It was wicked cheap? hahaha We saw Motown the Musical this past summer and showed up at 5:00 the day of the show for their lottery. I actually won two lottery spots so the three of us paid about what one ticket would have cost. But we also were willing to not go if we couldn’t have found discounted tickets. Motown just closed and is now traveling - it was wonderful! Fastest three hours I think I’ve spent.
I should also note that the other show that I’ve paid exorbitant amounts of money for is Hedwig. I wanted to see it this summer and when I went to look at tickets in June, there were literally no tickets for non-premium seats left for the remainder of Neil Patrick Harris’ run (two months out). So I got really good seats. I’ve done lottery for the Wicked tour (and had pretty good luck with that) but I’m not traveling to see that.
I like to share my one tip about Broadway tickets: We usually go for the discounted day-of-show tickets at TKTS, and you should know that there is a separate, much shorter line for plays (that is, non-musicals).
I would suggest looking at what tickets are discounted through some of the above links. There are a lot of good shows out there that do have discounts.
One thing you might look at is the size of the venue. When we went to see Memphis, I was initially disappointed by having tickets in the balcony. The theater was smaller than I expected. The seats were still very good and the voices in that show filled every crevice of the space.
A few weeks ago, we saw Chicago and had a similar experience.
With Lion King, you may want seats on the main level (for reasons I don’t want to spoil for you) but, it might not matter if you are halfway back from the stage. That could save some money on the ticket price.
TKTS has an app. Displays what’s on the boards. Can’t buy through it.
You can also try Playbill.com for discounts that are available, but the most popular shows are rarely discounted. If you subscribe to either playbill or broadwaybox you get emails letting you know about any new discounts.
A few things…
- You won't be able to get any discount for Lion King. It's still going strong after a decade.
- Wicked has a daily lottery. I've know lots of friend who are successful - it's worth a try. (I've seen the show 2x - it's good)
- best way to get discount ticketsin advance is by becoming a member of Theater Development Fund, the group that runs the TKTS booths. See the link below for how to apply and membership criteria (your daughter qualifies as a student)
https://www.tdf.org/nyc/10/TDF-Member-Tickets
For a sample of what you can get today, look at this link
I agree with all the above posters. I am a frequent theatre goer and get all the discount offers from all the sites plus one that is a usual benefit offered to employees working in Manhattan by many companies and I am pretty sure that I have never seen discount tickets for The Lion King. I actually did see Wicked with a discount however it was an offer that I received before the show opened. We took younger d who was still in high school and she is now out of college for 4, coming up on 5 years and we saw it the Friday night after opening night. You can order tickets in advance of course on Broadway.com or Telecharge, the only issue there is the large per ticket service charges… I just picked up tickets for a cousin who will be in the city during spring vacation week and will be taking her grandchildren to see Matilda. At full price, four orchestra seats came to $548. I could have gotten cheaper seats in the mezzanine which is where I sat with my daughter and they were fine seats and better than the rear of the orchestra. I just saw Cabaret on Sunday for the second time and this year with both d’s and one boyfriend. At the box office there were rear mezzanine seats or the seats that I picked up for bar seating, which is behind the nightclub seating that replaces the orchestra. With slight obstruction they were $89 each and we had the option of ordering drinks. To my mind, better than $79 for top of the rear mezzanine. Just saw Once before it closed and only seats were the top row of rear mezzanine for also $89.00 although for that theatre would have preferred to be closer. You really have to know the theatre and the good thing is that you can check that out onine.