Keller Auditorium

Address:	222 SW Clay St, Portland, OR 97201, USA
Phone:	+1 503-248-4335
Site:	thekellerauditorium.com
Rating:	4.3

Location

Photos 100

Reviews 5

M Graybeal

Saw the Lion King here and it was amazing. However, I ran into the worlds rudest usher! On Aug 20th, 7:30 pm, in the 1st Balcony, Aisle 2, she was older, had salt and pepper hair and red glasses. When we first walked into the auditorium, she was blocking the entrance with her back to us. We waited a couple min and nothing changed, so I politely asked her if we could have a program. She snapped at my mother and I, telling us she had a situation and we needed to wait. So we patiently waited some more, whatever situation was happening apparently resolved itself, and she turned around. She said here, and gave us our programs. No apology, no helping us to our seat. Nothing. Her tone was really awful. So I stupidly decided to find her out in the hall before the show started, and calmly tell her that I felt I was treated in a rude way. Maybe she has a thing against younger-looking people or her life is just super awful, but she totally snapped at me. She asked why I thought she was rude and I tried to tell her the above paragraph, but before I could finish, she totally interrupted me and started talking over me! She said she is responsible for seating 400 people and when there is a situation (whatever that means) she has to resolve it. So I started to tell her I couldnt see the situation because she was blocking the entryway to the seats and she could have simply said to hold on one second in a polite way, but she cut me off and just kept talking over me. So when it became clear she was just going to talk over me the whole time, I straight up said, Never mind. F*** it. Im going to go watch the Lion King. Not even yelling or anything. But instead of letting me go, she says, Oh really? F*** it, huh! And she starts following behind me as I headed back to the entry way of my aisle! She kept yelling at me as I walked back, so I finally turned around and said , Stop! Stop talking to me, as I opened the door to go back into the auditorium and have a seat. And she kept right on! I heard her say, Oh you want me to stop talking, huh? Now I have worked with the public and in customer service for over a decade. When a customer is upset, you calmly ask them what happened, listen, apologize, and thank them. You definitely dont interrupt them, talk over them, or chase after them when they try and leave! Maybe she is having some personal issues, her partner broke up with her, she has health problems, I dont know what, but she must be pretty sad to get that outta control with a customer. I didnt pay $100 to get yelled at. I try really hard to be respectful to all service workers, because I know what its like to have people look down on you and treat you poorly in those jobs. There was no excuse for this behavior. She must be a volunteer or related to someone if she acts this rude. Will never return.

Jim Lewis

The venue is nice in terms of seating and the theatre itself was built really well. Good views of the stage and great acoustics! So I guess they get 3 stars for at least getting all that right. Thats the most important thing anyway, at a theater . Its the rest where this place misses the boat. The place seems run down, worn out and not updated anytime recently. Floors, bathrooms, overall decor all made me feel it waa old and tired. . The other part I didnt like was the fact that they had poor food options. The drink options were pretty good, at least the alcoholic drinks. Good selection of beer, wine and even cider. But very few decent food options. As near as I could tell, the only food offered is 3 different candies (Skittles, M&Ms, etc), a cookie, 3 varieties of kettle chips and soft pretzels (which were horrible, by the way). They did have a guy in a little kart serving roasted candied almonds. Those were amazing! But I wanted more real food options. Seemed pretty lacking in this department vs. other venues around. . The other thing that bugged me was the staff really seemed to want to push everyone out the doors ASAP, as soon as the show was over. We met friends there and wanted to catch up and discuss the awesome show we had just seen for give minutes after the show. But felt like we werent welcome as they were sort of clearing the room and making us feel like we were holding them up. We got chased out of the theater and then tried to talk again in the lobby and same thing. So it was a bummer we couldnt just linger for a few minutes after the show without feeling like we were in the way. . Not the best venue in town, IMO. Needs improvements to really be a classy spot again. But the theater is really nice. So I cant rate it any worse than 3 stars, just for that reason.

Weirdlikeafox

I went and saw The Lion King recently and I LOVED the show. This review has nothing to do with the show. I have been coming to the Keller Auditorium since I was a child, Ive lived in Oregon my whole life and I believe the first show I ever saw there was "Cats". Since then I have seen numerous musicals and shows at the Keller. Anyways, never in all the years I have attended were my seats so uncomfortable. I dont know what it was, but they were hard and piercing. They were absolutely tiny as well. My mom was very uncomfortable too. I deal with chronic back issues, and the seats were so bad they put me out for the rest of the night and the day afterwards. What happened? Did they add newer cheaper seating? My mom commented as well she didnt remember the seats being that horrid. Also, the lady who handed us our program was a bit rude and wouldnt give me my program. My mom had to go back and ask for one for me. Not sure whats going on maybe the Keller Auditorium only cares about money now and now about how peoples experience is.

Nancy Keller

I am very upset with the Keller Auditorium. When not living in the area a person is stuck purchasing tickets on line with outrageous $30 service charges tacked on. Then during inclemental weather, there was no way to find out if the event was cancelled. They posted cancellations on their website AFTER the event. I tried to e-mail, phone the ticket outlet agency before risking the trip but never got a response. Keller Auditorium itself is and was unreachable. I risked the stupid freezing rain/snowstorms with I-5 a corridor of multiple wrecks as there was was no refund and it was a lot of money I spent. I found tiny signs on the doors when I arrived that the event was cancelled when I arrived. I was one of 20 people during the brief time I stood at the doors who complained that there was NO notification that it was cancelled. We had all tried to check. I think with a $30 service fee, I should have gotten a phone call automatically that the event was cancelled.

Corwin Brence

I saw Jethro Tull: The Rock Opera here some weeks ago. The show was magnificent, but this review is about the auditorium. I found the layout a bit confusing, and the event staff werent especially helpful (my party had to ask three different people where our seating area was). The seating is arranged on a very steep slope that is difficult to get up and down if youve recently suffered any ankle injuries, and getting in and out of the seating row stands a chance of causing said injuries if youre not paying attention. Architecturally, though, the Keller is especially attractive, and the acoustics and stage accommodations are just fine for a good rock opera. I just wasnt too keen about the experience off the stage...especially the locations of the bathrooms, difficult to find, let alone reach, with all the crowds.