DR MATT - As much as I loved and appreciated the Sondheim celebration, I think they mishandled the ticket situation for the second round of shows, which included MERRILY, PASSION and NIGHT MUSIC. The first round had sold so well, with COMPANY, SWEENEY, and to some extent SUNDAY IN THE PARK, that they withheld so many of the best seats and tried to make believe there was a frenzy for tickets to the second round-of-three as well. Lots of people I know couldn't get decent tickets to all three shows, and therefore simply decided not to bother making the trip. The result was that Kennedy Center ultimately started begging for ticketbuyers, even offering tremendous discounts. I suspect they got spoiled by the interest in the first round, and thought they would automatically get a frenzy for the second round, but instead I saw lots of empty seats during the second round of shows. People just didn't want to travel to sit in the bad seats Kennedy Center was offering until very near to the performance dates, when loads of tickets to supposedly balcony-available-only perfs magically started to show up on the internet.
<nod>
Been there, done that. Or rather, was there, did that.
It really was such an interesting situation with the tickets. First of all, unless you were one of the "stars" you were allotted no comps. And then your house ticket requests were placed in with everyone else's, so if you got yours in late or later, and the allotment was already spoken for, well, then no house seats. Although, now that I think of it, I think we were given two half-price tickets to use during the first part of each run.
I still remember doing "standing room" - which we were basically allowed to do for free as long as we had our badges on - for a bunch of shows. Although, technically, we were also supposed to "reserve" a standing room slot too. Sometimes they would truly be sold out. Other times, I would see people who I had spied waiting in the cancellation line in the house row seats come curtain time. -Even for the final performance of
A Little Night Music which was the final performance of the Celebration. It seemed like the Kennedy Center was counting on a lot of last minute requests from VIPs, and when those requests did not come through, then they were able to make some die hard Sondheads very happy.
I think part of the problem also had to do with the second round of shows having a lesser number of performances than the ones in the first round. The Kennedy Center was counting on a lot of repeat business, they wanted to insure that people who wanted to see all six would be able to see all six - whether or not they purchased the whole package in advance.
However, there was another "problem" with the second round of shows: they were basically the less popular ones in the Sondheim canon, at least in comparison to the first three (
Sweeney Todd, Sunday in the Park with George and
Company). *Although,
Sunday should have sold a better than it did. There was also a lack of star power draw among the casting of the second series. Yes, there were some amazing Broadway greats in the second round, but no Stokes, Baranski or Redgrave. But it is funny to look back and realize that
Passion actually became the draw of the second series. My "house seat" for that was in Row X - second row from the back of the house.
But... To get back on track here... It was a little amazing to me to read after the fact, that the six main shows at the Celebration only sold around 86% - or some figure like that - as a whole.
But... I have to give the Kennedy Center and Michael Kaiser major praise for taking on such a major enterprise. Double-Triple repertory! "If it's Wednesday, I must be in
Company today." And for taking the financial lunge - and risk - of going ahead with full-scale productions of each show, rather than the bare bones, "modular" set idea that was originally proposed.
Finally, as I've mentioned before, being able to be a part of that whole event has been one of the highlights of my professional career - and my life. Yes, I may have technically only been the "rehearsal pianist" for
Sweeney Todd and
A Little Night Music, but we were all one big family backstage at the Kennedy Center - like it said on our t-shirts: Camp Sondheim. -And having my day begin with a half hour with Christine Baransksi - just me and her - and ending with a half hour with Brian Stokes-Mitchell... -Never in my wildest dreams.
