How NOT to win the Broadway ticket lotteries
|
*Note: This article contains information about my
experiences entering Broadway ticket lotteries from December
2016 through October 2019. Whenever I'm in New York, I try to see a Broadway show ... or two ... or three. That can get expensive, so I always keep a look out for ways to find discounted tickets to the shows on my bucket list. A few years ago, I learned about the online Broadway ticket lotteries. These lotteries aren't a chance to win free tickets to Broadway shows. Instead, people enter to win the opportunity to purchase deeply-discounted last-minute tickets to top Broadway shows. There are multiple sites that run online Broadway ticket lotteries, including Telecharge, Lucky Seat, Broadway Direct, and TodayTix. At the time of this writing, Telecharge runs the lotteries for Ain't Too Proud, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, Beetlejuice, Come From Away, Dear Evan Hansen, Oklahoma, and The Phantom of the Opera. Aladdin, Hamilton, The Lion King, Wicked, and Tootsie are with Broadway Direct. The Book of Mormon, Frozen, Mean Girls, Hadestown, and Moulin Rogue! The Musical are with Lucky Seat. TodayTix runs the Friday Forty lottery ($40 tickets ($20 per part)) for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (which is a play rather than a musical, but landed on my Harry Potter Bucket List). You can find up to date information on Playbill.com. They have a page that lists Broadway shows and their discount ticket policies. If there is a particular show you're interested in, you may want to check out their official website as well. During a December 2016 visit to New York, my mom and I decided to try our luck at the online Broadway ticket lotteries for every show that we wanted to see. We planned to enter every day for over a week. We felt certain that the odds of winning tickets to at least one show were good. We'd certainly win at least once, right? Playbill.com has a page that lists Broadway shows and their discount ticket policies. We picked three shows: Dear Evan Hansen, Matilda, and Hamilton.  Playbill.com page that lists Broadway shows and their discount ticket policies. The locations of the Broadway ticket lottery seats vary (although rumor has it that Hamilton always offers seats in the front two rows of the orchestra to lottery winners) and parties of two might be spilt up. Based on the information I found online, it seemed that the seats generally range from orchestra seats that are off to the side (providing a partial view of the action at times) to mezzanine to balcony. At prices that are generally about $40 or less, we were willing to take our chances.  Broadway Direct page listing available ticket lotteries. (Check website for currently available shows.) Each lottery has their own entry periods. Winners are notified by email (some lotteries will also send a text message to winners who provide a cellphone number and request text notification) just after the lottery closes. If you win, you have a limited time window to purchase the tickets or they are forfeited. Here’s our experience: Day one, Thursday, December 1st. My mom and I each entered the lottery for the Matilda evening show. (Dear Evan Hansen was still in previews and had not yet opened its lottery. We couldn’t enter the Hamilton lottery due to another commitment.) Then we waited. Just after 3PM, we each got an email. The subject: "Your lottery results are in." The message: "Sorry! Unfortunately, you were not selected for today's evening lottery. Still looking for tickets? Tickets start at $39 for Matilda The Musical on Telecharge.com.” Darn! But I didn’t expect us to win on our first try. The next day, Friday, December 2nd, we entered both the Matilda lottery and the Hamilton lottery.  Hamilton ticket lottery entry form page 1 of 2. Just after 3PM, we each got a familiar email from Matilda. We didn’t win. Just after 4PM, the Hamilton emails arrived. The subject: "HAMILTON (NY) December 2, 2016 8:00 pm Lottery Results: Try Again." Didn’t even have to open our emails to know we lost. We opened them anyway. The message confirmed … “Unfortunately, you were not selected to receive tickets to the December 2, 2016 8:00 pm performance of HAMILTON (NY). Please try entering again for a future performance. Want to know more? Get tickets directly from the official source and learn more about HAMILTON (NY) on Broadway Direct. Have questions? Visit our FAQ. Thanks again for entering, and better luck next time!” Yes, better luck next time, I hoped. During the rest of my days in New York, our schedule was dictated by making sure we entered the appropriate lotteries at the appropriate times and checked our emails when the results were due. For those of you who would like all the gory details, here is how those days played out: Saturday, December 3rd: Entered Matilda and Hamilton lotteries for matinee shows. (We did not enter the evening lotteries due to a prior commitment.) We lost. Sunday, December 4th: Entered Matilda lottery for matinee and evening shows. Entered Hamilton lottery for matinee show. We lost. Monday, December 5th: All of our desired shows were dark. No lotteries. Tuesday, December 6th: Entered Dear Evan Hansen (It was the first Dear Evan Hansen Broadway ticket lottery ever!), Matilda, and Hamilton lotteries for the evening shows. We lost all of those lotteries.  Dear Evan Hansen ticket lottery entry form page 1.  Dear Evan Hansen ticket lottery entry form page 2. Wednesday, December 7th: Entered Matilda and Hamilton lotteries for matinee shows. Entered Dear Evan Hansen and Hamilton lotteries for evening shows. We lost. Thursday, December 8th: Entered Dear Evan Hansen, Matilda, and Hamilton lotteries for evening shows. We lost. Friday, December 9th: Entered Dear Evan Hansen, Matilda, and Hamilton lotteries for evening show. (Actually, Mom accidentally didn’t enter the Hamilton lottery. We postulate that she forgot to click “submit” after completing the captcha.) We lost. Saturday, December 10th, was my last full day in New York. It was with low expectations but high hopes that we entered the Matilda and Hamilton lotteries for both the matinee and evening shows. (Unfortunately, Dear Evan Hansen didn’t have a lottery to enter that day.) The familiar lottery results emails arrived one by one. “You were not selected.” “Better luck next time!” “You were not selected.” “Better luck next time!” Unfortunately, there would not be a next time for that trip. And Matilda was scheduled to end its Broadway run in January 2017, so we’ll have to see it on tour (or maybe at the Cambridge Theater in London's West End when Mom and I take our dream trip across the pond (Update: In August 2018, mom and I finally made it to London (and Oxford) on a Harry Potter Bucket List trip of a lifetime that included an overnight stay in a Hogwarts filming location, and we saw Matilda in London, which was well worth the wait! The songs were catchy and the entire cast was absolutely terrific!) On subsequent trips, my mom and I entered Broadway lotteries. In December 2017, we entered for Dear Evan Hansen and Hamilton ... And we did not win. In April 2018, we entered for Frozen and Hamilton ... And we did not win. In August 2018, we entered for Frozen, Anastasia, and Hamilton ... And we did not win. And then, in September 2019, our luck changed ... READ WHAT HAPPENED HERE! ~ Jen (California, USA) |
|
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Jen is also known as J.W. Lynne, a best selling author of twelve novels. Check out her books on Amazon: THE UNKNOWN: Eight kids learn the shocking reason why they were kidnapped. ABOVE THE SKY: A girl lives in a world where touching her soulmate is forbidden. WHAT HE DIDN'T TELL ME: A traumatized girl meets a boy with a horrible secret. IF I TELL: A teen wonders if her father is a serial killer. THE DARKNESS OUTSIDE: A teen is locked in a bunker to take a simulated trip to the moon. WILD ANIMAL SCHOOL: A girl falls in love with a boy at an exotic animal ranch. KID DOCS: An experimental program turns kids into doctors. **Not sure which book to choose? Visit our book recommendation page!** **Jen's books are available on Kindle Unlimited.** Besides reading books and dreaming up stories to write, Jen's favorite activities are singing along to musical theater soundtracks and hiking in California's beautiful parks. |
|
Broadway theater ticket tips based on my experiences: 1. If you MUST see a particular show, buy your tickets in advance. To purchase tickets, visit the show's official website. The official website will likely send you to Ticketmaster or Telecharge to actually purchase the tickets. You can also buy tickets in-person at the theater's box office. 2. Sometimes there are discounts available for advance-purchase tickets. Here at mydreamcametrue.com, we’ve had success with finding discount codes at broadwaybox.com. Grab these coupon codes and enter them on the Telecharge or Ticketmaster website to receive an instant savings. Note that promo codes are not available for all shows. 3. You can try your luck at scoring discounted, same-day “rush” tickets by heading to the theater before the box office opens. Playbill.com lists the "rush ticket" policies for current shows. You can also find information about rush tickets on the individual show's official website. Not all shows offer rush tickets. Note that if you aren’t one of the first few people in line when the box office opens, you may not get tickets. People queue up in the early hours of the morning for some shows. Even though people generally line up for rush tickets long before the box office opens, it doesn't hurt to ask if you arrive later, especially if you only need one ticket. 4. If today's performance is sold out, you can try your luck at scoring same-day standing-room-only tickets (SRO tickets) by heading to the theater before the box office opens. Playbill.com lists the "standing-room-only ticket" policies for current shows. Not all shows offer standing-room-only tickets, and these tickets are only offered for sold-out performances. You must be willing to stand in the back of the orchestra for the entire performance. Note that if you aren’t one of the first few people in line when the box office opens, you may not get tickets. People queue up in the early hours of the morning for some shows. 5. If you're still looking for same-day tickets and it’s just hours before showtime, head to one of the Theater Development Fund’s same-day ticket booths (TKTS). In the past, I’ve visited the Time Square TKTS booth and found fifty-percent-off deals on great orchestra and mezzanine seats. When the booths are open, Theater Development Fund’s official website lists available shows, discount percentages, and live prices. You cannot buy these tickets online or over the phone. If they have tickets for a show you want to see, go to one of their booths and buy your tickets in person. Note that discount tickets are not available for all shows. **Shows all over the world (including in Appleton, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Ft. Lauderdale, London, Los Angeles, Madison, Memphis, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, San Francisco, St. Louis, Tulsa, and Woodinville) sometimes offer online ticket lotteries. If you want to see a local show at a deeply-discounted bargain price, check out Lucky Seat, the show's official website, or the venue's official website to see if there is a lottery offered. |