Lola Tung Leads to Standing-Room-Only Crowds at HADESTOWN

In 2001, I read a New York Post review of Seussical in which longtime critic Clive Barnes expressed shock at the cost of a ticket. I found it outrageous that someone writing about theater would have lost such sight of the industry landscape. Throughout my career, I’ve tried to stay attuned to the ticket-buying experience. I walk through the process online at the major ticket sources. I’ll stop by rush lines or in-person lotteries to talk to folks. And, last week, I woke up early a few days to talk to people on/participate in the standing-room-only line for Hadestown.

Hadestown, which welcomed Lola Tung and Ani DiFranco to the cast on February 9, has been a huge success story this winter. Hadestown was certainly a hit already—it recouped all the way back in 2019, its capacity figure is never low even in poorer grossing weeks, showing that it is consistently a solid last-minute seller. But something remarkable happened last month: a show that hadn’t hit over $1 million in a non-holiday week since mid-2022, hit that mark. Every full week for which grosses have been reported since Tung started, has been over $1 million. The few weeks prior the reported grosses had consistently been below $800,000. With the new cast members, the average ticket price shot up; the capacity number has been over 100%.

Now I am not going to give all credit for the boost to Tung, who departed yesterday. I know people who attended because of DiFranco. I know people who attended to catch Lillias White in her final week. But I spoke to people outside of the theater a few nights and during intermission of the performance I saw, and I know she was a prime draw for a lot of people. That is pretty remarkable for a person who is not a household name in the key Broadway age demographic. She isn't splashed over tabloids and doesn't dominate social media feeds with antics. I watched The Summer I Turned Pretty and knew her name, but most of my friends, even those who watched the show, did not recognize her name. So, while I assumed she would sell some tickets, I was not expecting the final weeks of her run to sell out quite so early. Once they did, I decided to try to get a standing-room ticket.

I am always curious about the experience of sitting in partial view seats or standing in the back—because I don’t like to encourage people to do things that I have not done—but I don’t like to take those slots away from someone who cannot see the show another way. In other words, there are generally people who need a lottery ticket more than me. (I last stood in 2017 for Bette Midler in Hello, Dolly!, when I was having a tough day and walked up to the theater last minute and happened to get the final open space.) But, in this case, I waited too long, there were no seated tickets other than at insane resale prices, I had always wanted to do a piece on standing room, and so I decided to be a normal person.

My first and only real normal person tip is: make sure you know the time standing room is available. The Hadestown website just says “day of,” other websites had said 5pm, so the first day I showed up at 4pm, and was curious why I was first in line at 4pm, until I went into the box office and was told that the tickets went on sale when the box office opened at 10am. Hadestown has standing-room spaces at the back of the theater that are available "for sold-out performances"—though I’ve heard tales of them selling standing room when a few seats are still available. While they have 14 numbered standing-room spaces in the theater, Hadestown sells a maximum of 13 standing-room tickets, and they don't sell all 13 each day. One day I was there they sold only seven, but then offered another handful of people partial view seats. Standing room is $39 and these were $79 or $99, but at least around 14 folks got in. One day it was 10 standing tickets with some seated tickets. Friday, the night I attended, 12 people were standing. According to a production spokesperson: "On rare occasion, the production requires using a standing room spot for production purpose." (For each of the days I focused on, there were open standing-room spaces during the show, so it's not that creative team members or friends and family took all of the slots. But who knows who was supposed to show for them. Other shows that have standing room when shows are sold out include Book of Mormon, Chicago, An Enemy of the People and & Juliet. I went to the box office of a couple of them—I did not do a complete check—and was given a specific number of spaces, whereas folks at the Hadestown box office say it varies. But that may be a distinction without a difference. I assume all of the shows sell less on a specific day if the production so chooses.) One day the line started at 6am, another day at 8am. No one who lined up after 9:20am on any of the days I was there obtained any sort of ticket. I interviewed people on the line each day: some just wanted to see Hadestown the show, some wanted to see Tung, some wanted to see continuing cast member Jordan Fisher, some a combination of those three. One person each day had flown in to see Tung. (While there was no one on the standing-room line that mentioned DiFranco or White, many of their fans are a little older, and, therefore, less likely to be standing-room line folks. The standing-room line tended to be younger people, though there was a dad there one day hoping to grab a space for his teenage daughter, who was in school.)

The standing room at the Walter Kerr is on both sides of the orchestra. Rear right has nine slots, rear left has five. Each side gets its own special standing-room behavior speech. We were told it was a fabulous show, that we’d laugh, we’d cry, but to please not do any of those things directly over the people sitting in the last row of the orchestra. We were told that the first act ended with a blackout and people occasionally speed out to get to the bathroom while the lights are still down, so to please stay close to the railing, because they didn’t want us to clean up our blood. We were also told if a seat was vacant at intermission, we could take it.

And then the show began. Because of the mezzanine overhang, the standing-room view is partial view. You miss people’s heads if they are on the onstage upper level. That doesn’t impact too much of the viewing for this particular show. (At Dolly! I missed more.) And, at the Kerr, you can squat down and look up to catch the top of the set, so you can see Eurydice and Hades walk behind those doors, for example, but when you’re looking up, you won’t be seeing the rest of the stage, so it’s a pick-your-poison type of situation. Despite the warning, I didn’t hear anyone bolt for the bathroom at the end of Act One. Once the standing ovation takes place at the end of the show, it’s impossible to see without moving unless you are a giant, but that’s also an easy time to move.

Standing room in general was totally fine—I understand not wanting to stand for 2-and-a-half hours; indeed it did not seem desirable. However, I stand for that length at concerts when I have seats. Madonna famously recently called out a person in a wheelchair for not standing. I would likely not have wanted to do it at a play, but at a musical you can sway and bop, so you’re not completely standing still for that time. I recommend it for those who can stand for that length of time—and I know not everyone medically can—and want to see the show for a reasonable price.

For me, it was also special to see the show again. This is the third time I’ve seen it. The first was with press, which often has a reserved feel. (Scott Rudin in particular was known to like to put in fewer press across more performances because of this.) The second was a cold, rainy midweek performance and the crowd seemed to enjoy it but was fairly dead for whatever reason. This third time, Friday, the crowd reaction was amazing. I was a little worried because Fisher—not known for a stellar attendance record—was out, and I knew, from talking to people coming in, that there were audience members excited to see him. But it did not matter. Understudy Brandon Cameron was fabulous. The ovation for Tung’s dance break in “Livin’ It Up On Top” was a loud one. During “Our Lady of the Underground,” someone yelled out: “We love you, Ani!” (I’m not a critic, but do want to say, for all those who automatically criticize casting people when they are not known for achievements in music or theater, Maude Apatow was wonderful in Little Shop and Tung completely pulled this off. Eurydice is not an easy role. Her take was particularly innocent and naïve, which perhaps is at odds with some of the early script lines, but I thought worked. Her vocals were good. She had the crowd with her from minute one. You felt how lost she was when she took Hades’ deal. You saw her confusion as she joined the workers. I spoke to a person who has seen the show six times with four different Eurydices and Tung was her favorite.)

There were school groups there and the teenagers and the chaperons loved it. (Shoutout to Cameron for spending so much time at the stage door signing and taking photos with what seemed like an endless amount of teenagers.) I spoke to one family on their first trip to New York from Houston. It was a family of four with two children, a 12-year-old girl and a 16-year-old boy. The parents had been interested in this show, so it was on their list of possibilities no matter, but it was the younger girl that convinced them to choose it because of her The Summer I Turned Pretty addiction. The parents raved about it, the girl was in tears, and I got a “it was cool” out of the 16-year-old.

The person standing next to me had come in from Argentina and had listened to the cast recording dozens of times. He was there not to see any specific cast member but to see the musical itself. It lived up to his high expectations. That’s exactly what I want to see. People come to the theater—whether it is to see their favorite television star or just to see the show, whether they have obtained a premium seat or are standing—and they are taken in by it, they want to come back.

As of now, there are about twenty tickets left for tomorrow’s performance, so no standing room, but do keep it in mind in the future, for Hadestown or any of the other shows that offer it. You can still fall in love with the theater, even on your feet.

Update: After publication time, a spokesperson said that the maximum number of standing-room tickets sold is 13. The story has been revised to reflect that.

Industry Trends Weekly is a short column that runs in the weekly Industry Pro Newsletter. To read past columns and subscribe click here. If you have an idea for the column, you can reach the author at cara@broadwayworld.com.