Most “Broadway” shows are presented in theaters in the general Times Square neighborhood, although only 4 of the 39 “Broadway” theaters are actually on the street called Broadway. This is a huge part of the New York City tourism scene, and seeing at least one play or musical in the area can be a great idea even for those of us who are not traditional theater fans.
Tickets have been going way up in price in recent years, but there are a few ways to get cheaper tickets, even at the last minute, although normally only for the less-popular shows of the moment. The prime seats now can have a face value of well over $100 each, however it’s usually possible to get a seat for something less popular for close to $20 at the TKTS office (described below). These shows are quite a spectacle, and even those who mock them should at least make a point of seeing one once in order to validate their future mocking.
Some quick definitions before we go on:
Broadway Theater – A house with 500 or more seats that generally hosts plays and musicals. There are currently 39 such theaters in New York City, although not all have something running at any given time. Except for one about a mile away in Lincoln Center, all these theaters are within a few blocks of Times Square. With only rare exceptions, every production you’ve ever heard of is playing at a “Broadway Theater.” The smallest of these has 597 seats and the largest has 1,935. Most have close to 1,200 seats.
Off-Broadway Theater – Again, this has nothing to do with addresses. Off-Broadway is officially any theater with between 100 and 499 seats. Many are within the Times Square area, but others are down in the Village and elsewhere. Off-Broadway theaters are almost always cheaper to attend, and some of them are put on by non-profit organizations. Occasionally, productions will begin life as Off-Broadway and then move to a larger theater after some success. Avenue Q and Rent have done this, as well as older hits such as Hair and Little Shop of Horrors. Blue Man Group has continued its entire run in an Off-Broadway theater in the East Village.
Off-Off-Broadway – These theaters hold fewer than 100 people, and are generally small, experiment productions, mostly downtown rather than near Times Square. Tickets are usually quite inexpensive, and many amateur productions fit into this category. There is a movement to re-brand this as “Indie Theater” instead of Off-Off-Broadway, and that seems like a decent idea and a far less clumsy and confusing name.