San Diego Civic Theatre

Reviews 3

RO

Rob Condy

Im very surprised to see all the positive reviews for this theatre. It pales in comparison to many other theatres Ive seen performances in, particularly with regard to the sound system / acoustics. My girlfriend and I attended a couple musicals here within the past few months, and we were both disappointed/frustrated by how difficult it was to understand the dialogue/lyrics. The first play we saw was "if/then" - we were seated in the balcony and it was too loud. It bordered on distortion at parts. Because the dialog was difficult to hear it made the story difficult to follow. I heard others in the audience around us complaining about the same thing at intermission. My girlfriend and I gave it the benefit of the doubt (assuming that it was just an off night) and returned recently for Book of Mormon. We were seated in mezzanine this time, and the volume this time was on the quieter side. It was almost too faint to make out the words at parts. And during the songs where the whole cast was singing it was nearly impossible to make out the lyrics. Neither of us were able to make out barely any of the words in one of the final numbers. I voiced my complaint to the staff after the show, and he said sometimes that is just the way it is with musicals (i.e. that it can be difficult to hear lyrics when multiple singers are singing). Ive been to several musical performances in other theatres and never had such a problem. I also told him about the poor audio quality for both shows. He was friendly in his response, but his responses were disappointingly empty. He said that the theatre cares about the experience of its clients and he was very sorry to hear. However, I felt that was a very hollow response. If they truly cared, they would offer some form of credit back on the very costly tickets, perhaps toward a future show at least to earn continued business. I asked if I could speak to someone in a higher position of authority to formalize my complaint, and he kindly said that was not possible, nor necessary since all of the staff are in close communication and he would be sure to relay my feedback appropriately. He indicated that this was the first complaint he had heard with regard to Book of Mormon, which made me question whether the staff truly was in as close communication as he said. He also explained (as did the representative responding to one of the reviews below) that many touring performances bring their own sound systems and engineers. I was quite shocked to hear this for a variety of reasons, and dont think that should be allowed; Im sure its not as simple as telling touring productions they cant bring their own equipment / engineers, but I nevertheless felt it was a deflection of blame. If the theatre box office sells the tickets then they are fully accountable in my opinion. I was also told that next time the problem happens I should speak with an usher at intermission so the problem may be addressed. That answer is also unsatisfying because it means I would still be stuck with the problem for at least the first half. However, it wont be a problem for us again because we wont be returning, at least not for a musical again that relies on its lyrics/dialog being heard. We were considering a couple of the coming shows, but have ruled them out now after the second disappointing experience. And just to be clear that this is not an individual issue, it may also be worth noting that I had my hearing tested this past month and the test revealed I have perfect hearing.

BE

Belle Zimet

It pains me to have to evaluate a theater solely on customer service, but this was perhaps my worst manager or employee interaction in my decades as a consumer. My dear friend had surprised me with tickets to see the Legend of Zelda "Symphony of the Goddesses" for my husband, daughter and I. We arrived 25 minutes to showtime and went to the box office where I showed the man working there the email Id received from my friend. He informed me that what she had sent me was not enough to gain entry. They needed the physical tickets, or her there in person to procure the tickets. She lives in Chicago, so the latter option was not possible. I attempted to contact her for help but was unable to reach her. At this point we asked to speak to a manager. Vince (the manager) appeared smugly already with an unwelcoming smirk on his face. As soon as I began explaining the situation, it became clear that Vince was not listening and was just waiting to retort. He did not apologize for the situation but instead began to accuse us of using a scalper and some other fraudulent way of getting tickets. He noted that my friend was in Chicago and stated that there is "tons of ticket fraud in Chicago." When I insisted that my friend was no crook he said, "Then she didnt do a very smart thing since Ticketmaster doesnt accept what she sent." I informed him that she does not work for Ticketmaster to know the ins and outs of their policies, and to not pass judgement. At this point my poor 7 year old started to panic and cry, and I asked if I were forced to buy three more tickets if they could be refunded once I inevitably obtained the three tickets my friend had purchased and he rudely informed me no, no refunds with no exceptions. Feeling defeated we moved aside to regroup, comfort our daughter and continue trying to reach my friend. We decided to go to will call and see if they looked up by order number if my friend had put them in my name. Vince came and stood over the will call agents shoulder with his arms crossed over his chest observing, as though I were trying to pull some sort of fast one, and of course only HE could bust us. Inevitably he piped up again, accusing us of perpetrating some fraud IN FRONT of my crying daughter. As we were discussing further options he somewhat gleefully told me my friend had the copies of the tickets sent to her house and then LAUGHED. At this point the show was starting, my daughter was crying and I was so upset that i could barely keep it together, and I admonished him for laughing and his demeanor in general. Never did he empathize or attempt to help the situation. He just continued to mock and accuse us in front of our child, who was panicking with the show starting. Frustrated we bought 3 more tickets to the tune of $300, and they took their sweet time with the purchase, citing computer issues as the symphony started without us. During the intermission my husband tracked down another manager who was horrified by Vinces behavior and furnished us with a $20 concession credit, but the damage was done. Never have I ever interacted with a more feckless, combative and socially awkward manager. Sadly there arent very many theater options for symphonies or big musical productions, but regardless I will not come back here while Vince remains working there.

PA

Pam Warren

Though weve enjoyed many shows at the Civic Theater, like Tom Iverson, we were also disappointed with our experience at the Book of Mormon. We had loge seats for the four of us and had difficulty understanding about half the dialogue and song lyrics. I felt myself straining to keep up. At the intermission I asked an attendant if she had difficulty and only through repeated viewings was she able to understand. A friend had purchased tickets for a show earlier in the week and they also had difficulty understanding. I dont know if these problems were due to bad acoustics or poor enunciation, but either way it was a frustrating and unfulfilling experience.

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