DH is heading to NYC this weekend, and it also coincides with his birthday. I’d like to surprise him and a friend (who lives in NYC) with tickets to an event. Since I’m not in NYC, I won’t be able to get tickets via HFT. That leaves me with the following choices (and feel free to chime in with other suggestions) that are still selling online tickets:
Spiderman Turn off the Dark
Zarkana (Cirque)
How to Succeed in Business without really trying
I’d be fine with an online broker such as Stub Hub provided I could get the tickets to his hotel room in time.
He’s a stock broker, so not really in touch with his touchy-feely side.
The nights he is free are Thursday 9/8, Friday 9/9 and Saturday 9/10. He flies home on 9/11.
So what gets your vote for the best choice, if any?
Your use of acronyms makes it hard to help you (who’s DH and what’s HFT?), but I will tell you that it might be difficult to get decent tickets for Spider-Man and How to Succeed on such short notice. But, if you’re willing to pay Stub Hub prices I’m sure they can come up with something. Based on how you’ve described him, I’d say go with Spider-Man. It’s not a great show in the opinion of people who work in the business, but I think for a stockbroker who’s not so touchy-feely it would be fun. I would also recommend looking into Jersey Boys if he likes Frankie Valli music, and Rock of Ages if he likes '80s hair bands.
It’s too bad he’s not coming the week after that… it’s Broadway week, and all tickets are half-price…
DH is a common acronym here and it stands for Dear Husband.
HFT should have been HPT. Oops. The company itself uses the acronym, IIRC, and it stands for Half Price Tickets. (It’s been awhile since I lived in NYC.)
I can still get decent (Flying Circus) tickets for Spiderman right from its website, which is concerning for the sake of the show. They’re actually cheaper on the website than they are at StubHub.
As a theater person I would go with How to Succeed in Business. It’s a good show with a good cast and should be a fun night no matter what your taste. But if you like circus stuff Cirque is probably fantastic. I haven’t seen this particular show, but I have never been disappointed by any of their shows.
Forget Spider-Man. It’s a pretty bad show with lousy music and the flying isn’t even that spectacular. If you want to see a show with cool stunts, just see the Cirque one.
I’d recommend How to Succeed. It’s a show about businessmen who, well, succeed in moving up the corporate ladder, it’s not really touchy-feely at all, I think it would appeal just fine for a stockbroker. The music is great and the dance scenes are impressive.
You *can *get discounted tickets for *How to Succeed *for $89 (regularly $132.) Go to www.broadwayoffers.com and type in this code: HSBX112. They have seats available for all three dates you mentioned. The seats they have may not be right up front, but when I saw the show I sat in Row O in the orchestra and the view was great.
Sorry, I’ve never seen DH, only SO. And I’m not aware of HPT tickets either. Are you sure you’re not thinking of TKTS, the discount booth in Times Square?
Anyway, as I mentioned, Spider-Man is not a good show. The only reason I recommended it above the other two choices is because I’m taking into consideration the description of your husband (but I actually think he would enjoy my other two suggestions more). How to Succeed might be a better show, and it might not be “touchy-feely” per se, but it certainly falls in the realm of “traditional, old-school Broadway show”, and if he’s not into that then it could be big trouble in River City (and if he doesn’t know what that means then it proves my point). On the other hand, it does have Daniel Radcliffe in it, so if he’s a fan then that’s a selling point.
This is a fair point, and while I love How to Succeed and feel like it is a good musical even for people who don’t like musicals…my wife (who hates musicals) couldn’t handle it. It was too musically for her. So there is that.
Go with How To Succeed. If you can’t get tickets to that go with Zarkana. Spider-Man isn’t a great show from everything I’ve heard and probably isn’t worth the money.
Edited to add: I just saw the Rock of Ages recommendation and I heartily agree. I saw it and thought it was wonderful and it is the kind of thing I’d take my dad and brother to when they come to visit because it would appeal to them even though they aren’t into musicals.
How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying is one of Frank Lesser’s lesser works, but that’s still not peanuts. We just finished a production of it at the company I work with and it went very well. It has a lot of really fun stuff in it and although it’s a bit dated(secretaries taking dictation has pretty much gone the way of the dodo) it has some really good bits. The main thing it has, and I haven’t seen the current revival, is a great finale number. If they nail that full-company finale, it’ll have the audience on their feet. If John Larroquette is still in the cast when they get to go it’ll be a nice treat, since he won the Tony for his performance and his role has some good stuff in it.
Update: My husband and his friend really enjoyed “How to Succeed.” My husband’s friend said that he will recommend his brother take his nieces to the show next time he’s in town. They both said Harry Potter did great.
