Broadway tickets: how to buy them, where to sit, and what each section costs

Every Broadway theatre has one official seller, and the show’s own website links straight to it. Wicked's site says it plainly: the best seats at the best prices will always be at the box office or through Broadway Direct. Hamilton, The Lion King and MJ also sell through Broadway Direct. The Book of Mormon and Hadestown sell through ATG Tickets. Chicago sells through Telecharge. Aladdin sells from its own site, and Broadway Direct lists itself as an official ticketing source for it.

Buying there, ahead of your trip, gets you three things: the whole seat map to choose from, the theatre’s own prices, and a ticket the theatre will honour without question. Wicked’s site says tickets are generally on sale at least six months ahead. On 11 November 2026 Wicked was on sale to 20 June 2027, The Lion King to 27 June 2027, Hamilton to 13 June 2027, Aladdin to 27 June 2027, and MJ and The Book of Mormon to 30 May 2027.

Pick the show first, then the night, then the seat. The night matters more than most people expect: the same seat is priced differently on a Wednesday and a Saturday, and differently again in January. The tables below show by how much.

The orchestra is the ground floor, level with the stage. The mezzanine is the first level up, and in most Broadway houses it starts above the middle of the orchestra, so its front rows are closer to the stage than the orchestra’s back rows. The balcony, where a theatre has one, is a second level above that. Wicked's site describes its mezzanine as the upper level with a great view of the whole production, and notes that the back half of its orchestra is raked like a stadium, with great sightlines.

Sellers split each level again. Front mezzanine is the first four or five rows; rear mezzanine is everything behind. At the Walter Kerr Theatre the official map lists Orchestra Front, Orchestra Rear, Mezzanine Front, Mezzanine Rear and a two-row Balcony. The Eugene O’Neill Theatre has an orchestra of rows A to T and a mezzanine of rows A to L, and no balcony at all. The Gershwin Theatre, home of Wicked, is far larger: Broadway Direct says it opened in 1972 with 1,900 seats.

What each is good for: the centre orchestra, a few rows back, puts you closest to the performers. The front mezzanine gives the full stage picture, which suits big dance shows such as The Lion King, Wicked and MJ. The rear mezzanine and the side blocks are where the lowest prices are. The official maps mark the places where an overhang or a safety rail crosses the view, so look for those marks before you choose.

These are the prices, in US dollars, on the official ATG Tickets seat maps for two long-running shows, The Book of Mormon and Hadestown, read seat by seat on 11 November 2026. The map states that prices include the service fee, so this is what you pay. They are the only two shows whose section prices we could read; the other sellers' seat maps were not readable, so take the pattern as a guide for other theatres, not as their prices.

Three things stand out. First, the front mezzanine is priced level with the rear half of the centre orchestra, and well below the best centre rows: at The Book of Mormon on the Wednesday, front mezzanine seats ran from $143.76 to $199.48 while the centre orchestra peaked at $288.63. Second, the cheapest seats in both theatres are at the sides and in the rear mezzanine, from $84.69 and $88.04. Third, Saturday moves every band up. The cheapest seat rose by $14.49 at The Book of Mormon and by $44.57 at Hadestown; the dearest rose by $44.58 and $78.01.

If the budget is fixed, a Wednesday front mezzanine seat costs about the same as a Saturday rear mezzanine seat at Hadestown, and it is the better seat.

This table takes the lowest price, in US dollars, that the official calendar showed for each evening performance. It is the entry price, usually a rear mezzanine or side seat, and it tells you how each show prices its week.

Wicked is the steadiest: $97.75 on both the Wednesday and the Saturday in early December, and $86.75 on January Wednesdays. The Lion King starts higher and holds its price, from $135.50 even in late January. Hamilton moves the most: from $229.50 on Wednesday 2 December to $110.75 on Wednesday 27 January, less than half. MJ falls from $148.50 to $64.75, and Hadestown from $88.04 to $54.61, the lowest price in the table.

The week between Christmas and New Year is the dearest of the season. Wicked started at $158.50 on Saturday 26 December and The Lion King at $259.50 that evening. If your dates are fixed to that week, book as early as you can and look at the weekday evenings first.

January and February, Tuesday to Thursday. On the calendars we read, Wicked's lowest price of $86.75 appeared on 21 performances, most of them Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday evenings in January and February. MJ’s $64.75 appeared on 14, mostly Wednesdays from 20 January to 24 February. The Book of Mormon dropped to $65.75 on the Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 19 January, and Hadestown to $54.61 on the Wednesdays of 20 and 27 January and 3 February.

That is also when NYC Broadway Week runs. NYC Tourism has announced the winter 2027 dates: 19 January to 11 February 2027, with tickets on sale from 10am Eastern time on 6 January 2027. It is a 2-for-1 offer on participating shows: you buy at least two tickets and each is issued at 50 per cent off its original price, fees included. The list of shows is published on the day sales open, and the offer returns in late summer.

For a sense of what people really pay, the Broadway League publishes each show’s weekly takings and attendance. Dividing one by the other for the week ending 8 November 2026, the average seat sold for $253.65 at Hamilton and $140.50 at The Lion King, against $89.34 at Wicked and $85.63 at Aladdin: the two cheapest of the eight shows here are also two of the biggest houses.

All six shows in the price table were playing and on sale into 2027 when we read their calendars, and each filled at least 90 per cent of its seats: the Broadway League’s figures for the week ending 8 November 2026 put Hamilton at 100 per cent of seats filled, Hadestown at 98 per cent, and The Lion King, MJ and Chicago at 95 per cent each. Full houses are the reason to book before you travel: the seats that go first are the centre blocks of the orchestra and the front mezzanine.

For a first visit or a family trip, The Lion King and Aladdin are the easy choices, and Wicked plays the largest house for the lowest entry price of the big three, from $97.75 in early December. Hamilton costs the most in December and is far better value from mid-January, from $110.75 on Wednesdays. Hadestown, MJ and The Book of Mormon are the lowest priced of the group in late January, from $54.61, $64.75 and $65.75. Chicago, which holds its 30th anniversary performance on 16 November 2026, lists weekend matinee tickets from $49.50 on its own site.

Two shows in one trip works well if one is a midweek evening and the other a matinee: every one of these six has a Saturday afternoon performance, and several add a Wednesday matinee.

Online sellers add a service fee, and they show it in different ways. ATG Tickets prints 'Prices include service fee' on its seat map, so the price on the seat is the price you pay. On other sellers the fee can appear at checkout, so compare totals, not headline prices.

The theatre’s own box office charges no service fee. Wicked's site says box office purchases are not subject to service fees, and The Book of Mormon’s site invites you to visit the box office for fee-free ticketing. The Eugene O’Neill box office is open Monday 10am to 6pm, Tuesday to Saturday 10am to 8pm and Sunday noon to 7pm; Chicago's, at the Ambassador Theatre, opens Monday to Saturday 10am to 8:30pm and Sunday noon to 7:30pm.

For most visitors booking online before the trip is still the better plan: you choose from the full map weeks ahead, and the seat is settled before you fly. The box office is worth a visit if you are adding a second show once you arrive.

The theatre district runs from West 41st Street to West 54th Street, either side of Times Square. We routed the walk from each of our New York hotels to a theatre at each end: the Gershwin Theatre (Wicked) on West 51st Street and the New Amsterdam Theatre (Aladdin) on West 42nd Street.

The Plaza is the closest to the northern theatres, 18 minutes on foot to the Gershwin, which also covers MJ on West 52nd Street and Chicago and The Book of Mormon on West 49th Street. The Fifth Avenue Hotel is closest to the southern end, 19 minutes to the New Amsterdam. Hotel Chelsea is 22 minutes from West 42nd Street. From The Carlyle it is a 37-minute walk or a short taxi ride.

From our downtown and Brooklyn hotels the walk is over an hour, so take the subway or a taxi and allow time to be in your seat before the curtain. On a night without a show, Candlelight and The Jazz Room are the evening tickets on our New York pages.