CENTER THEATER GROUP - Worst Season Ever? — Page 2

I've got one word for them. Goldstar.

Larry6417 said: "While I do not agree that CTG's customer service is bad, sans the nasty House Manger at the Ahmanson, I do agree that the new Ahmanson season is plain awful.

Assuming the Ahmanson did not get a new House Manager, and is still the lady that is has been for years, she has never been anything but friendly and helpful anytime I've interacted with her, even just passing hellos. Must strongly disagree with you.. While anyone can be having a bad day, you appear to be a subscriber, so on the long term, she is great.

The inclusion of two one man shows that should be playing the Taper is ludicrous. I can understand LATIN HISTORY FOR MORONS as it's from Berkeley Rep and has a true stage star, but THE NEW ONE is mediocre at best, and had a very dubious move to Broadway, IMHO.

I think everyone agrees that having two One-Man plays is bad idea for the Ahmanson. Heck, everyone would agree that one one-man show would be a bad idea unless it was optional.

ONCE ON THIS ISLAND being as immersive as the NYC staging was should also be playing the Taper.

Confused, as it's a national tour that will be restaged to play proscenium houses across the country. If it didn't tour, and CTG was remounting a standalone engagement, I would agree. Don't trash the high spot of the season without even seeing it. I'm sure the show in NYC would have been better to see, I'm glad we get to see it at all, even if it is restaged. This comment applies to every Broadway show that plays either Circle in the Square or the Vivian Beaumont and then tours. They restage it. Some work well, others less so.

THE LAST SHIP, another dubious programming choice. My guess is that it never would have been part of the season had STING not agreed to do it.

Your comment doesn't make sense. To say you don't like something because of a combination that doesn't exist. Yes, the show without Sting might have been a flop, but everywhere Sting performs sells well. I'm looking forward to it, and yes, 99% of that reason is because of Sting. Should he call out, I'll be heading to the box office to exchange to a different day.



I appreciate Matthew Bourne, but Swan Lake again??!!

Can't disagree with you here. I love that the Ahmanson has Matthew Bourne, but wish it was not a second show in a row that is a making a return visit to the Ahmanson. He has shows that haven't played here.



Lastly, THE BOOK OF MORMON has been in Los Angeles at the Pantages at least twice. Why do we need this at the Ahmanson? I would bet that most Ahmanson patrons have already seen the show.


Agree, a show's 3rd trip thru town in a decade should be a subscriber add on bonus. That said, I only saw it the first time around, so I would have purchased the option. I agree with you, but looking forward to a night of laughing.


The Taper and the Douglas will need stellar seasons in order for me to renew."

The subscriptions series are not related. You can drop the Ahmanson and still renew at the Taper or Douglas. They will be happy to take your money.

Updated On: 3/6/19 at 03:58 PM

"Is ONCE ON THIS ISLAND touring, or is it a one-time deal at the Ahmanson? If it is touring, why should it play the Taper"?

It should play the Taper because of the intimacy that space provides. The Ahmanson seats 2000 and is too large for this production. The mezzanine in the Ahmanson is so far from the stage, you'd think you were in the balcony. Unless you are on a very severe budget, Ahmanson balcony seats are NOT good.

"You might be correct this would have not been a part of the season had Sting not agreed to do it, but that he has agreed to do it, what makes the choice dubious? Ticket sales increased relatively dramatically when Sting went into the show in NYC, or am incorrect? Or is Sting unpopular in LA"?

"Dubious" because I think the show is not good. IMHO, programming a bad show because a star is in it is not doing any service to theatregoers. Of course CTG will make "bank" on the show, but if subscribers don't like the show, what is the point? On a similar note, I had a hand in booking a celebrity to replace a bigger celebrity in a Broadway musical. I was assured by the celeb and their management that he could do the job. Well, box office was great, but he sucked in the role. I am an agent and because of my love and profound respect for legitimate theatre I will never do that again, no matter what the payday is!

"If the season is indeed unpopular, and ticket sales are expected to be low for most of the season, then wouldn't a choice like THE BOOK OF MORMON, a show that still sells extremely well, not be quite a good option for Center Theatre Group? Or do you expect tickets to not sell well even to this show"?

I expect better from CTG. It seems to me that if the Pantages got shows that CTG wanted then THE BOOK OF MORMON was just a filler. The Ahmanson brings LA pre-Broadway shows, and AEA tours, and remounts of shows that often do not tour. MORMON has been around so long that it's probably a non-Equity tour at this point, although I may be incorrect.

Michel Ritchie has been a great artistic director, don't get me wrong, but in the past few years he's been programming some, IMHO shows not worthy of CTG, ie. SOFT POWER & SPAMILTON.

I've decided not to renew my subscription to the Ahmanson.

Updated On: 3/6/19 at 06:06 PM

Larry6417 said: "While I do not agree that CTG's customer service is bad, sans the nasty House Manger at the Ahmanson, I do agree that the new Ahmanson season is plain awful.

RemlapLBC: Assuming the Ahmanson did not get a new House Manager, and is still the lady that is has been for years, she has never been anything but friendly and helpful anytime I've interacted with her, even just passing hellos. Must strongly disagree with you.. While anyone can be having a bad day, you appear to be a subscriber, so on the long term, she is great.

I must agree with RemlapLBC, the Ahmanson House Manager has always been kind and accommodating every time I have been through the Ahmanson as part of the company of a national tour AND as an audience member. She always makes herself present and accessible for patron issues, unlike MANY house managers in other tour markets that hide out backstage or in their office and only come to the floor when needed/called on radio.

I take back everything I said about their customer service being good. I had season tickets to the first performance of Indecent in June and received an e-mail that just the June 4 performance was canceled. I talked to audience services, but the only comparable tickets were a couple dates I was gone or my daughter's birthday. I was told I could either take worse seats or keep looking on the website myself to see if seats pop up. I wrote an e-mail to them explaining my dissatisfaction with this situation. I received a call back after the email from audience services where they offered me the same seats I wasn't going to be available for and the person was even less helpful than the first. I understand that performances get canceled, but I would think they would be a little more accommodating. They cancel the performance and act like I should be happy scrounging around for leftover seats. Would it be that big of a deal to bump me over a seat or two and keep me happy? I definitely will not be renewing my season tickets.

I completely understand that this was likely a decision of the production and not CTG and I said that to them. But on their website, one of the benefits of being a subscriber is a "same-seat guarantee for all performances." I would have been happy to switch to similar seats, but the dates were when we were out of town or had other tickets. I can also see what seats are available on the website and there are plenty near ours that aren't taken on the other dates. It was their attitude that bothered me more than having a date switch. I guess I have just experienced better customer service at other venues. One of the people I talked to on the phone was pretty rude and the attitude was - We canceled your performance. You should be happy with the scraps that are left. They just don't seem very interested in keeping their subscribers.

Today, Friday, March 22, is one of the mini-deadlines for resubscribing to the Ahmanson for the 2019-2020 season. I was told that we could not drop BOM even though it has played in Los Angeles many times, was an elective add-on at the Pantages for a number of those runs and the same company is coming through LA again this year in Thousand Oaks! Plus Swan Lake has been through numerous times as an add-on, and Latin History has played the west coast at both Berkeley and La Jolla. They're saying the show producers won't allow them to drop their subscribers.

I understand the dynamics of producer/venue relationships, but CTG has been good enough to let me drop a show here and there. Not this season. I don't want to lose the excellent seat I have had for many years, but I am not happy at all about being forced to see at least 3 shows I've already seen. They said to write to them but there are no guarantees. Has anyone here dealt with CTG on this?

Updated On: 3/22/19 at 06:27 PM

It's a thought emo_geek. I talked to 3 different people at separate times over the last week, and they all said we've changed the policy about dropping. They said you can renew and send a letter of request but that's the policy and there are no guarantees. Or they said "You can wait and do a choose your own season". But of course, I'd lose my 6th row center early-in-the-run weekend seat. For the amount of money I'm paying for shows that I've seen I could subscribe to LA Magazine for 20 years

Updated On: 3/22/19 at 07:27 PM

We don't expect GTG to program to our tastes, but I expect them to program up to previous standards. They've had some great seasons and brought in some terrific shows. But for 2019-2020 they have scheduled 2 one person shows as mandatory offerings. But in the past, these kinds of shows have usually been add-ons. SWAN LAKE is a new production. But it has been at the Ahmanson at least twice in the past, and we shouldn't have to be forced to see it again. And I can't count how many times BOOK OF MORMON has been through LA. I believe the same tour that is coming to the Ahmanson is playing in Thousand Oaks, north of LA in July. To me that's a bad move in spite of the fact that BOM is a crowd-pleasing money maker.

I know booking touring shows is difficult and mounting new productions is expensive. I know Nederlander/Broadway/LA snagged most of the touring shows for next season. But is is a very weak season. They'd better pull a big rabbit out of the hat for the final slot they have to fill.

Updated On: 5/4/19 at 02:07 PM

Were you expecting them to reprogram the season in accordance with your personal tastes?



Of course not. What surprised me is that, knowing long-time subscribers and donors were dropping their subscriptions because the poor quality of the season, they did no damage control. For instance, they could have asked if I would subscribe if they let me drop one or two shows.