Tony Awards student rush/ticket lottery was the most disorganized, unfair, frustrating experience I have ever had.

[Yero my Hero]

Posted: 6/6/13 at 2:30pm

Here's what happened.

The articles said that the signup would begin at 12, with the drawing at 12:30. I arrived at 12, went up to the front for a slip, and was told they were being handed out at the back (even though no one was there when I arrived). I walked back to the end of the line, which was now about ten or fifteen people longer than when I first got there. The guy who was running it was standing there, trying to say that the line was closed. Apparently, they began handing out slips early and STOPPED giving out slips at 12. I and a few other people complained and said we were here early and sent to the wrong place. He said he believed us and let us get in line, but we still got no slips.

A little while later, the girl who was collecting slips in the box came down the line and stopped a few people ahead of me, where the slips had stopped. She yelled to the rest of us that she would be right back after she found out what was happening.

She never came back. What happened next, at 12:20, was the line suddenly started moving toward the theater because they were starting to draw names. Even though the drawing was supposed to begin at 12:30. So everyone at the back of the line crowded up to hear, because no one in charge thought to bring a megaphone and we couldn't hear anything.

I found the girl who was collecting slips before, and she said, "Oh, did you not hear my announcement?" [You mean the announcement you just yelled from 100 yards away? No, I did not.] "What we decided was that the lottery would be for good tickets in the orchestra, and then we will sell the rest of the tickets down the line, first-come-first-served." I pointed out there was no line anymore, and she just told me to get back in line and wait. So I did.

They drew names. And kept drawing names. And kept drawing names. More and more people crowded up, so soon I looked behind me and realized I was suddenly the back of the line, even though I had started in the middle.

Eventually, after almost two hours, they drew the last name and said they were finished. A bunch of us asked about the first-come-first-served tickets they had promised, and they said, and I quote, "Oh, we decided not to do that. We decided that it would be fairest to just put all the tickets in the lottery and allow for more winners."

How that is fair to the people who were never even allowed to enter is beyond me.

When we all made that point, they stated that they even made up more slips for the people at the end of the line, but those of us in the middle were skipped and ended up completely screwed.

They claimed there was nothing they could do and just walked away.

I was misled twice: once when all the press implied that you could enter if you arrived anytime between 12 and 12:30; and once when I was told to wait and I would be able to purchase tickets.

On top of that, nothing was communicated at all. If they had made an announcement (an AUDIBLE announcement) that there would not be tickets to purchase after all, I would have left and not stayed there waiting for nothing at all.

On top of that, I heard some names called as winners more than once. There was no policing or organization whatsoever.

It's not like ticket lotteries on Broadway is a foreign concept. The Tonys have offered student rush before. So why was this so poorly planned and run?

I am not exaggerating when I say that was one of the most disorganized, infuriating, frustrating, and unfair experiences of my life. I am going to write letters to the American Theatre Wing and the Broadway League, as well as posting all over message boards and social media.

I know they did not have to offer any sort of student rush, but they did and so the expectation was that everyone who followed the rules would have a fair chance to win. That was not the case, and it reflects really poorly on the Tony Awards and the organizations who run it.

[singer73192]

Posted: 6/6/13 at 2:40pm

Trust me, Yero is not just being some sort of sore loser! I was there as well and it was absolute chaos! For an event that should have been easy to organize, there was absolutely no organization. I'm not bitter for not winning, as I was just there to support a friend, but it does reflect extremely poorly on all organizations involved in running the event. It's fantastic they offer the opportunity, but really unfortunate to see what it turned into.

[ClydeBarrow]

Posted: 6/6/13 at 2:42pm

Wasn't the guy playing Drew in ROA supposed to be calling out the names? You'd think they could have gotten him a megaphone since it was made a big deal.

Sorry for your inconvenience but I'm glad I didn't waste my time.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 6/6/13 at 2:44pm

Wow, this sucks. I was keeping up with some of the drama on twitter, but I didn't realize it was this bad.

[PlayItAgain]

Posted: 6/6/13 at 2:58pm

What Yero also missed was they just randomly started selling tickets to the front of the line before the lotto even started and stopped after 8 people had already bought tickets from them.

[Rainbowhigh23]

Posted: 6/6/13 at 2:59pm

How were the seats for those that managed to win?

[PlayItAgain]

Posted: 6/6/13 at 3:01pm

they were all over the place

[center]

Posted: 6/6/13 at 3:16pm

I think it says a lot that I was there the whole time and didn't know half of this was going on. I had a sense of humor about it because I knew it would be a long shot and have other fun viewing party plans, but it was truly terrible. It was as if a couple of interns were just told this morning that they would be running the lotto, so they had no sense of how to handle it. I mean, honestly, even a megaphone would have been an obvious, helpful addition.

I was wondering what they meant by "oh they got tickets earlier" for 4-5 names drawn. I figured it meant they were pairing up and didn't need them anymore - I'm flabbergasted that they were selling before the lotto. It also made precisely zero sense to not put in the press release that you needed to enter by noon for a 12:30 drawing; I got there at 11:55 and barely made it, since the woman at the front of the line with the box said no slips would be accepted after noon. Also, who was the guy who arrived at the end and announced the new 'fair' policy of just selling them all through the lotto, and where was he all along?!

The whole thing took an hour and a half from when I arrived. These folks need to learn from Book of Mormon at the very least before they do anything like this next year.

[newintown]

Posted: 6/6/13 at 3:18pm

Why, it's the most disgusting, atrocious thing ever to happen in America!

[morosco]

Posted: 6/6/13 at 3:19pm

Who was responsible for the administration of the rush/lottery?

American Theatre Wing?
Broadway League?
Radio City Music Hall?
All of the above?

[Yero my Hero]

Posted: 6/6/13 at 3:23pm

No idea, so I plan on contacting all of the above (except maybe Radio City; I don't think the venue had anything to do with this).

[Rainbowhigh23]

Posted: 6/6/13 at 3:29pm

Is there a hashtag to follow the drama on Twitter?

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 6/6/13 at 3:30pm

I was just searching for:

tonys lotto
tonys lottery
tony awards lotto

Stuff like that.

[PlayItAgain]

Posted: 6/6/13 at 5:44pm

White Cherry Entertainment/Productions was running the lotto

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 6/6/13 at 6:01pm

"Why, it's the most disgusting, atrocious thing ever to happen in America!"

Oh shut up, you crusty sad old hag. Nobody said it was the lost disgusting thing ever. They're expressing frustration over something that was obviously frustrating. Just like when your colostomy bag spills out while you're at the buffet line at the Golden Corral.

[BEKA531]

Posted: 6/6/13 at 7:33pm

I'm also planning on contacting all those in charge of the lottery today. I arrived around 12:15pm, which was well within the 12-12:30pm window they announced for entering the lottery and never got to put my name in because they ran out of slips for the middle of the line. I actually saw them handing out slips to the end of the line and decided to wait calmly for those in charge to come to my section. It turns out, by doing the right thing and acting rationally, I was shut out. I simply wanted a fair chance of winning along with everyone else.

When I spoke to someone in charge at the end of the 2 hour long lottery, they said they "weren't prepared for this many people" and they "had to cap it." Yet, the small print in every media outlet, including official Tony Awards pages never said anything about a maximum number of entries. Even when they saw that many more people than they expected had arrived by the 12:30pm drawing, they should've done whatever they could to make this a positive experience for everyone and allow every person who arrived on time to enter, even if it started late. The fact that they didn't was a severe lack of judgement when it comes to brand management and loyalty. There are a lot of very upset people.

In addition, they just gave out tickets as they were called instead of lining everyone up and checking for duplicates (which there were a lot of) before exchanging the tickets for cash at the end like every other Broadway lottery. A friend who won said they didn't even check his ID, which negates the whole point of a STUDENT rush, and plus, he could've been taking someone else's name.

I'm LIVID that I was misled twice, by arriving on time and not being able to enter, and then by staying for the entire lottery to purchase the "first come, first serve" tickets at the end, and then being told they'd changed their minds. The Tony Awards are a very prestigious event and this lottery was handled in an embarrassing, amateurish way when something very real was at stake. There was a complete lack of communication and lack of accountability across the board, and someone needs to be held responsible and make it right instead of shrugging their shoulders.



Updated On: 6/6/13 at 07:33 PM

[CapnHook]

Posted: 6/6/13 at 8:21pm

I had dozens of friends attend this lotto drawing and all of them won. That said, every single one of them told me that it was the worst lottery experience they ever had, for all the reasons already mentioned earlier.

Whoever was in charge of this lottery really pissed a lot of people off.

[ClumsyDude15]

Posted: 6/7/13 at 2:14am

Literally the worst lottery I've ever been through - that includes all the free lottos done in the past for Newsies and Ghost.

My friend and I arrived at 12:26, which was cutting it close, but still within the time limit, and we soon began hearing names being called and were confused as to why the names were being drawn when there should have still been time to sign up. Quickly, we were brought up to speed from those around us, which literally was a mash of the whole "good seats lottoed off, rest sold to the lot" to complete and utter confusion. As others pointed out, many names were being pulled twice, and at least a few people I would suspect took advantage of that.

Despite having never entered my name, I stayed the entire time, and it was honestly the biggest mess I've ever seen. Oh, and to top it off - the security guard from the building next store to the Helen Hayes proceeded to yell at us to move down, thus causing even more shuffle and huffle among the line.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 6/7/13 at 2:18am

Is it too late to be a seat filler? Just watch the hell out for Julie White's purse.

[ClumsyDude15]

Posted: 6/7/13 at 2:20am

Sorry to double post, but you could not make out half the names being drawn because Mr. Rock of Ages was barely audible, and half the time the only way a name made it all the way to the back was through a terrible game of Telephone being played by the entire crowd.

Utterly terrible.

[PlayItAgain]

Posted: 6/7/13 at 2:32am

the sadder part is a few folks have posted on their facebook and they usually respond to every post, they are not even acknowledging the post about the lotto.

[OperaBwayLover]

Posted: 6/7/13 at 11:27am

Wow, what a sad mess.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 6/7/13 at 11:48am

God, that sounds awful. I would have been just as furious. Sounds like this whole project got dumped on an intern and left to fend for themselves. No functional team, no leadership, no experience, zero organizational skills and absolutely no concern for the customers (who were supposed to be the first priority).

[PlayItAgain]

Posted: 6/7/13 at 12:02pm

Oh no, there were adults in charge and they were just as clueless

[BEKA531]

Posted: 6/7/13 at 2:50pm

I sent an email to several people here:

http://www.tonyawards.com/en_US/about/

I don't see how they can go about fixing this now, especially since they don't have the contact information of those who couldn't enter. But, they need to know what happened so that this can be straightened out if there's a lottery next year. Someone needs to be held accountable for what went on.

I think I'm most surprised by how little care went into this whole production when something so valuable, both monetarily and emotionally, was up for grabs. The people who attended this lottery are some of the Tonys' biggest fans, and many left feeling hurt and let down by an institution they trusted. I look at a Tony Awards tweet today and just feel upset, not excited, and that sucks.