Anger at Sondheim concert at Ravinia- Page 2

[Sally]

Posted: 8/2/10 at 7:19pm

I just heard that Ravinia was going to offer dissatisfied customers two-for-one tickets for Annie Get Your Gun.

[AwesomeDanny]

Posted: 8/2/10 at 7:45pm

They are really not selling Annie Get Your Gun well. Today, I got tickets to the August 14 performance (using the discount from the Sondheim concert) and got row M. If there weren't complaints about the Sondheim concert, I bet they would have given a discount to the general public.

[pc1145N2]

Posted: 8/2/10 at 8:34pm

How gracious of Ravinia to offer a deal for Annie Get Your Gun. Sadly, I have already purchased those tickets the same day I purchased the ill-fated Sondheim Gala tickets.

Not only that but from the time I purchased my Annie tickets to Saturday, Brian Stokes Mitchell is out and Patrick Cassidy is in. That more than a bit of a letdown.

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 8/2/10 at 8:37pm

Couldn't you get a refund saying bought the tickets for Mitchell and then re-buy with the code?

[lakezurich]

Posted: 8/2/10 at 10:37pm

I think I just might take Ravinia up on that offer. This was the first let down I've experienced with them. Although counting the Backstreet Boys concert I attended a couple of months ago this was only the second time I had ever been to Ravinia. Which is weird cause I've lived in the NW suburbs of Chicago all my life.

[purtynpynk]

Posted: 8/2/10 at 10:50pm

^^ the Sondheim concert was the first time i've ever been there and I've lived in the NW suburbs all my life too. Maybe not so weird. :)

[singtopher]

Posted: 8/2/10 at 11:06pm

Sorry, but the title of the thread always made me chuckle. I thought a bunch of old theatre queens were outraged over song selections or how so and so chose to use their head voice rather than to belt a certain phrase.

$160 for and hour long concert? And we complain about $120 for a Broadway show.

[lakezurich]

Posted: 8/2/10 at 11:47pm

Read the offer again and realized that we cannot get 2 for 1 lawn seats... only pavilion. That's a little disappointing. What about those of us who don't have that much money and considered $25.00 a ticket a bit of an investment? I'm gonna shoot them an e-mail.

Updated On: 8/2/10 at 11:47 PM

[Stagedoor2]

Posted: 8/3/10 at 11:13am

I'm really trying to let this go, but then I read this in the comments on the Tribune website -- Mr. Pullia is the Director of Communications and Mr. Kauffman is the President and CEO of Ravinia:

"Mr. Pullia's 2008 salary: $145,237

Mr. Kauffman's 2008 salary: $616, 212

All of this info is readily available to the public on Ravinia's 2008 IRS Form 990, accessible via Guidestar.org.

And THAT, ladies and gentleman, is where your admission is going."

And this is a NOT FOR PROFIT organization.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 8/3/10 at 11:45am

Non-profits still have to pay their employees.

Wait till this makes the papers!

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 8/3/10 at 12:17pm

Not only was the concert WAY too short, it seemed sort of thrown together with little thought and judging from the awkward bobbles here are there (for example, Michael Cerveris couldn't find his opening note for Everybody Says Don't and had to start over and be fed the note from Gemignani), under-rehearsed. The song selections were okay (Audra's rendition of the film version of Glamorous Night and the Little Priest trio were the highlights), and the performances were good, but overall, I thought it was a major disappointment. The audience was rather vocal in their disappointment upon learning not a single encore was prepared.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 8/3/10 at 12:28pm

Maybe someone should write a letter to the Tribune? It's kind of amazing that no one has reported on this.

Also I hear rumors that there is some sort of 2-4-1 ticket deal to make up for this? Does anyone know anything about ti?

[Stagedoor2]

Posted: 8/3/10 at 1:14pm

Joe -- the deal is you can buy one pvailion ticket to "Annie Get Your Gun" with Patti for next weekend and get one half off (or free? I honestly don't remember). And if you had a lawn seat, you're SOL.

It infuriates me. They try to make amends by asking people to pay more money? For an event that had I wanted to go to, I would have had tickets already. Besides, it was the four I wanted to see, not just Patti. And it was Sondheim I wanted to hear, not Bernstein.

I'm just done with Ravinia.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 8/3/10 at 1:21pm

Well, they're not going to give you your money back.

Unless, maybe, if it makes the papers.

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 8/3/10 at 1:53pm

It's silly to bring the board's salaries into this. Non-profit or not, Ravinia puts on high calibre productions with big names, and the president's salary needs to reflect that. If you want a straight non-profit with volunteer staff and talent, fine, but then you should expect a show on the level of the local high school talent show, with old theatre queens and tone-deaf PTA moms squawking out Sondheim. If you want Patti LuPone, George Hearn and Audra McDonald, you need professionals running it.

[singtopher]

Posted: 8/3/10 at 3:25pm

And it was Sondheim I wanted to hear, not Bernstein.

Berlin?

[chicagotheater]

Posted: 8/3/10 at 3:54pm

The other thing I hate about Ravinia when I called a couple of years ago for the series of three shows in the theater, I called on the first day tickets went on sale.
They will not tell you where your seats are until you get the tickets in a month or so.
They had me all the way in the back of the theater. Mind you it is not a big theater so not so bad . When I called them they said we take care of our subscribers fist and then you. Needless to say I blew. How dare you treat people like this. The gave me closer seats.
SO all the seats up front were not sold to subscribers and they LIE to the genral public. Some of us cannot afford big donations but love the theater.
NEEDLESS TO SAY I HAVE NOT BEEN BACK NOR WILL I GO BACK>>>>BYE RAVINIA>>>>NON PRIFIT SHOULD BE NON PROFIT AND NOT 6 figure salaries

[Stagedoor2]

Posted: 8/3/10 at 4:08pm

Re: Singtopher and the Berlin/Bernstein mistake.

Oops -- fingers moving faster than brain. Sorry.

Got an e-mail form letter response from the Director of Communications at Ravinia basically telling me too bad you're upset, but we're doing nothing about it.

Okay, I'm really letting it go now. Time to start concentrating about more important things.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 8/3/10 at 4:08pm

I think you should see if someone will write an article about this.

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 8/3/10 at 4:10pm

Maybe Pirelli from Sweeney Todd.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 8/3/10 at 6:02pm

They did Sweeney Todd a few years ago at Ravinia and I think Pirelli was played by a woman. Has anyone ever heard of such a thing?

[lakezurich]

Posted: 8/3/10 at 6:56pm

I got an on-line survey from Ravinia today and as a reward for taking it they said they were going to send me two free lawn passes that can be used at any upcoming event, as long as it is not already sold out... I wonder if this has anything to do with the angry e-mail I sent them?

[wonderwaiter]

Posted: 8/3/10 at 7:05pm

I would pay $750 to watch Patti LuPone eat braised short ribs. The concert would be a bonus.

[lakezurich]

Posted: 8/3/10 at 7:49pm

^ HA!!!

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 8/4/10 at 10:31am

They will not tell you where your seats are until you get the tickets in a month or so.
They had me all the way in the back of the theater. Mind you it is not a big theater so not so bad . When I called them they said we take care of our subscribers fist and then you. Needless to say I blew. How dare you treat people like this. The gave me closer seats.
SO all the seats up front were not sold to subscribers and they LIE to the genral public.

I hate to break this to you, but that is how all season ticket subscriptions work. As a subscriber, one of the perks of renewing is the option to keep your current seats or upgrade to better seats as they come available after the renewal period is over. THEN new subscribers are seated. That is how it is always done and that is how loyalty is rewarded and subscription retention is attained, especially in not-for-profit arts organizations where subscription retention often makes up the majority of their ticket sales.

A certain number of seats are always held by the production company for emergencies, VIPs, etc. and subscriptions do get canceled for various reasons and those seats then become available and they are usually given out on a first-come/first-serve basis. Because you were moved up doesn't mean they are lying to the general public. You just aren't aware how subscription series to major organizations work.