For
phronni7 and all those contemplating ticket buying for Cabaret.
My two cents worth on seats. Not a recap…And obviously just my own experience and thoughts in case they help.
Firstly…doesn’t matter where you sit you are going to love this show. Be happy with whatever tickets you may currently hold and enjoy the anticipation. It’s a very small and compact theatre with big set pieces and sound.
I’ve seen it three times though we originally bought tickets for two nights only and deliberately chose seats with a ‘back’ and ‘front’ view.
Taking the seat map on SeatGeek…the mezzanine at the top of the picture is Mezz4 - the newer bit which is the ‘back’ side. This is only 5 rows deep
The older, opposite mezzanine is mostly Mezz 1 on the traditional ‘front’ side and it is 16 rows deep.
First night….Row A Mezz4If I had a choice of the front rows of both mezzanines, I would go for Mezz 4 without hesitation. The way the action plays out may skew slightly towards the front (I really didn’t notice this) but for me, not enough to outweigh the very close proximity to the stage of the first row in Mezz 4.
The front row of Mezz 4 overhangs at the edge of the table seats…equivalent of row D downstairs.
The front row of Mezz 1 overhangs at Row J. So is a good bit further from the stage and a distance equivalent of being in the last row of Mezz 4.
The view from this seat was wonderful. Very intimate. I felt we could almost touch the actors just a little way below us - and not to give too much away, Sally Bowls trod on my foot! My only claim to fame.
Night 2…Row D front orchestraThis is directly behind the table seats and was pretty perfect. Huge price difference when we originally booked, between these seats and the table seats immediately in front. This was a ‘front’ view and very close. And yes, I now noticed the slight favouring of this side.
Could see every detail. The floor isn’t raked at this point but heads of those at the table seats didn’t interfere at all. The stage is a good height and extends upwards at times, often with Adam on it! (For those with a specific interest in the production!). Loved these seats.
Night 3…Table Row 2Didn’t mean for this to happen.
We went to the discount ticket booth in the Lincoln Centre to see what good value tickets they had for
other shows. The lovely young man immediately came up with his ‘great value’ pick and could offer us second row table seats for Cabaret for $110 each!
When I first booked tickets, these tables were $495 per person (with food) - they were already being offered without food for less but the real drop in price came because there was less than two hours to the start of the show…
How could we say no? Having travelled 4000 miles, I think we felt we should make the most of it!
Such fun seats, six feet from the stage. Lovely young men and women from the KitKatClub slinking around us and the atmosphere and ‘immersion’ was total. Could see every detail and by now, the familiarity with what was going on was really like being with old friends in a club. (Actually, I can’t remember what being in a club feels like so I’m making that bit up)
We were thrilled with all three of these seats. All were the absolute best for their price. I tried to explore and see what the views were like from other areas. The place is so small and compact that anywhere is good but no denying the obvious…just go for as close as budget will allow.
Budget is, of course, a deciding factor but it seems that Mezz 4 has some reasonably priced seats for great views. Don’t be put off by the ‘back’ idea. And if you can hold your nerve, you may get real bargains at the Last Minute booths.
Happy ticket buying! I’d so love to be doing it all over again.
(No spoilers - but you already know that Adam is truly magnificent in this role…
)
