BroadwayGirlNYC: Winning at Wicked

Sometimes, you just know.

And the other morning, I woke up and I just knew!! The moment I opened my eyes, I thought to myself: "Today is the day I win the Wicked lottery."

The ticket lottery for Wicked - available at the Gershwin Theatre 2.5 hours before each performance - is famously busy.  Over a hundred people regularly enter their names, and only twelve or thirteen winners are generally chosen.  I've entered myself into the drawing countless times, and have never won.  At the height of my frustration over losing so often, I wrote a column proposing a "frequent lotto-er" program so those like me could benefit somehow from continuing to put our names into the ring.

Well, after my twenty-somethingth loss, I gave it up.  I started feeling defeated every time I found myself walking past the Gershwin, and I couldn't take the disappointment anymore!  I didn't cry into my Pinkberry or anything, but I did take my lotto luck elsewhere.  (Then on the subway home, I'd indulge in my need for the witches of Oz, living in the memory of the three times I had seen the show over the past six years.)

But that morning I woke up feeling different.  Something in me told me to put on my sparkly red Dorothy shoes and give it another shot.  And wouldn't you know it, my name was one of the first few called!

I couldn't stand the excitement.  With an audible whoop, I literally grabbed the stranger next to me into a bear hug.  She didn't know what hit her until her name was called next!  Then we were a just a couple of screaming grownup women, acting like teenagers who just got asked by our crushes to the prom. 

How did I know that I was going to get lucky at the Wicked lotto?  I have no idea -- but it's not the first time my gut has been right about such things.

I remember losing the HAIR lotto its final weekend on Broadway.  Walking to the subway, disappointed, I cut through Shubert Alley - where the lotto for Next to Normal was going on.  There was a significant crowd, and I hadn't thought to see N2N that night; but a surge of energy went through me as soon as I saw that the lotto was going on.  I knew I would win - and I did!

Just a couple of weeks ago, walking through the theatre district with no specific plan, I happened by the Bernard B. Jacobs at 6:30.  The lotto was just beginning for Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson.  I'd seen it during the first preview, and hadn't loved the show.  But I thought "I'll give it another shot for twenty dollars" - and with a strange, unexplainable confidence, I entered my name into the lottery.  Needless to say, my name was chosen.  And, I ended up loving the show my second time around!!

I still think that shows like Wicked, which have been around forever and frequently boast impressive numbers at their lotteries, should offer some incentive to frequent visitors (who might lose many times before their names ever get picked to win).  In the mean time, though, I'm going to keep listening to my gut, as it seems to be right most of the time, when it comes to asking the Broadway Gods whether I am going to win!

When I make a rough estimate, it was about my 27^th time entering the Wicked lotto before I finally won.  Luckily, any sadness over repeated losses gave way when I woke up the other day  feeling like green was going to be my lucky color. 

As I'm sure you can imagine, the show was even better than I remember it.  Absolutely worth the wait.

A TIP: Double or triple your lottery chances by trying for a second (or third) show if you lose on the first.  While most shows draw names two hours before curtain (Next to Normal, Million Dollar Quartet, West Side Story, Wicked, American Idiot, and In the Heights), there are a few that draw only 1.5 hours before the show (Merchant of Venice, Rain: A Tribute to The Beatles, and Rock of Ages); and Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson draws names only an hour before the show begins.

PS - A great source for comprehensive lotto information (as well as student tickets and general rush info): /srorush.cfm