Buying tickets to Broadway shows could soon be easier.

Preevue, a leading provider of technology that allows theatergoers to get a quick glimpse of the view from their seats, may soon be available in more Broadway theaters. “We are in discussions with the owner of a major Broadway theater to begin scanning work,” confirmed its CEO Ryan Metcalfe.

Founded in 2016, the London-based company uses laser scanning technology and computer-aided design to create three-dimensional digital recreations of theaters. Preevue captures a million measurements of up to one inch per second and has scanned more than 65,000 seats in over 250 theaters around the world, including more than three-quarters of the theaters in London’s West End.

“Customer satisfaction has been incredibly positive,” Metcalfe noted. “People are now fully aware of what they are getting,” he said, adding, “There is no longer a moment when people come into the theater and are disappointed that a pillar is blocking their view of the stage.”

However, the British company has a much smaller presence on Broadway. It has only scanned Disney’s New Amsterdam Theatre and the Al Hirschfeld Theatre, the Hudson Theatre and the Lyric Theatre of the Ambassador Theatre Group.

While there are websites that allow theatergoers to share photos of their seats at other Broadway theaters, it’s often difficult to find photos of specific seats in each theater, and “the architecture of the theater can change drastically along a row or in a different part of a section,” Metcalfe explained. For example, an overhang from the balcony or a speaker might block the view from a particular seat.

Additionally, there is no standardization or quality control in crowdsourced images. “There is no way to know if the person took a photo standing up with a wide-angle lens or sitting down with a zoom lens,” Metcalfe said.

Preevue’s technology, which offers both two-dimensional images and a 360-degree panoramic view from every seat, ensures “complete transparency to the audience during the booking process,” Metcalfe explained.

“When people want to spend $250 on a hotel room, they often spend at least 20 minutes looking at photos and reviews before deciding whether or not to take the room,” Metcalfe said. “But when they want to spend $250 at a movie theater, they often don’t get any information and just say, ‘Just trust us,'” he lamented.

In addition, Preevue’s technology provides useful information to producers and designers.

By having access to the digital twin of each theater, creative teams can often speed up and even complete tasks that would normally occur during technical rehearsals. “They can use the files we create to pre-program the lighting and pre-visualize everything from anywhere in the world,” Metcalfe confirmed. Creative teams can refine their lighting and sets before they even set foot in their theater.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, for example, manufacturers of Moulin-Rouge! decided to use Preevue’s scan of the Broadway production at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre to refine the design for the West End production at the Piccadilly Theatre. “We cut the Broadway production out of the laser scan and adapted it to the Piccadilly Theatre, working with the production team on how it was adapted and how it was changed,” recalls Metcalfe. By checking the sightlines for different designs from different seats, the creative team was able to “make decisions that otherwise would have been basically guesswork until they got into the venue,” he said.

“If you can minimize the amount of time you actually have to spend in the cinema, everyone involved can save money,” Metcalfe added.

Disclaimer: I am one of the principals of the theater production company 42nd.club, which is a co-producer of Moulin Rouge! However, I am not personally involved in the production.