HERCULES to Play the Public Theatre this summer!!

[VintageSnarker]

LxGstv said: "Technically no one should be allowed to camp overnight for tickets because the park is only suppose to be open from 6am until 1am..."

This. Teens, stop trying to come up with reasons to sleep outside. 

Also, I don't how y'all think Jeff Hiller and Rema Webb aren't exciting casting. 

[Kad]

People camping out on the sidewalk on Central Park West outside the park has been a thing for years for high-profile park shows. 

[Alex Kulak2]

Rema Webb as one of the Muses? Ohmigod.

Listen to her sing "Raise Me Up" in the Violet revival and be amazed.

[VintageSnarker]

Kad said: "People camping out on the sidewalk on Central Park West outside the park has been a thing for years for high-profile park shows."

I can't remember a time when demand was so high that you couldn't just wait until the park opened. It's not like people are competing for less than 20 rush tickets. It's a decent sized theater. 

[disneybroadwayfan22]

It's all lottery. Are you serious?!?!

https://www.publictheater.org/Tickets/Calendar/PlayDetailsCollection/18-19-Season/Public-Works-Hercules/

[supersam1026]

I totally get it from a safety perspective, but.... OOF!

[VotePeron]

There is simply no other way to do this.

The entire Shakespeare in the Park/Public Works program exists on a 100% free, 100% same day distribution program. With Central Park not officially opening until 6am, it would be physically impossible to manage a line that would undoubtedly begin the night before, as that line would not be honored.

Since digital lottery tickets can’t be claimed past 7:30pm, it will be easy for standby lottery entrants to win tickets, which I assume will be a couple hundred of unclaimed tix.

If the Public were to place tickets on sale or available for advance distribution would defeat the legitimacy of the process that works for every other SITP show.

Also, let’s not act like we’ll never see this production again.

[DoTheDood]

Damn, I was willing to wait in line for a ticket, but to wait in line and possibly not even get one? Not worth it.

[disneybroadwayfan22]

DoTheDood said: "Damn, I was willing to wait in line for a ticket, but to wait in line and possibly not even get one? Not worth it."

Not to mention that I am not from NY, so I was planning to travel to camp out for the night :/ Digital lottery, it is then

[DoTheDood]

disneybroadwayfan22 said: "Not to mention that I am not from NY, so I was planning to travel to camp out for the night :/ Digital lottery, it is then"

Yooo same here. They really made it super inconvenient for anyone not living in NYC, or Manhattan for that matter. East Coasters still want some Public theatre too.

[CT2NYC]

Actually, I think it's more convenient for people outside of NYC than it would be otherwise, since the winners for all of the dates will be drawn on 8/28. This gives them time to make plans, rather than playing it by ear on the day of. 

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

It makes sense. Inventory's going to be TIGHT for this one. They've got all the community partner groups, and it's not the type of show where they're going to get a lot of tickets returned from sponsors/donors/board members/friends of the public.

[DoTheDood]

CT2NYC said: "Actually, I think it's more convenient for people outside of NYC than it would be otherwise, since the winners for all of the dates will be drawn on 8/28. This gives them time to make plans, rather than playing it by ear on the day of."

Oh shoot, my bad. I assumed it was like most TodayTix lotteries of announcing the day of, similar to how they are doing the in-person lotteries. That is a bit more hopeful, thanks for the correction.

[astorian_ofthe_heart]

VotePeron said: "Also, let’s not act like we’ll never see this production again."

I think it is VERY possible we will not see this production again. Disney is a dragon when it comes to the rights to their shows; they hoard everything. It could very well happen in five years or so but I'm honestly not sure Disney will get this in for a Broadway production any time soon. They have a ton productions in the works right now, especially taking on the Fox productions that they've acquired.

For something called "Public Works", the Public Theatre isn't really making this accessible to the public. I'm hoping that they'll prove me wrong with this lottery system, but I don't have much hope. I totally get that the camping out would be ridiculous and that this is a good way to curb that, it just royally sucks. They really shot themselves in the foot though with only having a week of performance dates. This could easily run a full 3 weeks like other Shakespeare in the Park productions, so I'm really confused as to why they didn't just do that. I'll be there every freakin' night trying to do the standby/in person lottery, so we'll see how that goes.

[Kad]

astorian_ofthe_heart said: "
For something called "Public Works", the Public Theatre isn't really making this accessible to the public. I'm hoping that they'll prove me wrong with this lottery system, but I don't have much hope. I totally get that the camping out would be ridiculous and that this is a good way to curb that, it just royally sucks. They really shot themselves in the foot though with only having a week of performance dates. This could easily run a full 3 weeks like other Shakespeare in the Park productions, so I'm really confused as to why they didn't just do that. I'll be there every freakin' night trying to do the standby/in person lottery, so we'll see how that goes."

You don't understand what this production is or what Public Works is. Simply put: these productions are not intended solely for you.

The primary point of Public Works isn't to cater to you. It is to engage communities in NYC. It can't run three weeks because most of the performers will be local specialized non-professional performance groups. There will be dozens, if not hundreds, of local performers. The bulk of these tickets will be going to the communities in the five boroughs from which these groups come.  

If you miss it, too bad. It wasn't meant for you. 

 

[VintageSnarker]

TodayTix? Well, I'm 100% not seeing this. I never win their lotteries.

I'll be interested to hear what the stand by in person lottery is like. Will they really have that many unclaimed tickets by 7pm?

[JennH]

DoTheDood said: "Damn, I was willing to wait in line for a ticket, but to wait in line and possibly not even get one? Not worth it."

Um, you won't won't wait in line at all, because it's all lottery done previous to the run. And I'm with VotePeron and this ticketing decision 1000%. This actually is helpful to everyone, if you're not local to NYC, great you can enter ahead of time AND know ahead of time if you have a ticket! Like...who doesn't want to know ahead of time whether they have ticket so they can plan a little easier?  And this is for sure going to be a HOT ticket, the lottery is going to be MAD. I am sad it's such a short run, but again, it's the P.W. program. And as for the day of standby lotto they're doing, I read everything on their website about ticketing for this, and they're saying if you're doing standby lotto, to please not arrive before 4 PM. Smart. I seriously doubt there'll be a need for standby anyway, who's gonna give up their TodayTix lotto ticket? They've obviously thought this whole thing through, and I commend them for what I think is one of the smartest lottery ticketing decisions for a short run I've ever seen. I doubt this could be done for Broadway with it's unlimited runs. They knew way previous to this that people will clamor like hell to see this, and came up with a great idea to keep people from being nuts and camping out when they can't, basically just all around keeping the sanity to this. 

[JennH]

VintageSnarker said: "TodayTix? Well, I'm 100% not seeing this. I never win their lotteries.

I'll be interested to hear what the stand by in person lottery is like. Will they really have that many unclaimed tickets by 7pm?"

It's a LOTTERY, it's random. There's no point in referring to this like you're always the past one picked in gym class. I'm not tryinh to be snarky, I'm trying to understand the logic behind your statement. I've enter many a lottery and and have only won ONE. 

[DoTheDood]

JennH said: "Um, you won't won't wait in line at all, because it's all lottery done previous to the run."

First off, there is an in person lottery the day of each performance. Second, yes, the digital lottery is earlier, but I already got corrected on that and took back my statement three posts later. 

[disneybroadwayfan22]

Wow. TodayTix reports it to be 90 minutes.

https://www.todaytix.com/x/nyc/shows/17247-hercules-general-entry

[VotePeron]

disneybroadwayfan22 said: "Wow. TodayTix reports it to be 90 minutes.

https://www.todaytix.com/x/nyc/shows/17247-hercules-general-entry"

All Public Works shows are 

[JSquared2]

astorian_ofthe_heart said: "They really shot themselves in the foot though with only having a week of performance dates. This could easily run a full 3 weeks like other Shakespeare in the Park productions, so I'm really confused as to why they didn't just do that. I'll be there every freakin' night trying to do the standby/in person lottery, so we'll see how that goes."

 

How exactly are they "shooting themselves in the foot"?  These are FREE performances --- so what exactly are they losing out on by giving FEWER performances??

 

 

[NievesG]

The lottery is now open :) Good luck to all!

[disneybroadwayfan22]

NievesG said: "The lottery is now open :) Good luck to all!"

Ditto! Just entered for regular and ADA!

[Broadway Joe]

I would never camp out overnight for this so I'm happy it's an all online lotto anyway. Doubt I win though lol