On a recent trip to NYC, my wife and I were harassed by many street sellers looking sell tickets for all the current Broadway and off Broadway shows. We were disappointed at each step of the process. The first guy, said that he had great discounted tickets to all shows. After being brought inside by the street crawler, we were shown the ticket prices for Spiderman-Foxwoods. Having had a look at the Foxwoods site, I knew the prices were 20 percent higher than the actual cost of the tickets. The model is they bring you in off the street and up to a counter, where another sales person tells you what tickets are actually available for that nights shows. The difference with these guys and TKTS is they aren't dealing with the production companies direct. Sadly, many people think that these types of ticket brokers are the same as TKTS. TKTS has discount sales booths, these booths are only for same day tickets. If you want to plan your trip out better, TKTS is the wrong way to go. There is no advantage to purchasing the tickets with them leading up to the date of the show. There is often a limited supply for the shows that you actually want to see, Book of Mormon has been sold out for the next 1 and a bit. This leaves only shows like Phantom of the Opera or less desired new releases.
Another great option is to haggle with the ticket booth. If they have extra tickets, you should be able to get a discount or atleast an upgrade. Upgrading is something we often do, purchasing our ticket from a same day discounter or just having regular tickets. There is often the option to upgrade to better seats for a small fee. The night we saw Spiderman, we were able to move up to the orchestra seats for 20 dollars a seat. The end result in savings was around 80 dollars a ticket on the overall price of the orchestra seat. Another way to save a buck, is to purchase tickets for comedy clubs, or supper clubs in Times Square. We purchase 2 tickets for a comedy club on the upper west, the acts were top notch with Comedians from HBO. It would have been 20 dollars at the door but we paid 15. Remember to make your reservation, as we failed to do this and it almost cost us a great night of laughter.
The American Auto Association has a program called the Hit Show Club. This is a great way to save on tickets for all kinds of shows. You need to be a member of the AAA. You can call direct or ahead of your show to see what kinds of great deals they have. There are also sites that offer huge discounts online, brokers sites like this one that deal exclusively in Broadway Plays and Shows. Have a look, they may be a real asset to you, I will post the list at the bottom for your consideration. Another option is talking to your concierge, if you are staying in Times Square. The hotel often has deals with neighboring Theaters. Its a really good ideal to connect with your concierge, especially if you are staying more than a couple days.
Top Broadway ticket sites -
www.BroadwayPlaysTickets.com
www.PlayBill.com
www.tkts.com
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