TKTS Panning Nice Work.....

[lupone76]

Posted: 5/4/12 at 8:41am

My friend was on line at TKTS yesterday and set out to see Nice Work cause she adores Matthew Broderick. The people that promote the shows at TKTS were totally downing Nice Work and saying it was not good at all. They were clearly promoting and advocating the play One Man One Guvunor. They were saying,"it was the funniest show on Broadway". Mind you my friend is a theatergoer but definitely not a theater maven so she really had no idea about either show. All she knew was that Matthew was in Nice Work. She had no clue about One Man One Guvunor.I saw Nice Work and thought it was nice enough but didn't see One Man and have no desire to see it despite the good reviews and the raves at tkts. It's not my type of show{not into farce at all}. Bottom line my friend ended up with 7th row center orch seats for P&B.That was based on my suggestion over the phone. I was set to join and her and I would much sooner see P&B again than sit through One Man for a first time. She was very close to getting the One Man tickets so their pursuasiveness worked and they also were able to steer her completely away from Nice Work, which she originally set out to see. My point is I didn't know they were able to push certain shows and pan others.



Updated On: 5/4/12 at 08:41 AM

[CapnHook]

Posted: 5/4/12 at 8:46am

Those people are paid to promote certain shows, and while its bad form, they are free to give their opinions on other shows that they dont work for.

[Yero my Hero]

Posted: 5/4/12 at 8:51am

First of all, it's ONE MAN, TWO GUVNORS. ONE MAN, ONE GUVNOR wouldn't be much of a farce.

Second, how is this a big deal? Those people are hired specifically to give recommendations based on what they liked. It's why they are given tickets to see everything. So the one guy your friend talked to didn't enjoy NICE WORK and was trying to talk her against wasting her money on, in his opinion, a bad show. If she went to TKTS specifically to see NICE WORK and some guy almost convinced her to see ONE MAN, TWO GUVNORS (the horror! that was a close one!), and then you convinced her to see PORGY & BESS instead, it seems to me the problem is not the people at TKTS, but your wishy-washy friend.

Updated On: 5/4/12 at 08:51 AM

[AC126748]

Posted: 5/4/12 at 8:55am

First of all, it's ON MAN, TWO GUVNORS. ONE MAN, ONE GUVNOR wouldn't be much of a farce at all.

If you're going to admonish someone for getting a title wrong, you should try to get the title right yourself.

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 5/4/12 at 8:56am

'First of all, it's ON MAN, TWO GUVNORS. ONE MAN, ONE GUVNOR wouldn't be much of a farce at all.'

Funny

[Yero my Hero]

Posted: 5/4/12 at 9:01am

AC: I noticed that right after I posted and was in the process of editing it while you were posting. My computer is being very sluggish this morning, so it took a couple minutes. :)

[TDF Communications D]

Posted: 5/4/12 at 9:58am

When in TKTS Times Square if anyone has any question please talk only to the people who are wearing TKTS Patron Services shirt, jackets, etc. They are employed by TDF to answer questions about how the booth works, but do not give 'personal reviews' on any shows. The most they would do is tell someone who is taking children if a show is appropriate. And this information is taken directly from a show's website.

All of the other people "working the line" are employed by marketing firms/ad agencies to promote specific shows and are not under the jurisdiction of TDF/TKTS as Duffy Square is a NYC park.

[ChildrenwillListen]

Posted: 5/4/12 at 10:00am

Yeah those people get paid to do that. I could see myself getting paid to promote shows.

[themysteriousgrowl]

Posted: 5/4/12 at 10:13am

Yeah, I could see you getting paid to do that, too.

[tazber]

Posted: 5/4/12 at 11:34am

Here's a picture of Ken Davenport's latest promotion campaign

[Dollypop]

Posted: 5/4/12 at 7:29pm

LuPone76 really needs a bit of help. I had a rough time understanding what the devil was being said in the original post.

[Idiot]

Posted: 5/4/12 at 7:49pm

So, when I'm finally a 'Broadway Legend' on BWW, will I just suddenly find myself exponentially more petty and bitchy than I already am? Gosh, I hope so! Fingers crossed!

[Dollypop]

Posted: 5/4/12 at 9:33pm

The odds are good that your wish will be fulfilled.

[Mildred Plotka]

Posted: 5/5/12 at 3:24am

So the moral of the story is :"Get a Backbone and Make Your Own Decisions"?

[Phantom of London]

Posted: 5/5/12 at 7:52am

you have to feel sorry for the people from TDF who work the line, how many times a day do they get asked if they have tickets for The Lion King, Wicked or Book of Mormon?

[D2]

Posted: 5/5/12 at 7:55am

Aside from being paid, what's the difference between the people on line at TKTS and the ones online here touting their favorite shows and ripping the ones they hate to shreds?

[yankeefan7]

Posted: 5/5/12 at 9:46am

It is their opinion and I don't see the big deal in them expressing it. Your friend is the consumer and has to decide if she values the opinion of somebody selling tickets. IMO - if I really wanted to see somebody like Matthew Broderick I don't think my mind could be changed by somebody in the box office.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 5/5/12 at 10:14am

The TDF worker's job is to sell tickets, not sell certain tickets. The people that are hawking specific shows are paid to do just that.

(and sorry, Dolly, I thnk the OPs post was clear 'enough'.)

[RippedMan]

Posted: 5/5/12 at 12:44pm

I've been one of these people, and when they hire you they tell you to have a good understanding of all the other shows running because you're bound to get asked questions about the shows. If I saw the show in question and didn't like it, and someone asked me what I thought about it, sure, I'd say it wasn't worth their money. I don't see the big deal.

[lupone76]

Posted: 5/5/12 at 12:56pm

The big deal is everyone has different tastes in shows. If he hated Nice Work that's simply his opinion. My friend could have loved it. However, if it's a show like Leap which is just generally a BAD show than an opinion might be worth while. The very same man who said Nice Work was awful was pushing One Man, which might be funny to him but not to me because I hate farce comedy.

[ChenoKahn]

Posted: 5/5/12 at 1:32pm

It was his opinion. His taste. His recommendation.

[perfectlymarvelous]

Posted: 5/5/12 at 1:44pm

I've worked as a promoter at TKTS before and I can tell you it's looked at as bad etiquette to bash one of the shows that someone else is promoting. We would have to know about the other shows that were around because we would get asked questions all the time and if someone asked for my honest opinion on something I usually would tell them in so many words, but I never outright said "that show is horrible, don't see it." There are some people that do though, but it's just their opinion.

The promoters are paid to push their own show though, so if he was promoting One Man, Two Guvnors of course he would say it was great, that's his job.

how many times a day do they get asked if they have tickets for The Lion King, Wicked or Book of Mormon?

I didn't work for TDF, but I can tell you, A LOT. The people who work for TKTS make announcements periodically about the shows they definitely will not have (Wicked, Book of Mormon, Lion King, and whatever else) and you still get the question approximately 5000 times per day.