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Cynthetiq · 10-10-2008, 05:27 PM

here's more tips for seeing theater in NYC

take notice that some of these tips will apply to other cities, such as student discount seats, senior discount, or even SRO.

Quote:

View: Bad Times, Good Prices
Source: Nytimes
posted with the TFP thread generator

Bad Times, Good Prices
October 10, 2008
Cheap Seats
Bad Times, Good Prices
By BEN SISARIO
CULTURE can be expensive, no matter which way the Dow is pointing. But in belt-tightening times, the cost of enjoying the arts in New York might seem particularly daunting.

Take Broadway, for example. The average price paid for a ticket last week was $76, according to the Broadway League, which represents theater owners and producers. For many shows that will barely get you a spot in the rear mezzanine — or, in the case of the “Equus” revival at the Broadhurst Theater, one of the 52 seats onstage.

Or do you prefer rock ’n’ roll? Prices for pop concerts are higher than ever. The national average for entry to this year’s major tours is slightly more than $67, the trade magazine Pollstar has reported, and — surprise — New York is the most expensive market in the country. The top price for Neil Young’s shows at Madison Square Garden in December is more than $250, which is also what a prime seat at the Metropolitan Opera will cost you.

Fortunately for anyone who wants to maintain a busy cultural calendar but hears the call of frugality — and for those of us who pinch pennies regardless — New York is also the home of the bargain ticket, with an array of discounts, promotions and freebies for everything from poetry readings downtown to the glamour of opera at Lincoln Center.

Kate D. Levin, the city’s cultural affairs commissioner, says markdowns are part of basic arts economics.

“Revenue from ticket sales will always be important,” Ms. Levin said, “but remaining affordable to serve loyal patrons is likely to be a priority for most organizations during times of economic uncertainty.”

Here are some suggestions for how to get the most for your cultural dollar.

The Great White Bargain

Perhaps nothing symbolizes the entertainment draw of New York better than Broadway, and the theater world has the most extensive discount system.

The classic Broadway buck-saver is the TKTS booth, operated by the nonprofit Theater Development Fund (tdf.org). With tickets at 25 to 50 percent off, and sometimes more, it has locations in Times Square, South Street Seaport and, since July, downtown Brooklyn. On Thursday its gleaming new Times Square facility will open with a bonus: credit cards will finally be accepted.

Broadway and Off Broadway producers also advertise through Season of Savings, a booklet of coupons for up to 55 percent off, distributed in newspapers and available on the Web (seasonofsavings.com). It was created in response to the drop in theater attendance after 9/11, said Nancy Coyne of the Broadway advertising agency Serino Coyne, which runs the program.

“We were nervous that New Yorkers needed more than just Giuliani telling them to go to the theater,” Ms. Coyne said, referring to reassurances at the time by Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani.

In addition, most Broadway shows have rush or standing-room tickets sold before the performance; a handful, including “Avenue Q,” “Wicked” and “Hairspray,” have daily lotteries for front-row seats under $30. Onstage seating is available at “Spring Awakening” ($40) and “Equus” ($76.50 for most shows; details at equusonbroadway.com).

Among Off Broadway’s many deals, the New York Theater Workshop (nytw.org) is selling all Sunday tickets for $20, and the Keen Company (keencompany.org) is offering 15 seats to Jan de Hartog’s “Fourposter” on Tuesdays for $15. A cluster of Web sites, including broadwaybox.com and nytheatre.com, have sizable deals for Broadway, Off Broadway and beyond.

One major new bargain in town is Free Night of Theater, a nationwide event organized by the Theater Communications Group. Begun three years ago in Philadelphia, San Francisco and Austin, Tex., it has now expanded to 120 cities, including New York for the first time.

In New York 115 theaters are giving away about 6,000 tickets for performances from Thursday to the end of October. “Fuerzabruta” at the Daryl Roth Theater, “Streamers” and “The Language of Trees” at the Roundabout Theater Company, and “Woyzeck” at the Brooklyn Academy of Music are all on the list. Free Night’s Web site (freenightnyc.net) began accepting reservations last week; most spots have been claimed, but theaters may add more, said Phillip Matthews, the director of audience programs for Theater Communications Group.

Students of Savings

There is a kind of benevolent class system to the discount game, favoring students and retirees — at least those with time to spare.

The New York Philharmonic (nyphil.org) sells $12 tickets to students and has deals for people 65 and older. At Carnegie Hall (carnegiehall.org), students are eligible for subscriptions at $15 per concert and both students and those 65 and older can get into some concerts for $10; student entry to the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center (chambermusicsociety.org) is $10 at the box office the day of the show, or half-price in advance.

The catch is that it is almost a job in itself to keep track of all the rules and schedules. Those student tickets at the Philharmonic go on sale 10 days before the performance, and tickets for age 65 and over the day of the concert, if the show is not sold out; Carnegie’s discounts go on sale weekly.

Students and those 65 and older, get to the Brooklyn Academy of Music (bam.org) 90 minutes before show time for $10 entry. But you’ll need to act fast to get the special $20 orchestra seats at the Metropolitan Opera (metopera.org), offered for most performances Mondays through Thursdays. They go on sale two hours before showtime, and the line forms early for the most popular shows.

Dance Theater Workshop (dtw.org) gives 40 percent off to students and those 65 and older, as well as performing artists, who should be prepared to show some proof of creative employment (a review, for example).

The rules are even more byzantine on Broadway.

For “Spring Awakening,” for example, student rush tickets go on sale each day when the box office opens, but for “The 39 Steps,” be there two hours before the curtain; “Mamma Mia!” has rush tickets, but only on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Rush tickets for “Chicago” are available for each performance except Saturday night, and you need not be a student, but for “Speed-the-Plow” they go on sale two hours before showtime — and have that student ID ready.

Got all that?

For a Song

Discounts are nice, but you can’t beat free. Besides Free Night of Theater, there’s a wealth of world-class arts events in New York offered gratis.

On Friday the World Financial Center (worldfinancialcenter.com) presents a piano marathon honoring Thelonious Monk, with Geri Allen, Randy Weston and Chucho Valdés. Later this season are the composer Bobby Previte (Oct. 28), the Limón Dance Company (Nov. 4) and 20th-century choral music with Musica Sacra (Nov. 18) — all free.

The Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s new “Poems & Pints” series (lmcc.net) presents major American poets at Fraunces Tavern, one of the oldest buildings in Manhattan. Paul Muldoon and Mark Strand read on Nov. 4.

Joe’s Pub (joespub.com) is celebrating its 10th anniversary this weekend with 10 free shows, including Jill Sobule, Allen Toussaint and Roy Nathanson. For classical fans, St. Thomas Church (saintthomaschurch.org) is in the midst of a six-concert run of Messiaen’s organ works on Saturday afternoons, and on Monday the Daedalus Quartet begins a lunchtime Haydn series at Philosophy Hall at Columbia University (millertheater.com). The Juilliard School (juilliard.edu) has a cornucopia of free concerts.

Lovers of the visual arts are particularly fortunate. Galleries are free to browse, and for the Metropolitan (metmuseum.org) and the Brooklyn Museum (brooklynmuseum.org), among others, an entry fee is suggested but not required. Many other museums offer discounted hours: On Friday nights, for example, Asia Society (asiasociety.org) is free, the Guggenheim (guggenheim.org) is half-price, and you can pay what you wish at the Whitney (whitney.org).

The Art of the Deal

It may be too soon for many arts institutions to gauge how the recent economic tumult will affect attendance and sales, and to decide how to react. Some are starting with community outreach: in response to the bad news on Wall Street, the 92nd Street Y has added career counseling to the programming of its new downtown branch, 92YTribeca, which opens next weekend.

But for the city’s most dedicated cultural bargain hunters, a good deal is a good deal no matter what is happening in the economy.

Outside the Metropolitan Opera one afternoon this week, 100 or so patrons were lined up for $20 orchestra seats to see Strauss’s “Salome” — seats that normally cost up to $175. (Starting Monday the Met will offer prime tickets to John Adams’s “Doctor Atomic” for $20 and $30 thanks to a $500,000 donation by Agnes Varis and her husband, Karl Leichtman, who financed the original $20 program, which is now three years old.)

They had brought books and magazines to read while waiting for the tickets to go on sale at 6. Linda Larys, 70, said she went to the opera about five times a season and got the discount whenever possible.

“These are cheap tickets,” she said. “That’s why we’re here.”