Image Credit: Joan Marcus
For many, the ticket lottery for Broadway shows is a holy terror. Especially for the smash-hit musical The Book of Mormon, where hundreds of hopeful fans gather outside Manhattan’s Eugene O’Neill Theatre night after night trying to score the 20 or so rush tickets. But on Friday afternoon, devout followers were treated to nothing short of a Broadway miracle.
Friday’s show featured the same catchy songs and irreverent humor that earned The Book of Mormon nine Tony Awards. But this particular performance was unlike any other: 800 lucky — dare we say blessed? — audience members had won their seats through a special ticket lottery designed with the show’s most loyal fans in mind. After watching so many fans turned away, the show’s producers added a special ninth show — a fan performance — to the weekly schedule. Anyone who had entered the ticket lottery anytime between May 10 and June 14 was entered into the fan-performance ticket lottery, which ultimately consisted of more than 13,000 entries. Four hundred names were drawn, and each name was allotted two tickets.
Bradley Beahen, who had tried his luck in the ticket lottery 12 times prior with no success, was among the chosen few. “It was killing me,” he said. “I was like, ‘I need to see this, I need to see this.’” Beahen, 30, found out his name had been drawn in the lottery via e-mail a week and a half before the show. “I screamed,” he said.
Beahen certainly wasn’t the only one feeling the spirit. In fact, the palpable, electric fervor in the congregation — er, audience — was even a talking point backstage. “It was like watching a rock concert,” said Chris Boneau, a spokesman for the show’s production team, after the show. “There were times when the applause went on at least three more times than I would have expected. And the curtain call was one of the wildest I’ve ever seen.”
The reaction, Boneau said, was understandable. “These people worked to get here,” he said. “And this is just the way you want an audience to react.”
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Sigh, to be one of the lucky 800!
Regardless of how you feel about Trey Parker and Matt Stone, that is a very cool thing they did for the fans of the show who couldn’t get tickets any other way.
They could have gone to Telecharge like I did & bought one.
You sound a tad bitter, Barry. Also, unless they were willing to pay $400 a pop, you actually can’t go to Telecharge and buy a ticket anymore, unless it is for sometime in 2012. The show is completely sold out through the holidays.
Barry is a humorless troll. Just like me.
Exactly what Jared said–I’ve tried. But some of us work for a living, Barry. $400 a ticket is a luxury most of us can’t afford. Good on Matt and Trey.
I’m going on 7-26 & it cost me $125 not $400.
I was one of the lucky ones there and it was amazing! A wonderful treat and everyone felt rewarded – the audience and the cast.
Krissi, you lucky, lucky girl
This is great- I can imagine that an audience like this was invigorating to the cast and crew. What a nice idea.
Jul…true some of us DO work for a living so we can’t get to the theater by the time of the lottery.
My friend and I put our names into lottery WAY before the hype even started. Even then, there were maybe 300 names. Lo and behold, it must have been our lucky day, BOTH of us got tickets.
It. was. mind blowing.
It’s seen as a great way to make money in Lotto
Isn’t that the same as scalping? If that’s the case, then what’s the problem with legit ticket brokers? At least there, you’ve got some recompense if something goes wrong with the tickets…
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