Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
two dailies, the
Chicago Tribune
and
the
Chicago Sun-Times;
the
Chicago
Reader
and
New City,
two free weekly
tabloids with extensive listings; and
the monthly
Chicago
magazine. The
Tribune
's entertainment-oriented web-
site,
www.metromix.com
, is an excel-
lent source for reviews of cultural
events, and the
Reader
's website,
www.
chireader.com
, is known for having
one of the most complete weekly list-
ings of cultural happenings. The local
Citysearch website,
www.chicago.city
search.com
, is also an excellent source
of information, with lots of opinion-
ated reviews.
GETTING TICKETS
Why pay
full price?
Hot Tix
(www.hottix.org)
offers half-price tickets on the day of
the show to more than 125 theaters
throughout the Chicago area (on Fri,
you can also purchase tickets for week-
end performances). Tickets are sold
Sunday through Thursday for the day
of performance. You must buy the
tickets in person at a Hot Tix outlet;
the main Hot Tix box office is located
at 78 W. Randolph St., just east of
Clark Street. If the show you've got
your heart set on doesn't have half-
price tickets available, never fear: Hot
Tix is also a Ticketmaster outlet selling
full-price tickets to all Ticketmaster
events. A second, smaller Hot Tix out-
let is located in the heart of the city's
shopping district, in the old pumping
station at Michigan and Chicago
avenues. Recently renamed the
Chicago Water Works Visitor Cen-
ter,
its entrance is on Pearson Street,
across from the Water Tower Place
mall. It's open daily from 7:30am to
7pm. The Hot Tix website (www.
hottix.org) lists what's on sale for that
day beginning at 10am.
In addition, a few theaters offer
last-minute discounts on their leftover
seats. Steppenwolf Theatre Company
often has half-price tickets on the day
of a performance; call or stop by the
box office 1 hour before showtime.
The “Tix at Six” program at the
Goodman Theatre offers half-price,
day-of-show tickets; many of them are
excellent seats that have been returned
by subscribers. Tickets go on sale at
the box office at 6pm for evening per-
formances and at noon for matinees.
Tips
Scoring the Elusive Ticket
Will Junior be crushed if you miss the traveling Broadway show he's
been dreaming about seeing? Here are some tips for coming out a
hero in your kids' eyes by getting tickets when demand is high:
• Hard-core Chicago theatergoers say the best way to score tickets is to
head right for the box office,
even for a hot show. (This is how I got
tickets to
The Producers
—on the day of the show—when it was pre-
viewed in Chicago!) Don't phone. This way, you avoid those addi-
tional fees—and you will probably get better seats than you would by
phone.
•
Use Hot Tix.
In New York plentiful half-price tickets usually means the
show is a loser. In Chicago the League of Chicago Theatres expects all
its members to offer tickets to its Hot Tix program, whether the show
is a hit or flop.
•
Catch shows while they're still in previews.
Tickets are less expensive
and more plentiful. If you want to see the cast in ideal form, get tick-
ets for the final preview, which might coincide with the press opening.
