When visiting New York, at the top of many people’s to do lists is seeing a Broadway show. There are so many fantastic shows available, whether you like musicals, plays, comedies or a mix of everything.

For a backpacker like me, a Broadway show in Manhattan can be an expensive night out. Tickets are usually priced well over USD$100, which is a lot of money for a budget conscious traveler. But you don’t have to miss out completely, rush tickets make performances affordable for everyone.

Rush tickets are the last minute tickets available for purchase directly from the theatre on the day of the performance. Usually priced somewhere between USD$27 – $35 rush seats are most often ‘partial views,’ meaning there is a pillar blocking your view, or the seats are at the very front so you’re looking up at the stage.

But don’t dispair! Just because you paid for a partial view seat doesn’t mean you need to sit in it for the whole show. Broadway performances usually have a schedule of two shows a day, six days a week. That’s a lot of acting, singing and dancing for the actors and for the audience. With so many shows playing multiple daily performances for months at a time, the majority are almost never sold out.

So with the purchase of a cheap rush ticket before the show starts take your assigned seat, wait until the lights start to dim, and then get up and move to a better empty seat. Usually there are so many seats around to choose from and everyone is doing the same thing you are.

If you’re looking to buy rush tickets my advice is the arrive at the theatre at approximately 10am on the morning of the day you want to go and see what they have available. Staff working at the theatres are incredibly friendly and helpful and will happily give you advice on different ticket options available. Over the past couple of years I’ve been able to see Pippin, Mathilda and Wicked in great seats all on $30 rush tickets and now cringe at the thought of having to pay full price.

There are also other discount ticket options available such as the Tkts booth in Times Square that sells discounted tickets for shows daily, as well as show lotteries you can enter like for The Book of Mormon which, if you win, gives you the chance to buy a seat at rush ticket prices.

So next time you’re in New York considering a night out, try and get yourself some discounted tickets because a little bit of research can save you a lot of money.