How to Get Cheap 'Producers' Tickets
Nathan Lane, Matthew Broderick, orchestra section, $26. Totally legit.

The catch is that they're standing-room only tickets so you sit on your duff for three hours in line the day of the show outside the St. James Theatre, then you stand in the back of the orchestra section during the three-hour glorious, magnificent, totally-not-PC, hilarious show. I swear I was actually in tears of awe during the singing of "Springtime for Hitler" when one the "Nazi" showgirls came out wearing giant kielbasas on her head and attached to her hips, followed by the showgirl Valkyrie with similar accoutrements at her head and hips.

And in case you forgot, Lane/Broderick are only appearing in a few more shows. Their contracts end April 4.
My friend Heesun and got standing-room tickets last night, and here are the details.

Every night, there are up to 18 SRO tickets available to "The Producers." Last night, there were only 16 because someone in the show used two for friends. They are sold each night at 6 p.m. for the 8 p.m. show. But the line starts forming around 2 p.m., though I think the last person in line to get tickets arrived just before 3:30. (Of course that may change every day.) You are allowed two tickets per person in line.

And if you don't want to go that route, there are a surprising number of tickets for sale due to cancellations. (We asked an usher later during intermission and she said those are generally the comp VIP, tickets that get turned back in before the show.) There were people coming up to the ticket booth during the day and buying tickets for Sunday night's show. We were in line on Wednesday (until we heard Broderick's understudy would be in the Wednesday performances and left) and saw people buy mezzanine tickets for Friday night's show. Apparently it's kind of a hit-or-miss chance when/if these tickets come available. These tickets sell at full price; an orchestra seat (the whole first floor) normally sells for $100.

Around 4 p.m., a line started forming behind our SRO line for people who still wanted cancellation tickets for last night's show. Someone said they wouldn't get those tickets until 8 p.m. However, around 6 p.m. -- just before we got our tickets -- The producers staff took at least a dozen of them to the ticket counter to buy tickets. And when we came back close to 8 p.m. there were about 40 people still in that line for cancellations -- so obviously there was at least a slim chance they got in.

I saw "obviously" because I need to heap a truck of praise on the people who work at the theater and manage the line. About every 15 or 20 minutes, a theater employee comes out with a pen and paper and checks on us. He (or she, we had a few people over the two days) keeps everyone's name on a list and the number of tickets they want. He stands there and answers everyone's questions and chats up everyone, asking where they're from, what they do, making lots of chit-chat and generally making everyone feel comfortable. (Alas, no chairs to sit on though.) As we got closer to crunch time, it became obvious why they have that list of names. Lots of confusion as the front of the box offices gets packed with theater business and a mad rush of commuters walking from Times Square over to the Port Authority. Plenty of opportunities for someone to insinuate himself into the line. When we did buy our tickets, the line manager was right up front, making sure each person bought the exact number of tickets agreed upon earlier.

Our tickets were $26 each, cash only. However, it is cheaper for the matinees and I think a couple bucks more for the weekend performances. They only sell SRO tickets if the performance is sold out, which of course isn't an issue for these last Lane/Broderick performances of "The Producers." Plenty of other Broadway shows also do discounted SRO tickets, according to this Playbill article from a month ago. It has details and prices for a number of shows, including "The Lion King," "Hairspray" and "Gypsy."

A few last tips if you go the SRO route. There's no place to sit when you're in line. So bring a folding stool or at least a notebook, piece of plastic or something to sit on. If you're with a friend and each getting only one ticket, you can trade off and head to a restroom, or a food-run. Otherwise, you're stuck. Bring something to read. Make sure you have cash for your ticket. As soon as the curtain drops at intermission, make a bee line for the main lobby and head up one flight of stairs where there are a bunch of couches for your aching dogs. If you don't get there right away, all the seats will be taken by the goofs who have been sitting through the performance. Standing through the show isn't all that bad because you have a ledge to lean on and you can actually stretch your legs and move around a bit. But still, those couches felt really great for 15 minutes.
- posted by Amy @ 3/26/2004 08:18:00 AM