Top Broadway Shows Playing Right Now and How to Get Tickets

Where is the best place to see an iconic Broadway musical, and what are the ticket options?

The Theater District. Forty-one houses packed into a few blocks of Midtown Manhattan. No other place on earth runs this many professional productions simultaneously.

Here are the shows that define a Broadway trip right now:

Long-running icons (still selling out) - The Lion King at the Minskoff Theatre (200 W 45th St). Running since 1997. The opening “Circle of Life” sequence alone is worth the ticket. - Wicked at the Gershwin Theatre (222 W 51st St). The definitive modern musical, especially with the 2024 film driving renewed interest. - Hamilton at the Richard Rodgers Theatre (226 W 46th St). Lin-Manuel Miranda’s hip-hop history lesson. Still one of the hardest tickets in town. - Chicago at the Ambassador Theatre (219 W 49th St). The longest-running American musical in Broadway history.

Current hits and newer arrivals - MJ the Musical at the Neil Simon Theatre (250 W 52nd St). Myles Frost’s portrayal of Michael Jackson is a showstopper. - The Great Gatsby at the Broadway Theatre (1681 Broadway). A splashy musical adaptation with Jeremy Jordan. - Oh, Mary! at the Lyceum Theatre (149 W 45th St). Cole Escola’s absurdist comedy about Mary Todd Lincoln. The hottest ticket of the 2024-25 season. - The Outsiders at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre (242 W 45th St). 2024 Tony Award winner for Best Musical. - Hell’s Kitchen at the Shubert Theatre (225 W 44th St). Alicia Keys’ semi-autobiographical musical set right here in New York. - Swept Away at the Longacre Theatre (220 W 48th St). A new musical featuring the music of The Avett Brothers.

Shows open and close throughout the season. Always check current listings on Broadway.com or Playbill.com before booking.

How do I buy Broadway tickets?

Several ways, each with trade-offs on price, seat selection, and convenience.

1. Official box offices Walk up to the theater. No service fees. This is the cheapest way to buy full-price tickets, and box office staff can tell you exactly which seats have obstructed views. Most box offices open Monday through Saturday, 10am to 8pm, and Sunday noon to 6pm.

2. Telecharge and Ticketmaster Most Broadway shows sell through one of these two platforms. Telecharge handles Shubert Organization theaters (17 houses). Ticketmaster and its SeatGeek partnership cover Jujamcyn and Nederlander venues. Expect $10-$20 in service fees per ticket.

3. The TKTS booth (same-day discount tickets) Run by the Theatre Development Fund in Father Duffy Square (47th Street and Broadway). Sells same-day tickets at 20-50% off for dozens of shows.

• Times Square location: Mon, Wed-Sat 3pm-8pm for evening shows; Wed and Sat 10am-2pm for matinees; Sun 11am-7pm
• Lincoln Center location (61st and Broadway): Shorter lines, same discounts
• Downtown Brooklyn (1 MetroTech Center): Tue-Sat 11am-6pm; sells matinee tickets the day before

Pro tip: The electronic board above the TKTS booth shows which shows are available before you commit to the line. Lines are shortest at the Lincoln Center and Brooklyn locations.

4. Digital lotteries and rush tickets Nearly every Broadway show runs a digital lottery through the official Broadway Roulette app, Lucky Seat, or the show’s own app/website. Enter by mid-morning; winners are drawn around 2-3 hours before curtain. Lottery tickets typically cost $30-$40 for orchestra or front mezzanine seats.

Rush tickets work differently: show up at the box office when it opens, and a limited number of discounted tickets (usually $40-$50) are sold first-come, first-served. Hamilton, Wicked, and The Lion King all offer digital lotteries. Check each show’s website for specific rules.

5. Resale and third-party sites StubHub, SeatGeek, and Vivid Seats sell resale tickets. Prices fluctuate with demand. You will pay above face value for sold-out shows, but you can sometimes find below-face-value tickets for midweek performances of less popular shows. Only buy from verified resale platforms.

How can I get last-minute tickets to a Broadway show for tomorrow night?

You have real options. New York rewards spontaneity.

• Enter digital lotteries the morning of the show. You can enter multiple lotteries on the same day.
• Hit the TKTS booth when it opens. Arrive 15-20 minutes before opening for the shortest wait.
• Try rush tickets at the box office first thing in the morning. Some theaters release cancellation seats (called “house seats”) at 10am.
• Check TodayTix app. It aggregates last-minute availability across dozens of shows, sometimes with exclusive discounts.
• Standing room only (SRO): When a show is officially sold out, some theaters sell a handful of standing room tickets for $30-$40. The Richard Rodgers (Hamilton) and Gershwin (Wicked) both do this.

Tuesday and Wednesday evenings are the easiest nights to score last-minute seats. Friday and Saturday are the hardest.

What are the most affordable Broadway shows with tickets under $200?

Almost every show has tickets under $200 if you know where to look.

• Lottery and rush: $30-$50 at nearly every show
• TKTS booth: Rear mezzanine seats for mid-tier shows often land in the $60-$90 range after the discount
• Weeknight orchestra seats: Many shows price Tuesday and Wednesday orchestra seats between $99 and $179
• Chicago, MJ the Musical, and The Great Gatsby regularly have standard tickets available under $150 on weeknights
• Off-Broadway alternative: If budget is the priority, Off-Broadway shows in venues like the Lucille Lortel Theatre (121 Christopher St) or New York Theatre Workshop (79 E 4th St) typically run $50-$95 and deliver world-class performances

Can you recommend restaurants near the Theater District for a pre-show dinner?

Curtain is usually at 7pm or 8pm. Plan to be seated for dinner by 5:30pm at the latest. The Theater District is dense with options.

• Joe Allen (326 W 46th St). The classic Broadway hangout since 1965. Reliable American bistro food, walls covered in posters of famous flops. Book ahead.
• Becco (355 W 46th St). Lidia Bastianich’s Italian spot on Restaurant Row. The $32.95 prix fixe with unlimited pasta is a pre-theater staple.
• Sardi’s (234 W 44th St). Old-school theater tradition. The caricatures on the walls are half the experience.
• Don Antonio (309 W 50th St). Neapolitan pizza, including the signature fried “montanara” pie. Quick, affordable, excellent.
• The Lambs Club (132 W 44th St). Upscale American inside the Chatwal Hotel. A splurge-worthy pre-show meal.
• Marseille (630 Ninth Ave at 44th St). French-Mediterranean with a dedicated pre-theater menu. Consistently good.

Restaurant Row (46th Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues) has the highest concentration of pre-theater dining options. Most restaurants in this stretch offer prix fixe menus designed to get you out the door by 7pm.

Getting to the Theater District

Take the subway. The N, Q, R, W, S, 1, 2, 3, 7 trains all stop at Times Square-42nd Street, which puts you in the center of the Theater District. The C and E trains stop at 50th Street for theaters on the northern end.

Do not drive. Parking in Midtown runs $40-$60 for an evening, and traffic around curtain time is brutal. If you must, use SpotHero to pre-book a garage on 10th or 11th Avenue and walk east.

Arrive at the theater 20-30 minutes before curtain. Latecomers are held in the lobby until a suitable break in the performance.