Are Broadway opening night tickets ever made available to the public?

[Anastasia_Beaverhausen]

If so, how when?  Thanks!

[haterobics]

Yes. Just pop them online a few days out... usually rear mezz/balcony. Full price.

[LxGstv]

I’ve had guests that got rush tickets to the opening night of The Play That Goes Wrong... they got it at the box office the day before...

[AEA AGMA SM]

As haterobics said, typically seats will be made available for purchase a few days out from the performance. This is once the production has a finalized guest list and knows how many seats will still be available. There's no way of predicting whether tickets will be available for any particular show, as there are of course many, many factors as to who will get invites and how many tickets they allocate to those invited.

[Californian]

I saw Sunset Boulevard on opening night.   The Palace is (was / #RIPPalace) one of the larger theaters, so I'm sure that had something to do with availability.

[Anastasia_Beaverhausen]

Good to know!  Thanks all for the responses!

[Fosse76]

Just be aware that in at least the Shubert houses, there is no bar or merchandise sales on opening nights. There have been few exceptions, but it's a rarity.

[Patty3]

I've never looked for opening night tickets but I have noticed in the past they have popped up last minute. The year I got opening night tickets for Escape to Margaritaville. I was able to use a discount code from a mailer I got a month before. I also got opening night tickets for My Fair Lady. As I was checking every date to get affordable seats I noticed some seats were available in the loge for a week night. Thought it was odd no other nights were available so I grabbed them. It wasn't until afterward that I remembered that date was opening night. 

[msmp]

Fosse76 said: "Just be aware that in at least the Shubert houses, there is no bar or merchandise sales on opening nights. There have been few exceptions, but it's a rarity."

Do you know why this is the case?

[Joviedamian]

"Do you know why this is the case?"

Mainly because tickets are given to those that are in relations to the show (Producers, creative team, friends, family, investors, etc).

I was lucky to score Opening Night tickets for Chita Rivera's A Dancer's Life and Mary Poppins ...but I know the playwright and the producer of those shows. So, it's usually not always open to the public, but some are.

[CT2NYC]

In just the past 6 months, opening night tickets have been available for Frozen, My Fair Lady, The Boys in the Band, Head Over Heels, and Pretty Woman. 

[AEA AGMA SM]

msmp said: "Fosse76 said: "Just be aware that in at least the Shubert houses, there is no bar or merchandise sales on opening nights. There have been few exceptions, but it's a rarity."

Do you know why this is the case?"

I can't speak for the bar, but for merchandise it often depends on the location of the booths. In some of the houses with limited front of house space they need every inch they can get for photographers and other press who are covering the opening night. It's typically a call from the producers themselves and not the theatre owners. I know for both The Band's Visit and Gettin' the Band Back Together they didn't sell in the lobbies on opening night, but did have their other locations open (downstairs by the bar at the Barrymore, and in that house left bar alcove at the Belasco).

[mailhandler777]

I've been to 2 opening nights. Miss Saigon revival was one. They had rush tickets for that in addition to TKTS tickets. The other was Escape To Margaritaville which I got super cheap with a code.

[Glory]

I snagged tickets to Grease when the latest revival opened. We were 2nd to last row in the mezzanine, but it was petty electrifying to be in the theatre. There was so much energy and so many celebrities, it was pretty cool!

[atuomala]

You just have to check for availability when opening night approaches. There’s no guarantee what show will be open to the public on opening night. I went to the opening of Finding Neverland and The Audience and sat in the rear mezzanine for both.

[SomethingPeculiar]

All depends on the needs of the show. But any seats that would be available are usually the "least desirable" rear mezz seats. Also: most openings usually start 10-20 mins late. 

[perfectliar]

Anastasia_Beaverhausen said: "If so, how when? Thanks!"

Depending on the show, they may sell them ahead too. I bought tickets at the box office for what I didn't realize was opening night of The Normal Heart about a month beforehand.

[JSquared2]

SomethingPeculiar said: "All depends on the needs of the show. But any seats that would be available are usually the "least desirable" rear mezzseats. Also: most openings usually start 10-20 mins late."

Plus they also usually have intermissions lasting 30 minutes. 

[JSquared2]

"Fosse76 said: "Just be aware that in at least the Shubert houses, there is no bar or merchandise sales on opening nights. There have been few exceptions, but it's a rarity."

Untrue. I’ve never been to an opening (Shubert or otherwise) where there wasn’t at least one bar that was open. They usually don’t sell merchandise because first nighters don’t need the magnet and the mug. 

[JennH]

From what I've been able to gather over the last few years, is that there's a lot of variables to whether or not any show will do this. How many industry invitees end up accepting, what the producers/other powers that be decide, etc. I saw Pretty Woman had plenty of seats left for their official opening, which honestly doesn't give me confidence about it's future, but that's another discussion.

Potter did this via the TodayTix lottery, which honestly shocked me, I didn't think there'd be any seats left at all considering the amount of industry that I'm sure was invited to it. Frozen def had their opening blocked off/unlisted in Ticketmaster, but I never checked back about that. Of course, it also depends on the popularity of the show at hand. Obviously with a Disney musical, there's much less likelihood of any public attendance snagging tickets to opening than there would be to say, the recent revival of "some play that the general public has never heard of". Just to clarify, that is NOT a knock on any show at all, I'm just trying to get a point across. 

[JSquared2]

JennH said: "From what I've been able to gather overthelast few years, is that there's a lot of variables to whether or not any show will do this. How many industry invitees end up accepting, what the producers/other powers that be decide, etc.I saw Pretty Woman had plenty of seats leftfor their official opening, which honestlydoesn't give me confidence about it's future, but that's another discussion

This would be one of those “variables” you mention.   PRETTY WOMAN opened on a Thursday night in late August, a time when most of the industry is either on vacation or on the way to their weekend homes.  I wouldn’t read too much into the show’s future based on that .

 

[SomethingPeculiar]

PRETTY WOMAN also had the special performance honoring Garry Marshall planned around Julia Roberts' attendance 2 weeks before opening, so they sort of had 2 openings.

The theatre layout is a factor, and how many "good" seats it has. The last few rows of the mezz at the Booth or Schoenfeld are still good. The balcony at the Kerr or the back of the first mezz at the Shubert? Not so much. But it's the producers' decision.