Once you have chosen your show, an easy way to get tickets is to call Telecharge (212-239-6200) or Ticketmaster (212-307-4100), and have your tickets delivered by mail or waiting at the will call window ? though admittedly you?ll hand out a small fortune in handling fees in the process. Besides price, another problem with telesales is that if they have no tickets for a particular show, you are out of luck; a visit or phone call to the theatre could help you secure last-minute cancellations.
Another option is to visit the half-price tickets kiosk in Times Square, a block uptown from the Times Square subway station at 42nd and Broadway. While these tickets (which must be purchased on the day of the performance) are a great deal, it is often difficult to find good seats or seats to shows that you want to see; day-of seats are unsold seats released by the theatre. You?re more likely to have an on-time TWA flight into JFK than you are to find half-price tickets to the Lion King before the next millennium.
For those of you who are truly adventurous, nearly every Broadway theatre reserves a block of matinee-performance seats right up front for discount day-of sale. The only catch is that these seats go very, very early in the morning. Typically, hopeful students and theatre-goers queue up outside the theatre between 6:15 and 6:45 am. Most theatres send a staffer at around 8 am to give ordered vouchers, usually around 20, for use when the box office opens, between 10 am and noon. When you get to the box office, you simply present your voucher and $20 to receive your ticket. Call your show?s box office for details.
