In my last blog post I made a quick mention on how to snag cheaper Broadway tickets if you're traveling to NYC on a budget. I figured the last blog was already long enough with 10 awesome ideas and these tips deserve their own post.

So if you didn’t plan in advance to book a Broadway Show during your stay in New York (and don’t worry, I rarely do), or you’re on a more budget conscious vacation, there are other alternatives to paying the full price for tickets. However these tips do require patience, flexibility, and a little bit of luck.

In my case, I didn’t expect to watch a show at any specific evening. If it worked out and I got tickets, I would plan my evening around the show, but if it didn’t work out I would do something else and try again the next day. I was by myself the whole time anyway so I didn’t ruin anyone else’s plans if I suddenly had a show to catch that evening.

If your heart is absolutely set on watching one specific show on one specific day with a specific amount of people, you’ll probably have to buy your tickets the conventional way at the box office or online. So below are four tips on how you can snag cheaper Broadway Show tickets.

1. Have some extra time?

If you want cheaper tickets and you have the extra time and patience to wait in lines, there are several ways for you to secure those discounts. You can stand in line at any of the three TKTS booth locations at Times Square, South Street Seaport, or Downtown Brooklyn which sell tickets from 20-50% off. If you’re purchasing more than one ticket, keep in mind that it won’t be guaranteed that all your tickets will be seated next to each other.

I’ve seen and actually lined up for the Times Square booth before and it can be really long and discouraging. I would highly recommend getting there earlier to line up before the booth even opens. However, if you do manage to buy a ticket from the booth and you want to catch another Broadway show the next day or another day within a week, you can bring your TKTS ticket stub with you and cut the longer line and walk up to window 1 to purchase your next new ticket instead. If you avoid lines like the plague, the South Street Seaport and Downtown Brooklyn locations are definitely less crowded.

2. Willing to get up earlier?

Some theaters offer discounted General RUSH tickets which are sold on the day of the performance usually right when the box office opens. Again, depending on how popular the show you want to watch, you may have to arrive even before the box office opens to start lining up.

Other theaters restrict theirs to Student RUSH tickets. So if you’re a student (or still have your student ID and youthful looks), you can purchase discounted tickets at the box office as well. Check out with shows offer RUSH tickets here.

3. Don’t Mind Standing?

I know, the first time I heard of this I couldn’t believe it either. Standing during a broadway show for the entire 2-3 hours that they’re performing? It’s definitely not for the weak-minded or anybody else who has physical limitations. However, if you think you can do it, you’ll get a sweet spot at the back of the orchestra seating and you’ll have a railing in front of you to lean on. Your specific standing spot will be sectioned off, similar to if you had your own seat, so it’s not like you’ll be touching shoulders with your neighbors.

Standing Room Only (SRO) tickets are only offered if the theatre is completely booked, so it might be a better bet to go for the more popular shows if you’re aiming for an SRO ticket. Some shows even offer SRO as part of their lottery after the seated lottery tickets have been claimed.

4. Feeling Lucky?

Some Broadway shows have an in-person or online ticket lottery for day-of performances. This is especially useful for very popular sold out shows like Book or Mormon or Hamilton. But this is also a great option for other shows because most of the times the tickets won from the lottery are amazing orchestra or box seats and they’re sold at the discounted lottery price.

The line just to put my name in the lottery for Hamilton

They have to section off the street to make room for all the people

To maximize chances of winning, you can enter your name in all of the online lotteries and then pick one in person lottery to go to. For the online lotteries you can actually submit multiple entries under the same name if you either give that show a shoutout on Twitter or Facebook or you complete a short survey.

If you’re not picky about what time you want to go, I would recommend trying for the matinee performances as there are far less people and higher chances to win.

Good luck getting those discounted Broadway tickets and enjoy the show!