Cal Performances — Attraction in Berkeley

I went with some friends for the video games live symphony. An event I highly recommend for those who like video games or those who like symphonies or both!

To start off, parking wasnt too bad. The parking structure closest to the event was full when we arrived and we arrived 30 minutes before the show started. Must not have had a lot of parking to begin with. So we parked one more structure over. Which was a few more blocks from the event. Less then 10 minutes walking. Didn't pay for parking so I can't tell you how much

Next, the bathrooms were clean but a bit awkward at least for the men's room. They had two stalls ( maybe three?) And about 4-6, urinals The smaller stall had a urinal right in front of the door so whoever used the stall had to wait for the person at the urinal to finish and move over so they could get out. I had the opportunity to be the person coming out of the stall.

The staffing could of been better. For example during the Intermission (20 minutes) and getting snacks and drinks. There were only 2 registers and 4-6 people handling service which was just fast enough to serve about 30 people total. It was so slow and I felt sorry for people waiting in line as they didn't get to purchase anything after waiting in line for about 20 minutes. I waited 15 minutes and I was about the 10 person in line.

The stage and lighting was impressive for smaller venue such as this. Nothing impressive but it definitely added a nice touch to the performance. The seating was comfortable with padding but personally I thought the seats were on the smaller side. Reminded me of the seats in a movie theater before the new recliner became popular.

Overall I would say the venue is nice but could be much better. I would come here again for...

The theater is nice, albeit a bit dated inside. The seating is extemely tight and very uncomfofriendly. Trying to get parking near the theater is nearly impossible and the closest garage only has several handicap parking spaces where the cost to park is highway robbery. The nearest garage should have at least half of its spaces converted to handicap spaces when hosting large events for the community, and the rate should be cut to half of the normal rate or free for handicap vehicles like most handicap parking in the community is. As a state funded facility, it is funded by taxpayers already, so it can and should be more handicap froendly. As usual UC greed for more money to overpay its administrators is likely a factor in the current revenue generating gouge in the garage. The program Shen Yun was nice, although overly political. The quality of the performance for cost of admission was grossly out of balance. Yes, I am sure it costs a lot to fund a travelling production with so many performers, but I think that it was too high for what you will see. I had heard the hype about the show for a number of years and decided to go this year on a whim with a friend and I am now very glad that the other person insisted on buying my ticket or I would have been feeling a bit ripped off for what I saw. Only a few of the dances were truly amazing and the baritone singers with their overtly religious message was a bit much. Don't lecture me about rejecting modern thought because by doing so you are no better than the communists that the performance...

I bought a ticket for a Flamenco show at the Zellerbach Hall. I picked great seats, close to musicians and dancers, looking forward to a wonderful evening of Spanish culture in Berkeley. I arrived early, had a beer at the venue's bar and nibbled some comfort food in anticipation of a great show. Once I entered the auditorium, the front row seats I had purchased did not exist. I was told that the ticketing office sold the tickets by mistake. What? And that I could go to the ticket office to get a refund. I waited at the ticket office for more than 45 minutes before I received the refund. No apologies given. Really? However, I received the phone number of the director of the ticketing department. I left several messages. She never responded and displayed total disregard by ignoring my concerns. I then contacted the Executive and Artistic Director of Cal Performances. He also preferred to ignore my ruined evening as if it was not anything he should be concerned about. I have been at the world's greatest venues for cultural and classical performances. I had never bought a ticket that turned out to be invalid and ruined my entire evening. And I had never encountered such a severity of disregard by entirely ignoring my effort to reach...