Unless you have your heart set on a specific oft-sold-out show, one of the best ways to acquire tickets is through one of the TKTS booths in Times Square, the less crowded one near the South Street Seaport or Brooklyn TKTS. TKTS tickets are sold with the approval of the theaters. See what's been available lately.
Even sold-out shows often have (full-price) tickets for sale the day of the show at the theater box office. You can also get cheap student and standing-room tickets for several shows.
Broadway parody: CollegeHumor's 'Web Site Story'
CollegeHumor.com takes some stabs at social networking sites in a “West Side Story” parody.
The actual Broadway revival of “West Side Story” is playing the Palace Theater, located at 1554 Broadway.
Disney said it will close “The Little Mermaid” on Broadway, with the final performance set for Aug. 30.
The musical about a mermaid Ariel is based on Disney’s 1989 animated film, which in turn was based on the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale.
The musical, which probably cost $15 million just to create, likely did not recoup its initial investment in the two years it’s been on Broadway, according to Variety.
When it closes, it will have played 685 performances plus 50 previews, according to the New York Times.
“The Little Mermaid” plays the Lunt-Fontanne Theater, 205 W. 46th St., map. Regular tickets are priced from $51.50 to $121.50 with premium seats selling for $161.50.
Disney recommends its productions for ages 6 and up.
Jude Law coming to Broadway in 'Hamlet' in September
Jude Law will return to Broadway in September as Hamlet, according to the Donmar Warehouse website.
The Shakespeare tragedy, currently playing in London, earned mostly good reviews from critics.
Law made his Broadway debut in 1995 in “Indiscretions,” Variety notes.
“Hamlet” will play the Broadhurst Theatre for 12-weeks only. Previews will start Sept. 12; opening night is set for Oct. 6.
Tickets go on sale to American Express card members July 1 while the general public gets access starting July 18. Regular tickets will be priced from $25 to $116.50. Premium seats are $201.50 to $251.50. If a performance is sold out, standing-room tickets will go on sale the day of the performance for $21.50. The box office for “Hamlet” will open July 18.
The Donmar is the same troupe behind Tony-nominated “Mary Stuart,” now at the Broadhurst, as well as the Tony-nominated “Frost/Nixon” in 2007.
The Broadhurst Theatre is located at 235 W. 44th St., map.
Jerry Lewis to bring 'Nutty Professor' to Broadway
Jerry Lewis is aiming to make his Broadway directorial debut with a new Marvin Hamlisch-musical based on the 1963 comedy “The Nutty Professor.”
The film, which starred and was co-written by Lewis, was remade in 1996 with Eddie Murphy.
The new musical is aiming for a Broadway debut in the 2010/2011 season.
“I was born with show business in my blood and working on Broadway gets it coursing through my veins like no other place can. Marvin and Rupert have given one of my favorite and most enduring films ‘The Nutty Professor” a hilarious and gorgeous adaptation for Broadway and I could not be happier. Does this story sing and dance? You bet it does,” the 83-year old Jerry Lewis says in a news release today announcing the show.
'Avenue Q,' 'Blithe Spirit' set Broadway closing dates
“Avenue Q” will close Sept. 13, just after hitting its six-year mark on Broadway, according to Playbill and the New York Times.
The adult-themed puppet show won the best musical Tony Award in 2003.
When it closes, it will have played 2,534 performances plus 22 previews.
“Avenue Q” plays the Golden Theater, located at 252 W. 45th St. Regular tickets are priced from $66.50 to $121.50. Premium seats are $151.50 to $201.50. A dozen front-row seats are sold by lottery for $21.50 each.
Another Broadway comedy, “Blithe Spirit” has also set its closing date, for July 19. The revival of the Noel Coward play garnered a Tony for Angela Lansbury. She shares the stage with Rupert Everett, Christine Ebersole and Jayne Atkinson.
“Blithe Spirit” opened on Broadway in March. It plays the Shubert Theater, 225 W. 44th St., with regular tickets priced from $31.50 to $116.50. Premium seats cost $151.50 to $301.50. If a performance is sold out, standing room tickets will be sold for $21.50.
'Spider-Man' secures Alan Cumming, Evan Rachel Wood
Alan Cumming and Evan Rachel Wood are confirmed for Broadway’s “Spider-Man, Turn Off the Dark” with music and lyrics by Bono and The Edge of U2, according to Variety.
Spider-Man himself has not yet been cast, as Cumming will be the Green Goblin while Wood will play Peter Parker’s girlfriend, Mary Jane Watson.
Producers also pushed back the start date for the musical by more than a month, according to Playbill. Previews will now start Feb. 25 at the Hilton Theatre. A new opening night date has not yet been announced.
Tickets will go on sale to the general public Sept. 12, although pre-sale has already begun. Tickets are priced $67.50 to $95 for the balcony; $135 for the orchestra of “flying circle” level; and $275 for premium seating. There is an extra $8 convenience charge at Ticketmaster and a $2 building facility charge.
'Twelfth Night' in Central Park draws excellent reviews
Critics are calling “Twelfth Night” with Anne Hathaway one of the best Shakespeare in the Park productions in years.
She more than holds her own in the comedy with the likes of Audra McDonald, Raul Esparza, Julie White, Michael Cumpsty, David Pittu, Stark Sands and Jay O. Sanders.
Although the show is free, the problem remains: How to get tickets?
For the online ticket lottery, enter online between midnight and 1 p.m. any day a performance is scheduled. Log back in after 1 p.m. to see if you’ve scored a pair of tickets to that night’s show. If so, you need to pick up the tickets at the Delacorte Theatre box office in Central Park between 6 and 7:30 p.m. All the unclaimed tickets will be released to the in-person stand-by line starting at 7:30 p.m. However, at least during previews when ticket demand is usually less intense, there were nights everyone in the stand-by line received tickets as early as 7 p.m. (Twitter Search can be a useful real-time tool if you’re trying to gauge a strategy.)
The old-fashioned ticket distribution is still in place, and is actually how the majority of the seats are distributed: The box office at the Delacorte starts handing out free tickets at 1 p.m., but the line forms much earlier. (Central Park map.)
You can also make a $170 tax-deductible contribution to the Public Theater to get a single reserved ticket to one performance.
“Twelfth Night” plays through July 12 at 8 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays at 8 p.m.
The reviews: Variety - ” It’s hard to imagine a more satisfying staging of the crowd-pleasing romantic comedy than this one orchestrated by director Daniel Sullivan, a superb design team and an impeccable cast assembled around Anne Hathaway, who makes a thoroughly winning and accomplished professional Shakespeare debut. Add in the soul-stirring music of neo-folk ensemble Hem and you have one magical night in Illyria.”
New York Times - “But this polished staging, expertly directed by Daniel Sullivan, is the most consistently pleasurable the city has seen in at least a decade. And it is certainly one of the most accomplished Shakespeare in the Park productions the Public Theater has fielded in some time.”
Twain-inspired drama finds life on the Hudson River
A retired U.S. Coast Guard lighthouse tender will serve as the stage next month for a staging of a Mark Twain-inspired play “The Report of My Death.”
The one-man docudrama by Adam Klasfeld draws out a “darker and more political” Twain, as portrayed on stage by actor Michael Graves.
The venue will be the Lilac Steamship, docked at Pier 40 in the Hudson River where Houston Street meets the West Side Highway. The Lilac, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, served as a lighthouse tender for the U.S. Lighthouse Service from 1933 until 1939 and then as a buoy tender until 1972. She is the last unaltered steam propelled and steam hoisting lighthouse tender.
Broadway 2009/10: 'Spider-Man' to 'the vibrator play'
Summer’s only just begun but nearly 20 shows have already announced dates for the new season on Broadway, from “Spider-Man” and the “Addams Family” to “Bye Bye Birdie” and “Fela!” Here’s the list of how the 2009/10 Broadway season is shaping up so far:
Burn the Floor - Ballroom Dance Concert
Previews start July 25
This “dance sensation” with 32 champion ballroom dancers will play the Longacre Theatre for 12 weeks. Maksim Chmerkovskiy and Karina Smirnoff of ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars” will make a three week cameo from July 25 to Aug. 16, Playbill reports.
Finian’s Rainbow
Previews start Aug. 4
The New York City Center Encores! revival of the 1947 musical about an Irishman and his daughter pursued by a leprechaun in the American South will transfer to the St. James Theater. Balcony tickets are priced as low as $25.
Bye Bye Birdie
Previews start Sept 10
The revival of the Elvis-inspired musical will be staged by the Roundabout Theatre Company at the brand new Henry Miller’s Theatre. The cast includes John Stamos (as Albert Peterson, not the hip-shaking Conrad Birdie) as well as Gina Gershon, Bill Irwin, Jayne Houdyshell, and Dee Hoty. All tickets to the first preview are $10 but then rise to the $86.50 to $136.50 range.
The Royal Family Previews start Sept. 15
John Glover, Rosemary Harris, Jan Maxwell and Reg Rogers star in this comedy of manners set in the East 50s.
After Miss Julie
Previews start Sept. 18
Sienna Miller and Johnny Lee Miller will make their Broadway debut in the American premiere of Patrick Marber’s reinterpretation of August Strindberg’s sex-and-class themed play recast in 1945s England.
Wishful Drinking
Previews start Sept. 22
Carrie Fisher’s tabloidy autobiographical show will play Studio 54.
Memphis
Previews start Sept. 23
A new musical set in the segregated 1950s as a young white DJ falls in love with rock ‘n’ roll - and a black singer. The music’s by Bon Jovi’s founding member/keyboardist David Bryan and lyrics by Bryan and Joe DiPietro, who also pens the musical’s book. Tickets will range from $41.50 to $126.50.
The Public Theater auction offers a tea party or drinks with Anne Hathaway (current bid: $1,248.56;) singing lesson with Audra McDonald (current bid: $1,525;) a walk-on role and spotlighted dance in “Hair” on Broadway (current bid: $1,122;) theater and dinner date with Jonathan Groff (current bid: $610.00;) and golf at Chelsea Piers with Julie White (current bid: $500.)
Elsewhere, Broadway’s “In the Heights” is offering a walk-on role through its auction to fund its “Graduate to New Heights” scholarship program. Also on offer: dinner and a show with Lin-Manuel Miranda followed by a backstage-meet-and greet with the cast.
If you’re still looking, Broadway Cares auctions routinely offers signed merchandise and an occasional meet-and-greet with Broadway performers.
