Variety Playhouse

Reviews 3

MI

Mike Whitfield

Kind of a mixed bag for us, but overall not a positive one. First, the positive. The Variety has charm, its located in the heart of LFP, and carries a very good selection of drinks at reasonable prices served by a lovely & friendly Goth barmaid. (Note that I am old, not drunk, and not hitting on her so your perceived friendliness may vary according to your behavior.) Staff was uniformly friendly and efficient. The Variety is well-situated for walking the area if you enjoy the hipster/stoner counterculture - and dont get me wrong, its a charming culture, friendly and brimming with busking street performers and interesting shops. Staff also processed us in quite quickly - these are neither security Nazis nor oblivious, they gave people a cursory evaluation without slowing down the process. Overall they seemed quite friendly but also reasonably security conscious. Our perception (which may or may not be accurate) was off-duty or former cops, but very mellow cops looking for actual problems rather than arbitrarily illegal items. Next, the more or less neutral. First, parking is extremely limited not only behind the Variety but within the whole LFP area. Come early; come VERY early. We arrived only thirty minutes early and had to park twenty minutes away. So with the search for parking, we arrived just as the show started and had crappy standing room. Its also brimming with authentic homeless derelicts - we gave out all our cash - so unless you are an A-hole without a shred of Christian (or Muslim, or Judaic) charity, pack heavily with the denominations you prefer to dispense. Its in a bar-centric area, but there are plenty of good restaurants nearby as long as you are okay with the loud bar scene type of eatery. Last, the negative. We were there for the February 3rd The Devil Makes Three concert, and the supposedly new sound system was utter shite. This is no doubt partially due to our being in the very rear (due to not arriving early) but the performers conversation was almost totally indecipherable. Musically for the Lost Dog Street Band the sound system was also shite, but their sound guy was completely absorbed in his phone for their entire performance, so perhaps a competent and interested person could have made major differences. TDMT had technical issues which appeared to be within their own equipment; once these were sorted out, the sound system was much better (also the sound guy was actually working), especially for instruments, but still gave an overall impression of having aggressively pursued pricing & volume over fidelity. It IS loud - we really wished we had brought earplugs like many there - but acoustically the Variety has a LOT of hard surfaces that strategically placed sound panels and drapes and a sellout crowd could not well mitigate. We had hoped to get seats - we are both far past our sell-by dates - but had to accept standing in the rear side bays. Honestly, there are relatively few desirable seats anyway. The Variety is an old movie theater, with gently sloped floors. The main center seating has been retained, with seating in the side bays removed for higher density standing room. Cheaper concert venues with even this much seating are increasingly rare so thats a plus, but with standing room in front of the seats blocks the view of the first third rows or so, and with the gentle slope, visibility isnt really good anywhere. The Variety could really benefit from a couple large displays placed high. Overall we found it a combination of lackluster seating and overpacked standing room, with mostly poor visibility yet no room for dancing. The other big negative for us was the prevalence of heavy marijuana smoke. This may be due to TDMT though, so YMMV. Overall, most of the negative could be avoided by showing up very early and wearing earplugs. Non-sellout shows would also give a better experience. If you prefer hipster charm over audio fidelity and enjoy/dont mind reeking of weed smoke, the Variety may be just your cup of tea.

JE

Jessie Plumley

This place could be so much more than management is making it. The first thing Id like to acknowledge are my mistakes as a customer, however I was definitely handled unprofessionally and rudely. There are no signs on the doors walking up that say you cannot have your own personal drinks in your bag and I assumed they were checking purses for my safety to find guns or knives. I did not know I was not allowed to have PERSONAL items in my purse. The door man who checked my bag proceeded to rip MY bag open and he found a coca cola and threw it away. No big deal REALLY. he then finds the alcohol that I paid for with MY money (and didnt know wasnt allowed in) and instead of throwing away that bottle, he puts it on his chair to keep it for himself. Now, if this was taken for safety he would have thrown it away. He took it to keep it, regardless of venue policy. That was my money and when I asked for it back after the show, I was told it had been thrown away, which clearly wasnt true because the man was looking nervous and I saw that the door man didnt toss it out with my own eyes. Until this is corrected I will never come back and I will always tell my friends about this. I understand it can be seen as "stealing from the venue" (in his words), however it is entirely unprofessional to keep confiscated items for yourself, not give them back, and basically tell people that youre desperate for money so you rummage their purses so theyll be forced to buy your drinks at your bar. No thanks. You need a new policy. The show was amazing, by the way. Fix this and Ill give a better review. Id also like to mention that on your website the policy DOES NOT MENTION ALCOHOL AS CONTRABAND. AT ALL. EVER. EVER. EVER. THIS IS NOT RIGHT

HI

Hillary Beck

Ive been going to the variety playhouse for over 10 years and last night was the worst experience Ive ever had at any venue. The doors didnt open when they said they would and there was a motionless line around the building at the showtime (everyone had a ticket, the show was sold out). Everyone seems to be so impressed by the remodel, but all I experienced was paying a lot of money to see an artist that I couldnt even see. During the show there are staff all over the place flashing lights and telling you that you cant go there, cant go here if you only have a general admission ticket. Even though the pit was no where near full, they would not let us in it and said that we had to get to the sides (which were jammed full) and they tell you to move if you step over the boundaries if you try to fit in the side. You can go up to the balcony to the very limited and very level seats that are impossible to see over the people in front of you and watch a show in, or try to stand behind a sea of people on the balcony behind the chairs. Literally all of the downstairs seating is vip, and plenty of those seats were vacant the entire show. How can you sell so many general admission tickets that cannot physically all view the show? Its very scammy, and no show is worth seeing at the variety playhouse from now on. Why? Because I cant even see the show. I guess if you want to stand around like a tool talking and sipping your beer youll have fun. Maybe thats who the new renovation is for anyways... Im very upset and disappointed, and again, I will not be returning to the variety playhouse.

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