What broadway play?

[lenquixote66]

27 minutes ago, Sheltieluv said:

Not to mention our beloved Coach Mac, Ernie Davis, and others who called Syracuse "home"......

But I live about 40 miles from Syracuse,  in the country, so I am a self-proclaimed bumpkin!😁

We do, however,  bleed orange.

Even though I did not attend Syracuse I have been a fan of Syracuse Basketball since Dave Bing was on the team.Many of my friends and relatives are Syracuse alum.

[Nitemare]

Hudson Theater and Roundabout Theater sell their own tickets without using Telecharge or Ticketmaster.  But those to "T" companies do serve the other 38 venues

 

(and no mention of Jim Brown????)

[lenquixote66]

14 hours ago, Nitemare said:

Hudson Theater and Roundabout Theater sell their own tickets without using Telecharge or Ticketmaster.  But those to "T" companies do serve the other 38 venues

 

(and no mention of Jim Brown????)

I never saw Jim Brown play. The only Syracuse sport I follow is Basketball.

[ams cruiser]

On 8/22/2019 at 6:07 AM, Got2Cruise said:

The most important thing to know when you order tickets on line is don’t order from a ticket broker that is going to add on enormous fees. Sometimes when you google a show one of these come up first because they paid for the spot. You want the “official webpage”  of the show. That page will describe the show and have a link to purchase tickets. Either Telecharge or Ticketmaster. You can chose your seats this way. If you call the box office usually has the attitude of take them or go away. lol. Which is fine if you’re not choosy. 

 

For discount tickets look at Broadwaybox.com Playbill.com Theatermania.com. These will give you a discount code which you will then follow to the Telecharge or Ticketmaster site. 

I just looked up tickets on these websites (thank you for the recommendations) and am a little confused by the orange color coding.  Does that mean discounted or just available?  I went through the steps for discounted seats, and unchecked regular seats.  Some of the orange seats were clearly at a discount (theater mania), but some of the other orange seats (broadwayabox and playbill) seemed to be regular price.  For some reason, the latter two sites don't include an explanation for what the orange means.

 

We haven't gone to the theater in years, although I have loved musicals for decades. Some of my fondest memories growing up revolve around going to the theater in San Francisco, but have only been to a couple of Broadway plays several years ago. Right now, I am looking into "Ain't Too Proud" (I grew up listening to the Temptations and heard the show was fabulous when it played in Berkeley, before it went to Broaday).  I also love Carol King.

 

We hope to see something uplifting, and have heard great things about "Come From Away".  It looks like discount tickets on this and "Beautiful" aren't yet available for the mid-October dates we are looking for post-cruise. 

 

On the other hand, I can get "Ain't Too Proud" tickets for mid-October.  I found a pair of aisle tickets (non-discounted) for $169 each (before $15 in fees) right behind seats listed for $249, which I can't figure out.

 

So I am thinking about buying thinking these tickets now for a Tuesday night, and then waiting to see what discounts are available for "Beautiful" and/or "Come From Away" on the Monday night before.  Right now, there are discounted seats available until 9/3 and 9/1, respectively, with some decent seats available, even at this late date.

 

I would greatly appreciate any recommendations about these three shows (I think we can swing 2 shows, based on time and budget!), and the timing involved in buying tickets.

 

Thank you so much!  I have read through this entire thread, and have learned a lot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[markeb]

I'm not sure what dates you're looking at. "Ain't Too Proud" appears to redirect to Telecharge, so full price tickets. Right now, Come From Away appears to have discount tickets through September 1st; I'd expect more in September.

 

Regarding the $169 vs $249 tickets, you've just found one of the frustrating Broadway pricing schemes. There is "probably" little or no difference between the $169 and $249 tickets. The $249 are probably "Premium" tickets. There are usually sweet spots in the theaters, such as one row into a price break. There may be a difference, but there probably isn't.

 

Regarding the shows:

 

Ain't Too Proud is pretty new and I haven't seen it. At least one member here has, and thought it was "good"; not a ringing endorsement.

 

Likewise haven't seen Beautiful, but it has been heavily recommended on this board and thread.

 

Come From Away is one of the most amazing, sad, but uplifting shows I've ever seen. It is a story we sort of all know, but told from a totally different perspective. Jenn Colella has been a hard working broadway artist with minimal success that became a star in this show. I'll almost call Come From Away the "quiet Hamilton"; it's that good. So, of your three, I'd absolutely see Come From Away, and I'd probably recommend Beautiful (which I need to see). You'll probably be able to get Come  From Away at a decent price, possibly even once you're in town if you're not too picky. I'm not sure about Beautiful, and Ain't Too Proud is too new to predict.

[lenquixote66]

3 hours ago, ams cruiser said:

I just looked up tickets on these websites (thank you for the recommendations) and am a little confused by the orange color coding.  Does that mean discounted or just available?  I went through the steps for discounted seats, and unchecked regular seats.  Some of the orange seats were clearly at a discount (theater mania), but some of the other orange seats (broadwayabox and playbill) seemed to be regular price.  For some reason, the latter two sites don't include an explanation for what the orange means.

 

We haven't gone to the theater in years, although I have loved musicals for decades. Some of my fondest memories growing up revolve around going to the theater in San Francisco, but have only been to a couple of Broadway plays several years ago. Right now, I am looking into "Ain't Too Proud" (I grew up listening to the Temptations and heard the show was fabulous when it played in Berkeley, before it went to Broaday).  I also love Carol King.

 

We hope to see something uplifting, and have heard great things about "Come From Away".  It looks like discount tickets on this and "Beautiful" aren't yet available for the mid-October dates we are looking for post-cruise. 

 

On the other hand, I can get "Ain't Too Proud" tickets for mid-October.  I found a pair of aisle tickets (non-discounted) for $169 each (before $15 in fees) right behind seats listed for $249, which I can't figure out.

 

So I am thinking about buying thinking these tickets now for a Tuesday night, and then waiting to see what discounts are available for "Beautiful" and/or "Come From Away" on the Monday night before.  Right now, there are discounted seats available until 9/3 and 9/1, respectively, with some decent seats available, even at this late date.

 

I would greatly appreciate any recommendations about these three shows (I think we can swing 2 shows, based on time and budget!), and the timing involved in buying tickets.

 

Thank you so much!  I have read through this entire thread, and have learned a lot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I saw The Fantastiks In San Francisco.

[ams cruiser]

33 minutes ago, markeb said:

I'm not sure what dates you're looking at. "Ain't Too Proud" appears to redirect to Telecharge, so full price tickets. Right now, Come From Away appears to have discount tickets through September 1st; I'd expect more in September.

 

Regarding the $169 vs $249 tickets, you've just found one of the frustrating Broadway pricing schemes. There is "probably" little or no difference between the $169 and $249 tickets. The $249 are probably "Premium" tickets. There are usually sweet spots in the theaters, such as one row into a price break. There may be a difference, but there probably isn't.

 

Regarding the shows:

 

Ain't Too Proud is pretty new and I haven't seen it. At least one member here has, and thought it was "good"; not a ringing endorsement.

 

Likewise haven't seen Beautiful, but it has been heavily recommended on this board and thread.

 

Come From Away is one of the most amazing, sad, but uplifting shows I've ever seen. It is a story we sort of all know, but told from a totally different perspective. Jenn Colella has been a hard working broadway artist with minimal success that became a star in this show. I'll almost call Come From Away the "quiet Hamilton"; it's that good. So, of your three, I'd absolutely see Come From Away, and I'd probably recommend Beautiful (which I need to see). You'll probably be able to get Come  From Away at a decent price, possibly even once you're in town if you're not too picky. I'm not sure about Beautiful, and Ain't Too Proud is too new to predict.

I'm not sure exactly how it works, but on all three sites, it had information about discounts for Beautiful and Come From Away.  When I did a mock order of tickets for all 3 shows via the discount sites, they all re-directed me to Telecharge to select seats from a seating plan, so I'm confused that this means they were full price, unless I wasn't following the right procedure.  There was some generic information about discounts available for the show, and then a link to click to buy tickets, which then opened up the Telecharge window.  One thing that was really confusing was that there was a discount code, which I think said would be applied.  I couldn't find a place to enter it, although maybe I needed to go past the part where you enter your mailing address?   I'm pretty sure that I was able to find discounted tickets for one of the shows (can't remember which one) when I looked on the Telecharge seating chart.  I would love to see all 3 shows (what's another few hundred $$ at the end of a long vacation?!), but I don't think any of them have shows on Monday, so it just leaves Tues. and Wed. of that week.  

 

I'm thinking I could, perhaps get tickets for "Come From Away" and" Beautiful" on Tues and maybe the matinee on Wed, since we have an early morning flight on Thurs. Do you think I could get decent seats at a discount if I wait a couple of weeks?  I don't know how far in advance they offer discounts on these seats.

 

And I am truly kicking myself for not making the effort to see "Ain't Too Proud" when it was in Berkeley, as it would have been easy to get reasonable tickets, not to mention very convenient. (I'm hoping that this experience will give me the incentive to start seeing shows in San Francisco again.  We have don't have a good subway system, and driving/parking can be a hassle, coming from across the Bay.)

 

I really appreciate your insight!

Edited August 25, 2019 by ams cruiser

[ams cruiser]

2 minutes ago, lenquixote66 said:

I saw The Fantastiks In San Francisco.

Was that awhile ago?  My sister has season tickets and sees all of the big shows when they come to the city, but I haven't heard about The Fantastiks recently.  I think the last show I saw in the City was Lion King (several years ago).  But before that, I remember going to see all of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals, growing up (I loved Yul Brenner in The King and I), and then Phantom, Les Mis, La Cage aux Folles.  But it has definitely been too long!

 

I'm one of the few who has not yet seen Hamilton...But I heard tickets are getting a little easier to come by in San Francisco.

[lenquixote66]

3 minutes ago, ams cruiser said:

Was that awhile ago?  My sister has season tickets and sees all of the big shows when they come to the city, but I haven't heard about The Fantastiks recently.  I think the last show I saw in the City was Lion King (several years ago).  But before that, I remember going to see all of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals, growing up (I loved Yul Brenner in The King and I), and then Phantom, Les Mis, La Cage aux Folles.  But it has definitely been too long!

 

I'm one of the few who has not yet seen Hamilton...But I heard tickets are getting a little easier to come by in San Francisco.

I saw The Fantastiks In 1970.I never saw Hamilton.

[markeb]

35 minutes ago, ams cruiser said:

I'm not sure exactly how it works, but on all three sites, it had information about discounts for Beautiful and Come From Away.  When I did a mock order of tickets for all 3 shows via the discount sites, they all re-directed me to Telecharge to select seats from a seating plan, so I'm confused that this means they were full price, unless I wasn't following the right procedure.  There was some generic information about discounts available for the show, and then a link to click to buy tickets, which then opened up the Telecharge window.  One thing that was really confusing was that there was a discount code, which I think said would be applied.  I couldn't find a place to enter it, although maybe I needed to go past the part where you enter your mailing address?   I'm pretty sure that I was able to find discounted tickets for one of the shows (can't remember which one) when I looked on the Telecharge seating chart.  I would love to see all 3 shows (what's another few hundred $$ at the end of a long vacation?!), but I don't think any of them have shows on Monday, so it just leaves Tues. and Wed. of that week.  

 

I'm thinking I could, perhaps get tickets for "Come From Away" and" Beautiful" on Tues and maybe the matinee on Wed, since we have an early morning flight on Thurs. Do you think I could get decent seats at a discount if I wait a couple of weeks?  I don't know how far in advance they offer discounts on these seats.

 

And I am truly kicking myself for not making the effort to see "Ain't Too Proud" when it was in Berkeley, as it would have been easy to get reasonable tickets, not to mention very convenient. (I'm hoping that this experience will give me the incentive to start seeing shows in San Francisco again.  We have don't have a good subway system, and driving/parking can be a hassle, coming from across the Bay.)

 

I really appreciate your insight!

 

My suspicion is if you are looking at midweek, you can get good tickets to Come From Away 2-3 weeks out. It does appear on TKTS for 50% discounts (a sad statement on Broadway theater). It's crazy in a way as it's really that good, but good for you as the Disney remakes sell out early. Ditto to a large extent for Beautiful. Keep an eye out on tickets. If you're seeing reasonably good availability close to your arrival, then you can probably at a minimum walk up to the box office and save the Ticketmaster/Telecharge fees, and if you're seeing availability through Ticketmaster/Telecharge, and a history of sales on TKTS, you have a reasonable chance of getting them once you're in town through TKTS.

 

My problem with recommendations is of the three, I think "Come From Away" is the must see, but for whatever bizarre reason has been the most likely to be available through TKTS. Do not ask me to explain that!

Edited August 25, 2019 by markeb

[ams cruiser]

17 hours ago, markeb said:

 

My suspicion is if you are looking at midweek, you can get good tickets to Come From Away 2-3 weeks out. It does appear on TKTS for 50% discounts (a sad statement on Broadway theater). It's crazy in a way as it's really that good, but good for you as the Disney remakes sell out early. Ditto to a large extent for Beautiful. Keep an eye out on tickets. If you're seeing reasonably good availability close to your arrival, then you can probably at a minimum walk up to the box office and save the Ticketmaster/Telecharge fees, and if you're seeing availability through Ticketmaster/Telecharge, and a history of sales on TKTS, you have a reasonable chance of getting them once you're in town through TKTS.

 

My problem with recommendations is of the three, I think "Come From Away" is the must see, but for whatever bizarre reason has been the most likely to be available through TKTS. Do not ask me to explain that!

I really appreciate your recommendations, and I am now leaning towards making "Come From Away" one of my must sees!  Just to clarify, are you saying that it might be possible to get decent "Beautiful" tickets at a discount 2-3 weeks out, or is it in the Disney category?  

 

In terms of TKTS tickets, are the theaters for these shows relatively small, as in not a bad seat in the house?  I've been to a couple of theaters in the San Francisco where some of the balcony seats were pretty far from the stage.

[rafinmd]

18 hours ago, markeb said:

So, of your three, I'd absolutely see Come From Away, and I'd probably recommend Beautiful (which I need to see). You'll probably be able to get Come  From Away at a decent price, possibly even once you're in town if you're not too picky.

Another STRONG vote for Come From Away.

 

Roy

[markeb]

12 minutes ago, ams cruiser said:

I really appreciate your recommendations, and I am now leaning towards making "Come From Away" one of my must sees!  Just to clarify, are you saying that it might be possible to get decent "Beautiful" tickets at a discount 2-3 weeks out, or is it in the Disney category?  

 

In terms of TKTS tickets, are the theaters for these shows relatively small, as in not a bad seat in the house?  I've been to a couple of theaters in the San Francisco where some of the balcony seats were pretty far from the stage.

 

That's the chance you take, unfortunately. The best tickets will sell first. I can't speak to the theater for Beautiful; the seats were mostly pretty good for Come From Away, but we were kind of to the side in the front of the mezzanine, so there were some fairly severe angles. I didn't really impact us, but be aware of that. 

 

The best seats are almost always going to be available early. For good price AND reasonable availability, track the show's web page or Telecharge and see how it's trending. If you're getting in town and going to a show that night, and don't have several nights, you probably will need to suck it up and pay the fees. If there's good availability and you have a day or two, then walk up to the box office and at least save all the handling fees. And the folks at the box office know what they're doing. They'll sell you a premium ticket if that's what you ask for, but if you ask for a sweet spot ticket (good mix of price and view), they'll know that as well. You'll have a harder time figuring that out online.

[lenquixote66]

18 hours ago, markeb said:

 

I went to see the Temptations play this past week and I could not fit into the seat.I was in row S Orchestra .I am 6’5 and I sat with my feet extending into the aisle but that was still not comfortable.

[ams cruiser]

4 hours ago, markeb said:

 

That's the chance you take, unfortunately. The best tickets will sell first. I can't speak to the theater for Beautiful; the seats were mostly pretty good for Come From Away, but we were kind of to the side in the front of the mezzanine, so there were some fairly severe angles. I didn't really impact us, but be aware of that. 

 

The best seats are almost always going to be available early. For good price AND reasonable availability, track the show's web page or Telecharge and see how it's trending. If you're getting in town and going to a show that night, and don't have several nights, you probably will need to suck it up and pay the fees. If there's good availability and you have a day or two, then walk up to the box office and at least save all the handling fees. And the folks at the box office know what they're doing. They'll sell you a premium ticket if that's what you ask for, but if you ask for a sweet spot ticket (good mix of price and view), they'll know that as well. You'll have a harder time figuring that out online.

Wish we were going to be there more than 3 nights, so it looks like we'll be paying the fees.  Maybe buy two shows in advance (checking for discounts a couple of weeks in advance), and then, if time permits, look into the possibility of a matinee the third day.  I'll keep checking the websites, and thanks for the advice about the sweet spot!

 

[ams cruiser]

3 hours ago, lenquixote66 said:

I went to see the Temptations play this past week and I could not fit into the seat.I was in row S Orchestra .I am 6’5 and I sat with my feet extending into the aisle but that was still not comfortable.

That sounds awful!   Other than that, how was the play? 😊  My husband is only 5'10, but I remember, years ago, him leaving a theater mid-ballet in Covent Garden because he couldn't get comfortable and it was pretty warm inside.  (No worries, as he ended up finding a pub that was fit the bill!)

[lenquixote66]

The play was good but not great.There was an understudy for the lead actor

[markeb]

22 minutes ago, ams cruiser said:

Wish we were going to be there more than 3 nights, so it looks like we'll be paying the fees.  Maybe buy two shows in advance (checking for discounts a couple of weeks in advance), and then, if time permits, look into the possibility of a matinee the third day.  I'll keep checking the websites, and thanks for the advice about the sweet spot!

 

 

You're welcome!

 

Different situation than you, but we were in NYC in April (saw Hamilton) and were planning on coming back in August. We walked up to the Lyric to check out tickets for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. The guy at the box office asked what we were looking for, and I said we'd love a sweet spot for pricing, and he looked in the system and offered up first row, balcony center, on the aisle. $88;/person/part. They were great seats. Left on our own, we probably would have gone for the $169/person/part tickets, or almost twice as much. It depends on what experience you want, but the theaters all have seats that are one row from premium, one seat left or right of premium, etc., that are a great value.

[ams cruiser]

4 minutes ago, markeb said:

 

You're welcome!

 

Different situation than you, but we were in NYC in April (saw Hamilton) and were planning on coming back in August. We walked up to the Lyric to check out tickets for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. The guy at the box office asked what we were looking for, and I said we'd love a sweet spot for pricing, and he looked in the system and offered up first row, balcony center, on the aisle. $88;/person/part. They were great seats. Left on our own, we probably would have gone for the $169/person/part tickets, or almost twice as much. It depends on what experience you want, but the theaters all have seats that are one row from premium, one seat left or right of premium, etc., that are a great value.

Wow, that's quite a difference!  I was amazed when I looked at the "Ain't Too Proud" seating chart, and saw tickets for $80 more, just one row ahead.  (Going to put "sweet spot" in my travel notes right now!)

 

[ams cruiser]

7 minutes ago, lenquixote66 said:

The play was good but not great.There was an understudy for the lead actor

Good to know.  I guess this is one of those things you just can't predict, despite the best laid plans.

[lenquixote66]

We belong to a theater club.We get a group rate. 

[Nitemare]

AMS:  when you go thru the discount site, it takes you to Ticketmaster or to Telecharge Offers.  THe Orange and Blue sounds like Telecharge to me.  One of those colors is discount seats, the other is full price.  There might be an option to the side to only see discount seats, but it's not hard to figure out which are the discount ones, those are the ones towards the backs and the sides.

 

If you "mouse over" any dot you will see the price for that seat.  This will work much better with a laptop or desktop than with an iPad or phone

[George C]

We buy almost all tickets at half price tkts locations and see about 4 plays every yearly trip , had great tickets to see beautiful twice. I like the new location by Lincoln center very small lines . Most tickets are 50 percent off. Of course you will not see Hamilton listed there but always find 4 shows we want to see. 

[Nitemare]

We haven't used TKTS in about 5 years.  We prefer to do our shopping from home and not stand in line at TKTS where you don't get to pick your ticket.

That being said, we just realized we don't have plans for this Saturday afternoon (Hadestown at night, Hamilton for Sunday matinee), so we might just end up at TKTS!

[ams cruiser]

14 hours ago, Nitemare said:

AMS:  when you go thru the discount site, it takes you to Ticketmaster or to Telecharge Offers.  THe Orange and Blue sounds like Telecharge to me.  One of those colors is discount seats, the other is full price.  There might be an option to the side to only see discount seats, but it's not hard to figure out which are the discount ones, those are the ones towards the backs and the sides.

 

If you "mouse over" any dot you will see the price for that seat.  This will work much better with a laptop or desktop than with an iPad or phone

I can't remember the specifics, but on one site (I think it was Theatermania), this discounted seats were quite clear.  I think it was on Playbill that I checked off "show only discounted seats" or something like that, and it looked like the seats were not discounted.  I did figure out the mousing over part to the see the price - what I couldn't always figure out is whether or not the seat was actually discounted. 

 

Thank you for this information!  It was a little confusing (I took a little break from it, but will have to go back and look at it again.)