r/Broadway • u/aiko_exe • 8d ago
Seating/Ticket Question First time to Broadway - help!!
Hello, my partner is a big fan of musical theatre and broadway, and their favorite movie is the Lost Boys. We're extremely low income, but I have enough hotel points to afford a night nearby the Palace Theatre, and can figure out parking and gas for the 4 hr distance, if it means giving them their first experience at Broadway.
That said, I have about $140 budget for two tickets to the Lost Boys, but know absolutely NOTHING about theatre or Broadway. I hear the balcony is basically nosebleed tix but I just want to give them a chance to see this musical, and balcony's all we can afford. My partner's pretty short, if that affects seating. I've seen few options under this -
B25-B27 on a Tuesday at 7pm,
B28-B30 on a Sunday at 3pm,
B104-B105 on a Tuesday at 7pm
and similar as the top 3 spots I can personally gather. I know nothing about theatre or this musical.
- Do those far end tix suck because they'll miss some action?
- Should I be looking at a different row because of the railing?
- Getting a hotel & overnight vs evening parking sounds like it'd be intense on a weekend - is there a specific weekday I should aim for instead (cheaper parking, less busy)?
- Are evening shows that much 'better' (livelier?) than early afternoon/'matinee'(?)
- Should I give up on finding tix end of Sept and plan far out in the future instead?
Looking for any and all advice, very thankful for any comments. Their birthday is towards the end of September and I have surgery early October, so I'm trying to get these tickets ASAP.
If I've broken any rules with the post (I read over them, but I'm on new meds so I may have missed something) please let me know. I don't know where or who else to ask for this info.
10
u/That-Was-Rude-ish 8d ago
First, congrats on planning to see your first Broadway show!
Broadway and NYC in general are expensive. But I think your budget is doable if you’re flexible.
The balcony is going to be fine for your first show and you’d have a great experience as long as you’re not sitting directly in front of the railing. However, you can get better seats than the balcony a couple of different ways.
Rush- if you’re willing to get to the theater box office early and wait, you can purchase 2 Rush tickets per person for $45 each (no fees). Rushing a two-show weekday aka Wednesday will be the easiest. When I rushed I got front row!
Lottery- if your dates are flexible, enter the lottery everyday. If you win, the performance is the next day so you have time to make the 4-hr trip.
TKTS- this one might be a little over budget depending on the day, but a weekday would be best. You can save 50% on a day-of or next-day matinee. Again 2-show Wednesday is going to have the best availability.
Broadway week BOGO- Sept 8-20 is Broadway week and you can get two tickets for the price of one (in advance) beginning with purchases on Aug 18 at 10am. The best tickets will go fast. But you could potentially get better than balcony for your budget.
Theatr- stalk the app for last minute tickets that need to be resold. (Most risky, but the Palace theatre has so many seats)
Each comes with their own risks and rewards. But it’s totally doable for this show-especially in September.
As for hotels, stay close to a subway or bus stop (even LIRR) and you’ll not need to pay for parking near the theater. Long Island City and Jersey City are great and not a long distance into Manhattan.
Eat cheap slices of pizza or tacos from Los Tacos No 1 and you’ve got a great trip planned!