NYC on a student budget
NYC on a student budget
#1NYC on a student budget
Posted: 2/22/12 at 2:33pm
Hi all!
My friend and I will be visiting next week for spring break, and I would love any suggestions on how to see as many shows as possible on as tight a budget as possible. We've already bought tickets to Anything Goes through HipTix, and we're basically going to try to student rush every show we plan on seeing (by the way, how realistic of a possibility is this?). Are there any other lesser-known methods outside of the TKTS booth to get reduced tickets? And which shows (both broadway and off-broadway) should be at the top of my list?
Also, are there rush tickets for previews? I would really love to see Once.
Thanks so much for the help!
#2NYC on a student budget
Posted: 2/22/12 at 3:19pm
Each individual show has their own student rush/lottery policy. The best way to find out about the availability/cost of rush tickets is to look into the particular show you want to see. The show information pages on Telecharge/Ticketmaster usually list this information; another good resource is Talkin' Broadway's Rush board.
I hope you enjoy your visit.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
THEATRICAL100
Featured Actor Joined: 9/12/10
#2NYC on a student budget
Posted: 2/22/12 at 6:22pm
Get. Up. Early. I mean, for shows you know will be doing lotto, you don't want to get there at 9 if it starts at 10. It's a lotto, so time won't effect it.
For rush/sro, definitely don't stay together. Let's say you for sure want to see BOM. Getting SRO tickets to that isn't impossbile. I got there, say a little before 10 one of the days leading up to thanksgiving and was fine. But if it's for a show you know you might not get into, split up and go into the line for one show and have someone else in a line for another.
As for TKTS - yes, they offer some great prices and a lot of shows in one place...however...it's a major, major wait. And it's really hard to tell what shows will be on the board that day so don't cross your fingers.
Sometimes it will be 10 minutes (rare) or it will be an hour. It's unpredictable and if you do Rush, Standing Room or TKTS, you do not want to have reservations. Try not to do SRO and then see a show later. (I did SRO for BOM, had dinner and then saw AGoes...let's just say I apologize to the performers...totally fell asleep 
. Felt really bad)
Marla: I have to go sing about a life I never led.
#3NYC on a student budget
Posted: 2/22/12 at 7:46pm
Playbill has a page with rush and lotto information for all shows currently running on Broadway.
http://playbill.com/celebritybuzz/article/82428-Broadway-Rush-Lottery-and-Standing-Room-Only-Policies
This website has information about what shows have been at TKTS, as well as what they have been discounted for.
http://www.entertainment-link.com/tkts.asp
When I see the phrase "the ____ estate", I imagine a vast mansion in the country full of monocled men and high-collared women receiving letters about productions across the country and doing spit-takes at whatever they contain.
-Kad
#4NYC on a student budget
Posted: 2/22/12 at 7:47pm
This usually gives me all the information I need for student rush:
http://www.playbill.com/celebritybuzz/article/82428-Broadway-Rush-Lottery-and-Standing-Room-Only-Policies
EDIT: givesmevoice, I think you posted right before me!
Updated On: 2/22/12 at 07:47 PM
#5NYC on a student budget
Posted: 2/22/12 at 8:41pmIf you are a student I would highly suggest joining TDF. It is $30 to join. However once you are a member top broadway ticket price is around $40. You can purchase your tickets in advance so you don't have to get up early to wait in rush lines also you can buy up to 9 tickets for each show so only one of you would have to join. I love my tdf membership! Best $30 I spend every year!
"I'd rater be nine peoples favorite thing, than a hundred peoples ninth favorite thing"
#6NYC on a student budget
Posted: 2/22/12 at 9:07pmThanks so much for all the information! So does Once have rush tickets for previews? Or is the information posted only for when it opens?
lightguy06222
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/3/06
#7NYC on a student budget
Posted: 2/22/12 at 9:41pm
ONCE has announced the lottery policy.
www.broadwayforbrokepeople.com
sign up for studentrush.org
I used to come in to NYC twice a year, see 11 shows in 7 days, and usually never spend more than a few hundred bucks.
do NOT waste time in the TKTS line. TKTS prices are not in your budget.
I've also never signed up for TDF... and I see everything on and off broadway.
See whatever you can with AM rush Tickets... (I suggest Death of a Salesman, Seminar, Porgy and Bess, Venus in Fur, How to Succeed, Sister Act, Memphis and WIT)
Do NOT waste time on "fluff" shows... unless you're into that. (Rock of Ages? Mess. Priscilla... YUCK)
some Off Broadway companies have GREAT rush policies (Russian Transport, How I learned to Drive, Assistance, An Iliad, and more...)
http://www.playbill.com/celebritybuzz/article/144419-Off-Broadway-Rush-Standing-Room-and-Inexpensive-Ticket-Policies
Have fun, and most important: Be open to seeing ANYTHING.
bwaylvsong
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/28/05
#8NYC on a student budget
Posted: 2/22/12 at 9:59pm
-Don't bother with lottos or tkts
-Student rushes are usually easier than general rushes
-Morning rushes are generally easier than "2 hrs before curtain" rushes since you have a better idea of what time other people get there
-Standing Room isn't as tiring as you'd expect
Non-theater:
-Eating in places without waiter service will save you a lot of money on tips
-If you want to eat a big meal, go to a restaurant with a cheap price fixe lunch. I recommend Bangkok House. It's less than $10 including tax and tip, and you won't need to eat much for the rest of the day.
-Mee on 53rd and 9th has good, cheap Chinese food
-There are a lot of places that have $1 pizza. My favorite is 2 Bros on 38th and 8th
-The Columbus Circle mall and the Marriot Marquee have clean public restrooms. Both are upstairs
-The letter grades in restaurant windows are given by health inspectors and reflect the level of cleanliness on a particular day. "Grade Pending" can mean anything from a "B" that wants an "A" to a failure that wants a "C"
#9NYC on a student budget
Posted: 2/22/12 at 10:10pm
www.broadwayforbrokepeople.com
What more can I say?
"There is no problem so big that it cannot be run away from."
~ Charles M. Schulz
lightguy06222
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/3/06
#10NYC on a student budget
Posted: 2/22/12 at 11:42pm
Also, and most important... explore more of the city than just Midtown. You get your theatre tix at 10 AM, and don't have to be back at the theatre until USUALLY 8 pm. That gives you ALL day to explore... so DO IT! There is MUCH to see.
Check out some museums: The Museum of Natural History, Guggenheim, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, MOMA... MANY are PWYC.
The New Museum in the Lower East Side is pretty great, and the Tenement Museum is my favorite in the city.
http://www.ny.com/museums/all.museums.html
Explore the east village! Start at union square, and walk around! The Life Cafe is a great stop if you're a renthead, but there are TONS of amazing cafes, vintage stores, restaurants, used book stores (STRAND books!) and much more in the East Village.
The Lower East Side has lots of cafes, shopping, art galleries, etc. Soho is more expensive for clothing stores, but more sheek stuff than the high-end stores of 5th ave.
FINALLY, if you are gonna spend alot of $$ on ONE show... see SLEEP NO MORE. nothing like you have ever, or will ever experience.
