Editorial
Guides
Explainers on theatre terminology, casting, ticketing, and how a production works.
- Broadway rush, lottery, and standing room Rush tickets are discounted same-day seats sold at the box office when it opens, first come first served. A digital lottery is a free online entry, drawn a day or two ahead, that lets winners buy one or two cheap seats. Standing room is a numbered standing space at the back of the orchestra, sold only when the performance is otherwise sold out.
- How a Broadway cast change works A replacement joining a running Broadway production rehearses separately for one to three weeks, usually with an associate director and stage management rather than with the company. They meet the full cast at a put-in rehearsal — a single run-through of the whole show on the set, often the only one — a day or two before their first performance.
- Previews, opening night, and press night A preview is a paid public performance given before a show is finished, and material is still cut and rewritten between them. Opening night is the performance at which the production is frozen and the press embargo lifts, which is why every review appears at once. Press night is the same event under its British name.
- Broadway, Off-Broadway, and Off-Off-Broadway Seat count, not location. A Broadway house has 500 or more seats, an Off-Broadway theatre has 100 to 499, and Off-Off-Broadway has 99 or fewer. Each tier carries a different Actors' Equity agreement setting pay and rehearsal terms. Only productions in an eligible Broadway house can be nominated for a Tony Award.
- Standby vs. alternate vs. understudy An understudy is a cast member with their own role who also covers a lead. A standby covers a lead and only that lead, appearing onstage in no other capacity. An alternate is scheduled to play the lead at specific performances every week, whether or not the principal is available. The difference is what the performer does on a normal night.