Seeing a show should be part of any visit to New York City, not to mention a regular—or as regular as one can afford, time- and money-wise, to make it—occurrence for theater lovers who live in the five boroughs. With more than a hundred curtains going up every night all over town, the City presents audiences with a dizzying array of theatergoing opportunities, from blockbuster musicals to intimate monologues. Navigating all the choices involved in putting together a night (or afternoon) at the theater can be a challenge even for seasoned locals. To help you make the most of your NYC theater experience, we’ve compiled this insider guide to ticket buying, preshow dining, theater etiquette and even postshow stargazing.
Be sure to see our Broadway and Performing Arts section for a full rundown of individual Broadway and Off-Broadway shows.
Ticketholders at a Broadway theater. Photo: Lucia Vazquez
Broadway, Off-Broadway and Beyond
Broadway—officially, the 41 theaters with 500 or more seats in the Times Square area, though that extends to the Vivian Beaumont Theater in Lincoln Center—has become the home of big, splashy musicals and star drama vehicles, with prices to match: usually in the range of $130 to $200 for orchestra seats, and twice that or more for “premium” tickets. Note that shows can vary a great deal in price, according to seat location, night of the week and demand.
Meanwhile, the majority of so-called straight plays (dramas without music) can mostly be found Off-Broadway, thriving under the auspices of various nonprofit theater companies. The setting is more intimate (100 to 499 seats) and the tickets less expensive (usually $45 to $120, though again this can vary). While traditionally associated with downtown, Off-Broadway has a healthy presence in the Theatre District and elsewhere in Manhattan; the same goes for Off-Off-Broadway, whose small (fewer than 100 seats), scruffier spaces can also be found in Brooklyn and serve as a laboratory for new voices and the theatrical vanguard, with tickets as low as the $15 range.
Photo: Joe Buglewicz
Ticket Timing
For long-running or über-hot shows that regularly sell out (Hamilton and Wicked, for example), plan on purchasing tickets weeks or even months in advance. For all tickets, hot or not, availability is much easier from January through late March than during holidays and the busy summer and Christmas seasons (when tickets often have a $5–$15 premium). Midweek shows, particularly those on Tuesdays, are less crowded than those performed Friday through Sunday. Saturday nights require booking the furthest ahead.
For many shows, the odds are good you won’t need to pay full price, especially during the winter months. During this slower period, producers offer discounts of 25 to 50 percent through a variety of sources. As with the hits, it’s best to buy in advance. And before buying, it’s worth it to check a star’s departure date.
Note as well that NYC Tourism runs NYC Broadway Week twice a year, usually in September and late January to early February. During this time, 2-for-1 tickets are available to many of the shows running on Broadway.
On the day of the show, your options may actually improve. Shows that avoid offering long-range discounts often need to move tickets at the last minute via the TKTS Discount Booth (run by the Theatre Development Fund, or TDF) in Times Square, where same-day discounts range from 20 to 50 percent. To see what’s available you can download TKTS’s free iPhone app, which provides a real-time feed from their big board in Times Square. Choose a few shows you’d like to see and get there early. As usual, selections will be wider and discounts deeper midweek. At the other TKTS location—Lincoln Center—matinee tickets are sold a day in advance.
Student and Senior Specials
Senior citizens and students are among those eligible for a TDF membership, the City’s best-kept bargain-ticket secret. For a $42 annual fee, members receive offers to dozens of shows throughout the year, at prices ranging from $11 for some Off-Off-Broadway shows to $60 for Broadway productions. Most theaters offer a limited number of cheap same-day rush tickets from $10 (for Hamilton, natch) to $50. Some shows have a general rush, others a lottery rush, some are for students only and a few sell standing-room tickets for sold-out performances. Check playbill.com for a detailed and current list of all shows offering these types of tickets.
Courtesy, La Pulperia
Fueling Up
A host of Midtown restaurants serve traditional pre-theater meals at reasonable prices. A three-course prix-fixe menu can run around $45 to $60 for dinner and around $30 for lunch, though of course you'll find a variety of price points at different places. You’ll be in good hands and sure to make your show. When reserving a table, be sure to let them know your curtain time; you can expect your reservation to be 90 minutes before that.
Check out our list of 12 great pre- and postshow restaurants to dine at when you are seeing a production on Broadway. Outside of the surefire spots in that guide, Restaurant Row (West 46th Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues) has good bets such as the century-old Italian spot Barbetta and the Latin-flavored La Pulperia, while Chez Josephine, a French restaurant on West 42nd Street, is a fine option for dinner with live piano accompaniment. Many of these restaurants keep their kitchens open late to accommodate postshow dining as well. The 7pm curtain, now almost the rule for midweek shows on Broadway, makes eating after the show particularly appealing.
Courtesy, Joe Allen
Seeing Stars
Waiting by the stage door for a postshow autograph is another hallowed Broadway tradition. But if you want a star’s signature, be prepared: in addition to an autograph book or your Playbill, bring a good pen or Sharpie. Lately, taking a selfie with performers has become increasingly popular. If you want to get that starry shot for social media, it's key to ask the actor first before you start snapping away. On some shows, the stage door manager may announce a photo policy for big-name celebs before they make their exit. Just remember that some actors enjoy signing autographs and posing for pictures while others may be tired or late for an engagement. So have patience—and always be polite and gracious.
After work, actors have been known to knock back a few at Joe Allen on Restaurant Row, a prime theater hangout since the 1960s. Al Pacino is a regular, as is Nathan Lane (though he might be at the upscale Bar Centrale, just upstairs, and run by the same folks as Joe Allen). Kristin Chenoweth, Sarah Jessica Parker, Bernadette Peters and many other stars have been known to drop in.
Photo: Malcolm Brown
Etiquette
If you should see a boldface name, keep in mind that interrupting someone’s dinner is generally unwelcome—and at some postshow spots (famously, Sardi’s), strictly verboten. Speaking of etiquette, there’s much debate about proper attire for attending a Broadway show. Things tend to be more casual for matinees and midweek shows and dressier on Friday and Saturday nights. In our opinion, going to the theater constitutes something of a special event. We recommend leaving the blue jeans and sneakers behind.
A final note: New Yorkers stand on line (not “in line”) to buy tickets, sure, but outside the theater, with tickets in hand, we just…congregate. Why? Nobody knows. But feel free to break ranks and just stand there, like the locals do. And—oh, yes—enjoy the show!
