Theater Tickets News

We noticed we were blogging a lot about live events in Boston and New York. That’s not a surprise given that the amount of events going on in both cities throughout the year. Fans in these cities have to choose what they want to do on any given night: sometimes its between a baseball game in the Bronx, a concert at PNC, or a show on Broadway. Or its sitting atop the Green Monster at Fenway versus a country music festival at Gillette Stadium. Tough life. We make it easier.

We’re creating new FanSnap blogs for Boston and New York. Each blog will be the go-to resource for all things sports, tickets, and theatre related within each respective city. We will provide you with the best possible tools to help guide you towards the events you want to see.

For example, weekly FanSnap 60 Index’s on in both Boston and New York rank the “hottest” concerts in each given metro area. We follow closely each professional sports team home and away appearances, and we can help point you to the best valued ticket available on the secondary ticket market. Each specific blog is also a great place to find any sort of breaking news on anything ticket related, as well as commentary from bloggers within each city’s home crowd.

So, for Bostonians, check out:

FanSnap Boston Blog: How to Get the Hottest Tickets

And for New Yorkers, follow:

FanSnap New York: How to Get the Hottest Tickets

Need great tickets to a hot live event?  There’s now an app for that.

We are excited to announce the launch of the FanSnap Application for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad.  Our live-event tickets iPhone application is free in the iTunes app store [link] just in time for the NFL and NCAA football seasons, the approaching MLB playoffs, the concert and Broadway seasons, and the announcement of the new NBA schedule.

Perfect for fans who are looking for hot, even sold out, events, while they are on the go, the FanSnap tickets app puts 15 million sports, theater and concert tickets in your pocket!  With the FanSnap app, fans who want to catch a nearby game, concert, or show – even the same day – can find and buy tickets from their iPhone.

With the FanSnap tickets app, you can:

• See a list of the hottest live events nearby using the iPhone’s built-in location finder.
• Access local sports teams, concert and theater events via one-touch icons that the app automatically generates.
• Refer to FanSnap’s detailed venue maps, including row level labeling.
• See photos of the view from sections of the venue (available for many venues).
• Access previous saved searches for their favorite teams, performing artists, or shows.
• Click through to buy online, or even call to buy tickets with quick one-touch dialing.

No matter where you are,  you can find the best sports, theater, and concert tickets for less with the FanSnap app. The mobile ‘web app’ version of FanSnap.com was recently named one of Boston Globe Magazine’s ‘15 Must-Have Local Apps.’  We have improved upon that with the addition of the maps and venue photos with the goal of making the FanSnap app an indispensable resource for fans.

The FanSnap app is particularly useful for spur of the moment ticket buying, business travelers, and vacationing fans.  FanSnap search results include tickets from dozens of the most trusted ticket companies in the U.S., so a search, for example, for tickets behind home plate to tonight’s game, or for concerts playing locally this weekend for less than $50 a ticket, is a snap.

Here are a few screenshots:

We’ve got some exciting news from FanSnap global HQ. We’re adding Tickets-for-Charity® to the FanSnap 60. TFC has hard-to-find seats and unique VIP experiences for top sports and entertainment events while benefiting some of the nation’s most respected charities.

Tickets-for-Charity works with over 100 leading performing artists and professional sports teams nationwide to offer fans some of the most sought-after concert, theater and sporting event seats, for the same or better price they can find elsewhere, while benefiting nearly 100 national and local charities that fans can choose at checkout.

Through this partnership, FanSnap ticket search results will now feature exclusive Tickets-for-Charity Charitable Sale™ inventory, including high-demand and sold-out locations for top artists such as Brad Paisley, Justin Bieber, Sting and Tim McGraw as well as one-of-a-kind VIP Charity Packages for some of the season’s most popular tours, including Carole King and James Taylor, John Mayer and upcoming David Gray and Ray LaMontagne tour.

Hard-to-find Broadway seats for acclaimed TONY Award winning shows such as Billy Elliot, Jersey Boys, The Lion King, A Little Night Music and Wicked, will also be available through Tickets-for-Charity results.

In addition, FanSnap baseball search results will feature a variety of Boston Red Sox Charitable Sale seats for perennially sold-out Fenway Park locations, from the Bleachers to the Green Monster, to benefit the Red Sox Foundation.

We are proud to support Tickets-for-Charity, giving fans access to extraordinary sports, theater, and concert tickets and experiences while providing this incredibly unique social benefit. This partnership advances our goal of becoming the indispensable resource for passionate fans who can create lifetime memories and support worthy causes at the same time.

Tickets-for-Charity has generated over $10 million in charitable sales and donations for more than 90 partner charities, including Autism Speaks, Boys & Girls Clubs of America, Feeding America and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). Adding Tickets-for-Charity will offer fans the opportunity to conveniently and safely access fantastic live event seats while benefiting the causes they care about most.

Check out the official release.

Read more about Tickets-for-Charity at www.ticketsforcharity.com.

AMERICAN IDIOT, based on the album of the same name, features the music of Green Day and the lyrics of  lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong. The show opens on Broadway April 20, 2010 at the St. James Theatre.

The show includes every song from the album, as well as songs from 21st Century Breakdown. The DailyCal calls it, “a drug and sex-infused musical based on the lives of troubled young adults set to the music of punk group Green Day.” We’re, of course, expecting big things!

The limited engagement of AMERICAN IDIOT at Berkeley Rep’s Roda Theatre opened in September 2009. It was extended twice and closed production in November 2009. AMERICAN IDIOT’s record breaking run brought in the biggest advance sale in the Theatre’s 41–year history, the biggest day at the box office, 17 of the top 20 days ever and due to ticket demand had to announce the first extension before it had played its first performance. Will the show be as popular on the Great White Way? We’ll soon find out.

No tickets on sale yet. We here at FanSnap love us some Green Day (see here, here and here). We’ll be sure to update this post when AMERICAN IDIOT tickets go on sale.

Christian

Since our last post about Glee, the show and cast have only gotten more popular. We predicted an upcoming Glee tour and soon thereafter producer Ryan Murphy confirmed that the Glee cast will be touring in Summer 2010, after Season 1 wraps up. Yay! Find Glee Live tickets.

Yes, there are some cringeful moments (recall Finn singing about being Quinn’s baby mama at a family dinner in last week’s episode), but those quirks are part of the fun.

There are also some—many—wow moments such as the diva-off between Rachel and Kurt singing Wicked’s Defying Gravity. I saw the Wicked Musical in San Francisco after the episode aired and then ended up watching that part of the Glee episode several times, courtesy of my DVR. You can hear Rachel’s version in the YouTube link below:

Glee’s popularity is evident with the incessant internet buzz, their performance of the national anthem at the third game of the 2009 World Series, the number of iTunes downloads and, of course, the casts’ now-regular features in weekly gossip magazine, US Weekly

The 12-person star cast comes with an impressive background, a few are highlighted below:

Will Schuester, Glee club director, is played by Matthew Morrison who has been in several Broadway productions, including Link Larkin in Hairspray.

Sue Sylvester, and nutty head cheerleading squad coach, is played by Jane Lynch who has many comedic wins under her belt, including The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Best in Show.

Rachel Berry, unpopular star of the Glee club and my personal favorite, is played by Lea Michele who starred as Wendla in Spring Awakening.

Quinn Fabray, former head cheerleader who is pregnant on the show, is played by Dianna Argon who has appeared on various television shows, such as Veronica Mars and CSI: NY.

Finn Hudson, quarterback of the football team, is played by native Canadian Cory Monteith who appeared in movies such as Final Destination 3 and Kyle XY.

FanSnap will be sure to keep you posted when Glee Live tickets go on sale for their Summer tour.

suzanne salas

While fans attend live theater all year round, whether going to Broadway or catching a show from the growing number of national tours, traditionally this is the time of year when going to live performances peaks.  Many a holiday trip to New York centers on seeing one or more shows.

Of course, a growing number of theater fans are coming to FanSnap to find show tickets.  We are ready for you – we have built many, many FanSnap Maps for the theater venues to make it easy for fans to make good choices!

1.  Wicked tickets
2.  Billy Elliot tickets
3.  Jersey Boys tickets
4.  Mary Poppins tickets
5.  Stomp tickets
6.  A Steady Rain tickets *
7.  Addams Family tickets *
8.  Hair tickets
9.  Hamlet tickets *
10.  Phantom of the Opera tickets
11.  West Side Story tickets
12.  Cats tickets *
13.  Nutcracker tickets *
14.  Grease tickets
15.  Rock of Ages tickets *
16.  Shrek tickets
17.  Mamma Mia tickets
18.  Riverdance tickets *
19.  God of Carnage tickets *
20.  Wizard of Oz tickets *

Many of the newer shows and some old favorites are really doing well.  New shows to the FanSnap “Top 20″ this month are noted by asterisk (*)

Check out the tremendous ticket choices!  Many of the ticket companies FanSnap searches have show tickets, including TicketNetwork, StubHub, Razorgator, Broadway.com, Ticket Solutions, Worldwide Event Group, Prestige Entertainment, Monmouth Tickets, eBay, AllShows.com, and Choice Tickets.

If you do happen to be hitting New York this season, don’t forget to catch the Radio City Christmas Spectacular. As usual, the shows run multiple times a day starting in mid-November.  Catch a show, see the tree at Rockefeller Center, grab something warm to drink at Dean & Deluca, and a wolf down a cupcake from Magnolia Bakery. Now that’s a fun trip to Manhattan!

Mike

While fans regularly come to FanSnap to find sports and concert tickets, many do not yet know that we also allow fans to search for show tickets – Broadway tickets, off-Broadway tickets, even tickets for those for shows not even in the same state as Broadway.  I forget.  Is it theatre or theater?  There’s nothing like a great musical!

Check out the most searched-for shows on FanSnap.  If you find some tickets you like, you’re going to be pop-u-lar!

1.  Wicked tickets

2.  Jersey Boys tickets

3.  Blue Man Group tickets

4.  Billy Elliot tickets

5.  Mamma Mia tickets

6.  Mary Poppins tickets

7.  Stomp tickets

8.  Phantom of the Opera tickets

9.  Hair tickets

10.  Bite tickets

11.  Disney on Ice tickets

12.  West Side Story tickets

13.  Shrek tickets

14.  Spamalot tickets

15.  Grease tickets

As you can see, many of the ticket companies FanSnap searches have show tickets – StubHub, TicketNetwork, eBay, AllShows.com, even our newest partner, Broadway.com!

The FanSnap team has been working very hard building out FanSnap Maps across Broadway – as well as for other great show venues around America.  Please check them out and let us know how we can improve.

Mike

p.s. hot tip: check out The Addams Family – playing at the Ford Center in Chicago!

Memphis the Musical, after a successful runs in San Diego and Seattle, heads to the historic Shubert Theatre on Broadway just in time for theatre season.  Fun facts for theatre fans:

• Previews start September 23.  (See tickets for first week)
• Opening night is Oct 19.  (See tickets for opening week)
• Written by Joe DiPietro (I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change)
• Music by David Bryan, keyboardist of Bon Jovi.
• DiPietro and Bryan also collaborated on The Toxic Avenger.
• Male lead Chad Kimball was also in Civil War, Into the Woods, Good Vibrations, Godspell, and Lennon.
• Female lead Montego Glover was also in Ragtime and The Color Purple.
• Christopher Ashley directs; other credits include Cry-Baby and Xanadu
• Engaging story that mixes music, love, and race in the 50′s.
• FanSnap ticket search results already show typically at least 200 available tickets per show.
• Memphis the Musical tickets are already available from several of the dozens of ticket providers that FanSnap searches, including Broadway.com, Razorgator, StubHub, and TicketNetwork.

I am already thinking about that holiday trip to New York.  How about you?  There is no better time to lock down those Broadway tickets!

Mike

(Updated)