David A. Straz, Jr. Center for the Performing Arts

Reviews 4

AL

Alec Villanew

Last night was not the perfect night to wear my black velvet-bow in the front very high platform shoes. But they insisted to be taken to the Straz to watch “Mamma Mia!” despite the rain and the thunder. My accessories speak to me as if I was a Doctor Doolittle of a different kind… something like Doctor Do-occesories? Doctor DooFrills. We argued while I did my make-up. They won… only to complain much later about the water puddles and the lack of visibility once I sat down and the lights went off. The Valet parking guys ran back and forth even in the rain. Solicitous. Friendly. Helpful. They had placed plastic chairs around for those who might need to sit down a bit when waiting for their car. Thoughtful. There were five different bars to buy from. No lines anywhere. I preordered my drink for the intermission. (Isn’t this service amazing?) Double-whiskey neat ($14 dollars worth) in hand (yes, you got me. I did mention in another review I am only drinking on weekends. I pretended it was a Saturday… it kind of sounds like Tuesday and can be confusing.) I began to enjoy the fabulous night. My velvet shoes walked those stairs like it was a perilous runaway toward the front row of the Mezzanine. I felt like Cinderella walking down to the ball, but in reverse and away. Fierce. That is until I met my unsuspected match. An attendant insisted cell phones needed to be put away even when my green-eyed one-person clique was using it to appease the awaited beginning of the play. (The show began a tad late, but it was the first show of the five-day season at the Straz. The ensemble must tweak and adjust accordingly.) The attendant, a woman who had taken a bit too much caffeine or was in need of a drink like mine, might have had her priorities wrong. She was inebriated with power. Interestingly enough… I was sitting in front of a pair of girlfriends who were mothers of?? Let’s just round up the number of kids to… let’s say eight? They ranged between the ages of five to twelve. Was the play and the theme of three-possible dads age appropriate? Perhaps… Might the mothers have thought of the possibility of not seating together in the corner chairs ignoring their kids feasible? Maybe. Could they have not loaded them with cocoa puffs? Perchance. But… they did not. All of these valid questions my shoes kept asking about. Needless to say, the attendant, who had had an issue with the glow of the cell phones bothering the other guests, was not bothered about the decibels of conversation among the kids. My shoes volunteered to help out with the problem. I ignored them. The beginning of the musical experienced sound difficulty. Sophie began singing and one could barely hear her. The same happened with other cast members. Eventually it all got sorted out and fixed. The Morsani Hall never fails to provide with crisp and consistent sound. I have enjoyed many of the musicals they have presented in that particular hall or one of the smaller venues. The Straz is not limited to huge productions. It nests a restaurant, a coffee shop, a patio area, the fountain, the Riverwalk front. They work hard on the flow of patrons walking in and walking out. The staff aims to please, even if once in a while, one of them might be wired on too much caffeine.

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YU

yurchat

I loved the location on the river. Beautiful walkway around the building and along the water. The outside of the building was very nice and advertised upcoming shows well. The inside of the main auditorium lobby area was in my opinion hideous. The amount of of exposed concrete inside was very distracting in what could have been a gorgeous view of the river. The staff was somewhat hit or miss. Most people we encountered were at least smiling but all seemed very unsure of just about anything I did overhear a conversation that I was not really happy about. A female manager of some sort was talking to a small group of ushers about when to do certain things she was extremely conditioning in her tone from the start and talked to the ushers like they were beneath her. She also made a comment about if you get people complaining about the lack of parking (more on that in a second) tell them that they have no control of the parking and that they need to arrive well before the time. While I agree with this this is not something that someone who has had to sit through the mess that is parking for this place. would want to hear. Parking near here is an absolute nightmare. We attended a Saturday afternoon performance that we arrived 2 and a half hours early for and had trouble finding a lot. There is a garage across the street form the center. I think you need to show up at 8am to get in here. Lines to get in it were unbelievable and with most entrances closed it caused gridlock around the Straz. We were lucky to get a spot not far and avoided the mess but it was not an enjoyable experience. The Straz should be working with the city to find some sort of solution for this. An offsite lot with shuttle would be an easy solution. But if you are going definitely map out all possible locations before you to avoid the main garage. The other issue I had was people were showing up nearly an hour and a half into the performance, no doubt sitting in the mess outside. Each time the ushers would open the outside doors creating a BLINDING flash of light in the theater. In other places Ive been they would only allow the door to open when the side door curtains were closed and never at the same time to limit the distraction. I fully believe this reason alone was the biggest reason I didnt enjoy the show as much as i was hoping to.

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MI

Mildred Gonzalez

Very embarrassed by ushers who accused me of taking videos which I didnt. That attendees were complaining hard to believe I could see and hear behind me. I kept my cell phone up because I was seated in the second row. Took many pictures because when you are focusing on moving objects you pick the best ones out of the pictures, needless to say none had but half a body. Paying close to $200.00 which included the greet and met. Not cool at all. Not knowing that our seats were going to be in front of the stage floor about 4 feet high and with lights set on top of the stage. The performance was about 5 feet away from the beginning of the stage. Im 411" and seating, so imagine what I was enjoying half of the bodys of the Sesame Performaner. The announcements included the authorization of picture taking. Why didnt the coordinator block off the first rows. That would have been fair and understandable. Or explain that certain area/s seats are available for customers interested in taking pictures. Better coordination is needed when it comes to childrens performance. People had to move after paying for the better seatings. Foreseeing the height of the audience to attend due to the infrastructure. This was my first time to the Stradz Center is was saddening.

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CH

Christine Raina

Its not the worst theatre Ive been to but it could use a little updating. It doesnt really have that "Wow! Theatre!" vibe. It kind of like "Wow! High school auditorium." The restrooms are not plentiful which isnt great during intermission or before and after the show. Theyre also very cramped and its difficult to form a line, everyone is fumbling over one another. The seats could definitely stand to be upgraded but theyre not horrible. Theyre not on much of an incline so if a tall person sits in front of you, it can be a little difficult to see. Staff does a nice job of helping you find your seats as well as making people put their phones away which is really cool. Parking is extremely convenient if you arrive an hour early. If not, prepare to walk. But everything is very bright and well lit and nicely marked so you dont feel unsafe. A small bottle of Dasani water is $3 which is too much but pretty much the going rate. ALL of the staff is extremely friendly and outgoing and overall, the place is pretty clean and safe feeling. We enjoyed our show and will hopefully be back soon.

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