How to get cheap theatre tickets
Finding cheap theatre tickets is all about knowing the right people, or at least being able to discover them when the time is right. Don't get me wrong - there are quite a few cheap theatre ticket websites out there. A lot of theatre companies sell discount tickets through a vendor - particularly if you are willing to buy your tickets well in advance. You can also sometimes save a lot of money by going to smaller, independent theatre companies. Although these shows are not necessarily going to be cheap, some of them will be. They certainly will be more affordable than a high priced London or Broadway production.
There are many other ways of going about finding cheap theatre tickets, however. One of my favorite ones is to get involved in the local theatre community. I've been living in Portland Oregon for a few years, so I know what I'm talking about. Once you have a friend in the theatre business, the cheap theatre tickets start rolling in. There are listserves where theatre company professionals that will hook you up with good deals if you have an in. Also, a lot of theatre companies will give away tickets at the last minute. If you show up right before a performance, they may have discount rate tickets available if they haven't sold out. It's certainly worth checking out.
Sometimes, you can get cheap theatre tickets through your travel agent. A lot of people swear off travel agents nowadays since it is so easy to make your own reservations, but some of them still have great connections that are worth taking advantage of. When we were on our England vacation, our agent got us extremely cheap London theatre tickets. They cost about half of the regular price, and the seats were pretty decent. We did not get to see all of the shows we had wanted to, but we did get to see a surprising number of them.
Of course, with most big shows there will be someone hawking tickets outside the door at the last minute. This is by no means a dependable way of getting cheap
theater tickets, but it can work from time to time. There aren't a lot of professional scalpers for Broadway shows, so anyone who is selling theatre tickets cheap probably has some that they simply don't have the luxury of using. Maybe someone in the family got sick or something. Anyway, by buying tickets from them, you can help someone who is out of luck while helping yourself.
