And forget about Broadway shows. Anything worth seeing is priced in the stratosphere as every tourist to NYC feels it's obligatory to see one (or more) and the tickets are "capacity priced" using an algorithm designed to maximize profit.

Perhaps things have changed since we have last been,(admittedly 2019,) and TKTS is no longer relevant. Or perhaps if you are a must see THIS show NOW kind of person, rather than a late adopter like me. For me part of the fun was using the TKTS ticket booth in Time Square, right around the corner from our vacation rental. We would wait in the long line the first day and pick up whatever tickets were well placed for a show that sounded good, at roughly 50% off. After the matinee, we would take our ticket stubs in hand, which allowed us to jump to the front of that long line and buy tickets for the evening show. Lather, rinse, repeat the following days. We would see two shows a day, or shake it up with dinner at a jazz club, only grabbing tickets with great seats. Saw some shows this way I never would have thought to go to otherwise and have never been disappointed. They certainly were all worth seeing.

Pittsburgh is also a great place for musicals, though priced higher than NYC since no TKTS. Excellent museums, jazz galore, and ballet was great too. Stunning architecture, (in the city...bleak industrialism around it.) Our impression of Pittsburgh was a value priced NYC, if you ignore the difficulty in finding decent restaurants. We were there post Covid, however, and their serve staff had been decimated with many restaurants out of business. Spent 7 weeks exploring the place and will definitely go back.

IP,
adventurer