To preface this post, I have to be transparent and mention that out of the 10 shows that I saw, 6 were lottery wins, so I only paid roughly $30-$50 per ticket. It’s not cheap, but it’s a lot less than I would’ve paid to see all the shows at regular price.
So, how did I actually manage to see 10 shows in 10 weeks? Well, first, when I was paying full price for tickets, I used TodayTix, an app that offers the best-priced theatre tickets to Broadway and Off-Broadway. Typically, the tickets are cheaper than if you brought them from the show themselves. TodayTix also allows you to enter the lottery for select shows, such as Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (which I won last year). TodayTix also has daily rush tickets for select shows as well. And lastly, keep an eye out for deals, which happen all the time. Earlier in February, they were offering orchestra seats to a ton of shows for under $50.
Now, onto the 6 shows that I won the lottery for. First, LuckySeat is going to be your best friend. It allows you to sign up for the lotteries for an entire week at a time, meaning you can set it and forget it. Currently, at the time of writing, you can win lotteries for 4 shows in NYC: Hadestown, Moulin Rouge!, The Book of Mormon, and David Byrne’s American Utopia. Drawings happen at 11:15am everyday, so be sure to check your emails!
The rest of the shows have individual lotteries, meaning you have to enter everyday. Shows like Come From Away, Dear Evan Hansen, and Company, are offered by Telecharge, which mean they typically open at 12am everyday. If you’ve won, you typically hear by 9am and have 6 hours to purchase tickets. Other shows like Lion King and Six, are offered by Broadway Direct, and open at 9am everyday and give you an hour to purchase your tickets.
Hamilton is the only standout, because they have their own app, available for Apple and Samsung users. All you have to do is download the app and enter every Friday at 10am. You can enter for the entire week – for a week into the future. Winners are notified on the Thursday prior.
The biggest tip that I can offer for winning Broadway show lotteries is to keep entering. Be consistent and don’t be discouraged if you don’t win after a week or two. The more consistent you are, the higher your changes of winning. Take the 5 minutes every morning to enter the shows every single day. I’m a night owl, so I typically enter the Telecharge lotteries at 12am and then take roughly 5 minutes in the morning at 9am to enter the others. When you’ve entered enough times, your computer will just autofill so much of the information for you.
Here’s a rolling list of lotteries with individual entry:
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