TDF ticketing question

[followspot]

Apologies for another TDF thread, but my question is specific:

On another TDF-related thread, a poster explained TDF ticketing as: On the day of show, the objective of box offices is to fill in the house. The block of TDF presales gives the box office a great tool to do that. An unsold single in Row F? Let's put that TDF single there. Nobody using the 2 remaining house seats in Row H? A TDFer might just luck out and get them...When I do get a great seat, I make it a point to thank the box office person for giving me such a great seat on TDF.

The TDF site puts it this way: Because we do not know in advance what seat locations we will receive for any given performance we cannot provide the location of your seats until you pick up your tickets from the box office on the date of the performance. Although we make every effort to seat people together, the box office sometimes sends us an odd collection of tickets that are not side by side, so we cannot guarantee that seats will always be together.

I've always wondered about who assigns the TDF seats. Does anyone know for a fact which of the two scenarios above (if either) is accurate?

Thanks!

[frogs_fan85]

Both are true. In some instances (but it is a rarity), TDF will offer shows with tickets that will be mailed ahead of time. Those seats are obviously allocated very earlier and usually not be prime locations as the box office would prefer to try to sell those locations at face value up until the show itself. In the more common situation where you have to pick up your tickets at the box office just prior to the show, the TDF tickets are used to "dress" the house, which is basically filling in emptier spots down front or on the sides as opposed to using less expensive seats in the rear of the theater. Again, this is not a hard and fast rule. As you quoted above sometimes they might have a block of unsold seats in a conspicuous part of the house, like a row in center orchestra, which should be filled for appearances sake. I personally one got a third row center seat for OTHER DESERT CITIES, but I'd imagine I only got that seat because it was an orphaned single in the middle of the row and single seats are generally harder to sell at the box office or on TKTS.

[Dollypop]

The very thought of "orphaned seats" saddens me deeply.

[Wee Thomas2]

FWIW, I asked at the Belasco where they are seating TDF customers, as we got Broadwaybox tix at about 1/2 price in the third row (still, nearly twice the cost of TDF). "Those seats are usually close to the restroom" was the response.

[macnyc]

Actually, being close to the restroom could be seen as a benefit! I have no inside knowledge, but the last three shows I had TDF tickets for were all in the mid to rear mezzanine. In the case of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, we were upgraded to the orchestra by the box office because it was an added performance (Friday afternoon) and tickets sales apparently left something to be desired.