SRO on a show that isn't Sold Out
SRO on a show that isn't Sold Out
#1SRO on a show that isn't Sold Out
Posted: 1/8/14 at 11:08am
At BEAUTIFUL today, all the rush tickets were sold out by 10:15am (and they really should cap it, people were buying 6-8 at a time). By the time I got to the window, they started offering standing room in the rear mezzanine (for $37), even though they had plenty of full price rear mezzanine seats left.
Any SRO I've done always was with a sold out show, so I must ask, is this an uncommon circumstance?
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#2SRO on a show that isn't Sold Out
Posted: 1/8/14 at 11:25amNo. Book of Mormon still does standing room even if there are a handful of available seats left. Phantom doesn't.
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#2SRO on a show that isn't Sold Out
Posted: 1/8/14 at 11:31am
Hasn't Mormon 'officially' sold out every performance to date? Aren't those empty seats on cancellations (or scalpers who couldn't unload them?)
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Updated On: 1/8/14 at 11:31 AM
#3SRO on a show that isn't Sold Out
Posted: 1/8/14 at 11:31amIt depends on the show. I haven't checked recently, but at one point Pippin was NOT selling standing room even if a single seat remained unsold.
#4SRO on a show that isn't Sold Out
Posted: 1/8/14 at 11:36am
In general no a show does not sell Standing Room Tickets, unless it is really SRO. Sometimes during weekend performances, a ticket window might sell Standing Room despite the show not being sold out at the moment that at the point of sale because their projected sales for the night are essentially sold out. I know this used to happen at Newsies when it first opened, that if they had sold around 95% of the seats by the time the lottery was over they would sell Standing Room. When I rushed Glass Menagerie, some of the Rush are standing room despite the performance I went to not being sold out.
There are some shows that are super strict with standing room such as Pippin, that won't start selling Standing Room, until every last ticket has been sold.
But a general rule of thumb I have seen for most shows is that if a performance is 95% sold out they will likely sell some standing room tickets.
winston89
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/18/06
#5SRO on a show that isn't Sold Out
Posted: 1/8/14 at 11:43am
It does depend on the show. I have waited in the SRO line for Pippin twice. And, one of those times everyone inline was waiting till about 7:55 for an evening performance that started at 8 to get tickets. This was because they were(and still are)very anal about waiting till the show was totally sold out prior to selling the SRO tickets. For what it's worth, we were waiting that long because they had only one solitary ticket to sell before they would sell us tickets.
I know that once a show sends tickets to the TKTS booth, that means that the box office is no longer in control of the sales of those tickets, as that duty now belongs to the booth. However, during the coupe of times I've seen Once, I have noticed that odds are good that if they are selling tickets for the show at the booth for half off, they aren't sold out and don't sell SRO. Well, a couple of weeks ago, I noticed this was the case from looking at the TKTS app, but still went into the box office to ask. I lucked out int that they did sell me one. Even though it looked as if there were seats to spare. When I got into the theatre, it looked pretty packed. My guess is that some shows will start to sell SRO prior to the performance selling out if they think that it's likely to sell out.
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#6SRO on a show that isn't Sold Out
Posted: 1/8/14 at 11:43am
Isn't Beautiful's cap 2 tix a person? Did they change that? When I rushed in December it was 2 per person. Also had no idea they had standing room! Huh.
If you're seriously chuffed they wouldn't sell you a full price seat for rush price just because there were some left though...c'mon. If you want to pick your ticket, pony up the extra 40$ for the rear mezz seats. They're actually pretty good.
Updated On: 1/8/14 at 11:43 AM
dreaming
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/24/09
#7SRO on a show that isn't Sold Out
Posted: 1/8/14 at 11:51amEach person can get 2 tickets. If people came in a group (say 3 or 4) they could indeed get up to 6-8 tickets between them. (As I was not there, I'm not quite sure if that was the case, but I'm just saying I doubt the box office was letting people buy 6-8 tickets individually.) As for SRO, I'd see it as a good thing that they'd be willing to give a cheaper option to the people who missed out on the rush.
#8SRO on a show that isn't Sold Out
Posted: 1/8/14 at 12:12pmIm not angry about getting SRO (to clarify), but rather was confused about how they sold standing room with unfilled seats, hence lead in to my line of questioning
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StickIt
Featured Actor Joined: 8/29/08
#9SRO on a show that isn't Sold Out
Posted: 1/8/14 at 12:13pm
I see what you're saying re: groups now, I misread it and interpreted it wrong, I'm sorry! It's an interesting idea, to cap the number of tickets for a group, but almost impossible to enforce. If they tried, I'm sure people would just split up in different sections of the line and proceed to buy the tickets they were gonna buy anyway.
I wasn't even aware the Sondheim had adequate space for standing room in the mezz.
dreaming
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/24/09
#10SRO on a show that isn't Sold Out
Posted: 1/8/14 at 12:41pm
There is a cap-2 tickets per person. If one person got up and bought six or eight seats I could see the issue. However, since they have a two ticket per person policy, if these people made the effort to get there together then they can indeed get six tickets (if there were 3 people) or eight (if there were 4). When I rushed it, there were groups (mostly families and college students since it was vacation time), and I can see why those people would want to sit together. IF they want to control this practice further they can limit it to one ticket per person.
I didn't know there was any standing room in that theater-that's good to know.
#11SRO on a show that isn't Sold Out
Posted: 1/8/14 at 1:00pm
Neither did I lol.
When they ran out of rush right before me, I was upset until they announced SRO and I was thrilled. (Last time I was at this theatre, it was for the Dame Edna/Michael Feinstein craptacular ALL ABOUT ME)
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neonlightsxo
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/29/08
#12SRO on a show that isn't Sold Out
Posted: 1/8/14 at 1:02pmI don't know if it's normal but the last time I tried to get SRO for Matilda, they wouldn't sell it to me because they weren't sold out.
#13SRO on a show that isn't Sold Out
Posted: 1/8/14 at 1:28pm
I did standing room for Anything Goes, and was pretty shocked when I was offered that as an option. Also, that evening, the mezz was empty in many a place [furthering the point that the Sondheim will do standing room sans being sold out] thus a friend and I got to sit before the show began.
I know Kinky Boots has done standing room with a fair majority of the house being sold out.
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Broadway Legend Joined: 4/8/12
#14SRO on a show that isn't Sold Out
Posted: 1/8/14 at 4:48pmAs previously mentioned, depends on the show. Some shows will only sell standing room if the entire theater is sold out. Others will sell standing room only if the orchestra is sold out. And from reports from previous posters it seems some shows will sell standing room no matter what.
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Broadway Legend Joined: 10/4/04
#15SRO on a show that isn't Sold Out
Posted: 1/8/14 at 7:21pmWait. Is that correct that standing room for Beautiful is in the rear mezz? That sounds unusual.....and horrible. Can you see anything at all from there?
#16SRO on a show that isn't Sold Out
Posted: 1/8/14 at 9:11pm
I did standing room for Anything Goes. Yes, you can see up there. The theater isn't that large, in comparison to others.
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#17SRO on a show that isn't Sold Out
Posted: 1/8/14 at 9:23pmThe view is gorgeous!!!
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#18SRO on a show that isn't Sold Out
Posted: 1/8/14 at 11:10pmIn The Heights frequently sold SRO after they won the Tony even if the show wasn't sold-out. Ushers would then offer seats to any SRO guest during intermission. Chicago has also sold SRO when they're close to being sold-out.
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