Broadway San Diego

The venue is great for being built in 1965. No where is a bad seat. We’ve seen Lion King, Wicked, Into the Heights, West Side Story, Lord of the Dance, and a few other shows from large to small productions and the space is utilized to it’s fullest.
Plenty of bathrooms and great food choices with cheese and cracker plates.
This review is for the ticket vouchers we received as a gift. I went to the ticket office the day before to exchange for our show tickets. After fees and charges the total was under our voucher value so I got a whopping $ 1 back as changed.
The next day we went to the concession stand to use our concession vouchers and no change was given. They do not issue change so you must spend the entire amount or pay the rest out of pocket. Even though it’s printed on the ticket, we, like many others, overlooked it (so I admit, it’s my fault for not reading). We bought items for $ 15.50 and I gave two $ 10 voucher. She (Tamaika) looked at me and said «Okay, thank you. You’re done.» I’m like, «where’s my change/​credit? She responded, «Sorry, no change. They should have told you when they sold it to you». I’m like, okay, I got it as a gift, Fine, let me order another drink. Then she said, «sorry I already closed the transaction». Really, lady? I would have appreciated a courtesy heads up. So either the venue is trying to make money when clearly they already making money or this lady has no heart and just takes your money. She should have said, «Oh, there’s no change given at the end, you have $ left if you want to purchase something else or pay the $ 5.50 out of pocket». Instead, she saw how pissed I was and offered a $ 3 cookie. Really, I already bought 2! It’s about the principle! So disappointed and I hope she handled my rage differently and informed other customers after us.

Pippin
Pippin the revival had to be the worst production at the civic center in the last 10 years. The sound was garbled, the songs were impossible to understand — some actors sung like they were drunk. The story line was non-​existent. Even a half price ticket is not worth the price of parking. Seen better cruise ship productions.

MOTOWN — GO SEE IT!
If you enjoyed Jersey Boys, you’ll love this! Singers were excellent, dancing was excellent, seats were comfortable.

I love that we have a venue for Broadway and opera. Season tickets for 2014 season through work. Watched Dirty Dancing. Had all the key scenes and songs from the show. Date night with my mom

I’m giving 3 stars because I enjoyed the venue and I’m super happy that I can see Broadway shows in San Diego, but this particular experience was less than 3 stars. Here’s why:
I’m all for exposing children to the arts, but maybe there should be an age limit for Broadway shows. For some kids, It doesn’t matter how well behaved they are. If they get bored and restless, they might become a distraction. Just to clarify, I have nothing against kids at all. I just didn’t have the most enjoyable experience when I took my Mom to see Dirty Dancing (it was a gift for her birthday so I wanted everything to be perfect). Our seats were great but I couldn’t help but notice how many kids were in the audience, especially since the content of the story line is on the mature side. That didn’t bother me though. The issue that I encountered was the young girl (maybe 8 or 9 years old) sitting next to me, while her parents sat to the right of her. The poor girl didn’t want to be there. She appeared to be so uncomfortable in those big seats that she had to keep readjusting herself (crossing her legs over one another back and forth with her feet up on the chair). There were a few times she almost kicked me. I wasn’t mad at her at all because she’s just a kid! How could I be mad at a little kid? I was however, irritated with her parents because they chose to just sit there and do nothing. During intermission, her Mom (I think) asked her if she was enjoying the show and the girl said she didn’t like all the singing and dancing. We found her response to be pretty funny since that’s essentially what Broadway is. I guess parents can’t really know how their kid (s) are going to react once they experience something for the first time. I figured this had to be her first Broadway show and she just wasn’t into it. That said, the second half of the show, I foolishly thought the parents would put the girl in between them instead of keeping her on the end next to us. After all, we did look over at them several times during the first half to express that we were distracted. Instead, they left her near us and bought her a bag of candy that she crumpled throughout the second half. It took multiple stares at the Father (I think) for him to tell her to stop. I mean, isn’t that common sense? I was so irritated. I think if you’re going to bring your kid (s) to a show like this, be aware of your surroundings and make sure they aren’t bothering other people if they are bored. These shows aren’t exactly cheap!
One last quick note — the parking situation is horrid so leave early! We were stuck waiting in this huge line in one of the lots by the theater, waiting to get a ticket to put on our car. We nearly missed the beginning of the show. We actually had to leave the lot we were in and find another one. It was ridiculous.

I love the season ticket that my BF bought. I watched Jersey Boys. It was really really good. I enjoyed it. So did BF. I am looking forward to next show, which is WICKED.

I’m just happy with the fact I can watch my Broadway shows in San Diego. Kinky Boots last Friday was amaaaaazing. It was a lot more entertaining than Once, which was still good. Husband got us season tickets. We’re excited to see Jersey Boys next month.
Parking is convenient. There is a garage right next to the civic center. It’s only $ 10 if you book online. It’s a good idea to come and park a couple of hours before the show, that way you can walk a few blocks to have dinner and then make it just in time for the show. As for the venue itself, we just go straight to our seats, the restroom, or concession stand and everything is clean and fine. Never really noticed anything else.

I love that we have a place for Broadway tours to perform, and I love that there’s a good mix of different kinds of shows coming through. It’s nice knowing you don’t have to travel to New York (not that that’s a hardship for me) to see the more popular musicals and shows out there.
The décor of the Civic Theater can be deemed either dated or classic. I like to think of it as classic, because I’m emotional like that. There’s a lot of deep red, velvety textures, and some art-​deco-​looking sconces and wall art. Personally, I think it works well together, so I can’t complain.
The seating within the theater is comfortable for the amount of time that you’ll be in there, and I honestly haven’t been in a bad seat, in all the times we’ve been there. Sure, I prefer to be as close as possible, but sometimes that just can’t happen. So, it’s nice to know that if I’m in Mezzanine level, or in one of the side boxes, I won’t have an issue seeing the stage.
However, though the view is good from everywhere, the sound isn’t always consistent. We were in the side boxes for «Book of Mormon», and the balance of the sound was just off. However, we were Orchestra, second row for «Once» and had no problems. It definitely could be the production itself, but I have no way of verifying that, and I kind of feel like the theater should take care of sound prior to a show’s opening. But that’s just me.
Also, the bathrooms, though clean, are a little jankety. There are a few stalls, in several of the bathrooms, that have a gap so large between the door and the wall that you can clearly see out (and in!) while sitting on the toilet. Not the most comfortable of situations to be in.
My final gripe has to do with crowd control. If they’re going to tell you to line up at a certain point in order to get access to the stage prior to the show, they should manage the queue, to ensure that the people who were lined up for 30 minutes (like us) aren’t pushed out of the way by the people who came storming up to the doors two minutes before they opened.

Yay for being season ticket holders! Looking forward to a great year with Book of Mormon as the highlight.
A good start so far with Priscilla: Queen of the Desert and Evita… we bought 6 shows for $ 180pp (cheapest seats and Sunday night time).
+ Sunday night shows mean a less packed theater, free street parking, and can easily take advantage of restaurant happy hours before the show
+ Staff handles the lines well– takes us less than 10 minutes from entering the Civic Center to getting seated
+ The theater doesn’t jam too bad when everyone’s exiting. I’ve been at far worse, so only a few minutes down 4 flights of stairs isn’t bad at all.
— I didn’t know they continue to sell season tickets throughout the year. I wasn’t too interested in watching Priscilla initially, so had I known, I would have just waited to buy season tickets after the Priscilla show. No additional discounts for buying season tickets early, so our tickets would just have been 5 shows for $ 150pp.
— Also, you can get pretty good discounts on individual shows the week of through Travelzoo. I’ve seen discounted tickets for every single show in the season so far.

Third tiem subscriber, Broadway San Diego is AMAZING! They are soo good to the season ticket holders, the service is prompt, attentive and so detailed. The shows are great and they strive to continously improve, thanks for bringing great shows to San Diego, recently saw SISTER ACT and it was AMAZING!
I wish there was a greater season ticket holder diversity or patrons in general, from age to race and beyond, the impact of theater in a community goes far beyond whatever movie is playing in the box office, nothing like raw singing and true emotion developing before your eyes.

AMERICAN IDIOT…
Well they’ve finally discovered a way to sell «Tribute Band» tickets for $ 80 and up.
I dont understand how this show is called entertainment. Be prepared for a very juvenile script that sounds like a high school kid wrote this.
F this and F that and Mother-​F-​er. every other sentence was a curse word and the singing was flat and amateur cover band sounding.
Oh Please! This show is a joke,
Cheers!

We are now season ticket holders…
And no we are NOT old!
HA!
Super excited to see American Idiot this year!!!

I LOVE, love, love Broadway San Diego. After years of attending events there, I am still delighted each and every time. The staff, volunteers, ticket-​purchasing and sales team are all great. The concessions people move the lines amazingly fast during intermission, and I’ve never missed the curtain. The season ticket packages are fabulous and affordable, even for my family on a budget, which makes theater accessible for the kids too.
Only one complaint: the vendors selling show swag at the close of each show are really slow and disorganized. The lines are all sketchy and scattered, then you get the people who spend 15 minutes debating between a magnet, a t-​shirt or that new USB containing the show tunes. Aside from the oblivious rudeness of these buyers, there has got to be a better way to advertise or recap the availability of offerings BEFORE you get to the front of the line!
The only other «complaint» is for the facilities: What the heck is wrong with the faucets in every womens restroom, every floor? (Maybe even mens, but I’ve never been in there.) They literally spray cold water at your midline, not your hands — watch your nice dress, there! It’s evident they are faulty by all the water sprayed on the countertops, the mirrors, everywhere. After years of this, I wonder: does anyone listen to customer complaints at the Civic Center?
I just have something to say to the person who thought «family show» Shrek took up valuable time on the season playlist: WRONG! I am a long-​time season ticket holder for Broadway San Diego and Shrek was one of my all-​time favorite any-​age productions — seriously. One of the many surprises each season is that I can never predict how the shows are produced, and I have never walked away disappointed. Other past favorites also include Rock of Ages, Wicked, Les Miserables (coming back soon!) and yes, even Beauty and the Beast. Storytelling, costumes, music are all fantastic here, all top of line and never failing to delight! I am so excited for the coming 2012 – 13 season, which has the best line-​up ever.

For CATS:
OK so you’ve decided to put on a performance of the worst piece of crap to be shoved down the throats of unsuspecting Americans in the last 30 years. OK fair enough, it has been proven to be popular after all. But for a musical with no discernible plot or even a shadow of fucking context even, you could have invested in a sound system that didn’t sound like a 1980s ghetto-​blaster encased in plywood.
Fuck you.

This is my first season subscribing to Broadway SD and there are definite pluses and minuses:
+teacher discount
+great customer service. When it turned out that the I didn’t have tickets to The Color Purple was because I hadn’t actually bought them, I got a pair of free ones
+parking, though it isn’t free, is easy
+variety of plays. If I had kids, I’d like that they were family friendly, but I don’t have kids.
–Poor economy seems to mean that there are a number of «yahoos» (husband’s word, not mine) in the audience. Exhibit A: these 2 women moved to some empty seats near husband and me because one person had brought their dog, and the couple in front of the women were kissing the entire time. Exhibit B: drunk woman in front of me was talking the entire first half of the last play.
–Really bad Next to Normal casting of Alice Ripley. Her voice is going, going, gone by the end of Act 1 and this made for a painful Act 2. Awful awful.
–Family friendly means plays like Shrek instead of something I might enjoy seeing live.
So 3 stars it is.

Hey, do you like spam you can’t unsubscribe to?
Broadway San Diego’s Process of Unsubscribing to their Email List
1) In order to unsubscribe from said list, I must log into their Broadway San Diego Ticketmaster sub-​site.
2) Upon failure to type in password correctly, they locked me out from the account.
3) Called 800 customer service number.
4) Provided Name, Email, and Phone Number.
5) Lady must talk to her manager to remove me from email list.
6) Lady will call me back to confirm unsubscription.
REALLY? JUST ADD A ONE-​CLICK UNSUBSCRIBE BUTTON TO YOUR EMAILS, BROADWAY SAN DIEGO.
update: after all of this, I’m still receiving emails from them. solution? having to set up mailbox rule to automatically delete emails. negative stars!