"Take a Chance": A Review of Broadway Roulette
Elizabeth Chirico
A friend and I decided to head to NYC this weekend for a girls trip. Of course, I have to see a show. I mean, it wouldn’t be a trip to NYC without a trip to the Great White Way, right? There’s no show I’m desperate to see. I mean, besides Hamilton or Hadestown and since I’m not made of money, those were out. She’s not hugely into theater and chose to leave the show decision up to me.
I wasn’t sure what show to see; however, I’ve seen ads for a company called Broadway Roulette in my Facebook feed for probably the last month or so. Their pitch: you tell them your show preferences, and they choose what show you will go see, for tickets up to 50% off.
I took a look at their website and it seemed pretty good. Steeply discounted tickets and without the hassle of waiting in the TKTS line. Considering its February and it’s cold, this was a huge bonus. The catch is you have zero choice in what you see. Well, not exactly. You can tell Broadway Roulette what you DON’T want to see but the actual show selection is out of your hands. And you won’t find out what you’re seeing until that day. For a theatrically-obsessed, type-A gal this is paramount to torture. However, I decided to take the plunge and give it a go!
First up- buy your “spin”. This is basically the equivalent of buying your tickets for the date and time you want. Easy-peasy.
Next up- select your theme, i.e. do you want tickets to only a musical, or are you willing to see a play as well. Here’s where your “DON’T want to see” list comes into play. If you select only to see musicals, you can cross off only up to 4 shows (or 6 for an additional fee- more on fees later). If you’re game to throw in a play as well, you can immediately knock off up to 6 shows you don’t want to see. With shows that require multiple tickets (hello Harry Potter and the Cursed Child), you must purchase 2 spins with the understanding that if your first spin lands you the first part, you’ll automatically receive the second part as your second show.
I opted for only musicals on this spin and thus was able to knock off up to 4 shows. I immediately said no to Phantom and Chicago (seen them both way too many times) and crossed off the Temptations show. I’m sure it’s fun, but not this time.
My final no went to Mean Girls per my friend’s request. However after purchasing this spin (you can purchase spins up to 3 months in advance), thanks to news covered right here in this blog, I decided I couldn’t support West Side Story. There’s no way to edit your selections online so I called their service number. I left a message explaining my issue and to my shock the VERY NEXT DAY a rep called me back. Once I explained my reasoning, she was more than happy to let me switch out my show. West Side Story was out and Mean Girls was in.
Broadway Roulette’s customer service and communication are great. An instant confirmation email was sent (and re-sent) immediately after my purchase went through detailing my performance time, date and the shows I would NOT see. The week of my performance, a second email came my way with an added feature of letting Broadway Roulette select a restaurant and make dinner reservations for me for an extra $5.
Now fees. As far as fees go, there’s not much beyond the standard processing and fees tacked on to online purchases.
There are a couple of optional add-ons: an additional $10 to cross off more shows and an additional $5 to add dinner reservations. I guess if you really don’t know the city, are really adventurous or don’t want to make any decisions for your trip- sure, let them pick your restaurant. But to me, it didn’t seem worth it. It’s NYC after all, you don’t even have to throw a rock that far to hit a couple of good restaurants.
THE MORNING OF…
Once again props to communication and suspense set-up by Broadway Roulette. I received an email telling me the wheel was spinning and around 8 a.m. found out I would be seeing (drumroll please!) Aladdin!
While it wasn’t my first choice or even my first Disney choice, I had a feeling that’s what would come up. (I had calculated the odds based on show popularity, box office grosses from the week prior and opening/closing dates. Remember? Type A!)
I neglected to click the link at the end of the email to confirm I received it so around noon they texted me again. I received a text from Phoebe (the person I was picking up the tickets from) telling me where to look for her (outside Sardi’s) and what she was wearing. The whole thing is less drug deal than it sounds.
The seats were GREAT! Balcony front row, about 4 off of the right aisle. And of course, the show was magical. No one does magic and huge, old-school song and dance numbers quite like Disney!
All in all, I would absolutely recommend Broadway Roulette. I hope to plan another trip in the fall and will definitely take advantage of another spin at the wheel!
You can check them out at broadwayroulette.com.
RATINGS (out of 5 stars)
Website Functionality
4/5 stars
Customer Service
4.5/5 stars
Value for money
4/5 stars
Fun factor
4.5/5 stars
Overall
4.5/5 stars
The author was not compensated by Broadwayroulette.com for this review in any way.