Between September 29 and October 31, seven new productions start performances on Broadway. I pulled every one of their ticket pages this morning looking for the cheap door — a lottery, a rush, anything under sixty dollars. I found one.
That is not a complaint about October. It is how Broadway works now, and it is worth knowing before you plan a month around it: uptown, the cheap seat shows up after opening night. Downtown, it shows up the day tickets go on sale. Six of this month's seven Broadway arrivals have nothing posted. Meanwhile a brand-new musical at the Duke on 42nd Street is already selling $37 rush seats to anyone with the app.
Other Desert Cities is the only one with a door
The Hudson Theatre revival started previews September 29, opens October 18, and is booked as a limited run through January 17, 2027. Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Ed Harris, Allison Janney, Joe Keery and Lily Rabe. On paper it is the hardest ticket of the fall, and it is the one production this month that posted a price for people who are not paying list.
Two doors, both $49. The lottery runs on Lucky Seat: entry opens 10:30 AM ET the day before each performance, the drawing starts at 11 AM with more drawings through the day as needed, and winners can buy up to two tickets with the location subject to availability. The rush runs on TodayTix at $49, released at 9 AM ET on the day of the performance. Same number on both platforms, which almost never happens — so the only question is which clock suits you. We take that apart properly in Thursday's post on the two $49 doors.
860 has Billy Crystal and a box office
860 began previews at the Imperial on October 1 and opens October 21, booking through January 3. Telecharge sells the tickets. Three weeks into previews there is no lottery and no rush posted anywhere on the production's own pages.
Hold those two side by side, because they are the same kind of show: a star name, a limited run, a big house. One announced its $49 before the first preview. The other has not announced anything after a dozen of them. If anybody tells you star vehicles always wait until opening night to post a lottery, October is the month that proves it is a habit, not a rule.
A Few Good Men, and the gap between a house program and a show door
A Few Good Men starts previews at the Vivian Beaumont on October 8 and opens October 29. Nothing show-specific is posted. What covers it is LincTix, Lincoln Center Theater's own under-35 membership — $37 at the box office, $40.50 online once the Telecharge and LCT fees are in, free to join if you are 18 to 35.
That distinction matters more than it sounds. A house program is a price for a category of person. A lottery is a price for anybody who gets lucky. If you are 36, LincTix does nothing for you, and right now there is no other cheap seat posted for this one. We ranked all four of the city's age-gated programs in the under-40 breakdown.
The Fantasticks brings a program too
The Fantasticks starts previews at the Hayes on October 22 and runs through February 7. The Hayes is Second Stage's house, so the relevant number is 30 Under 30: $30 for anyone 30 or under, no sign-up at all, code 30UNDER30 on Second Stage's site, guest any age. The fees are not published, which is the one thing that keeps it out of first place against Roundabout's Hiptix. Second Stage also runs a student rush and a morning TodayTix rush. In-person sales for the run open October 6.
Three with nothing at all
- Wanted — James Earl Jones Theatre, first preview October 15. Telecharge named as the ticketing, no options posted.
- Downstate — Booth Theatre, first preview October 17. Nothing posted.
- Much Ado About Nothing — Winter Garden, first preview October 31, booking through January 10.
All three are plays with November opening nights. If the pattern holds, their pages are worth rechecking in the week around opening rather than now. That is exactly what happened with the fall previews we tracked in September's watch list — three of them posted nothing for a month and then moved all at once.
Off-Broadway already told you the price
Here is the part that should change how you plan October. Every one of these started selling a cheap seat at the same time it started selling any seat:
- Copperfield! The New Musical — The Duke on 42nd Street, from September 29 through December 6. $37 TodayTix rush. Bobby Conte.
- Soon — St. Luke's Theatre, from September 30. $40 TodayTix rush.
- A Ghost in Your Ear — Minetta Lane, from October 3. $43 TodayTix rush.
- The Heart — Roundabout's Laura Pels, from October 8, opening October 29, through December 6. Hiptix at $30 for ages 18 to 40 with the facility fee already inside the price, and Hiptix High at $10 for 14 to 18. Joaquina Kalukango, Drew Gehling and Jason Tam.
- The Unbelievers — Manhattan Theatre Club at City Center Stage I, from October 13. MTC35: $35 for 35 and under, guest any age.
- In the Heights — New York City Center, October 28 to November 15. City Center Access Club at $28 with fees included for anyone 40 and under, limit two per production, and the photo ID has to match the name on the ticket. Current students get a $23 same-day rush at the window.
Two more arrive with nothing posted yet: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button at the Public's Newman Theater from October 8 through December 6 (2 hours 20 minutes, one intermission), and 2:22 – A Ghost Story at the Lucille Lortel from October 20 through January 17. Both are worth watching; the Public in particular tends to open a rush once a run settles. If you want the wider board, the Off-Broadway cheap seats list has the standing inventory, and the turnover post covers what left.
What to do with October
If you want the starriest room in town, enter Other Desert Cities on Lucky Seat every day you are free, and keep TodayTix open at 9 AM as the backup. If you are under 40, this is an unusually generous month: $28 at City Center, $30 at Roundabout and Second Stage, $35 at MTC, $37 at Lincoln Center. And if you are over 40 and want a new Broadway play cheap, the honest advice is to wait. Five of this month's seven productions have an opening night still ahead of them, and the cheap door tends to arrive within a week of it.
The lottery hub tracks every running show's entry as it changes, and How to Win Every Broadway Lottery covers the mechanics if any of this is new.
