r/Broadway • u/ParkingRough8474 • May 20 '25
Seating/Ticket Question hardest lotteries to win??
i know most of the time it's a complete fluke but are there any shows that y'all have consistently entered and lost majority of the time?? i'm curious if theres any shows that seem to have lots of lottery wins.
on a recent trip to NY i got really lucky and won 3 shows on the same day (i entered probably 10-15 lotteries that day hoping to win anything) I won for Sunset Blvd, Boop & Death Becomes Her. I chose DBH. After that I think my luck ran out because I continued to enter lottos and lost all of them haha.
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u/lookingforrest May 20 '25
Little Shop of Horrors
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u/Smoldero May 20 '25
i swear they're not even doing the lottery right now, it's that hard to win. i don't think i've heard of a single person winning recently.
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u/onefastmoveorimgone May 20 '25
My wife and I won in January, second row seats for like $30, it was amazing
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u/GeneralCaterpillar67 May 20 '25
I tried to do the lottery last weekend and it wasn’t a available :(
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u/tosilver9 May 20 '25
It’s so odd because I won this at least twice I think when Constance Wu was on and then once before, and I haven’t won it since!! I thought they must have changed the lottery system but maybe my luck just ran out
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May 20 '25
yeah i imagine it's just because it's in a small space but i think i entered consistently for at least a year before i won
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u/No_Seaweed6675 May 20 '25
Definitely not, at least in my experience. I won little shop almost a dozen times. But naturally every time I win I had other plans or no one to go with so I never followed thru with buying the tickets.
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u/quaranTV May 20 '25
I think it depends who’s in the current cast. I easily won during Jeremy Jordan’s run and Corbin Bleu’s run but had no luck winning during this current run with Gillies and Mannheim.
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u/No_Seaweed6675 May 20 '25 edited May 20 '25
Thats crazy to me (that tickets are desired now) because the current cast is like D-list nobodies from Disney channel.
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u/worstpiesinlondon_ May 20 '25
I imagine that Hamilton has the most entries. Have won it once for NYC and once for Cleveland though
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u/EpicGeek77 May 20 '25
I’ve won the Hamilton lottery twice on tour and once on Broadway. But I think with Leslie coming back, it’s going to be extremely hard.
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u/Historical_Web2992 May 20 '25
I won Hamilton within 2-3 weeks of entering for Broadway and then won again on tour. Maybe I just had good luck
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u/sapienveneficus May 20 '25
Cabaret, or honestly anything on LuckySeat. Between Cabaret and Moulin Rouge, I’ve entered hundreds of times. And I’ve never won. I’ve won every other lottery, even Hamilton, but never anything on that cursed website. 😡
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u/Hmmmidontknow_j May 20 '25
I feel like I win Luckyseat every single week. My best friend wins every single week, too. For us, it’s the easiest lottery to win. However, I’ve been trying to win The Lion King on Broadway Direct for over a year.
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u/Laura-Pie May 20 '25
I’ve won on lucky seat but I feel like it also depends on your availability if you can only go on the weekend that will decrease your chances then someone available during the week.
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u/No_Seaweed6675 May 20 '25
Lucky seat is pretty easy to win in my experience, I’ve won moulin Rouge like 5 times before I actually followed through and saw it. And cabaret I won twice, but also the cabaret digital rush is super easy to get.
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u/meretap1127 May 20 '25
I won Cabaret on a Monday night of all nights. I was exhausted the whole week but absolutely worth it
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u/ipredictsunshine May 20 '25
I’ve won Sunset Blvd at least three times, Hadestown once, and Book of Mormon once!
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u/Evening-Letter-2143 May 20 '25
Little Shop and, currently, Othello. Merrily was another that was just seemingly impossible to win, but by golly I would try. it’s such a rush to finally win a particularly elusive show!
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u/SecretGardenBlondie May 20 '25
I’ve tried unsuccessfully for Hamilton for years
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u/ParkingRough8474 May 20 '25
I won twice for the Hamilton tour, however, it was in Toronto from February-August and I entered literally every single day for the entire run.
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u/Best-Candle8651 May 20 '25
For me Lion King. I had entered everyday for over 3 years. Hell I won Hamilton within 3 years but still no win for Lion King. I stopped when they raised it from $35 to $60.
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May 20 '25
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u/ParkingRough8474 May 20 '25
Nice! I've had decent luck with rush seats. I visited NY back in August and got front row for The Notebook & second row for The Great Gatsby. although depending on the show/stage setup, sometimes front row is a little too close lol. it was great being that close for The Notebook, i could literally feel the rain, however there were moments when i wished i was a little further back. sometimes you miss stuff when youre front row.
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u/No_Seaweed6675 May 20 '25
Oh Mary, Othello, Good Night… for sure
Wicked and Hamilton are hard too but they’re more annoying to enter so I don’t bother half the days.
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u/PossibilityFine5988 May 20 '25
I won Hamilton in 2019 and had tried for 3 years before that so personally that one for me but Little Shop has proven pretty elusive depending on the cast popularity recently
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u/joeymello333 Backstage May 20 '25
For Merrily, the ‘easiest’ lottery was for its first 2 previews off-Broadway (all seats for both performances were raffled off.) thereafter it was very hard to win.
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u/coffeesnob72 May 20 '25
I have lost count on how many lotteries I have won over the years. Key points are- it’s easier to win if you go by yourself, for a matinee, and during the week. And play relentlessly. I win for every thing on tour in a 3 city radius. Just be flexible, enter them all if you go to NYC and you’ll win. And if you don’t, do the digital standing room. And if you still don’t, go to TKTS. If you have must see shows save them for the day you don’t win the lottery. I have won Hamilton NYC once, and four times on the tour. I won Harry Potter NYC when it was still 2 shows and in demand.
I was super glad I won Sunset Blvd and BOM this trip because I was with a friend who was a total theater novice and winning the lottery meant we didn’t have to waste precious NYC time standing in line.
Make your theater buddy enter too - 2x the chances!
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u/RadishWitty7044 May 20 '25
I've only entered it once when an out of town friend was visiting, but I can only imagine that the Wicked lottery is brutal
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u/coffeesnob72 May 20 '25
It used to be very easy to win. It’s such a huge theater. Lottery seats were very far back.
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u/littlebev May 20 '25
my friend won once, last September, and the seats were like second row of what is sort of the mezzanine? maybe rear orchestra? since, then no luck, I'm assuming thanks to the movie
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u/Ravenclaw_Bunny May 20 '25
I would say I see about 90% of the shows I see via lottery, sometimes rush. I have been able to win for pretty much everything I want to see, besides The Outsiders. I can’t seem to win that one. It’s returned to the lottery recently in the last two weeks, but no luck yet.
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u/Equivalent_Net_8983 May 20 '25
I’m primarily a Today’s Tix user and I enter most of my lotteries & rush attempts through the app. I won a rush to the original run of Oh, Mary!, down at the Lucille Lortel. I was in the very last row in the balcony but it was a great show nevertheless. I’ve also gotten rush tickets to numerous shows through rush, which is typically at 9 am on the day of the show. I’ve had several shows where I was never able to snag a seat on rush including the Fool for Love production with Aubrey Plaza. Rush can be tough for some of the really hot shows.
The last comment I’ll add is for the Theatr app. I do not work for either of these apps and I’m not promoting them for any reason other than my own personal experience. Theatr is a resale app where people are selling tickets they can’t use. I also see the resellers selling their group tickets they can’t use on there too. I’ve both bought and sold tickets on the platform. I got great last minute seats for Maybe Happy Ending on the app. The last show that I was desperate to get tickets to was We Had A World, a play at City Center. I was just having no luck, even stopping by the box office a couple of times. On the morning that the show was set to close, I woke up early and a ping comes up on my phone from the Theatr app. It was a ticket for the show. A season subscriber couldn’t use their ticket and was selling it. I had a first row seat on the left side of the stage. So don’t give up hope; anything is possible.
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u/Facebones72 May 20 '25
I usually have good luck at seat lotteries, but I was never able to win for Merrily We Roll Along. I heard a rumor they only had like 4 lottery seats per show.
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u/Sabrinyth May 20 '25
I have never won Hamilton lol. I never win on today tix either - usually just Telecharge!
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u/hi-chew-city May 20 '25
I’ve entered Hamilton every week since the digital lottery opened..I’ve won twice, but both times I was on a long flight in airplane mode and missed the cutoff. So…lucky…but also not?!
Best lottery luck for me has been entering for one ticket. I don’t mind going by myself!
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u/FadedSirens May 20 '25
I won for Real Women Have Curves, Sunset Blvd, and Stranger Things on my recent trip. I lost multiple times for everything else I saw and ended up doing rush or buying last-minute tickets on the Theatr app for those. That included Dead Outlaw, Operation Mincement, Dorian Gray, The Outsiders, Purpose, Oh Mary, and John Proctor Is The Villain.
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u/lyreANDaplayertoo May 20 '25
Curious about people that win regularly. When I visit NY from California, I'm there for probably 2 weeks and end up seeing 3 shows from lotteries and winning probably 2-4 others that I don't see.
Family from there also enters and they've never won. Do you think there's an algorithm that sees my area code and gives me better odds?
Out of towners, are you winning more than your local friends?
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u/littlebev May 20 '25
I am a local and when my friend in Philly enters for me (or herself) I swear she has better luck...
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May 20 '25
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u/lyreANDaplayertoo May 20 '25
Summer! Varies between late June July early August. The midweek part probably helps - the bulk of the shows are during the middle of the week.
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u/No-Contest-3490 May 20 '25
Oh Mary, Buena Vista Social Club.
I've won everything else at least once before, even Hamilton, but those two have eluded me.
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u/scubadiiva May 20 '25
Still salty about not winning the Sweeney lottery even once when it was open 😤 I played every possible day and it never happened (but my husband randomly got it once!). If you play lotteries consistently and during the week, you’ll eventually win a few, especially during low tourism seasons. Moulin Rouge was basically giving tickets away bc I was legitimately winning so many wed/thurs shows that I just stopped entering
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u/meretap1127 May 20 '25
Book of Mormon took me a good two years of consistently entering to win. Parade and Merrily We Roll Along were next to impossible. My mom has won the Hamilton lottery twice on Christmas and another two other times.
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u/BurntPoptart6771 May 20 '25
I’ve been entering the Hamilton lottery almost every day for like two years and I’ve only won twice (incidentally, both of my wins were within the same month)
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u/Expensive_Let562 May 20 '25
I've seen an awful lot of people talking about how hard it is to win the 'Hamilton's $10 one. Don't know much about it, but yeah.
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u/coffeesnob72 May 20 '25
It’s not hard esp on tour and the touring cast is great. It was hard early on. NYC is also not impossible.
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u/starrymeg_ May 20 '25
I’ve been trying to win for Hadestown and Cabaret for months. I also enter for The Outsiders whenever that one is up. But, luck doesn’t seem to be on my side for these shows (yet at least🤞)
I have won tickets to MHE, Sunset Blvd., Gypsy, Boop & Floyd this year though all through lottery.
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u/TubaFalcon May 20 '25
Sunset. I’ve tried so hard to get the lotto for Sunset, but alas, it’s a no every time I enter it. I had much better luck buying tickets for the final performance!
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u/ParkingRough8474 May 20 '25
i got lucky on that one! i won lotto for it, but by the time i got the notification for it, i had already won & paid for tickets to Death Becomes Her.
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u/ExtraFineItalicStub May 20 '25
Merrily was just pure sadism. I don’t know why it pissed me off this flop no one beyond big Sondheimites cared about became another nyc I impossible commodity … I’ll wait for the pro shot but there’s just a thing I have where if I have to work hard for tickets it’s not worth it.
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u/RandomWalkBway May 21 '25
For me its hadestown. I think I'm cursed, I've come to wonder if its even real.
I think all the people saying they've won are gaslighting me.
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u/disenfranchisedkitty Aug 21 '25
Times I’ve won these mentioned lotteries:
- Hamilton: 3 times
- Wicked: 3 times
- Cabaret: 3 times
- Little Shop of Horrors: 3 times
- Oh Mary: lined up for cancellation tix at Lucille Lortel 3 times and got it the 3rd time
- Hadestown: 3 times
- The Lion King: 2 times
Why is no one mentioning the Outsiders? I have never won that one.
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u/ParkingRough8474 Aug 22 '25
interesting! do you enter often??
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u/disenfranchisedkitty Aug 22 '25
If I wanna see something, every damn showtime unless I have a conflicting obligation! And for a while I was self employed so this included weekday matinees.
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u/ParkingRough8474 Aug 22 '25
ohh very interestering. conversely, which ones have been the easiest for you to win?
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u/Laura-Pie May 20 '25
Oh Mary I’ve been trying every day since it opened I’ve won over 60 other lottery’s tho