The Wilbur

Related:	seacoast repertory theatre
Address:	246 Tremont St, Boston, MA 02116, USA
Phone:	+1 617-248-9700
Site:	thewilbur.com
Rating:	4

Location

Photos 100

Reviews 6

Joe Rando

There is a certain sub-group of live venues that consider the people paying to attend (often known in other areas of business as "customers") to be nothing more than sources of revenue that quickly become annoying when they expected any level of treatment above "farm animal" (note this may be unfair to many farmers). We went to see Mike Birbiglia on February 14 and his show was great. Unfortunately, mid-show, the waitress dumped a drink all over my and my wifes laps. No problem - it was an accident. All I asked for was some napkins to dry ourselves off. 15 minutes later, I finally went in search of them myself. She did eventually show up after 20 to 25 minutes. That is simply ridiculous! You dont dump a drink all over people and then stop by with napkins the next time its convenient; you run and get them right away. "Maybe she is a bad employee," I naively thought. The next day I called The Wilbur Theater to let them know about this uncaring employee and I asked for the manager. The person on the line identified themselves as the Box Office Manager and when I told my story said I needed to talk to the General Manager. He offered to transfer me, proceeded to disconnect me, and then turned the phones on to auto-attend mode so all I got was a recording when I called back. Apparently the annoying revenue source was attempting to bother him and his General Manager. I have had very good experiences at a number of theaters in Boston (the Cutler Majestic comes to mind). These are places where being a source of revenue gets you treated like something better than an enemy combatant. Next time someone I want to see comes to the region, I will be sure to find another theater in the area to see them or I wont go.

Steph Bineau

We love The Wilbur. Its a fantastic venue. Weve seen a couple shows there, Kathy Griffin & Gabriel Iglesis. Both fabulous shows. We were just there last night to see Corey Holcomb, and we were hugely dissapointed. I wasnt really familiar with him, but on the theatres website there was a clip from one of his shows. It was very funny. This however was not the case last night. We are not easily offended by any means, & I have never in my 41 yrs have ever left a show, but when about 20 minutes into his act, he started "joking" about "knocking up side bitches", and the need to abort these babies, because they dont want responsibility or to be tied to their mistresses. When he said sometimes he kind of feels bad, when they first do an ultrasound on the baby before the abortion, and sometimes "the baby is looking right at the camera, like please save me "& then he used the gesture for slicing the babies throat, I had to leave. It actually made me sick to my stomach. Whether your pro choice or not, I think the majority of us would agree that its certainly not something to take lightly, and certainly nothing to joke about. It was tasteless, and horrifying. We still obviously love The Wilbur, but I was very dissapointed that they would want this kind of " humor" in their theatre. Life can be tough enough and I can say at least for us that when we go to see a stand up comedian ( and we see quite a few a year) we go to forget about crap for a couple hours, maybe have a drink and most of all LAUGH. That did not happen. We will go back, but we wont being seeing anyone we dont know, without first doing our research.

A Private User

I went to the Wilbur Theater last night for the Parliament Funkadelic Concert. The staff there are way too uptight about everything. They constantly flash their flashlights right in your face, they were telling people to sit down even though everybody was up dancing, and even on one occasion they prevented a couple from dancing. They escorted me and my friend off of the property, (I was not even sitting near him, we both happened to get kicked out separately). Their reason for kicking me out was because people around me were smoking pot and they saw smoke in my general area. They wanted to make an example out of someone and I was the unlucky guy who got kicked out because of other people. Not to mention the guys on stage were smoking pot and they let it slide. Those people are hypocrites and they abuse their power. They dont give any warnings about anything, they dont let people step outside for a cigarette, if you do they will not let you back in, even if the show hasnt started yet. And when I spoke to the guy who was at the front door and explained what happened he was very rude, and would not listen to anything I was saying. He was looking down on me just because I am a young guy. He and the whole staff were very unprofessional and had several unprovoked encounters with people who were just trying to enjoy themselves. I am never going back to that place ever again. I am going to demand a refund.

A Private User

I read online that there wasnt a bad seat in the house- boy were they wrong! We were seated in section G- for those not familiar with section G, ITS NOT EVEN IN THE THEATRE! We were seated next to the service bar and the front doors. All night the waitresses were standing right in front of us, eager to get the next order so they could go home with tip money. However, not one single waitress even came to ask us what we wanted to drink. Probably because we were in section G, right? They would not MOVE. Also, all night long, the door to the kitchen, which was directly on my left, kept swinging open blinding us. Upon leaving the theatre, we were also snapped at by the woman making the "free" popcorn when we went to get some. She even snatched the empty bag right out of my hands. Totally fine that they were not offering it anymore, but she needs to take a lesson in manners and good customer service. Not worth the hefty price of admission. I would have paid the extra money to go see Blue Man Group across the street if I knew the Wilbur Theatre was going to be that bad.

Zack Yeremian

Our seats were not able to accomodate us and security and the ushers were completely disjointed without a transparent way of resolving this issue. We had to wait 30 minutes into our show to find a resolution. Also we were given false advertising 2x by employees stating that parking was "fully validated" only to find out that its not. My older father was stuck in a line of cars, unable to leave the parking garage after given a "fully validated parking ticket". Even after detailing these situations to management they still showed a complete lack of interest in making things right, only to say we talk to our employees. The Wilbur needs to figure out how to show compassion and empathy to their older guests when the issue is clearly on their lack of employee training. The Wilbur needs to take ownership when delivering misinformation or when they lack in conflict resolution situations. Simple things like offering a credit to concessions or to tickets for a future show could go a long way in retaining customer satisfaction. Disgraceful for such a historic building.

Kim Pelland

My experience with the Wilbur is not the problem. My experience with the parking garage that they recommend is. Archstone Garage on Washington Street is AWFUL!!! The employee that we encountered was a rude, angry and mean old man who shouldnt be working with people. He had no patience and no tact! The signage to pay when you leave probably needs to be put on a neon sign at the stairwell and elevator, "special" people, more important than anyone else, that cant read were "above" the rest of us waiting in line to pay and thought they would try to "beat" the system. Didnt work! They only added to the frustration of the other parkers and the attendant. Quite frankly, I could have gotten out of the Comcast Center easier! Its nice that the Wilbur validates parking at Archstone but I for one will not be parking there again! I will pay $25 to park somewhere else.