Broadway To The People
Events You Might Be Interested In...
There are a lot of great theater-related events in New York throughout the year, especially during the summer. See full descriptions of these events below. These are some of our favorites:
Summer
Tony Awards
Every year the theater community celebrates outstanding achievement in Broadway theater with the American Theatre Wing's Tony Awards. The awards ceremony is filmed live in NYC and broadcast nationally every year, usually the first Sunday in June. One year, we were actually able to attend the live awards ceremony at Radio City Music Hall and it was incredible! We were able to go because, about a week before the show, it was announced that the Tony Awards would be selling a number of student rush tickets in a lottery held at noon the Thursday before the Tonys. We went to the lottery, entered our names, and, at about 12:30, Christy's name was called and she was able to buy two tickets for $40 each! We were in the rear Mezzanine, but we were still there! It was one of the most amazing nights of our lives! That was 2013, thee first year they were back at Radio City, and they haven't done a student rush since. But check the Tony Awards website around Tony time next year to find out if they will have a lottery, you never know. You, too, could attend the Tony Awards! For six years they also held a free, live simulcast of the Tony Awards in Times Square, but not in 2016. Check the Tony Awards website for more info.
Encores! Off-Center
Jeanine Tesori (composer of Caroline or Change, Fun Home and Violet) is the artistic director of this program, held every summer at New York City Center. Encores! is a program that features three Broadway revivals each year (they're not full productions, more like staged concerts). Encores! Off Center does the same with off-Broadway productions. They always get really great performers (especially because they only have to commit for a short time - rehearsals are usually about 8 days and the shows run for only a handful of performances). We've seen Jonathan Groff in A New Brain, Lin Manuel Miranda, Leslie Odom Jr and Karen Olivo in Tick Tick Boom, Sutton Foster, and more!
Midsummer Night's Swing
Midsummer Night's Swing is Lincoln Center's 3-week outdoor summer music and dance festival at Damrosch Park, which celebrated its 25th year in 2014. There's a different band each night, featuring a different type of music (anything from salsa, disco, swing, pop, etc) and different dance style. Before the music begins, an expert instructor teaches you the dance moves and then you dance the night away! Buy tickets ahead of time as this is a VERY popular event.
New York Musical TheatRE Festival (NYMF)
The New York Musical Theater Festival is held every summer at a series of Off-Broadway theaters along 42nd Street. The festival features new, original productions by up and coming writers, directors, actors, musicians, and more. This year's productions offer musical styles to satisfy any taste - bluegrass, pop, jazz, rock, Weimar Cabaret, country rock, urban steampunk, flamenco, and more! The mission of NYMF is to "ensure the future vitality of America’s greatest art form by providing an affordable way for artists to mount professional productions that reach their peers, industry leaders, and musical theatre audiences, and by serving as the preeminent launching pad for stylistically, thematically, and culturally diverse new musicals." All tickets are only $25 and the productions are truly amazing. The festival also hosts a number of family/kid-friendly and autism-friendly productions, making it even more accessible to many different audiences. Every year, NYMF offers different kinds of memberships which include packages of several tickets, early seating to some events, and access to the opening and/or closing parties, among other special features. This is a really wonderful festival to support and a great way to "discover" the newest talent in musical theater, so you can say you knew them before everyone else did. Visit their website www.nymf.org for more information.
Shakespeare in the Park
Shakespeare in the Park is one of New York's greatest and most renowned summer events. Shakespeare in the Park is hosted by the New York Public Theater every summer and is held at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park (by 79th street). Every summer, Shakespeare in the Park hosts two productions: a Shakespeare play (usually a comedy) for a few weeks at the beginning of the summer and another production (usually a musical, though this year it is another Shakespeare drama, King Lear) for a few weeks in July and August. You can buy tickets to Shakespeare in the park for about $125 or so, but the best way to do it is to wait in line all morning for the free tickets they hand out around noon or 1:00 in the afternoon (check their calendar because it does vary). The park opens at 6am so you can't officially start lining up until then, but some people wait outside the park at the 79th street entrance on Central Park West even before 6am, and are escorted into the park by Shakespeare in the Park staff at 6am.
The line starts outside the box office of the Delacorte Theater and wraps all around the path going north. We have arrived at the line around 7:00-8:00am before and always been able to get tickets. There is a certain big rock that they call the"rock of hope." If you're in line at or before that rock, you're pretty likely to get tickets (it's a big rock formation to your left if your back is facing the theater). They give out hundreds of tickets per performance, though, so don't get discouraged if you're far in line (the theater seats about 1,800!). It's kind of fun to wait in line too, you can bring a blanket or folding chairs or what have you, you can sleep or read, you can even have food delivered to your spot in line! And the shows are always fantastic. They're held in an open-air, outdoor theater and usually feature some amazing, well-known actors (this year, John Lithgow will play King Lear, for instance). Sometimes these productions are even carried over to Broadway the following season (as with the recent production of Hair directed by Diane Paulus. Incidentally, the original production of Hair began at the Public Theater as well, though not in the park).
The other ways to get free tickets to Shakespeare in the Park are to enter the online lottery or to wait in the standby line.
In addition to the two Shakespeare in the Park productions, there are several other events at the Delacorte that are hosted by the Public Theater/Shakespeare in the Park in the summer and fall, including at least one public forum, possibly a dance performance, and the annual gala (described below).
The Public Theater Annual Gala
In 2014, the Public Theater Annual Gala was held at the Delacorte Theater on June 23rd. The performance was called 'One Thrilling Combination,' a tribute to Marvin Hamlisch (the composer of 'A Chorus Line') and the 40th anniversary of 'A Chorus Line,' which got its start at the Public Theater in 1974. You can purchase tickets for this event and participate in the dinner beforehand, the performance, and the dessert/cocktail reception after, where you can rub elbows with celebrities! However, those tickets are expensive.
The Public Theater also offers free standby tickets to this event each year, though they won't tell you how many. One year, the Public Theater sent out an email announcing they would have free standby tickets for the event and that the line would begin at 6pm. We weren't able to get to the park until about 6:30 or 6:45. When we got there, the line was pretty long - probably about 100 people or so - and we were discouraged. The first people in line had been waiting there since 10:00am! After debating whether it was worth it to wait in line, we decided we would and entered the line at about 7:00pm (the show began at 8:00). Staff members told those of us in line that they had no idea how many tickets were available and that they would be able to start handing out tickets just before the show. We waited for an hour and right before 8:00 the line began to move in increments. Staff were handing out tickets to the people in line and then pausing for a couple of minutes and then continuing to hand out tickets. Finally, around 8:12, we reached the head of the line and we got our free tickets!
The paying gala attendees had finished their dinner and were just finding their seats when we walked in - the show had not started yet - and we were offered free coffee on our way in! Our seats were only about 4 rows back (on the side) and we had a great view of the show when it started a few minutes later. So many of our favorite Broadway stars were in the performance, including Jonathan Groff, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Billy Porter, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Jane Lynch, Lindsay Mendez, Krysta Rodriguez, Zachary Quinto, and more! Most significantly, the show featured the original cast of A Chorus Line! It was such a special night!
After the performance, all ticket holders were ushered into the reception area for FREE desserts and cocktails (which were delicious). All of the performers joined the reception and we were able to talk to some of them! It was one of our favorite events of the year, if not THE favorite event. We definitely will not miss it next year!
Shakespeare in the Parking Lot
Shakespeare in the Parking Lot, presented by The Drilling Company, is a summer New York institution that performs free Shakespeare productions in a municipal parking lot at the corner of Ludlow and Broome Streets in Manhattan's Lower East Side. The plays are presented in a working parking lot, so you can drive there but you should expect to pay the Muni-meter. (Performances this season are Thursdays through Saturdays at 8:00 PM for both shows.) The action sometimes happens around a parked car which drives away during a performance. At such times, the players stop and the audience moves its chairs, pausing the performance the same way a show would stop for rain uptown in Central Park. It's all part of the fun.
Seats are available on a first come first serve basis, with audience members often arriving as early as 7:00 PM to secure a place. You are encouraged and welcome to bring your own chair. Once seats are gone, blankets are spread out. They have never turned anyone away.
Broadway Barks
Broadway Barks is a star-studded dog and cat adoption event benefiting New York City animal shelters and adoption agencies. The event, produced by Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, takes place in Shubert Alley with festivities beginning and celebrity presentations of pets from citywide animal shelters. Broadway Barks was founded by Mary Tyler Moore and Bernadette Peters and helps many of New York City’s shelter animals find permanent homes by informing New Yorkers about the plight of the thousands of "homeless" dogs and cats in the metropolitan area.
Fire Island Dance Festival
Fire Island Dance Festival has wowed audiences for 20 years with an eclectic mix of famed and fast-rising dancers from Broadway to Ballet performing on a stunning waterfront stage with the Great South Bay as a backdrop. Proceeds from the event benefit Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.
Fall
Elsie Fest
Elsie Fest is a Broadway music festival developed by Darren Criss. It is Broadway's answer to Coachella, basically, and features performances by Broadway stars. We went in 2015, the first annual ElsieFest, and are excited to attend many more to come.
New York City Center's FALL FOR DANCE FESTIVAL
New York City Center and the Public Theatre hold this event at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park. You can get tickets by waiting in line for the free distribution at noon, via the free virtual lottery, or by purchasing tickets.
Broadway Flea Market
Broadway Week
Off-Broadway Week
20 at 20
Red Bucket Follies
The Red Bucket Follies (formerly "Gypsy of the Year") is an annual six-week fundraising competition that culminates in a variety show featuring humorous skits, dances, and performances by all the year's ensemble casts. The event celebrates the work and dedication of the actors, dancers, and performers in the ensembles of the year's Broadway and Off-Broadway shows and honors the shows that have raised the most money for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS in the six-week period. The shows are hosted by, and feature, many Broadway greats and celebrities and always sell out. Check the Broadway Cares website for more information on how to get tickets.
Broadway week
Broadway Week is usually held twice a year in New York (typically in September and January). Like Restaurant Week, Broadway Week (which lasts more like 2-3 weeks) is a time of year where Broadway shows offer promotions and discounts on tickets. In this case, the tickets are 2 for 1.
OFF-BROADWAY WEEK
Like Broadway Week, Off-Broadway week as a time of year (typically in September and January) when Off-Broadway shows offer 2 for 1 promotions.
20 AT 20
20 at 20 is an Off-Broadway promotion program. Twice a year (like Broadway Week and Off-Broadway Week), many Off-Broadway shows offer $20 tickets at the box office 20 minutes before the performance (you usually want to get there earlier to make sure you're at the beginning of the line). We did this for a play at the Atlantic Theater Company called 'Women or Nothing' by Ethan Coen...and we were seated RIGHT NEXT TO ETHAN COEN!
BroadwayCon
BroadwayCon is exactly what it sounds like, a 3-day Broadway Convention with panel discussions, workshops, singalongs, autographs and other activities. It is full of amazing Broadway people! 2015 was the first annual BroadwayCon.
Miscast Gala (#Miscast) at MCC Theater
Broadway Backwards
Broadway Backwards is an annual celebration where gays and lesbians see their stories told through the great songs of musical theatre, sung by their favorite Broadway performers. The evening is produced by Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and is a fundraiser for the organization. Broadway Backwards began as a grassroots concert performed at the Center in 2006. In subsequent years, the event grew quickly, performing Off-Broadway and in Broadway theaters the last four years.
Easter Bonnet Competition
The Easter Bonnet Competition is another 6-week fundraising competition culminating in two sold-out shows (the spring version of the Gypsy of the Year competition). Last year's event was hosted by Idina Menzel, Fran Drescher, Denzel Washington, and Bryan Cranston. The shows feature performances by the casts of many Broadway and Off-Broadway shows. The top fundraising shows are honored and an award goes to the best-decorated bonnet. Visit the Broadway Cares website for more information on how to get tickets.
Tony Nominees Announced
The Tony Award nominees are announced live on TV, and through a webcast on the Tony Awards website, in April. 2014's nominees were announced by Jonathan Groff and Lucy Liu (with a guest appearance by the award show's host, Hugh Jackman) on April 29.
Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS
Hosts several other events throughout the year, including "Broadway Bares" events. Visit their website here for more information.