Hy on Theatre Discounts:

Huge Savings on NYC Theatre Tickets

This Page Was Most Recently Updated April 2011

Discount Theatre Tickets via Discount Codes

Comp Theatre Tickets via "Seat Filler" Services

Discount Theatre Tickets via TKTS

Most folks are aware that you can get same-day tickets to many Broadway and off-Broadway shows for nearly 50% off via the Times Square TKTS booth. But here are a few things that aren't as well known:

You don't have to wait until you arrive at a TKTS booth to get some idea of what shows will be sold at discount. Instead, you can see what shows were available at TKTS last week by simply clicking here. Alternatively,you can click here and use the Search box in the upper-left to search for a show you want to see; or simply leave the box blank to generate a long list of all NYC productions, along with a note about whether each show typically does and doesn't provide tickets via the TKTS booths. For example, here's a sampling from the listings during April 2011:

Shows Frequently Available included: The Addams Family, Billy Elliot, Chicago, Driving Miss Daisy, Jersey Boys, Mamma Mia, and Mary Poppins.
Shows Occasionally Available included: Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, Catch Me If You Can, and Wonderland.
Shows Never Available included: The Book of Mormon, The Lion King, and Wicked.
The Times Square TKTS booth is notorious for its long lines. But if you show up around 7:30 pm, you'll find most of the tourists have already purchased their tickets and run off to dinner...often shrinking the line to a wait of 5-10 minutes. In addition, some of the most popular shows don't release their prime vacant seats until 7:30 pm, which means your timing could be rewarded with a VIP spot.
One of the Times Square TKTS windows is devoted to plays. Therefore, if you're not aiming for a musical or music-related show, go directly for this window, which usually has shorter lines.
There are two other TKTS booths, at the South Street Seaport and in Downtown Brooklyn. Understandably, these tend to have fewer customers than their counterpart in the heart of the Broadway district, which means less waiting and hassle. And they're both a mere subway ride away.

Times Square TKTS Booth

Location: Under the red steps at Broadway and 47th Street (called Father Duffy Square).

Getting There by Subway: Take the 1/2/3/4/5/6/N/R/W/A/C train to the Times Square stop.

Hours for Evening Performance Ticket Sales:

Monday - Saturday: 3:00 pm - 8:00 pm

Sundays: 3:00 pm until 30 minutes before the last curtain time available

Hours for Matinee Performance Ticket Sales:

Wednesdays and Saturdays: 10:00 am - 2:00 pm

Sundays: 11:00 am - 3:00 pm

South Street Seaport TKTS Booth

Location: At the corner of Front and John Streets, near the rear of the Resnick/Prudential Building at 199 Water Street.

Getting There by Subway: Take the 2/3/4/5/J/M/Z train to the Fulton Street stop; or take the A/C train to the Broadway-Nassau stop.

Getting There by Bus from Midtown: Take the M15 traveling downtown on 2nd Avenue to the South Street Seaport.

Hours for Evening Performance Ticket Sales:

Monday - Saturday: 11:00 am - 6:00 pm

Sundays: 11:00 am - 4:00 pm

Matinee Performance Ticket Sales:

Matinee tickets are sold the day beforehand at South Street Seaport. Specifically, Wednesday matinee tickets are sold on Tuesday; Saturday matinee tickets on Friday; and Sunday matinee tickets on Saturday. (For example, if you showed up Saturday morning, you could buy tickets for Saturday evening or Sunday afternoon, but not for Saturday afternoon.)

Downtown Brooklyn TKTS Booth

Location: In 1 MetroTech Center, at the corner of Jay Street and Myrtle Avenue Promenade.

Getting There by Subway: Take the 2/3/4/5/M/R train to the Court Street-Borough Hall stop, or the A/C/F train to the Jay Street-Borough Hall stop, or the M/R train to the Lawrence Street stop.

Getting There by Bus: Take the B54, B57, or B61 bus to the Jay Street and Myrtle Avenue stop, which is on the same block as the booth; or take the B67 or B75 bus to the Jay Street and Willoughby Avenue stop, which is just a block away from the booth.

Hours for Evening Performance Ticket Sales:

Tuesday - Saturday: 11:00 am - 6:00 pm

Matinee Performance Ticket Sales:

Matinee tickets are sold the day beforehand at the Downtown Brooklyn booth. Specifically, Wednesday matinee tickets are sold on Tuesday; Saturday matinee tickets on Friday; and Sunday matinee tickets on Saturday. (For example, if you showed up Saturday morning, you could buy tickets for Saturday evening or Sunday afternoon, but not for Saturday afternoon.)

You can sign up for daily emails about what shows are available at the TKTS South Street Seaport and TKTS Brooklyn booths by clicking here.

For more information, please visit the Theatre Development Fund's site at TDF.org.

Return to top

Return to home page

Discount Theatre Tickets via Discount Codes

The TKTS booths are great if you're okay with waiting on a potentially long line, and are open to whatever shows and whatever seats for those shows happen to be available when it's your turn at the ticket window.

If you want to plan an evening, though, it's best to buy tickets in advance, which allows you to carefully select both the show you want and your reserved seats. (In addition, certain shows won't go through the TKTS booth but will offer discount codes.) You usually can't nab 50% discounts this way; but you can often get around 40% off, which for a party of four will still save hundreds of dollars off the retail price. Here are a few examples (as of April 2011):

Chicago

$125.50 tickets available for $59.50 (40% off) with discount code CHBBX329

To avoid service charges, buy at box office: Ambassador Theatre, 49th Street & Broadway

The Phantom of the Opera

$131.50 tickets available for $96.50 (35% off) with discount code PH2BBXE

To avoid service charges, buy at box office: Majestic Theatre, 247 West 44th Street

Gazillion Bubble Show

$64.50 tickets available for $35 (46% off) with discount code GBBBOX211

To avoid service charges, buy at box office: New World Stages, 340 West 50th Street

Again, the above are just a few examples. To access tons of theatre discount codes, please visit the following sites:

BroadwayBox.com: The most comprehensive list of theatre ticket discounts I know of on the Web. If you aren't familiar with this site, you may find the quality of selections & discounts jaw-dropping.
Playbill.com's Playbill Club: There are, very occasionally, shows discounted here that aren't on BroadwayBox.com. In addition, this site provides discounts for restaurants, and for events beyond Broadway. (Note: Access to the discounts section requires joining the Club; but membership is free.) While you're visiting, check out all the other wonderful features of Playbill.com, which provides a world of information about the theatre.
TheaterMania Insiders: Again, there are very occasionally shows discounted here that aren't on BroadwayBox.com. Plus, for what it's worth, this site is way more colorful and fun to use. (Note: Access to the discounts section requires joining; but membership is free.) Also be sure to check out this site's comprehensive NYC theatrical show listings—which are the best on the Web—by clicking here.

Return to top

Return to home page

Comp Theatre Tickets via "Seat Filler" Services

Being able to see a NYC stage show for 50% off is fantastic. But if you want to go for near-miraculous, join a "seat filler" theatre service, which will let you catch a wide range of live shows for an incredible $3.50-$4.50 a ticket.

These services exist because there are many shows that, at times, don't manage to sell out a performance. In some cases, these productions want more people to experience them and spread positive word of mouth (especially during the first week or two of the run). In other cases, they simply want to fill vacant seats so the paying customers feel like they're at a popular show and the performers benefit from the energy of a large crowd.

By getting enthusiastic audience members to fill empty seats, these companies are providing a genuinely valuable service to shows; and in the bargain allow you to see off-off-Broadway, off-Broadway, and sometimes even Broadway productions almost for free.

The following are the four primary theatre services for NYC:

Theater Extras (www.theaterextras.com): Membership is $99 a year. Cost per ticket is $4, which is charged to your credit card at the time you make your purchase. You can buy up to two tickets per show. (Alternatively, you can join for $175 a year, which allows you to purchase up to 4 tickets per show.) This is a mostly wonderful service: Its Web site is colorful, informative, and fun to use; it typically provides a large and wide-ranging selection of shows (often dozens of them); and $4 is a quite low price (plus 25% of that is donated charities such as Broadway Cares and Equity Fights AIDS). If you join and want to do me a good turn, enter hy@hyreviews.com as the person who referred you; I'll get four free tickets for it.
TheaterMania Gold Club (www.theatermania.com/gold): Membership is $99 a year. Cost per ticket is $4.50, charged to your credit card at the time you make your purchase. You can buy up to two tickets per show. (Alternatively, you can join for $169 a year, which allows you to purchase up to 4 tickets per show.) Like Theater Extras, this superb service has a Web site that's colorful and informative; and it's even easier to use, because it gives you the option of listing shows on a day-by-day basis. The Gold Club charges 50 cents more per ticket than Theatre Extras; and it typically doesn't offer as many shows. On the other hand, it's often offers two tickets to a hot Broadway show just for joining, which instantly more than covers the annual fee. In addition, the Gold Club sometimes offers tickets to Broadway shows not available through the other services. The bottom line is that you can make up the cost of membership to the Gold Club in a single evening.
Audience Extras (www.audienceextras.com): The least expensive of the services, membership is $85 a year. In addition, you must "bank" $30 when joining, and can then apply that money to your ticket purchases. Cost per ticket is a low $3.50, which is subtracted from the amount you've "banked." (In other words, your initial membership fund will buy you eight tickets!) You can purchase up to two tickets per show. (Alternatively, you can make a tax-deductible contribution of $50 to The Memorial Foundation for the Arts, an organization Audience Extras strongly supports. As a "thank you," AE will allow you to purchase up to 4 tickets per show.) This service is more bare-bones than Theater Extras and the Gold Club in that its Web site offers no show images and isn't as much fun to use. Most importantly, the site provides fewer quality show selections. However, you can't beat the low membership fee and $3.50 charge. Therefore, Audience Extras can be a reasonable choice as a backup service; e.g., if a show if available on both the Gold Club and AE, you might as well buy from AE and save $1 per ticket.
Play-by-Play (www.play-by-play.com): Membership is $115 a year. Cost per ticket is $4. You can buy up to two tickets per show. (Alternatively, if you pay nearly double the membership fee, $222 a year, you can purchase up to 4 tickets per show. However, please note this is the steepest upgrade price of the four services.) When I last looked a couple of years ago, Play-by-Play's Web site was the most bare-bones of the four: it offered few graphics, wasn't very informative, and wasn't much fun to use. However, while Play-by-Play offered significantly fewer shows than Theater Extras, the ones it made available tended to be solid.

Bottom line: I recommend joining Theater Extras or the Gold Club as your primary service.

Because you can quickly save hundreds of dollars in ticket costs using any of these services, though, it can make sense to join a second one as a "backup." While there's enormous overlap among the services, there will also be times when your primary service isn't carrying a show but your backup service is...and it might be a production you really want to see. Also, because each service is allotted a set number of tickets, a show will often sell out on one service but still be available through another.

If your only interest is in the latest and greatest shows on Broadway, then you should probably stick to buying from TKTS and using discount codes...and, when necessary, paying full price.

But if you're game for exploring all NYC has to offer—especially the myriad of small, quirky, and occasionally breathtaking productions beyond Broadway—joining a theatre service is opening the door to what might prove to be an unforgettable adventure.

Return to top

Discount Theatre Tickets via TKTS

Discount Theatre Tickets via Discount Codes

Comp Theatre Tickets via "Seat Filler" Services

Home Page

Email: hy@hyreviews.com