Off-Broadway turned over almost completely this month. Ten shows closed in September. Roughly twenty opened behind them. If you were working off a list from Labor Day, most of it is wrong now — including, annoyingly, the part about where the cheapest seat in New York is.
Here is the ledger, pulled off the live catalog this week.
What closed in September
- Marlise — The Players Theatre, closed September 6.
- The House of the Negro Insane — 59E59 Theater B, closed September 6. It held the cheapest rush in the city at $28.
- Are You Now or Have You Ever Been — New York City Center Stage I, closed September 11.
- Safe House — Theatre Row, closed September 13 after eleven days.
- Queen for a Day — The Tank, closed September 14.
- The Pass — Ellen Stewart Theatre at La MaMa, closed September 18.
- The Real Ivanov — Classic Stage Company, closed September 19.
- An American Daughter — Signature's Irene Diamond Stage, closed September 20.
- Shifters — Cherry Lane, closed September 20.
- The Ford/Hill Project — BAM Fisher, closed September 20.
And what closes in the next two weeks
This is the part worth acting on, because several of these carry a cheap door that disappears with them.
- Broad Strokes — Lucille Lortel, through September 25.
- The Infinite Wrench — Asylum NYC, through September 26.
- The Cherry Orchard — Park Avenue Armory, through September 26, with a $35 TodayTix rush. This is the last week to see the Armory's drill hall staging at a normal ticket price.
- America, Who Hurt You? — Polonsky Shakespeare Center, through September 27. TFANA's New Deal program puts anyone 30 or under, or any full-time student, in for $20 with the code NEWDEAL.
- Spandex the Musical — Asylum NYC, through September 27.
- Becoming Hamlet — Five Angels Theater, through October 3.
- The Invention of Love — Theaterlab, through October 3.
- Disruption — Signature's Romulus Linney Courtyard, through October 4.
- Shelter Inn Place — Theatre Row, through October 4.
- Truly, Howard Hughes — Theater at St. Jean, through October 4, with a $20 TodayTix rush.
- September L. Davis: The Apology Tour — Studio Seaview, through October 5.
- The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee — New World Stages, through October 11. This is the extension's final date.
The cheapest seat in New York keeps moving
Three weeks ago it was $28, at 59E59, for a play that has since closed. Right now it is $20 — Truly, Howard Hughes at the Theater at St. Jean, on TodayTix rush, through October 4. Twenty dollars. That is less than the standing-room ticket at every Broadway house and less than most of what is on the lottery board.
After October 4 the title goes back to 59E59, where two of the new arrivals run a $28 rush. This is the thing about Off-Broadway that Broadway regulars never quite internalize: the floor is not fixed, it moves with whatever just opened, and it is almost always a rush rather than a lottery.
What opened behind them
The new inventory, with the door where there is one:
- Pre-Existing Condition — Greenwich House Theater, running through January 8. $49 TodayTix rush. The longest run of the new crop by a mile.
- Midnight — Daryl Roth Theatre, through November 8. $53 rush, the priciest on this list.
- Crazy Mama — 59E59, through October 18. $28 rush.
- Lean-To — 59E59 Theater B, through October 10. $28 rush.
- Mrs. Stern Wanders the Prussian State Library — 59E59, through October 25. $38 rush.
- Degenerates — Playwrights Horizons, through October 11. $33 rush.
- How Shakespeare Saved My Life — The Public's Shiva Theater, through October 25. $48 rush.
- The Holes — The Wild Project, through October 18. $43 rush.
- Garry Starr: Classic Penguins — Studio Seaview, through October 11. $39 rush.
- creation stories and all the important importants — Claire Tow Theater, LCT3, where LincTix puts anyone 18 to 35 in for $37 at the window.
Note how many of those say 59E59. Three of the new arrivals are in that one building on East 59th Street, two of them at $28, which makes it the single highest-percentage address in the city this month if you are optimizing for tickets per dollar.
What lands in October
The calendar does not slow down.
- Kramer/Fauci — St. Ann's Warehouse, September 27 through October 24. St. Ann's runs a house-wide TodayTix lottery; the price is not posted, so treat the entry as free and see what comes back.
- Wild Rose — New York Theatre Workshop, from October 1.
- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button — The Public's Newman Theater, from October 8.
- The Heart — Laura Pels, from October 8. Roundabout, so Hiptix puts 18-to-40s in at $30 all-in.
- The Unbelievers — City Center Stage I, from October 13. Manhattan Theatre Club, so $35 for anyone 35 or under.
- 2:22 – A Ghost Story — Lucille Lortel, from October 20 into January, taking the room Broad Strokes vacates this week.
- In the Heights — New York City Center, October 28 to November 15. City Center's Access Club is $28 including fees for anyone 40 and under.
- Tristan & Yseult — St. Ann's, from November 1.
- August Wilson's Seven Guitars — Mitzi E. Newhouse, from November 5. LincTix again.
The practical read
Off-Broadway is a rush town, not a lottery town, and September proved it again: almost every new arrival opened with a same-day TodayTix rush and almost none opened with a draw. That means the play is to check the app the morning of, not to enter something the night before and hope.
It also means a list goes stale in about three weeks. Mine did. The Off-Broadway board from earlier this month is still useful for how the programs work, but a third of its inventory has closed since I published it — which is the honest reason this post exists.
If you want one thing to do this week: TodayTix, Truly Howard Hughes, $20, before October 4. And if you are under 40, the four nonprofit age programs in the under-40 guide cover half the openings listed above.
