Chicago the Musical Tickets

Where to sit for Chicago the Musical, in one line

Buy the center orchestra between about row 5 and row 15 at the Ambassador Theatre. That band of rows is close enough to catch every face and every precise, angular move of the Fosse-style choreography, with the band straight ahead. If the orchestra is out of reach, the front rows of the front mezzanine, center are the next best seats, and usually a better buy than the back of the orchestra.

The logic is simple. The show has almost no scenery, nothing flies and nothing revolves. What you pay for is dance, expressions and a live band, so proximity and a centered angle matter far more than elevation.

A spare stage built around the bandstand

The orchestra sits center stage on a tiered bandstand that suggests a jury box, and the cast plays scenes around it and on it. Actors who are not in a scene often wait in chairs at the stage's edges, in view. John Lee Beatty designed the minimal set, William Ivey Long the black costumes and Ken Billington the lighting.

For seat buyers this design cuts both ways. Nothing tall blocks the view from above, which is why the front mezzanine works. But nothing large fills the stage either, so from the back rows the performers become small figures in a lot of black space.

Ambassador Theatre levels, angles and seats to skip

The Ambassador Theatre opened in 1921. Architect Herbert J. Krapp turned the auditorium diagonally across a nearly square lot to squeeze in more seats. The Shubert Organization counts 1,114 seats: 573 in the orchestra, 264 in the front mezzanine, 250 in the rear mezzanine and 8 in boxes. Thanks to the diagonal, side sections angle toward the stage more than usual, though the ends of the longest rows still look at it on a slant.

Orchestra

The middle rows in the center are the target. The first few rows are very close and slightly below stage level, which can hide the dancers' feet; a handful of rows back fixes that and shows the full width of the stage.

Front mezzanine

Its first rows, near the center, show the formations across the stage, and with no tall scenery nothing gets clipped.

Skip these unless the price is right

• Rear mezzanine: distance hurts a show this dependent on small gestures more than it hurts spectacle shows.
• Boxes: steeply angled, with partial views of some action.
• Far ends of long orchestra rows: the slant can hide part of the bandstand and the opposite edge of the stage.

For help judging partial-view listings, see Obstructed and Limited View Seats.

Is Chicago the Musical right for your group

The performance runs 2 hours and 30 minutes, with a 15-minute intermission. The production recommends it for ages 12 and up, and herbal cigarettes are smoked on stage.

• Subject matter: murder, adultery and a justice system for sale, all played as dark comedy.
• Choreography: frank and suggestive.
• Teen test: teenagers who have seen the 2002 film tend to enjoy it; younger children often lose the thread.

The story centers on Roxie Hart and Velma Kelly, two jazz-age murderesses who turn their trials into a shot at fame with help from a slick lawyer, Billy Flynn. Among the songs: All That Jazz, Cell Block Tango, Razzle Dazzle, Mister Cellophane, We Both Reached for the Gun and Nowadays.

A 1926 play, Fosse's 1975 staging and the 1996 revival

The show is based on Maurine Dallas Watkins's 1926 play, which she drew from real 1924 murder trials she covered as a newspaper reporter. John Kander composed the music, Fred Ebb wrote the lyrics, and Ebb and Bob Fosse wrote the book.

• 1975: Fosse's original opened June 3 at the 46th Street Theatre with Gwen Verdon, Chita Rivera and Jerry Orbach, and ran 936 performances to August 1977.
• May 1996: a concert staging in the Encores series at New York City Center, directed by Walter Bobbie and choreographed by Ann Reinking in Fosse's style.
• November 14, 1996: that concert look moved to Broadway's Richard Rodgers Theatre, with Reinking, Bebe Neuwirth, James Naughton and Joel Grey, and won six Tony Awards, a record for a revival at the time.
• 1997 and 2003: transfers to the Shubert Theatre in February 1997 and to the Ambassador on January 29, 2003.

The production calls itself the longest-running American musical in Broadway history. It became the second-longest-running Broadway show of any kind on November 23, 2014, when it passed Cats, and it has played more than 11,000 performances. The Phantom of the Opera holds the overall record. The 2002 film won the Academy Award for Best Picture.

Easy weeks, busy weeks and getting to 49th Street

Three decades in, the show sells differently from a new hit. In most weeks there is wide choice, and it is often one of the simpler Broadway tickets to get on short notice. Demand climbs at Thanksgiving, through the Christmas and New Year's weeks, during spring break and on summer Saturdays.

• Star casting: well-known performers rotate in for limited stints (Reece Weaver through November 1 in fall 2026), which can lift demand on specific dates; check the cast before you buy.
• Most choice: midweek evenings and matinees outside holidays.
• Access: as of 2026, wheelchair seating is orchestra-only, the side entrance is step-free and the mezzanine is two flights up with no elevator, per the Shubert Organization.

The theater sits at 219 West 49th Street, between Broadway and Eighth Avenue. Nearby subway stops: 49 St (N, R, W), 50 St (C, E) and 47–50 Sts–Rockefeller Center (B, D, F, M). Leave extra time on weekend nights, when Times Square sidewalks jam before curtain. Every Reserved Seat order is backed by a 100% guarantee. Other companies tour the UK and abroad; the production's website lists them. Related: Ambassador Theatre, Broadway and When Do Ticket Prices Drop?

Sources

• Wikipedia: Chicago (musical)
• Wikipedia: Ambassador Theatre (New York City)
• Chicago the Musical: official site
• Broadway Direct: Chicago show information
• Shubert Organization: Ambassador Theatre