THEATER
Broadway on a Dime
When tickets to Broadway shows cost upward of a hundred bucks, this theater maven starts hunting for bargains.
By Ray Green
I remember when The Producers broke the $100 barrier. And I fear that prices are going higher. I am told that once upon a time 50 new shows opened on Broadway every year, and tickets could be had for a song. This was before I was born. And no doubt before the stagehands joined a union.
Throughout the 20th century, prices for shows on and off Broadway soared inexorably. At the same time, fewer shows were produced each year. New musical comedies are now the exception rather than the rule; we’re seeing more revivals of what worked in the past because the cost of mounting a show is simply too high to take a risk.
In a sense, musical theater in New York has followed the path of opera. We have a standard repertoire of golden oldies, guaranteed to give pleasure to an older audience. And with the best of the best chosen for revival, it is hoped that a new audience will emerge.
In the past year I have seen various productions. Wonderful Town was a wonderful show that, although set in a quaint and dated Greenwich Village, remains musically vibrant and lyrically witty. I even got to see Donna Murphy, if only for the first act.
The current production of Fiddler on the Roof doesn’t benefit from Zero Mostel, but Harvey Fierstein, who is wonderful, manages to sing with great feeling. So what if he sounds like a frog. Great performers make a virtue of their handicaps. What is more, the show retains the original choreography by Jerome Robbins.
Pacific Overtures, by Stephen Sondheim was a show that didn’t appeal to everyone. But with its historical themes and gorgeous if complex music, it appealed to me.
But do I really want to see a bunch of old (even if great) shows, and pay $80 to $100 for the privilege? No, No, No. In my tribal tradition, it’s better to get it wholesale.
There is of course the TKTS booth at 47th Street and Broadway, where one can get half-price tickets on the day of the performance. You only get what is available, but the price is right.
The Theater Development Fund has a program that allows its members to select shows and performances from a list of what’s coming up, usually in the next two or three weeks. The cost is less than half of what you’d pay at the box office, and you can make your reservations in advance. The seats may not be the best in the house, but after all, you do get what you don’t pay for. Some examples of what was available on January 15, 2005 were The Cherry Orchard, Pacific Overtures, Wonderful Town, and Forbidden Broadway. Also offered were performances by the New York Philharmonic at Lincoln Center and dance concerts at the Joyce. The Theater Development Fund’s website is www.tdf.org.
Audience Extras is another organization that offers cheap tickets to its members. The purpose is to pad the audience for shows that either are not doing so well or are not well known. Admittedly, the shows tend to be off and further off Broadway. and they may not be to everyone’s taste. But for the adventuresome, they’re there, at nominal cost. The web site is www.audienceextras.com
New York City is blessed with a number of schools that have conservatory programs. These include Juilliard, the Manhattan School of Music, the Mannes College of Music, and NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. All of them offer excellent performances, most of which are completely free. At Juilliard, one can hear first-rate orchestras and chamber groups perform traditional and contemporary music. Each year Juilliard puts on at least one fully staged opera in a beautiful modestly sized theater. There are frequent jazz performances. And during every term, Julliard’s theater department produces the works of playwrights from Shakespeare to Mamet. The student performers in all categories, notably dancers, are uniformly superb.
Performances at the various conservatories are often free and sometimes require that you wait in line. At Juilliard, some of the events (the operas, for example) do cost about $20. The upside is that tickets can be purchased in advance.
Here are various websites:
Julliard: www.julliard.edu
Manhattan School of Music: www.msmnyc.edu
Mannes College of Music: www.mannes.edu
New York University Tisch School of the Arts: www.tisch.nyu.edu
Next time we can talk about cheap places to eat before the show. Meanwhile, with so much going on in New York, we should remember the old saying: “Florida might be a nice place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there.”
