the virginia theatre

[showstopper]

Posted: 11/7/04 at 4:52pm

Does anyone know if this is a big theatre or not? I want to know if I got front mezz seats, would they be good?

[pab]

Posted: 11/7/04 at 4:54pm

Seating Chart

[cvapb]

Posted: 11/7/04 at 4:54pm

lol.. beat me to it :) Updated On: 11/7/04 at 04:54 PM

[showstopper]

Posted: 11/7/04 at 4:55pm

thank you!

[Chrysanthemum62001]

Posted: 11/7/04 at 5:03pm

If I remember correctly, the mezz is pretty small. So you should be fine.

[Tiny-Toon]

Posted: 11/7/04 at 6:43pm

The mezz. is not that small there..

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 11/7/04 at 6:51pm

Front mezz seats are better than the orchestra in any broadway house.

[BroadwayGirl107]

Posted: 11/7/04 at 6:52pm

That all depends on your own eyesight and what you want to see...

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 11/7/04 at 6:53pm

its a huge theater....not in the range of the gershwin or the broadway, though.

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 11/7/04 at 6:54pm

Depends on what you want to see? Isn't everyone there to see...the show...which would mean the stage? I dont understand. But it's true - front row mezz are the only seats you can have in theatre that are guaranteed to be unobstructed.

[Benzy92]

Posted: 11/7/04 at 6:56pm

I sat third row center for Little Shop and have the same seats for Little Woman. They are amazing seats.

I had row K center mezz for Little Shop the third time and they were good also, you could hear and see everything perfect!

[sean martin]

Posted: 11/8/04 at 12:35pm

Did any of you see BIG RIVER? They used the sets I designed for Theatre Cedar Rapids, and I hadnt heard anything about how the show went.

[bially082]

Posted: 11/8/04 at 1:08pm

Big River wasn't at that theatre. It was at the American Airlines Theatre. You are telling me that you, a desinger for a community theatre in eastern Iowa designed the sets for a Broadway musical. Uh huh. OK.

Anyway, I don't think its a huge theatre. It seems very intimate. Front Mezz seats are excelent there but they suck at the minskoff and the gershwin.

[Joshua488]

Posted: 11/8/04 at 4:08pm

The Virginia Theatre is small. I saw LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS there (with Joey Fatone and Jessica-Snow Wilson) and I was surprised at its size. It is great, though, because it is a lot more intimate and personal. My seats were the second row of the mezzanine and they were fantastic. I love the Virginia! It's very nice.

And if you're in the back of the mezzanine (and if the actors are talented enough), it is still possible to hear the actors without microphones. I remember being able to hear Jessica-Snow Wilson belting during "Somewhere That's Green", but I could hear her voice coming straight from her mouth, not out of the speakers.

Also, let me take this time to vent a little bit. During "Suddenly, Seymour" in the big climax that Audrey sings("Suddenly, Seymour showed me I can"), Jessica-Snow Wilson was belting her face off!! She has excellent technique and was belting the loudest and most powerful she could. Yet when she sustained "can", she was drowned out by Joey Fatone, the three Urchins, AND the orchestra, which are ALL miked! Did the sound engineer not realize that we could no longer hear Jessica-Snow? I could see her mouth open and see her definitely belting her heart out, but I couldn't hear anything. I just wish that the other four singers and the whole orchestra had been turned down a little so we could hear everyone. Other than that, excellent pipes on Jessica-Snow! :)

[sean martin]

Posted: 11/8/04 at 4:12pm

> Uh huh. OK

Wipe the sneer off, bud. I said that they were using the sets I designed for Theatre Cedar Rapids. My impression was that this thread was about the Virginia Musical Theatre (http://www.vmtheatre.org/welcome.asp, where you'll find my name listed in the credits, and thanks for asking).

Anything else? Or is an apology in order?

[The Distinctive Baritone]

Posted: 11/8/04 at 4:14pm

All I have to say is, don't go to the back of the mezzanine at the Virginia! I saw "King Hedley II" there from the back of the mezzanine and it was more like watching a sporting event than a play, I was so far away. Although I'm sure it's even worse if you're in Gershwin...

[showstopper]

Posted: 11/8/04 at 4:21pm

Everytime I went to purchase the tickets for Little Women I would get orch v or w. I didn't want to pay all of that money and sit so far back. I ended up getting row 2 center mezz. I'm so excited, I can't wait to go. Thanks for your help.

[sean martin]

Posted: 11/8/04 at 4:22pm

>> You are telling me that you, a desinger for a community theatre in eastern Iowa designed the sets for a Broadway musical

BTW: if I'm to flaunt my resume -- and I guess I will -- I'll add that not only do I do work for "a community theatre in Eastern Iowa" but have had productions all over North America and a few in Europe, including a major production at a 2,000 year old Roman theatre in southwestern Spain and another that celebrated the 450th anniversary of a prestigious English school *and* a "good will" production with a company in Turkey. I was a finalist, one of twelve selected nationally, for a TCG grant this year, no small achievement, thanks. I've had articles in Entertainment Design about the future of technology and its use in my field. I work, bud. -- and producers seem to like what they're getting. Gosh, maybe not as splashy as the things I'm sure you're involved in, but at least I work, and consistently. I daresay you can say the same?

[Joshua488]

Posted: 11/8/04 at 8:26pm

Ew. Grow up. Just be the bigger person and let him be.

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 11/8/04 at 8:31pm

No, let him have it. He's was acting like an ass.

[sean martin]

Posted: 11/8/04 at 9:58pm

Sorry, Joshua, no way. I worked too hard to get to this to have it slapped around by some little wannabe.

[Joshua488]

Posted: 11/8/04 at 10:07pm

Well, congratulations on proving your point and making yourself look like as much of a conceited jerk as bially082 simultaneously.

[sean martin]

Posted: 11/8/04 at 11:31pm

Thank you. It's an honour.

And who the ^%&$ are *you*, anyway? :)

[Jon]

Posted: 11/9/04 at 12:06am

Mr. Martin, I'm sure you can understand the confusion - this is the BROADWAY WORLD board. The thread is about the Virginia Theatre on BROADWAY, not some theatre in the state of Virginia.

By the way, the theatre was named after Virginia Binger, wife of James Binger, founder of Jujamcyn Theatres, who died last week. "Jujamcyn" refers to their three children, Julia, James Jr. and Cynthia.

[sean martin]

Posted: 11/9/04 at 11:31am

I can, and I do. We also talk about non-Broadway theatres on occasion, so hence the confusion.

But I find it a damn shame that someone here thinks that people posting on this board are all a bunch of pretenders and wannabes, that no one here (outside of Marc Shaiman) has a real theatre career. Like I said, I work damn hard in this field, and I dont like it when some pissant makes some snide little comment that insults my hard-earned career. It's not easy staying afloat in this field: the money is mserable, the hours are long (I can spend up to six months working on a production, which reduces my hourly rate to somewhere around four or five bucks an hour), and, as petty as this may sound, I dont get to walk out onstage for a curtain call when the job is done. It aint glamourous, by a long shot, but I love it enough that, despite the fact that financially I'll be working uintil they find me dead in the studio from old age, I stick with it.

But that's something I doubt many people on this board understand: theatre is a rough way to make a living. Considering the success I've enjoyed without an MFA from Yale or all the "right" connections, I'm damn proud of what I've accomplished in a relatively short time.

And if anyone's interested by this point, yeah, I've been shortlisted for a Broadway show. Twice. Get over it and move on.