Welcome to The Phantom in Hobart, your seats are 17,000 km away

Welcome to The Phantom in Hobart, your seats are 17,000 km away

One of Australia’s first amateur theatre productions of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera has had an interesting collision with its long-running fully professional London counterpart.

The Tasmanian Premiere production is playing at the Theatre Royal, Hobart, Australia’s oldest operational theatre and one of few Georgian arts venues in the southern hemisphere.

Producer, Craig Wellington, tells the story...

“A very lovely elderly couple arrived at the Theatre Royal, Hobart at 2.20 PM. (Our matinee went up precisely on schedule at 1.30 PM.) In their hands they held a print out of their Online booking for two seats to the 2.30PM matinee on Saturday, 17 August - but at Her Majesty's Theatre, Haymarket in London. They had accidentally booked seats Online for our professional London counterpart. They were most upset. Nicole Winspeare, the Theatre Royal Front of House Manager for the day, grabbed me to discuss it with the two patrons. Now, the London booking agent is not going to refund them, which I explained to them. But, this obviously being a genuine mistake, and feeling for them, I offered to accommodate them with two premium seats as my guests on Friday 30 August at 7.30 PM. They were over the moon at this offer, as that date is the eve of their wedding anniversary.

“At 8.30 PM (11.30 AM in London) during our evening performance, I telephoned Her Majesty's in London. I spoke to Catherine in their Box Office. I related the story and notified her that they had two seats they could re-release for sale (it is a business after all). Unfortunately the venue could not re-release the seats for sale as they were booked through a separate Online service. I attempted to phone the Online booking agent to have the seats released for sale, but they only operate by phone Monday to Friday. Being a Saturday there was nothing left to be done. But I do feel I'd done everything possible for all parties...

“On the upside, and for all time into the future, we can reflect on the fact that there were two seats (Royal Circle C14 and C15) that were empty for the London matinee of The Phantom of the Opera at 2.30 PM on Saturday 17 August 2013. Two empty seats but which were full of the spirit of Hobart, 17-and-a-half-thousand km away.

“The above story has been an off-stage highlight of a wonderful season.”

The Phantom of the Operaunder amateur license from Origin Theatrical on behalf of the Really Useful Group is presented by Craig Wellington Productions, The Tasmanian Theatre Unit Trust and the Old Nick Company Inc. at Hobart’s Theatre Royal until 31 August, 2013.

The London production is in its 27th year with no sign of ending.

Our review

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