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A Broadway Ticket Primer
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Both BroadwayBox.com and TheaterMania.com offer e-mail alerts about new discounts.
Other possible discount sources: classified ads and eBay.com . But before you buy, make sure you know a good deal when you see one: Compare what's on offer with prices found on BroadwayBox.com and Telecharge/Ticketmaster.
Step 2: Dealing With Telecharge or Ticketmaster
Eventually, whether buying at discount, full price or premium, most customers will end up at one of the designated telephone/online box offices, Telecharge or Ticketmaster, to make the actual purchase.
Telecharge service charges can vary, but generally run $6 or $6.50 per ticket plus $2.50 per transaction for Broadway shows, and $5 per ticket plus $1.50 per transaction for off- Broadway when purchased online (50 cents per ticket more if you buy by phone). The same rates apply to discount tickets through Telecharge's sister service, BroadwayOffers.com. Service charges for premium tickets will run higher, sometimes as much as 20 percent of face value (the legal limit).
Ticketmaster "convenience" charges also vary, and you can't find out exactly what fees a ticket will incur until you request specific seats. But by and large, they're about the same as Telecharge's.
A few tips:
If you don't know which site sells the show you want, just go to one of them. If you're in the wrong place, it'll link you to the site you need.
Premium ticket offers, if available, are flagged on the Telecharge and Ticketmaster sites. But telephone and box office reps won't tell you about them unless you ask. That's a policy theater operators instituted to avoid being accused of encouraging buyers to "trade up."
Also look for alerts on the sites for special credit card offers for advanced tickets or preferred seating for some shows.
It's not easy to call New York Ticketmaster from Washington. The 800 number (800-755-4000) is virtually impossible to get through on from D.C., and while there is a local Ticketmaster office here, it doesn't sell New York tickets. So use the Web site, http:/
Bonus tip: If you want to be among the first to know when tickets go on sale for Julia Roberts's Broadway debut in Richard Greenberg's "Three Days of Rain," you can go to the Telecharge site and sign up for early notification.
Step 3: When a Show Is 'Sold Out'
So Ticketmaster, Telecharge and the box office are all telling you the show's sold out. Yet when you Google the title, the Internet is crawling with sellers offering tickets. That's because savvy brokers snapped them up at the first whiff of a hit and are reselling them at way over face value. We clicked the link to "Tickets for sold-out shows" at BroadwayBox.com and went shopping for seats for the Saturday night after Thanksgiving, Nov. 26. For "The Odd Couple," we found seats ranging from $225 for the mezzanine to $1,000 for orchestra row AAA. For "Wicked," the range was $160 to $570.
