Although it's generally considered taboo to talk about Christmas on Broadway until after the Thanksgiving holiday, Christmas comes to The Great White Way well before people start buying turkeys. Every year, the Christmas season draws thousands of tourists to New York City for some of the most iconic holiday spectacles, including the Rockefeller Center Tree, ice skating in Bryant Park and The Rockettes. With the spike in tourism, Broadway also has a collection of Christmas-only shows that come to town every December. This year, the Radio City Christmas Spectacular and Elf: The Musical are waiting for you to come and see them over the holidays with the Radio City Music Hall show being one of the lowest price resale market tickets available on Broadway right now.
What many fans don't know is that the Radio City Christmas Spectacular is actually considered a Broadway show. As one of the largest theaters in New York City, Radio City Music Hall is an eligible Broadway venue with over 500 seats. The Radio City Christmas Spectacular is an iconic Christmas time show that ranks in popularity with The Lion King and The Phantom of the Opera. Interestingly enough, The Radio City Christmas Spectacular is on average, 50% cheaper than other Broadway shows, and tickets average $120 on the resale market, with the cheapest ticket available for $50. For comparison, the least expensive "official" Broadway show, Aladdin, generally has a get-in price of $60, while tickets average $185, according to data provided by TiqIQ.
The next most sought after Christmastime tuner is Elf: The Musical. Although the show isn't technically held on Broadway, but rather at The Theater at Madison Square Garden, the production has spent time on The Great White Way in previous years. Elf: The Musical is based on the 2003 hit film of the same name, and first made its Broadway debut in 2010 for a strictly limited Christmas engagement at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre. Back then, the run saw an average ticket price of $230 on the secondary market. Seeing a show on Broadway is a unique experience that can be had by anyone, including people outside of the NYC metro area. New York City flights on Hipmunk.com will get anyone to the big city on an affordable dime, in addition to Hipmunk having hotels in New York City right in the middle of all the bright lights.
When it returned to Broadway for a 74-show revival in 2012, Elf tickets averaged $223. This year's return is not in a registered Broadway venue, which may contribute to the drop in average ticket price, as the show is currently averaging just $119.
Although the Illusionist is not a holiday-themed show, the limited engagement production opened at the Neil Simon Theatre on November 19, just in time for the holiday season, and is currently producing the highest ticket price on the secondary market. It currently averages a whopping $305, which is over twice the average price to see The Rockettes.
