outside of the usual Broadway houses is the best way to see theatre at affordable prices, and possibly catch new shows before they head to Broadway.

Here’s a couple of link that are good to know:

Playbill Weekly Schedule of Broadway Shows- A current schedule of the showtimes of every show currently running on Broadway. Shows are typically dark on Monday, but since the pandemic, schedules have changed and matinees have been added during the weekends, so it’s good to check which matinees are 2pm and which are 3pm, in case you want to try multiple lottos each day.

Playbill Broadway Rush, Lottery, and Standing Room Only Policies- Alphabetical list of all the discount ticket options for Broadway shows

Playbill Off-Broadway Rush and Inexpensive Ticket Policies- Alphabetical list of all the discount ticket options for off-Broadway shows.

Lotteries

When it comes to theatre, I feel that scheduling flexibility saves money. If you can go any time or day, you can snag cheaper tickets. I recommend entering as many lotteries as possible, as frequently as possible. When I was working at my desk job, I tried to make a habit of entering the lotteries every morning after checking my emails. Here’s all of the links to the digital lotteries- they usually email winners around 2, and give them an hour to purchase the tickets, so keep an eye on your email! (I’m not exactly sure why these shows are split up across these lotteries, rather than in one place, but it’s best to just go through all 3). As much as I love in-person rush, anyone with a full time job and commute is probably going to have a tough time getting to the box office when it opens at 10 or hanging around the theatre district hoping to snag a cheap ticket.

Broadway Direct Lottery

Telecharge Lottery and Rush- This requires signing into a social media account (very annoying), but also let’s you submit a lottery for more than one performance at a time

Lucky Seat- This one offers lotteries in several different cities, so make sure you are submitting for the New York performances

Today Tix- Need the app to get tickets, but some really great lotteries if you submit every day, especially for hot ticket Off-Broadway shows.

Discount Ticket Programs

A lot are mentioned in the Playbill article, but to keep everything together, below are my favorite ones that I’ve personally used. When a recent show I had tickets to was cancelled, I was able to check with these programs to get a last minute cheap ticket, so making/maintaining an account ahead of time is a good idea.

LincTix- Lincoln Center Theatre’s program for discount tickets for people between the ages of 21 and 35. With fees, tickets are $35.50 for any show at the 3 Broadway theatres at Lincoln Center. You can also purchase tickets for anyone else with a LincTix account in the same order. Don’t delete the email with your account number in it, you will need it to sign in every time you purchase tickets. Also, seats purchased with LincTix are always great, these are not partial view seats.

Playwrights Horizons Young Membership Discount Tickets- $20 tickets for any show for anyone under 35. You can also purchase $35 tickets for a guest to accompany you. There is also a $10 alternative for full-time students, at the same link. To sign up, you need to create an account and “purchase” a free membership, which will allow you to purchase the discounted tickets from your account. Remember to renew this every season, as it does expire.

2nd Stage Theater 30 Under 30 Discount Tickets- $30 tickets for any show for anyone under 30. When looking at performance dates, enter “30UNDER30” in the promo code window, and eligible seats will show up on the seating chart.

Manhattan Theatre Club 30 Under 35 Discount Tickets- $30 tickets for any show. Registering online allows anyone under 35 to buy 2 tickets per show. The best part is that you can bring a guest of any age- just make sure whoever purchased the ticket picks up the ticket at the box office.

Roundabout Theatre Company HipTix Program- $30 tickets for any show for anyone between the ages of 18 and 40. This program also allows you to purchase 2 tickets for any show, and your guest can be of any age. You’ll receive a promo code in an email that will let you purchase the tickets, and whoever purchased the tickets must pick them up at the box office.

Theatre For a New Audience New Deal Tickets- $20 tickets for any show for anyone under 30, or any full-time student. Enter the promo code NEWDEAL when purchasing tickets and the discount will be applied. Ticket must be picked up at the box office, so bring proof of ID.

Ultimately, it is possible to see theatre in New York City for less than a nice dinner! Having a flexible schedule, entering lotteries, and looking outside Broadway is the best way to do it (also, be under 30 I guess??). Good luck!

[chaoticunorigionalstranger]

Can today tix please stop sending me emails about their New Year's sale? My bank account doesn't like it.

[sisterdaniela]

pov dan and phil making fun of you for being too obsessed with a couple's youtube channel

[watchersleuth]

can I offer watcherinas a drake meme in this chaotic time

[carmen-berzattos]

Y'all. I'm just gonna say that Hozier at Red Rocks is an out of this world experience. He's just incredible. He sounded amazing. The acoustic were out of this world. And he was so sweet! He kept pausing between songs to say something along the lines of "holy shit this place is beautiful". At some point he pointed to one of the rock formations in the ampitheater and went "whose hands scultped this?" One of my favorite moments was when he said that he has moments where he cannot believe that this is his life, this is one of them. And he said that if he looked straight ahead and took in a full image of the crowd, it gets really overwhelming and distracting. He seemed so happy and excited to be there and I was so endeared the whole time I love him SO much and I cannot wait for night #2 tonight!!

[vampiregerard]

fuck it dawg, life's a risk

[lietpolski]

underrated picture of yugotalia serbia he's such a little babygirl fucking loser

[boggysbitch]

nsnsnndn after a whole day of school finally get to watch the mentopolis ep

[m3tth4ws]

reminder: it’s buy your pwhl tickets day !!!!

[pynkhues]

Guess who just scored a free ticket to the Tina Turner jukebox musical at the Princess Theatre 😎

[gracetrack-higgins]

I love u illinoise on broadway

[elytrafemme]

gripping edge of desk. It's fine guys it's fine. i love plans changing i love this. i love that. i'm really normal i'm really so normal.

[seastoried]

OVERCAME THE DEMONS (fellowship application thats been hanging for for waaay too long bc i couldnt write another bs essay)

[broke-on-books]

Am I ACTUALLY going to skip class next week to raodtrip 3hrs to my friends house so we can watch star wars with her DAD

[pop-punklouis]

-

[ugh-yoongi]

we're on accelerated deadlines at work all this week & next week and my grandmother had a pretty big health scare on tuesday morning so i have resorted to my preferred method of disassociating (watching europeans play cities: skylines)

so needless to say i have not written a thing all week and that's why i have been largely mia but i still have a collab ongoing if anyone is interested in joining and i hope you all have a good weekend, bye