by BCB Property Management | Sep 3, 2019 | Neighborhoods, New York City
Want to experience the best Broadway has to offer at a steal? Now, you have the opportunity to do just that — with Broadway Week. During Broadway Week, theater producers offer two-for-one tickets to some of the best shows of the season, including several Tony Award winners. Since its launch in 2011, the program has dispensed more than a million tickets to over 150 unique production titles. This year, the event falls in September and, contrary to what the name might suggest, will run for two weeks between September 3rd and the 16th.
This event is clearly a winning deal for theater-going New Yorkers — but it’s a boon for those in the industry, as well. During the start of the fall season, theater attendance and sales typically begin to drop, slowing business for Broadway and, by extension, the restaurants and businesses in the surrounding area. To combat the downturn, the city’s marketing, tourism, and partnership branch, NYC & Company, bands together with the Broadway League to put on Broadway Week and counteract the downturn in business. The result? New Yorkers have a low-cost opportunity to enjoy a fantastic theatrical performance — and they can attend knowing that they are helping Broadway thrive during its slowest season.
There are some caveats to the event. For instance, while the vast majority of shows participate in the promotion, certain hit plays may choose not to take part. Hamilton, for example, isn’t on the roster for cut-price tickets this year. Attendees will also need to buy at least two tickets to take advantage of the promotion. Each will be issued at 50% of its original price, plus applicable taxes and fees.
That said, given that producers typically use Broadway Week to fill the seats that tend to be more difficult to sell — the mezzanines, balconies, side sections, etc. — those who purchase tickets through the program probably won’t be getting the best seats in the house. However, interested theater-goers do have the option to buy upgraded tickets. These passes will include seat options that are either closer to the stage or have a better view than those available in the general pool. Upgraded tickets are more expensive; purchasers will not only need to put in a flat $30 fee to access the higher-quality options but also pay 50% of the original starting price of the seat. This typically isn’t quite as much of a steal as the general pool tickets, given that upgraded seats tend to be more expensive from the get-go.
But whatever seats or price tag you opt for, one point is for sure — you don’t want this opportunity to pass you by! Some crowd favorites such as The Lion King and Dear Evan Hansen are already entirely sold out. However, tickets to other great plays are still on the market, including those to 2019 Tony Award winners Ain’t Too Proud – The Life and Times of the Temptations, Oklahoma!, and Tootsie. Passes for kid-friendly favorites like Aladdin, Frozen, and The Phantom of the Opera are also still available for purchase.
You can browse and book tickets by visiting NYC Broadway Week’s event listing on NYC Go. In the meantime, here’s a list of all the shows you could be enjoying during this season’s promotion — don’t forget to check out special pre-theater menus at restaurants near Broadway before you go! Want tips on where to go before the show? Check out our blog on NYC’s Most Exclusive Restaurants!
2019 Season Shows:
Ain’t Too Proud – The Life and Times of the Temptations
Aladdin
Beautiful: The Carole King Musical
Beetlejuice
Betrayal
The Book of Mormon
Chicago
Come from Away
Derren Brown: Secret
Frozen
The Great Society
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
The Height of the Storm
Mean Girls
Oklahoma!
The Phantom of the Opera
Sea Wall/A Life
Slave Play
The Sound Inside
Tootsie
Waitress
Wicked
by BCB Property Management | May 30, 2018 | New York City
Visitors from around the world come to New York City in droves to take in the sights and sounds of Broadway, with over 11 million theater fans visiting in 2017. But for one night, all those stars hop over to the screen for a celebration of everything that makes Broadway theater an exciting tradition.
This year’s 72nd Annual Tony Awards will be hosted by Sara Bareilles and Josh Groban and air live on CBS from Radio City Music Hall on June 10th at 8PM EST. And yes, those are facts the casual observer may already know. But here are 8 some theater lovers may not!
Who is Tony?
The prestigious award was posthumously named after Antoinette “Tony” Perry, an actress, director, producer, and co-founder of the American Theatre Wing. The award was named to honor her for her charitable work with the ATW during WWII.
Tony, She Hosts
Angela Lansbury, best-known for her portrayal of J.B. Fletcher in Murder, She Wrote, has taken to hosting or co-hosting duties more than anyone else: a record 5 times in 1968, 1971, 1987, 1988, and 1989. Neil Patrick Harris and Hugh Jackman are right behind her with 4 hosting appearances each.
The Music of the (Tonys) Night
To date, the Best Musical with the longest run on Broadway is Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera. The iconic show opened in 1988 and has garnered 7 Tony Awards so far.
All In The Family
Amanda Plummer, best known for her film roles in Pulp Fiction and the Fisher King, is the only Tony Award winner whose parents, Christopher Plummer and Tammy Grimes, are also Tony winners for their contributions to the stage.
What Goes Around…
What a whirlwind the Tonys are–the award night and the award itself. The pendant-like trophy emblazoned with the masks of comedy and tragedy on one side, and the name of the winner and the year on the other, has been in ‘rotation’ since 1967. Though the trophy itself didn’t always move, the addition of a curved iteration lets Tony spin!
Lucky Number 6
2018 is sure to make history (or herstory?) at the Tonys. For the first time ever, six women have been nominated in the Best Leading Actress in a Musical Category. Having six nominees in any category is uncommon, so this is a powerful testament to how much talent roamed the stages this past year. The first time six performers were nominated for a single category was for Best Actress In A Play. The winner that night was Julie Harris for The Lark in 1956.
The Night of the Big Show
The first ever Tony Awards were presented at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City on April 6, 1947. At the time, anyone could purchase a ticket to attend the ceremony for $7. Those hoping to get a ticket this year to see the show at the Radio City Music Hall would need to shell out more than a hundred times that amount.
Lights! Cameras! Tonys!
The Tonys were broadcast to TV audiences for the first time in 1956. At the time, the award show could only be seen by those tuning into the now-defunct DuMont Network–a CBS rival at the time–where the Tonys currently air.
Regardless of whether they’re attending the show in person or from the comforts of home, New Yorkers and their fellow Broadway aficionados are sure to enjoy this annual night at the theater!
by BCB Property Management | Feb 22, 2018 | History
The history of New York City often lays unnoticed in the names of the streets and avenues that comprise it. From its origins as a colonial trade outpost to its current status as the cultural capital of the world, the oft-traveled thoroughfares of the five boroughs are a living history of the area’s influences and interests. These are just a few of the fascinating street name origins that have probably gone under your radar.
Bowery
A one-of-a-kind street in Manhattan, the Bowery’s name has meant plenty of different things to different eras of New Yorkers. From the punk rockers of the 1970s and 1980s to the chic types who populate its hip bars and restaurants today, no street’s denizens better exemplify the rapid speed of change in NYC. Perhaps that makes it strangely ironic that the name comes from the first and oldest use of this avenue, which was full of quiet, pastoral farmland. In fact, the name comes from the Dutch word for farm: bouwerij. The spelling was anglicized after the Dutch left town and has remained that way ever since.
Broadway
Manhattan’s most famous thoroughfare, like the similarly named Bowery, comes from the language of the city’s Dutch founders. Brede weg, simply meaning “wide road,” was an appropriate enough name, and remains so to this day. While it’s best known for being the home of the Theater District, the street doesn’t end on the island. While there are separate Broadways in Queens and Brooklyn, only the Bronx can say their version is truly part of the prominent one in Manhattan. In fact, the street runs even further north than that, extending 18 miles into Westchester County, finally ending in the town of Sleepy Hollow.
Canal St
Modern visitors to this Chinatown thoroughfare are awash in traffic and aggressive handbag sales but had they visited about 200 years ago they’d more likely be traversing this block in a canoe. Yes, similar to Wall Street to the south, Canal Street got its name from an actual canal, built to handle runoff from the swamps and marshes that occupied this area before urbanization. By 1820, the swamps were gone, and the canal had been paved over to become the island-spanning street we know today.
Kissena Boulevard
One of Queens’ oldest and longest roads, Kissena Boulevard connects Flushing and Jamaica while running directly down the center of the borough. The name comes from the Chippewa word meaning “it is cold,” derived by the lake of the same name found in Kissena Park. The street is not only an important landmark for New York City travelers but Rock and Roll historians as well. According to legend, Queens-born KISS guitarist Paul Stanley got the idea for his band’s name by shortening that of the street he traveled on as a child.
Eager for more etymological entertainment? Read our How NYC Neighborhoods Got Their Names or The Most Popular Dog Names in NYC.
