Murat Theatre — Attraction in Indianapolis

I looked through and prepared myself for the Nutcracker this 2021 Christmas as I do every year in August/September. I purchased six tickets 3 adults 3 children. When we arrived 40mins early, we were greeted and told by the outside police / security guards yes I mean what I said! There were security guards monitoring this event instead to intimidate us for showing up! Law-abiding citizens with paid tickets were being intimidated. WHY? Idk... So with three little girl's scared to death cuddling up together!, Security guards surrounded everyone as if everyone coming to this performance had done something wrong! Starring at us in front of our babies and demanding us to comply or leave! After taking every penny they could get from us outside, they begun taking away our privacies, dignity and memories inside. After coming through the doors they forced women to surrender their purses with all of their identification and personal belongings. When I say forced what I mean is: You are inside of the building you've paid & gotten through to have rent-a-secuity guard who's maybe 18yrs old pat you down putting their hands on you & escorting you toward the coat check area telling you that you can't go any further until you check your purse! You are not allowed anything except a credit card to buy food and beverages! BECAUSE THEIR PROTECTING US... While exposing us to the nakedness of lost memories lost privacy lost freedom and lost dignity in front of our family. So we came to this event to start our holiday celebration Without a vaccination card and your Venue proceeded to destroy our memories and our moments of tradition. We had to either leave or go to a tent and purchase 3 $40 test from 3 women in a tent belittling us sarcastically and telling us the test will take as long as it takes! While 3 lil dressed up ballerinas stand outside crying in ballerina and Christmas dresses we were all cold and they didn't understand what was happening, honestly neither did we. Without any sense of respect we were all forced to endure the disappointment of 3 little girl's. We went into the tent and purchased $40 a piece covid test, then almost an hour after this ordeal we we're given access into the venue with our pre-purchased tickets! Pre-purchased in advance months ago, only to miss most of the show! I've looked online three different times and they did not update the purse policy I left this event feeling like I was exposed! I felt like I was taken advantage of! Not only did they strip me of my purse, but they took all of my comfort forcing me to check my purse and pay them $5.00! It was either surrender my purse to teenagers or leave. I was severely taken advantage of! My memories are my 3 little children crying to see the nutcracker performance and then babies crying because they missed the best of the performance! I've never experienced anything like this in my life! I will never go to another event as long as I live. And I believe everyone in the United States should understand what to expect when going to any performance or show in the future no one should ever have to endure what my family had to...

Murat pulls in some amazing performances, but it is very much not my favorite venue. Ticket prices are generally HIGH. I get it - the venue needs to pay employees, the production has payroll to meet. Extra fees from the ticket vendor get added. For a "regular family" attending a show, in my case a Broadway show, is most definitely a special occasion we save up for. The Murat has their website articulating what to expect. You can bring a bag, but these are the stipulations. You may never bring X, you can bring Y if it meets conditions A,B,C. If I'm going to budget for a special occasion that costs a small fortune, I want to abide by the rules. So when the website says "Factory-sealed water bottles (up to 20 ounces)" are ALLOWED, and on a day where the heat index is 105, and I've paid for tickets, and paid for parking, and I'm ready to enter the venue, and the security guy makes me put my brand new, factory sealed bottle of water, that I have taken the time and effort to keep cold (bc it's H O T outside today), and toss it in the trash, I'm not going to be very happy about it. And don't get me wrong. I'm all FOR capitalism!! But $6 for water is extortion. Esp when I was trying to follow the POSTED RULES in the first place. The Murat is a beautiful venue, there's no doubt about it. But you will need the ENTIRE intermission to get to and through the ladies room and back to your seat. You'll make it in time, if you're lucky. I didn't know what happens if you don't. The people who work there are very nice, I'll say that. But a week later and I'm still steamed about buying water. A pop, a mixed drink, a beer, a souvenir, sure!!! Even water!! But $6 is shameful. No one should be charging $6 for a 25¢ water. Do better, Murat. Do better, Broadway. Perhaps I'll see you in another 3 years. Bc that's how often I tend to make it to you. And you SPOILED it with greed over water...

Our tickets were not properly honored by the establishment. When my wife and I arrived and the usher showed us to our seats we found someone in one of our seats. The usher could not figure out who in the row shouldn't have been there and/or would not get security to force them out. So instead of being 2nd row dead center, my wife and I had to spend 2/3 of the show off to the side wondering when or if we were ever going to get the seats we picked and paid for. 2 songs before the encore we were finally told by the usher that 2 seats were cleared in our row. They weren't even our ticketed seats but they were still center-ish. So they still didn't even move the people who were wrongfully in our seats. But having spent nearly the whole show only being able to partially focus on the performance, with the rest of our focus watching the usher go back and forth trying to figure out how to clear our seats and wondering if we'll ever get the awesome seats that we picked out, our night was very much ruined. I called the theater the next day inquiring why the venue failed to honor our tickets properly. I relayed my experience and was told I would be called back in 20-30min. I wasn't. I gave it a day and called back. I was told my name and number would be passed on to a manager/supervisor and I would be called back. I wasn't. I called and left my information numerous times and still haven't been called back. This has been by far my worst concert experience made all the more frustrating by being ignored by the...