Broadway’s late-summer 2026 casting sheet reads like someone shook a television until famous people fell out. Jim Parsons is camping through a Céline Dion songbook. Meg Stalter is playing Mary Todd Lincoln. Jonathan Groff is finishing his Bobby Darin run. Draco Malfoy is still in the building. And the full-price tickets for all of this run somewhere between “ouch” and “does the mortgage really need paying this month.”
Every one of these runs has a cheap door. Here’s who’s on stage right now, how long they’re staying, and the way in for under $50.
Jim Parsons, Melissa Barrera, Deborah Cox & Frankie Grande — Titanique (through September 20)
The Titanic-by-way-of-Céline parody at the St. James was supposed to close August 30; it sold too well and got pushed to September 20 with this absurdly stacked cast intact. The cheap doors: a Lucky Seat digital lottery, a $49 TodayTix digital rush, and a $45 general rush at the St. James box office (10 AM Monday–Saturday, noon Sunday). Three ways in — details on the show page.
Meg Stalter — Oh, Mary! (through September 12)
The Hacks star took over Mary Todd Lincoln on July 6 for a ten-week limited run at the Lyceum, following a Maya Rudolph era that reportedly pushed the average ticket north of $220. The average. The cheap door: the Telecharge digital lottery, plus a general rush at the Lyceum box office. Demand for this one is real, so enter every performance you can actually attend — show page here.
Jonathan Groff — Just in Time (final performance September 6)
Groff’s Bobby Darin act at Circle in the Square is the genuine article — in the round, crooner-close — and it ends September 6. TodayTix runs the digital lottery, and there’s a $40 general rush at the box office (10 AM Tuesday–Friday, noon weekends). Closing runs pull bigger lottery pools every week, so start entering now, not Labor Day weekend. Details here.
Tom Felton — Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (through November 1)
Felton playing grown-up Draco at the Lyric is the kind of casting that makes a certain generation lose its mind quietly in the mezzanine. He’s scheduled through November 1, and the Lyric runs a $40 digital lottery through TodayTix — one of the better lottery values on the street for a show this size. Show page here.
China Anne McClain — The Great Gatsby (from August 3)
The newest arrival: McClain steps into the Broadway Theatre production on August 3. Gatsby runs a $45 digital lottery, a $40 general rush at the box office (10 AM Monday–Saturday, noon Sunday), and a student rush besides. New-star arrivals spike demand for a few weeks, then it settles — if your dates are flexible, late August will be kinder to your odds than opening week. Details here.
The ones you just missed (let this radicalize you)
A moment of silence for July. Jon Bernthal and Ebon Moss-Bachrach closed Dog Day Afternoon on the 12th. Ayo Edebiri and Don Cheadle finished Proof at the Booth on the 19th. Taraji P. Henson and Cedric the Entertainer took their final bow in Joe Turner’s Come and Gone on the 26th. Three star vehicles, gone in fifteen days, and every one of them had people swearing they’d get around to it. Limited engagement means limited. The list above has five names on it today; it will not have five names on it in October.
Why star runs are actually good lottery news
Counterintuitive but true: celebrity casting is the reason several of these lotteries exist at all. A star sells out the orchestra at full price, which is exactly when producers can afford to release day-of seats at $40–$49 for the buzz. Your competition in the pool is bigger, sure — but the seats are real, they’re often close (producers like putting lottery winners where the star can see full rows), and the price doesn’t care who’s on the marquee.
One thing you will not find: these names on the TKTS board. A star run sells well enough that the discount booth rarely sees inventory while the celebrity is in the building — we cover when the booth beats the lottery, and this is not one of those times. The lottery and the rush line are the game here.
The strategy for a limited engagement is all calendar math. Hard end dates mean the pool swells as the finale approaches — the same crowd math we broke down in this week’s August closings guide. Enter early-week performances, enter matinees, enter every date you could genuinely make, and have the rush as a fallback. If your name comes up, move fast: claim windows are short, and here’s the full post-win checklist so the ticket doesn’t bounce to the next person in line.
Mechanics for every platform — Telecharge, Lucky Seat, TodayTix, Broadway Direct — are in the lottery playbook, and the live list of what’s drawing today is on the Broadway lottery hub. The stars are temporary — the ones who turned into legends are a longer story. The hub is forever.
