Dreamgirls

Having the national tour of Dreamgirls kick off at the Apollo Theater in Harlem is a special event. The historic theater is celebrating its 75th year, this incredibly successful show is coming off a much-lauded film adaptation, and it happens that the opening and closing scenes of Dreamgirls take place at the Apollo. So it’s a particularly commendable gesture that the Apollo is making an outreach to the community.

The theater is offering half-price tickets for specific “community performances.” To be eligible, you need to either be a Harlem resident or work in the neighborhood. Since I just happen to be a proud SpaHa resident, I sent my roommate to the Apollo to snap up some tickets before they were all gone. Sammy said there was a good line of people at the theater, and quite a bit of curiosity from passersby as to what the line was for. She was armed with an addressed envelope, to confirm our Harlem residency, and an ID to connect her with the mail. So as to keep this as close to a typical rush experience as possible, I entrusted Sammy not to purchase any tickets over $30.

I received an elated text from Sammy exclaiming, “$18.50!!!!” Ding ding ding! Ladies and gentlemen, we have our record-lowest rush price ever - $18.50! Congratulations, Dreamgirls; let’s see how long it takes for another production to beat that. (I know what you’re thinking. Bye Bye Birdie offered $10 tickets to the first preview. But those tickets were sold way in advance and… well, I didn’t get those tickets. Leave your objections in the comments.)

Shrek the Musical

Getting discounted tickets for Shrek the Musical today presented itself as an all-too-easy task. But rushing is a gamble, and things either fall right into place or they, well, don't. Shrek has a student rush policy, but it's $36.50, which is the most expensive student rush price I have ever seen. Although such a high rush price is a bit odd for a production that played to just over 51 percent capacity in late January, the producers probably had to differenciate the price from that of their ticket lottery, which they seem to be pushing much harder.

Cutely named The Duloc Ticket Lottery to connect with the show, the drawing is held in the M&Ms World store (five blocks away from Shrek's Broadway Theatre). This is an interesting partnership between production and retail, as it seems to encourage commerce 'while you wait.' The only other show I've known to do this was the now defunct Young Frankenstein, which held its lotto drawing at the 42nd St. McDonald's. That, however, was across the street from the Hilton Theatre and seemed convenient enough. I don't quite understand why Shrek would hold its lotto drawing at M&Ms World when it is so far away (and the Broadway Theatre has an enormous lobby), other than they're getting a small kickback from Mars Inc.