There’s nothing quite like the lights, music, and energy of Broadway, but those ticket prices can dim the excitement fast. The good news is that scoring affordable seats isn’t a secret art. It’s a mix of timing, flexibility, and knowing where to look. Whether you’re a local theatre fan or visiting the city for the first time, here are the best ways to land a great deal and still get swept up in the magic of Broadway.
Top Ways to Get Discount Broadway Tickets
TKTS Booths (by TDF) Classic same-day deals, often up to 50% off. Visit the red-steps booth in Times Square or Lincoln Center. Check the TKTS app first to preview what’s available.
Digital Lotteries Many shows offer $10–$40 tickets through daily online lotteries. Enter early, and act fast if you win since claims close quickly.
Rush and Student Rush Tickets Day-of bargains, usually $30–$60, sold when the box office opens. Some are open to everyone, others require a student ID.
Standing Room Only When shows sell out, a few standing spots open for cheap. Ask at the box office; these go fast for popular productions.
Promo Codes and Discount Sites Websites like BroadwayBox, TheaterMania, and Playbill Deals regularly post limited-time codes for 20–50% off.
Membership Discounts Join programs like TDF or industry groups for exclusive early access to discounted tickets.
Special Promotions Keep an eye on seasonal events like Broadway Week or Kids’ Night on Broadway, which offer two-for-one or free youth tickets.
Group Sales If you’re seeing a show with ten or more friends or coworkers, call the theater’s group sales office. Bulk bookings often mean built-in discounts.
Papering Lists Some organizations quietly “paper the house” with free or ultra-cheap tickets for members. Try Club Free Time or local arts newsletters.
Affordable Broadway seats do exist; you just have to know where and when to look. With a bit of planning, patience, and the right mix of apps, booths, and insider programs, you can see world-class theatre without emptying your wallet.
Based on the book, Right from Wrong, by Jacob Dunne, Punch on Broadway tells the story of a young man battling himself and everyone else in Nottingham, England. Adapted for the stage by British playwright, James Graham, and directed by Adam Penford, Punch hits every reservoir of emotion between the opening and final act.
Jacob, played flawlessly by Will Harrison as the lead antagonist turned protagonist, takes the audience along with him as he grapples with cause and effect of his environment versus his life choices. Jacob found understanding and community in the Nottingham streets while his single mother worked long hours to build a respectable life for her son. Jacob is also plagued with a spectrum of disabilities which only add fuel to his internal fire to snuff out a modicum of meaning or purpose to his life. Punching back at everyone and thing that have taunted or dismissed, Jacob becomes a habit that ultimately knocks him onto his most painful, but inspired trajectory yet.
The Punch cast is small and mighty, with many actors playing multiple characters within Jacob’s scarred reality. Costumes and set changes are minimal too, because in this story, it’s the characters’ rollercoaster of raw emotions that need no filler or color. As an audience member, you’ll revisit loss and grief, the anxiety of self-doubt, the rush of a new flirty crush, the weight of societal and familial pressures. You may laugh at times or cry at others, but you’ll easily leave humbled by your own life choices, and the idea of real second chances.
Harrison lends buckets of dialed-in energy to his portrayal of Jacob, amongst many other standout performances. Lucy Taylor as Jacob’s “mum” will leave you breathless as she reckons with the fate of the boy she raised. And then you meet another mum, played by Judith Lightfoot Clarke, whose grief is most palpable after the one punch that would change all.
Open now and running until November 2, 2025, go to the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre and experience Punch on Broadway before it ends.
This October, Broadway offers a striking mix of revivals and premieres. From a cult-favorite musical rising again to an intimate family drama, the fall season promises variety and impact. Here are the four productions opening this month.
Beetlejuice
Palace Theatre | October 8, 2025 Broadway’s favorite ghost makes his return in Alex Timbers’ high-octane staging. With its blend of outrageous humor, eye-popping design, and devoted fan following, Beetlejuice reclaims the spotlight at the newly reopened Palace Theatre.
Ragtime
Lincoln Center Theater | October 16, 2025 One of Broadway’s most sweeping and powerful musicals comes back in a revival directed by Lear deBessonet. Starring Joshua Henry, Caissie Levy, and Brandon Uranowitz, Ragtime offers a timely reflection on identity, change, and the American dream.
Liberation
Broadway Theatre | October 22, 2025 Set in 1970s Ohio, Liberation follows Lizzie as she gathers a circle of women determined to reshape their lives and their world. Decades later, her daughter steps back into that unfinished revolution and confronts what it means to inherit a movement. Written by Bess Wohl and directed by Whitney White, this new play examines freedom, legacy, and the fight to carry change forward.
Little Bear Ridge Road
Booth Theatre | October 30, 2025 Playwright Samuel D. Hunter and director Joe Mantello bring a quiet intensity to this new drama starring Laurie Metcalf and Micah Stock. Set in rural Idaho, Little Bear Ridge Road explores grief, family, and endurance with Hunter’s trademark emotional precision.
Jim Glaub sat down with Mike McLinden (Our Town, Hello Dolly!, Purpose, and the upcoming Little Bear Ridge Road) to discuss the pivotal and thankless job of Company Management; Broadway’s most under appreciated role. They balance the books, manage the cast, serve as first line HR, liaise with producers, and keep the machine running, all while staying out of the spotlight. For our Unsung Heroes series, Mike talks about what it really means to hold a show together.
Q: For people who don’t know: what is a company manager?
Mike: We’re hired by the producer and general manager to oversee the day-to-day operations of the show. We run payroll, pay the bills, settling with the box office, and keep the show on budget. But we’re also the first people to see problems brewing, whether that’s a dressing room that’s too warm or an actor who needs support. At the end of the day we are a conduit for communication. Basically, if you look at a show and wonder, ‘Who does that?’ it’s probably the company manager.
Q: As far as I can assume, nobody grows up saying, ‘I want to be a company manager.’ How did you find your way into this world?
Mike: I studied stage management and lighting design in college. My first company management internship was almost by accident, at the Illinois Shakespeare Festival, a scrappy operation where the CMs also were on the run crew. Later, I spent summers at the Glimmerglass Festival, and that’s when I realized this work played more to my strengths. I wasn’t also running a show and juggling things outside my wheelhouse. Eventually, I landed at the Frankel office in New York on Standing on Ceremony Off-Broadway and then Leap of Faith. That was my front row view of legendary company managers like Kathy Lowe, and from there, every job I’ve gotten has traced back to those connections.
Q: Has there been a moment where you thought, I can’t believe this is my job?
Mike: All the time. During the Hello, Dolly! revival, I watched a rehearsal where the title number was just supposed to be marked. Suddenly Bette and the ensemble were full-out performing it, and I thought, ‘wow, small town Illinois kid in a Broadway theatre, pinch me.’ On the flip side, I’ve also dealt with stars threatening not to go on over something relatively trivial. That’s when you think, ‘Really? This is what I’m juggling today?’
Q: What’s harder: the numbers or the people?
Mike: Definitely the people. Everyone has lives outside the theatre… bad news at home, stress, illness. My job is to support them through that. If they don’t feel safe or valued, the show suffers.
Q: Has empathy ever changed the course of a situation?
Mike: Coming back after COVID, morale was low. People were on edge, worried about shutdowns. Small gestures like bagel Sundays, drinks after rehearsal, gave the company a chance to breathe. It bought goodwill and shifted the mood.
Q: Company management is so under the radar. How do you help people discover this as a career?
Mike: The NMAM apprentice program through our union is a huge step . It’s two years of seminars, training, and mentorship before becoming a full member. I also jump at any chance to talk to colleges. Students need to know you don’t have to sing or dance to build a career in theatre. And I love showing them: I didn’t move to Chicago like my peers, I tried New York, and it worked.
Q: What kind of person thrives in this role?
Mike: Someone with a knack for data, but who’s also a people person. And someone who doesn’t need the spotlight. If people outside the company know my name, something probably went wrong.
Q: If you could company manage any show in Broadway history, which would it be?
Mike:Phantom of the Opera. My grandma played the soundtrack constantly. And to be at the center of that phenomenon, a show that became a household name before the internet, that would’ve been extraordinary.
Q: This is a thankless job. What’s the best thank you you’ve ever received?
Mike: Glenda Jackson thanked me in her Tony speech. Nothing will ever top that. She was an icon, and to hear my name from that stage… I fell out of my chair.
Company managers are rarely in the spotlight, but without them, Broadway wouldn’t run. As McLinden proves, the role is equal parts accountant, counselor, negotiator, and cheerleader. Perhaps it’s time Tony speeches made ‘thank you, company manager’ as common as thanking agents and producers.
Pictured: Mike, Glenda Jackson, and SMs for Three Tall Women. Backstory on this photo from Mike: “Glenda had this sweatshirt that she wore EVERYWHERE. NYT Panel, she wore it. Tony Nominee luncheon, she wore it under a green camo jacket from Ann Roth. It drove some folks on the team a little crazy, so for closing we all got one and wore it.”
