Awful experience with the ushers & house manager at the Wintergarden- Page 3

[Byron Abens]

Posted: 3/3/09 at 12:35pm

All of our band trips in high school had chaperone packets which outlined the rules of the trip, the duties they were expected to fulfill, emergency procedures, etc. Hopefully the OP will learn from this little adventure and be better prepared in the future.

[Anna_Elizabeth]

Posted: 3/3/09 at 1:55pm

It seems as if the main problem was that part of the group were led away from the rest of the group without anyone communicating with the group leader what was going on. As I past house manager I always made sure that I spoke with the group leader and explained what we were to do to get the group seated properly, etc. If don't correctly, the talk lasts less than one minute and seating can be handed over to usher(s) in that section.
As to whom to send a letter to, just open your playbill and see who owns the theatre. There is always a complete address and sometimes a name. If you're lucky you may get a letter of apology, but at least the powers that be will know that someone experienced a less than enjoyable time.

[george95]

Posted: 3/3/09 at 1:59pm

I take groups of 8 high school students to Broadway shows alllllllll the time. When an usher sees us coming, they immediately go into panic mode, and they want all the tickets collected and handed to them. What I usually do is either write on a slip of paper what seats we are in, or I make a photocopy of all the tickets and show it to the usher. The usher usually acts like I gave her a million dollars and says something like "I wish more people would do that!"

When I did this at PHANTOM last April, I made a photocopy of the first ticket and the last ticket in our row, thinking I could tell the usher that we have all the tickets in between. Well, on the way to the theater, I decided I'd just show the tickets instead, so I threw out the photocopy. Little did I know that I had also left the original first and last ticket on the copy machine glass! When I HANDED OUT the tickets TO MY STUDENTS, I realized that I was two tickets short. But the Phantom box office people just printed out two replacement tickets for me without even saying a word : )

[snowskittle]

Posted: 3/3/09 at 2:30pm

I didn't have the kind of experiences you had but I did have a situation in the same theater where one of the ushers made me really nervous. We didn't even talk to him or anything, and found our seats with no trouble, but it seemed like before the show one usher was standing one aisle over and a little in front of us, but he just stood there like a prison guard in military stance facing the back of the theater. Only he kept glaring (it seemed to me) straight at us. There were no kids in our group or anywhere near us, just four well-behaved adults. This went on for about 10 minutes before the show, but then continued for about 10 minutes into it. I kind of missed the beginning because he was making me so nervous, even from a whole aisle away.

Then I looked his way again and he was gone. I never saw him again, but it just made me feel so uneasy. It just seemed like he was some kind of real mean bouhcer ready to grab us by the neck and carry us away at a moment's notice.

I wonder if it was the same guy that caused your group so much trouble.

[TheCharleston]

Posted: 3/3/09 at 2:33pm

That makes absolutely no sense and I'm going to doubt that's true.

[Fosse76]

Posted: 3/3/09 at 2:55pm

"As to whom to send a letter to, just open your playbill and see who owns the theatre. There is always a complete address and sometimes a name. If you're lucky you may get a letter of apology, but at least the powers that be will know that someone experienced a less than enjoyable time."

I already said it in a thread (where I rambled a bit): The Winter Garden Theatre is owned and operated by the Shubert Organization. Write a letter to them and direct it to the attention of Theater Operations. The Playbill will only list executives of the Organization, none of whom would take the time to even re-direct it porperly, but rather dispose of it.

[snowskittle]

Posted: 3/3/09 at 2:59pm

It didn't make much sense to me either Charleston.

[danceallnight]

Posted: 3/3/09 at 3:19pm

To those of you still reading this, let me repeat that this was not a school or organized group trip. This was a personal party trip. I am sure school, camp, church, girl scout groups, etc. have more experience doing this kind of thing and have learned a few tricks along the way. I thought that since my daughter has inherited her mother's love of theater, this would be a nicer Bat Mitzvah party for her than spending the equivalent of what it costs to put on a wedding for a DJ party that would be just like everyone elses. Therefore, that explains my inexperience with groups. I agree that the agency who sold me the tickets should have/could have sent detailed instructions on how to make it a smoother experience with a larger group.

Anne_Elizabeth, yes, that was a MAJOR part of the problem - not to mention how he grabbed the tickets from my hand without telling me what he was going to do with them. A five second conversation would have helped. Handled like you suggested, I wouldn't have had a problem with him.

George95, the irony was that I actually had the photocopied map of the seats buried in my purse but things were moving at such a rapid pace, I didn't have the clarity of thought to go digging for it. Mental note to self: keep it in my hand the whole time.

Snowskittle- I can absolutely picture this guy doing that. Was the guy who was making you nervous very tall?

Fosse76, yes, thanks for your suggestion. That is exactly what I will do if I still feel I want to pursue it. Although alot of the steam has been drained out of me by discussing it here on this board and I do feel alot better, it does seem like some others have had some poor interactions with this group of staff and maybe someone should let the theater group know so things can be improved for others in the future. I am definitely not out to make people lose their jobs or anything like that but I am a big supporter of being treated decently. People shouldn't assume that all people are nitwits or dopey or whatever because they may be from out of town or with a group or with kids. I really did try to organize us to the best of my ability without ever having done something so big scale before. I tried to think ahead of how to make it easier for everyone and, like I said, it just got away from me. Alienating people like me is a shame (don't worry, I would never stop supporting theater because of this), but others may very well be scared away or decide it's just not worth it. If you don't have paying customers in those seats, no show on earth will survive. Again, thanks for everyone's ideas - I did learn alot of good tips here.
Updated On: 3/3/09 at 03:19 PM

[danceallnight]

Posted: 3/3/09 at 4:07pm

Snowskittle, I PM'd you.

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 3/3/09 at 4:18pm

self immolation in front of the theatre would really teach them a lesson. just sayin'.

[CSonBroadway]

Posted: 3/3/09 at 4:22pm

Unless you're planning on going to the show again...I don't necessarily see the point in notifying people.

[JustAGuy]

Posted: 3/3/09 at 4:29pm

Mendy Levine has been the House Manager of the Winter Garden for decades. I wouldn't hold my breath hoping that the Shubert Organization will do anything about him. I'm sure they've received every complaint under the sun about him...and he's still there. He knows where the bodies are buried.

[totheatreguy]

Posted: 3/3/09 at 5:47pm

Snowskittle: Any time you see an usher standing at the bottom or middle of the aisle looking away from the stage, it is because they are watching the audience members. Remember, an usher's job in house is NOT to watch the show. Eyes should be on audience members and aisles at all times. While most ushers are very good at watching the audience from behind, it is frequently necessary to go down the aisle to get a different view. Usually, it is a camera or cellphone that has attracted the attention. The stance may have been simply what was comfortable (although I encourage FOH staffers to never cross their arms, even in the dark) for him, or he may have been trying to send a message to the offender in the least intrusive (for others) way. It may not have been one of your group, but someone seated near you. Either way, it is his job.

Danceallnight: Some of what you described sounds like you may have been the victim of rude ushers, but as Fosse said, rudeness is very subjective.

"He didn't gripe about the 40 tickets in a bunch."
Of course ticket takers are accustomed to taking that many tickets, they just do not prefer it.

"It was the house manager that couldn't tolerate the group waiting to be complete before we moved even though we were not blocking anything."
That is not a statement I can accept, as I have never seen the venue. Having worked in older theatres, I can not stress enough how important it is to follow the front of house staff's advice on where to wait. It is so easy for theatre-goers to pile up and block traffic. You may have directed your group to a seemingly empty out of the way space, but believe it or not those spaces are EXACTLY the ones that MUST be kept clear. Why? Because other parties entering will see your group (which may be out of the way) and accumulate around that area, thereby blocking other pathways. It makes no sense unless you have actually worked in a theatre, but from the time the lobbies open to the time the auditorium opens, crowd management is the number one priority. This is probably why the manager was even involved in your seating, doing his best to keep the lobbies moving.

"Don't even ask why one of those supervising adults couldn't have prevented the group from going. Like I said, they were inexperienced and just started following when the house manager was getting berserk with them."
The house manager taking your tickets and attempting to keep your group moving is not an example of someone going berserk. I should point out that it is not a good idea for future trips to insist that the entire group must be kept all together. I would highly recommend that each child be assigned a leader that they must stick with. It is much easier to keep four groups of ten together than one group of 40. Just a thought.



JustAGuy: For some reason what you've described is a very frequent phenomena in theatre management...

[snowskittle]

Posted: 3/3/09 at 7:46pm

totheaterguy...Yes, I figured that was exactly what he was doing...only he was doing it from way before the show started...maybe 10 minutes before, until at least 10 minutes after. He never moved, and it seemed like EVERY time I glanced over, he was glaring at me. We had no phones out, or cameras, and no unruly children and were behaving ourselves...no talking once it started or anything.

Maybe he was looking at someone else nearby, but I know I was really relieved I didn't need a cough drop.