Want to See Wicked? Try the Lottery!
The Broadway smash hit Wicked ‘s national tour opened in Jacksonville January 4 at the Times-Union Center Moran Theatre. A tremendously popular show with an intensely loyal fan base, Wicked is generally sold out. It runs through January 22, and you can order your tickets through The Artist Series by clicking here … and / or get in on something fun.
It’s the Wicked tickets lottery! We participated on opening night. Here’s how it works. Two and a half hours before the curtain, arrive at the theater and enter your name in a drawing for a chance to purchase up to two tickets at the deeply discounted price of $25 each. And they’re good seats, too. Lottery entries are accepted for exactly thirty minutes. Entrants’ hands are stamped, and must have a picture ID and cash to purchase these seats if you win. They don’t make exceptions (unless the entrant is very young, say, ten years old and doesn’t have a picture ID; I did bring her birth certificate, just in case – overkill, maybe, but we didn’t want to take any chances.) If you can’t show a photo identification and you think you’ll pay by credit card, think again. If your name is drawn and you don’t have the proper ID and cash, they will draw another name.* We saw that happen right before our eyes. Big bummer (for them; we were secretly thrilled as it increased our own chances of being selected). The excitement in that lobby during the name-drawing is palpable.
The show distributes twenty tickets via the lottery before every performance. Occasionally an winner will only want a single ticket; most will buy a pair. When the twenty tickets are spoken for, it’s done. Everyone hovers expectantly, hoping. The names are drawn from slips of paper with the entrants’ pertinent information. Remember to use your full, legal name – the one that corresponds with your picture ID. As each name is called and the lucky one claims her pair of tickets, the tension builds. Everyone is hoping to be the next one called. But we all clapped politely like the losing nominees on televised awards shows.
During the first few performances we know that there were about thirty-five people participating in the lottery; fairly good odds. We think it’s definitely worth a shot, and bring as many people as you can round up who’ll go along to increase your chances. That’s part of the fun, after all.
So, here’s how it turned out for us: Of our eight, six were keen to see the show; the seventh was ambivalent and the eighth just came along to help out. He entered the lottery to up our chances of winning, didn’t intend to stay for the show, and would drive those without tickets, home. We felt very confident, but as name after name was called, and none of those ours, we felt deflated. And then! One from our group was called! But only one – so we scored just two $25 tickets for the six hopefuls. (Our winner had won the Wicked lotteries four times previously; thrice on Broadway and another, in Orlando. Unbelievable luck.) By prior agreement it was decided that if the group did indeed only win two tickets, the recipients would be he and I.
Then came a surprise announcement. Because it was opening night, they offered ‘best available’ seats at a price of $40 to those names weren’t called. Only $15 dollars more than the winning seats, these ‘best available’ seats were actually quite good, and about 50% off the price of a regular ticket in that section. We caucused and decided to purchase the “lotto loser” tickets for the younger girls, and their teenaged brother would go home and … do his homework play X-Box.
If you want to try the lottery, go for it. It’s very exciting and your chances of winning are pretty good. Don’t count on the lotto loser ticket price offer, though. We’re guessing that was a special offer because the show was opening that night.
The Wicked magic overcame us and that night, we were all enchanted by its spell. Don’t miss your chance to see this popular musical. We think weekdays might be your best chance to win lottery seats. Let us know!
