Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
day; others offer student, general “rush,” or “standing room” tickets, which are available only on the day of the
show.
Playbill.com
usually keeps a comprehensive list of the rush/student/lottery and other special rates.
Three sites—
Broadway.com
(
www.broadway.com
),
Playbill Online
(
www.playbill.com
)
, and
TheaterMania
(
www.theatermania.com
)
—offer information on Broadway and Off-Broadway shows, and links to their ticket-
selling agencies. Each has its own free
online club,
for which you register your e-mail address in exchange for
savings on advance-purchase Broadway and Off-Broadway tickets. Discounts range from a few bucks, up to 50%
of regular ticket prices. Subscribing to e-mail newsletters also helps you keep track of changing offers.
If you're a total theater maven, consider joining the
Gold Club
at TheaterMania, which costs $99 a year, and
entitles you to even more deeply discounted shows, and usually rewards you with a pair of Broadway tickets
when you join. Other theater ticket clubs include
Audience Extras,
for $85 a year (
www.audienceextras.com
)
,
and
Play-by-Play,
for $99 a year (
www.play-by-play.com
)
. How deep are the discounts? Well under $20 in many
cases, for Broadway or Off-Broadway shows whose tickets can go for $50 to
much
more than that!
For the latest deals, visit
Broadway Box
(
www.broadwaybox.com
) or
Broadway Ofers
(
www.broadwayofers.com
)
and you can find deals for the shows that need some fannies in the seats . . . act
quickly, however: A show that's all but giving away seats before it opens might be sold out if it opens to great
reviews.
The ABCs of TDF: The Booths & Beyond
If you're a full-time student or fit into another designated category (from schoolteacher to retiree to performing
arts professional to civil servant to active military, see website for complete listing), you're eligible to join the
Theatre Development Fund
(
www.tdf.org
) for $30 a year. With your TDF membership, you can purchase deeply
discounted tickets to events from current Broadway offerings, to dance, classical music, opera, jazz, rock, chil-
dren's events, and that favorite of the indie theater community: “$9 Off-Off.” That's right . . . you can purchase
tickets to independent theater for a lot less than the cost of a first-run movie ticket; the entire price of your ticket
goes to the company that's offering the ticket, and there's no service charge! (Even if you're not a member, you
can purchase the $9 vouchers for off-off).
TDF offers many programs for theater professionals, children, families, and people with disabilities, but the
most visible aspect of TDF are “the booths,” the three TKTS locations in NYC.
Starting in 1973, in the heart of the Theater District at Father Duffy Square, the organization started selling
half-price, same-day tickets for Broadway and Off-Broadway shows. In 1983, TKTS added a downtown branch,
and 2008 saw the addition of a TKTS outlet in Brooklyn. Here's the deal:
1. The
Times Square Booth
sells day-of-performance tickets only (and has a “Play Express” line for nonmusical
shows).
2. The
South Street Seaport Booth
sells tickets to evening performances on the day of the performance, and mat-
inee tickets the day before.
3. The
Downtown Brooklyn Booth
sells tickets to evening performances on the day of the performance, and
matinee tickets the day before, as well as tickets to Brooklyn performing arts events.
All locations sell tickets at 50%, 40%, 30%, and 20% off full-price (plus a $4 per-ticket service charge, which
helps support other TDF services and programs). The booths accept credit cards, cash, traveler's checks, or TKTS
Gift Certificates.
And you don't even have to trudge to Midtown, South Street Seaport, or MetroCenter to find out what's on
the “board.” When you subscribe to the
TKTS Today e-mail,
you'll get a daily message listing what's available
at the downtown and Brooklyn booths on and Off-Broadway, the curtain time(s), and the daily operating hours.
There's also a free smartphone
app
you can download through their website,
www.tdf.org/tkts
.
Of the three booths, Times Square/Father Duffy can have the longest wait, particularly during holidays and
other peak tourist seasons (which, really, is every season except winter), so it's definitely worth the trip to get the
tickets downtown or in Brooklyn.
4 Let's Dance
