is it worth being a subscriber to roundabout?

i have just had my third and final frustration with roundabout as a subscriber -- next year it's single tickets only.

(1) first, they postponed dangerous liaisons. normally, such a turn of events would be completely forgivable, but: (a) it is disappointing; and, (b) it's february and they've said precious little to their subscribers about the situation.

(2) my subscription was fulfilled with TWO holiday weekend performances. both requiring exchanges. pleh.

(3) ok, so so far this is mostly just a big, overwrought kvetch. but here's the REAL reason i've concluded that a subscription just isn't worth it: the ticket exchange process is HORRIBLE. roundabout will not process member ticket exchanges for a given production until the preceding production has finished its run. this makes it very difficult for any reasonably busy new yorker to plan ahead. one of the main reasons (after saving money and supporting a particular company) one commits to a subscription is to confirm convenient dates well in advance. roundabout's system fails utterly on this count.

every roundabout production this year has had discount codes out there ... im not saving money, im not getting convenience -- what's the point?

sooooo -- anyone else frustrated with the way roundabout treats subscribers, or am i just another whiny, high-maintenance theater queen?

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you aren't the only who is frustrated. i've met MANY who are over it already. the actual subscriber's word of mouth is what lead me to just wait for the discount codes for their productions lately. (lest i pay full price to see a ladder used as a hut)

I gave up my Roundabout subscription years ago after becoming fed up with being treated like crap all the time. Bad dates (lots of first previews), bad seats (my friends who weren't subscribers and bought single tickets using discounts ALWAYS had better seats than I did), inconvenient exchange policy -- there just was no advantage to being a subscriber so I stopped (and they then called me every week for months trying to get me to come back). I've had memberships with MTC, The Public, Lincoln Center, Playwrights, NYTW, The Atlantic, The Vineyard, Signature and several other companies and never had a problem. I always gotten great seats at a cheap price and exchanges were always a breeze. Roundabout is the only one I routinely had awful experiences with.

Since I gave up my subscription, it's been heaven. There's always been a discount code available for every show of theirs I've tried to see (so I'm still saving as much money as I would be were I still a subscriber) and I've always managed to get great seats (certainly better than ANY of the seats they stuck me with when I was subscribing). Plus, whenever they produce a turkey (and they have at least one per season), I can just skip that one and save that money.

I'll never subscribe to them again and would recommend subscribing to any other theatre in town that suits your interests -- all of the others treat their subscribers better.

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Now that you have canceled Roundabout expect them to call you once a week for the next 5 years. I am not kidding. Its worse than quitting AOL. They will do ANYTHING to get you back, the best reply to them is say "I already bought tickets for your shows".

MTC will bend over backwards for members. Several times Ive called MTC to ask for ticket exchanges and they do the entire thing over the phone. Pick your date, pick your seat etc. Then all you have to do is mail in the old tickets and they send you the ones you discussed on the phone. Couldn’t be easier.

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I have friends who live in NYC (actually, one has since passed on) and they, too, were very frustrated by having season tickets to Roundabout. They were upset by the cancellation, one season, of Assassins and were not impressed with the play Kevin Bacon did for Roundabout. Over the years, their reports of productions were generally negative, especially for The Women (which I understood after seeing it on TV) and for The Boys From Syracuse.

I've only seen one Roundabout show myself, that awful revival of Streetcar they did a couple years ago with John C. Reilly desperately miscast as Stanley. I'd see another show, because I think their choices are good and they always make interesting, if not always wise, casting choices.

When I saw Streetcar, we just went to TKTS. It's a lot cheaper than a season ticket, too.

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My biggest complaint with the Roundabout is the number of phone calls I'd get to encourage me to renew my subscription. Of course, they were always at dinner time.

Now I only buy my tickets for their shows from the box office. On the few occasions when they've asked for my phone number, I've given them the # of the local Dial-A-Prayer.

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Updated On: 2/11/07 at 09:33 PM