I am an avid Broadway Musical Theatre enthusiast.
As in, I have watched more shows than I can remember, I listen to musical soundtracks at every moment of my life, doing anything from cleaning my house to commuting to work to actually working. And I'm constantly quoting lines or bursting into song when someone says something that reminds me of a song. Once a soundtrack gets in my head that’s it, it’s there forever - until it’s time for the next one.
Broadway show tunes are my jam.
I blame this entirely on my parents and them taking me to see shows while growing up. According to my Mother, the first Broadway show we watched was Peter Pan when I was 5 and I would mouth along to the songs and just stare enchanted at what was happening in front of me. Hook, line, and sinker.
Not much has changed, since then I’ve been fortunate to view: Book of Mormon, Phantom of the Opera, Wicked, Cats, Aladdin, Rent, Kinky Boots, West Side Story, Newsies, The Sound of Music, Jersey Boys, Mamma Mia, Beauty & the Beast, Lion King, The Secret Garden, etc. There are others that I no doubt have forgotten about, and some I’ve seen more than once (Lion King 2x, Phantom 3x…) as well as different locations: NYC, Montreal, London, Vancouver, Seattle, Chicago, LA.
This passion ran so deep that I even pursued a minor in Theatre Production & Design while in University. While my major was in Communications, I focused, particularly on Arts & Culture.
I joke that my dream is to be paid to go watch shows and then review them.
I figured that Steemit was a great place to get this ball rolling. I’ll be watching the shows regardless, might as well get into the headspace of a reviewer. I started writing a review about the musical Motown I saw last week and realized I wanted to go over some things first, like my approach to shows. I figured I should give this its own post before the post became enormous. (But keep your eyes peeled for that Motown review!)
One of the ways I approach shows is that, while I love listening to soundtracks days on end, I try very hard not to listen to a soundtrack before I’ve actually seen the show. I’ve been pretty good about this, apart from Hamilton. I choose to do this because I like being surprised, I want to see where the plot will take me and the surprises a show will come up with. Because of this, I usually don’t read the plot beforehand. I might look a the blurb beforehand to have an idea, but it's very general.
This method usually works wonderfully in my favour (e.g Kinky Boots and Wicked) but sometimes can get very confusing (e.g Newsies and Cats). Usually though, if they’ve done their job correctly, you leave feeling satisfied and happy and as I like to say, with your soul alight - I know, how very dramatic of me.
*Speaking of Cats, one day I’ll go on a whole thing about that show.
The Venues: Queen Elizabeth Theatre & The Paramount
My decision to see shows is based a lot on what’s available to me. Living in Vancouver gives me access to all the shows from the Broadway Across Canada (BAC) tour. So even if I haven’t heard much about a show, I’ll still go see it. I also live fairly close to Seattle and so every once in a while, depending on the show, I’ll zip down there for a weekend to catch the ones from the Broadway Across America (BAA) tour.
Because they’re two different tours, they usually have different options. Personally, I find America’s options much better than Canada’s at times, they get shows much more in advance than we do. Because this involves a whole weekend of planning and currency conversion, I generally become a bit more picky about what I see.
All Broadway shows that come to Vancouver are at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre (QET), which is a beautiful venue! I’ve been fortunate to work backstage at the QET and it’s to this day one of my favourite places in this city. When it comes to seating it usually depends on how much I want to see the show, for my absolute must-sees I got for front row balcony, which is to me, the best seat in the whole house.
Now you’re probably asking; But Lili, what about front row floor? Surely that’s the best seat!
If the price of the tickets is anything to go by, it would certainly reflect that. But I’ve always found that you end up staring up at the action and can miss more nuanced details that are occurring in the background. Which is why front row balcony is my favourite, you get a bird’s eye view and no one is in front of you - which is very handy if you’re short like me.
While front row balcony is my preferred seat, and where I would sit every time if I could afford it, sometimes I don’t want to spend so much money, but I still want to see the show. So my other seating is usually the closest to the front that I can get, while still being on the cheapest plan. Also known as, which section is the cheapest, and what’s the best seats I can get in that section? I tend to go for the same seats if I can, which is Balcony Left Centre, Row 27.
Queen Elizabeth Theatre seating layout with the positions I’ve mentioned in pink.
Now, if we’re talking about the shows that go to Seattle, that’s a bit different. Broadway Across America is always at the Paramount Theatre, a gorgeous venue in the middle of the city. It’s really beautiful and if you haven’t been before I highly recommend it! So far, I’ve only been to two shows there; RENT and Aladdin, both were phenomenal. I sat roughly in the same place for those two performances, which is referred to as MEZ 15.
Paramount Theatre seating layout with the positions I’ve mentioned in pink.
MEZ 15 fits into the same category of which section is the cheapest, and what’s the best seats I can get in that section’. But because prices for these tickets are in USD and not CAD, this makes them 20% more expensive according to today’s currency conversion. Due to the way the Paramount is structured, while you’ll still be able to see everything, they’re not the best seats. It is far away from the stage, so don’t expect to see any facial reactions, but they work really well for large dance numbers.
Generally MEZ 15 has worked pretty well for my needs, and yes I just realized I tend to lean left (stage-right) when it comes to seating. Not sure why that is. The rule I’ve kept to when it comes to seeing shows both in Seattle and Vancouver is stick to basic seats for most shows and then splurge on the ones you really want to see. Which are those 3rd pink dots on the above graph there, closer to the front of the balcony.
One word: Hamilton.
(Now I’m not going to get into this because I’ll be seeing that on February 23rd (EIGHT DAYS) and I’ve already written way too much here so…yeah.)
Hamilton was one of those cases where I splurged and boy how I splurged. I actually got a really really good deal all things considered, and this was because I bought them the minute they went on sale. Initially, I considered setting a limit to how much money I wanted to spend, but when the craziness of buying the tickets occurred, honestly I just got whatever I could get my hands on.
Speaking of Hamilton craziness, that’s a great segue into my next topic…
Getting Tickets & Membership
There’s not really much to this one, nowadays it’s incredibly easy to buy tickets, I get all of mine online using Ticketmaster, but I have picked up on some tricks along the way.
The first question I usually get is people asking if I have a subscription to either BAC or BAA. No, not yet.
The way subscriptions are sold is that you pick the seats you want and those are your seats for all the performances within that current season. The better the seats, the higher the price of the subscription. Because of this, I would only get a subscription to my favourite seating (hello front row balcony) and currently, I can’t afford that.
I know, I know, I could sacrifice that and get a subscription that I could afford. OR I could do what I’m currently doing, which is to buy them one show at a time and pick the seats I want from there. Splurging on the ‘must-see’ shows, and spending a bit less on all the other ones.
Another thing that I do is sometimes is invest in group tickets. If you have a party of 10-15 tickets or more, you not only get a 20% discount but you also get to buy tickets before they go on sale to the general public. A really long time before they go on sale. Note that you will only be able to add tickets to your cart once the group minimum has been met and the minimum number varies, sometimes 10, sometimes 15.
When Phantom of the Opera came to Vancouver I knew I not only needed to see them front row balcony but in order to guarantee those seats I had to buy them as soon as possible. I sent out messages to friends who had previously expressed an interest and we rallied together 12 seats. We spread between the first two balcony rows, but a great thing is that you don’t necessarily have to sit together if you don’t want to - but why wouldn’t you?
The good thing about group tickets is the early access and the 20% discount. The bad thing is trying to get everyone together, knowing enough people who want to see a show and then trusting them to pay you back once you’ve bought the tickets. Hopefully, your friends are as great as mine.
The other thing I do, which anyone can (and I highly recommend you do), is to sign up to be a BAC/BAA eClub Member. Basically, just signup for their newsletter and you get access to emails letting you know when shows go on sale, as well as special Pre-sale codes that allow you early access. eClub members usually have access 4-5 days prior to general audience members. It’s free, super convenient and you beat the rush by a few days! You can also check out their Facebook page where they’ll usually post the code on the pre-sale day as well.
The last thing you can do is to have an American Express credit card. Now, I don’t have this myself, but American Express has a partnership with BAC/BAA called Front Of The Line by American Express and they get pre-pre-sale tickets access. This one depends on if you have the card already, or if you care about the extra days. Generally, you should be fine, but it’s enough that I, as an avid broadway-goer, am seriously thinking about getting one. I need my shows!
When tickets are available to be bought
Now, another thing about Broadway shows that I’m not sure many people know about, but they have to be bought very early in advance. Usually a few months depending on the show, 3 or 4 is quite normal, sometimes even more for more sought out shows. So you have to start planning ahead! Luckily, they do release the full season quite in advance as well.
Broadway Seasons
I suppose I probably should have started with this, but oh well, I’ll add it in quickly here. If you signed up to be an eClub like I mentioned above you’ll probably receive a Newsletter announcing the new seasons. That’s when you’ll know when shows are occurring and can, therefore, plan accordingly. You can also usually find out this information by going to either BroadwayAcrossCanada.ca or BroadwayAcrossAmerica.com.
This is the 2018/2019 season for Broadway Across Canada - Vancouver
As you can see, we’re barely into 2018 and they’ve already got shows for the middle of 2019.
You will be prompted to pick your city and then you will receive the schedules relevant to your theatre. Most of the seasons are usually the same shows, every once in a while some cities will have a different show here or there. Ontario this year has a particularly brilliant season, but I’m not bitter…much.
This is the 2018/2019 season for Broadway Across America - Seattle
You have the option of buying tickets directly from the website, and you would receive an email/read about it a few days before on their Social Media accounts. But here’s a small trick you can do to get the exact day a few weeks in advance. If you click on Buy Tickets directly from BAC/BAA’s website you’ll be taken to a page like this;
If you don’t see a red button that says “Buy Single Tickets” this means that tickets aren’t on the Pre-sale or General public just yet. Sometimes, if you go directly to Ticketmaster’s website and look for a show, the dates they’re available will show up and you’ll see their listing. If tickets are on sale there will be a 2nd blue button that says See Tickets. If not, click on the More Info button will usually take you to a page with the Pre-Sale dates.
When buying the group tickets you will find when the offer starts to when it ends. In this case, this is for Les Misérables which is coming to Vancouver in July 2018. As you can see, you can start buying tickets almost 6 months in advance!
In Conclusion…
When it comes to getting the best deals for shows, there are many steps you can take. They’re not particularly hard and easily available. I enjoying looking into these things because sometimes the anticipation of a brilliant event is almost as excited as the actual event. Over time I’ve learned little tricks here and there to make me get the most out of my Broadway seeing experience.
I know I didn’t cover nearly everything there is to cover, and that this focuses solely on the BAC/BAA shows. And also how nobody else probably cares about this stuff nearly as much as I do, but I figured maybe somebody would find it interesting if only a little bit. And hey, if you want to take it the extra step and actually plan out your 2018 schedule like me…well then, what can I say?
Welcome to the Broadway club Steemians!
The shows I’ve settled on for this year. I’m very excited for them!
This is the Introduction Post to the series on this blog I'm referring to as "ArtisticaLili: Broadway Series".