There are a number of ways you can get discounted Broadway tickets in NYC if you're on a budget and do not feel like paying the average price of $100 per ticket.
Cancellations: When cancellations are made at the eleventh-hour, rather than lose money on the unsold seats, the theater may choose to sell these tickets at a discount shortly before show time.
To get your hands on these tickets, you have to get to the theater's box office about an hour early before show time and ask for last minute cancellations.
Rush Tickets: Rush tickets are considerably discounted and you may be able to get such tickets at more than half the price of a regular ticket.
Again, you need to show up at least an hour or two before show time at the box office.
Most rush tickets are limited to two per person and if there are more people interested than there are available tickets, normally the tickets will be given out through a lottery.
TKTs Booth: You will find the TKTs booth in the middle of Times Square at 47th St and Broadway or South Street Seaport.
At these booths, you can get tickets at 50% off on the day of the show.
However, tickets are available only to a limited number of shows.
Students/Senior Discount: You can get a discount if you're either a student or a senior and if you have a valid ID.
You might be able to get discounted tickets for a fraction of the regular price.
Street Scalpers: You may be able to get discounted Broadway tickets from street scalpers in midtown NYC.
Though ticket scalping is legal in NYC, you may get a fake or stolen ticket and the drawback is that you can't return it.
Regrettably, you can't plan in advance to get these discounted Broadway tickets as nearly all of these options require you to get tickets on the day of the show.
If you don't want to wait until the day of the show, then planning ahead is the best strategy to get cheap tickets.