Except for a seven-year hiatus in the late ’60s and early ’70s, The Price Is Right has been on the air continuously since 1956. Whether you picture Bill Cullen, Bob Barker or Drew Carey as the iconic host, you’d need to have been living under a rock not to be aware of this longest-running of all game shows in the English-speaking world. Knockoffs of the show have aired in 40 other countries; the US version has won several Daytime Emmy Awards and spawned board games, video/computer games and lots of other merchandise.
While there’s vicarious fun in watching other folks in the studio winning piles of prizes (or schadenfreude in watching them lose, if you’re so inclined), viewers since the show’s beginning have also been offered a chance to get in on the competition, whether as part of the studio audience, by sending in bids on postcards or, nowadays, via Facebook. But if you’ve always wanted to play the game live, you’ll have your shot at it on Tuesday evening, when the road company of The Price is Right Live! comes to the Mid-Hudson Civic Center in Poughkeepsie. If you’ve been pinching pennies and compulsively comparison-shopping for the best deal all your life, here’s your chance to put those hard-won budgeting skills to work for a much bigger payoff.
Showtime for The Price is Right Live! is at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 7, but you must show up at the Civic Center between 4:15 and 7:15 p.m. that day to register as a possible contestant, to be chosen at random from the audience. Tickets cost $75.50, $49.50 and $37.50 and may be ordered by calling (845) 454-5800, visiting www.midhudsonciviccenter.org or through TicketMaster. The competition is open to legal US residents, 18 years of age or older only; contact the box office for complete contest rules.
The Price is Right Live! Tuesday, April 7, 7:30 p.m., $75.50/$49.50/$37.50, Mid-Hudson Civic Center, 14 Civic Center Plaza, Poughkeepsie; (845) 454-5800, www.midhudsonciviccenter.org.
Join the family! 
