Still Talking Of Saturday...
After taking the images of the Castle I had the choice to hang around a little longer but as I came onto the main street I was in time to catch a bus so decided to do just that. So I was in Darlington again by 5pm. Not enough to time to come home and drop off all my gear but equally I had two and a half hours to fill before before the local theatre opens its doors(hence why I had taken my ticket with me)
Thankfully I can usually manage to drag time out and I did just that. Nothing exciting and at that time of night most places are closing.
Eventually, I reached the theatre...the tell tale signs were there I guess though I did not think about it. Normally the foyer is heaving with people before a performance. Anyhow, I took my seat. The bell to warn that the performance was about to start rang to remind the audience to get to their seats and to leave the bar.
Well this is a estimate not totally accurate(and I am only talking of the centre section of the stalls)and the first threee rows which included myself. If there were eighty seats...sixty nine of them were empty. Put another way there was eleven of us!
Later a quick scan showed many empty seats across the whole theatre. An odd person or couple here and there.
The fewest people I have ever witnessed there. Is it the price of the tickets? The recession? People on holiday? All or some of the above is possible.
It was sad because though I like the theatre and music I am not usually a fan of musicals. This was more like a concert with an 18 piece big band, a cast of nine who sang and acted(four of which were part of the band)so doubled up and they performed the music and life story of Glenn Miller. It is called Bugle Boy after a nickname Miller's wife Helen used to call him.
It deserved a larger audience. The atmosphere was good considering how few of us were watching(but in the interval everyone was commenting on how poor the audience was and what a pity it was)it must be heart breaking for the cast to perform and look out on audience so small in number.
I cannot find out the names of those who were in the production and further investigation proves that(and I don't believe this is the reason for a lack of people buying a ticket)that this tour is a cut down version of a fuller production but to put on a larger event needs a larger stage and probably would see the ticket price increase considerably. I have read of dance routines and as many as 120 people on stage, we had a total of twenty three.
I understand it is on a ten week tour of the UK and this at Darlington Civic Theatre was the end of the first week of that tour and most of the remaining tour is happening in the South. I don't like reporting audience figures are down but this is the second show in recent weeks where numbers are down but its not just there. You may remember my post from June where a concert at Bishop Auckland Town Hall was quality and we were lucky if twenty five people attended.
There are plenty of positive reviews and an explanation of the story on the highlighted link above, the story is well known anyhow so a review by myself cannot really add much. If you know the Miller sound and music that says it all.
Thankfully I can usually manage to drag time out and I did just that. Nothing exciting and at that time of night most places are closing.
Eventually, I reached the theatre...the tell tale signs were there I guess though I did not think about it. Normally the foyer is heaving with people before a performance. Anyhow, I took my seat. The bell to warn that the performance was about to start rang to remind the audience to get to their seats and to leave the bar.
Well this is a estimate not totally accurate(and I am only talking of the centre section of the stalls)and the first threee rows which included myself. If there were eighty seats...sixty nine of them were empty. Put another way there was eleven of us!
Later a quick scan showed many empty seats across the whole theatre. An odd person or couple here and there.
The fewest people I have ever witnessed there. Is it the price of the tickets? The recession? People on holiday? All or some of the above is possible.
It was sad because though I like the theatre and music I am not usually a fan of musicals. This was more like a concert with an 18 piece big band, a cast of nine who sang and acted(four of which were part of the band)so doubled up and they performed the music and life story of Glenn Miller. It is called Bugle Boy after a nickname Miller's wife Helen used to call him.
It deserved a larger audience. The atmosphere was good considering how few of us were watching(but in the interval everyone was commenting on how poor the audience was and what a pity it was)it must be heart breaking for the cast to perform and look out on audience so small in number.
I cannot find out the names of those who were in the production and further investigation proves that(and I don't believe this is the reason for a lack of people buying a ticket)that this tour is a cut down version of a fuller production but to put on a larger event needs a larger stage and probably would see the ticket price increase considerably. I have read of dance routines and as many as 120 people on stage, we had a total of twenty three.
I understand it is on a ten week tour of the UK and this at Darlington Civic Theatre was the end of the first week of that tour and most of the remaining tour is happening in the South. I don't like reporting audience figures are down but this is the second show in recent weeks where numbers are down but its not just there. You may remember my post from June where a concert at Bishop Auckland Town Hall was quality and we were lucky if twenty five people attended.
There are plenty of positive reviews and an explanation of the story on the highlighted link above, the story is well known anyhow so a review by myself cannot really add much. If you know the Miller sound and music that says it all.
posted by The Great Gildersleeve | 6:07 pm
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