what to know
The TKTS booth in Times Square has become a symbol of New York City’s vibrant theater scene. The booth offers discounted same-day tickets to Broadway and Off-Broadway shows. Over its 50-year history , TKTS has sold more than 68.8 million tickers.
NEW YORK — When Jay-Z and Alicia Keys filmed the video for “Empire State of Mind,” their New York City valentine, naturally they ended up in Times Square, singing on illuminated red glass steps. It wasn’t just a set: it was two New York icons standing on top of each other.
Their stage was on top of the TKTS booth, which has become part of the city’s financial and visual DNA and a key part of keeping Broadway running. This week that stand is celebrating its 50th birthday, with the city celebrating on Wednesday with songs and speeches.
“It’s so inextricably linked to the city,” says Victoria Bailey, executive director of the nonprofit TDF, formerly known as Theatre Development Fund, who manages the stand. “It has always been a symbol.”
It’s a discount box office where same-day Broadway and Off-Broadway shows can be more affordable for those who balk at prices that exceed $300 per seat for some musicals. About 30% of the people lining up are first-time Broadway viewers.
Thousands of tickets are sold at the booth every day, as the various commercial theater box offices calculate how many full-price tickets they can sell, and then send the rest to TKTS. The theater earns all revenue from tickets and TDF receives a service fee of $7 per ticket, which helps fund its educational, community and outreach programs.
Some 68.6 million tickets have been sold from the booth over its 50 years, with more than $2.6 billion going to the shows. Despite the rise of online rivals and apps that sell discount theater tickets, lining up at the booth is as essential as rocking the Statue of Liberty or taking a photo with a nearby costumed Elmo.
The current glass-enclosed stand opened in 2008 as part of an $18 million renovation project reminiscent of a Greek amphitheater or Rome’s famous Spanish Steps, where visitors can sit on the 27 steps and take in the street scene. Jay-Z and Keys may have had the steps to themselves in their video, but it’s usually a busy place.
“There are so many people who keep coming back even after the pandemic and they will stand in that line to come see shows. And they thank us. That’s something that didn’t happen that often before. But now it happens more and I love it,” says Ann Ramirez, TKTS supervisor.
TDF created TKTS satellite booths in Brooklyn, at the World Trade Center, and Lincoln Center, and helped develop booths in Boston, Washington, DC, Chicago, Denver, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Toronto, London, and Sydney.
The first place was a temporary experiment that was left in Times Square. It opened for business on June 25, 1973, using an abandoned trailer donated by the Parks department with holes drilled for the ticket windows. The neighborhood was different then: seedy and dangerous.
“Broadway was falling apart back then,” says Robert Mayers, who along with business partner John Schiff designed the booth and logo. “They wanted to do an experiment because the area was in bad shape.”
Mayers and Schiff received just $5,000 for the capital budget and rented scaffolding to move around the booth. They woven a translucent plastic fabric with the iconic logo between the bars and attached spotlights to the frame.
“It’s a very theatrical type of vocabulary,” says Mayers. “We saw it as a giant kite. It was supposed to be light-hearted, theater-related, and make a visual statement in a crowded place.”
They thought it would hold for a year or two, at best. Instead, it won design awards and lasted for decades. Its influence can be seen in the abbreviated and vowelless applications and current company titles: Flickr to Unbxd and DNCE.
“I noticed that whenever you watch movies from the ’70s or ’80s and they’re in New York, there’s always a scene in Times Square or Duffy Square where the camera rolls over and you see the TKTS booth. I always enjoy that,” says Mayers.
If the stand was an attempt to stabilize the neighborhood, it’s still a sign that the city is open for business, important steps after events like 9/11, Superstorm Sandy and the coronavirus pandemic.
“You talk to the ushers, you talk to the locker room people, you talk to the backstage people and they talk about the booth as what has kept them employed over the years,” said Bailey, who went there to buy tickets at college and later ticketed the booth as Broadway’s general manager.
These days, visitors make their selections from a list of shows on continually updated electronic boards. TDF also has a free phone app that lists its offers in real time.
Staff are available to help with red jackets or t-shirts with the TKTS logo and the printed slogan “Have Questions?” They are theatergoers, they have seen all the shows on offer, and they know the best and worst seats in the different theaters in the city. Most customers complete the line in less than 45 minutes, longer on holidays.
The advice is to be flexible: have decided on two or three possible shows for when you get to the window. Bailey notices that people in line often help each other with recommendations and exchange information about programs.
Tickets for mega-hits like “Hamilton” and “Wicked” will generally not appear at the booth, as they are not required to offer discounts. New shows often do so until they become a hot ticket, such as after winning a Tony Award or rave reviews. But, eventually, most shows end up being listed in the booth.
“There comes a point in the evolution of a show where they need help,” says Bailey, who won a Tony this year for his work helping the theater. “Shows like ‘A Chorus Line,’ ‘The Wiz,’ ‘Chicago,’ ‘The Phantom of the Opera,’ those shows lasted extra years because of the booth.”
On a recent day, the booth was 50% off “Camelot,” “A Beautiful Noise, the Neil Diamond Musical,” “Good Night, Oscar,” “Grey House,” “New York, New York,” ” Once Upon a One More Time,” “Hadestown” and “Chicago.” Tickets for “The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window” with Oscar Isaac and Rachel Brosnahan were just $50.
Unlike other paid ticket vendors who roam Times Square promoting a particular musical or play, TKTS representatives can’t recommend just one show, but offer a variety of options appropriate for the visitor: family friendly, dramatic, light , scary.
Once at the window, ticket sellers quickly scan a floor plan of the theater for available seats and offer guests options, such as whether couples can sit apart with a clear view or sit together with a “partial view” and take their chances. to miss something on stage.
In addition to watching the shows herself, Ramírez loves to see her regulars and find out what they liked and didn’t like.
“This is where we get a lot of information,” she says. “They will come back and tell me the whole business, tell me who was in it, who was bad, who was good. It was good, wasn’t it?
2023-06-29 03:05:12
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