BWW Blog: Author Peter Wayner - Top Five Ways to Save Money on Broadway Tickets

One of the side effects of writing a book about the economics of Broadway is that friends are always asking how to find cheaper tickets. The prices can be shocking and everyone would like a bargain.

Here's my list of the top five ways to save some money on tickets:

1) The best solution is to purchase your tickets early in the run. My book, Attention Must Be Paid, But for $800? dove deeply into the costs of producing Death of a Salesman in 1949 and 2012. The latest revival ran for only a limited time and by the end, everyone in New York wanted to see Philip Seymour Hoffman play Willy Loman. Brokers were said to be charging out $800 or more for popular nights were often $800 and some reported seeing prices of $1200 or more on Internet sites like StubHub or eBay.

These are big numbers that everyone remembers but few are aware that the producers were discounting prices in the early weeks. The play was not a big hit yet and the end of the run was still a few months away. Orchestra seats from the box-office were as low as $99 in the weeks after opening and mezzanine seats were as low as $50. This was a discount of more than 20% just for deciding to see the show before all of New York jumped on the bandwagon. In all, there were only 109 performances of the play but the producers discounted the prices for 41 of the earliest dates.

Buying tickets to shows before the reviews are up is always a bit risky but the savings can be substantial. You can easily see two or three shows for the price of one certified blockbuster. If one is a dud, you've still got one or two others. And if you like theater, even an average show is better than sitting at home.

2) While taking a risk on a new production can be a good deal, group discounts can be larger, especially when there are many people in your organization. Look around for organizations that regularly buy blocks of seats and join them. Pretty much any group will work but some women's groups make it a regular part of their program.

The prices vary according to the popularity of the show but when the group commits to the show it's not uncommon to see discounts of 40% or more. If you step up and organize the tickets for your group, you may even get free seats for yourself and a guest.

3) A number of web sites like broadwaybox.com sell tickets for most shows and they often offer discounts and packages that can be better than working directly with the box office and the hotels. Their prices are often good, but you'll need to book a hotel room at the same time to get the deal.

4) Buying tickets from people on the streets just before the show is risky but I've gotten some good deals from people who just want to get rid of some extra tickets that are about to expire. One person even bought me a drink after I picked up the two extra tickets. I don't recommend it to everyone because there have been cases of fraud, but there are plenty of legitimate people who end up with tickets that they can't use. If you buy from them, you're helping them out. Broadway should consider setting up a comfortable, well-lighted spot where the tickets are checked for legitimacy beforehand. Until then, only consider this route if you're willing to take the chance that the tickets might be phony.

5) There's also the old favorite, the last minute "rush" seats sold just before the curtain goes up. The producers of Death of a Salesman sold their rush seats for just $30 to anyone who was under thirty. There was no need for a student id; you could just be getting your degree from the school of hard knocks. That was quite appropriate for the play.

Peter Wayner is the author of more than 15 books including Attention Must Be Paid, But For $800?, a deep exploration of just how much it cost to produce Death of a Salesman in 1949 and 2012.

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