Maxwell C. King Center for the Performing Arts — Attraction in Melbourne

Yesterday 5/29 was supposed to be the greatest day for my 2yr old as she was going to finally see live her hero Blippi. When this event was advertised a few months ago I knew I had to get tickets for my baby who loves Blippi, I immediately bought the tickets and my heart was full knowing this day when it came would be the greatest day for my little girl. Well yesterday came and we had our Blippi shirts, and as a family were so excited because all I wanted to see was my baby jump, sing, and be surprised to see Blippi on stage as she’s almost 3yrs old and did not comprehend what was going on just that there were many kids dressed like her and super excited about Blippi. When I went to get my tickets that’s when my world came crashing down and my heart was almost broken, I was told my tickets were bought through a 3rd party scalper and basically they had resold my tickets to another victim of this fraud, all I could think of that moment was almost to cry as I looked at my baby girl oblivious to the situation excited with her Blippi doll, and Blippi shirt smiling and waving at other kids entering the venue. At that moment I felt so helpless and sad to think there were people out there evil enough to prey on people and kids, how can there be people so vile and evil willing to crush children’s spirit and ruin a family’s event? These tickets aren’t cheap, luckily I was able to repurchase and will be disputing the charges with my CC company, but broke my heart to think if this happened to a family that were not able to pay again for tickets then what? It’s very sad. I was so heartbroken thinking I had to go back to my car and somehow see the face of disappointment on my daughter and confusion. But my faith was restored, the lady that helped us (I did not get her name but she was our angel yesterday) worked hard and inquired and assured me she would help and even apologized when this had nothing to do with your venue. As I waited there praying and hopeful something could be done, this angel told us she found us tickets and they were at the lower level closer to the stage from what I would’ve had with the tickets I got scammed for. Life came back to me and if I would had been able to give her a big hug I wish I could. Your staff at ticketing was amazing and made this little girl’s dream a reality. We caught the show a bit late due to the set back but she enjoyed every minute, dancing, jumping, screaming, and singing. From the bottom of my heart and my family we want to thank you and I hope these ladies at the ticket office get the recognition they deserve for ensuring my daughter’s dream was not crushed. Thank you for making this possible. God...

Update Feb 2024: Saw the Simon and Garfunkel Story... Not a big fan of the duo (love Paul Simon's solo stuff)... Nothing changed my mind... The guy playing Garfunkel nailed the pretentious traits perfectly... My wife loved it though... Next up is Pink Floyd Wish you were Here.. now that I can get into! It is curious to me all the security they make you go through for what are essentially senior citizen events...Do they think a pacemaker is a planted IED ;

Update Jun 2023: Saw the "Let it Be" classis album show. Not a beatles imitation, but a band that just tries to sound as close to the Beatles as possible. They did a good show, included songs from other albums as well. I thought it was not near as good as the Brit Floyd concert (see update May 2023) because the guy who sang "Paul" wasn't too convincing. The music, however, was note for note, and they did Strawberry Fields Forever, which I would've bet couldn't be done faithfully life...count me wrong. King continues to impress us with the quality of their shows...

Update May 2023: The King knocked it out of the park by landing Brit Floyd, the closest I will ever get to experiencing Pink Floyd live... Almost 3 hrs of audio visual explosion...the music was fantastic, the singing was fantastic, and the light show better than major artists put on...I really hope they return and THnks King Center!!!!!

Previous updates: Unbelievable night with Glenn Miller band and Tommy Dorsey band...they were incredible musicians with great interaction and solos that must have featured every member at one time or another...the King is becoming a great place for us (seen a symphony and Abbey road live) and got tickets for Jersey Boys...you will definitely get your money's worth and very thankful for such a nice venue...

Update: saw Happy Together tour with Turtles, association, Classics 4, Cowsills, And the Buckingham's. Show was great and facility is kept in...

Every community needs something like the King Center. It's a place to enjoy local talent, see world famous performing artists along with unique and different styles of live entertainment. While the venue is certainly not the most impressive I've ever seen, it's really quite nice and is currently being remodeled, so they get an A for effort there.

The main auditorium is designed well but it's not very eye-catching. The acoustics aren't bad, but quite honestly it's a very plain design, with zero artistic flair or personality. I have no idea if they're going to try and spice things up in the remodeling, but I truly think they should. But hey, it's not horrible and it works. The house is small enough that there really are no bad seats and quite a few very good ones. The in-house video system for the balcony is relatively small but still functional.

No review is complete without the ever-popular Bathroom Reference. The bathrooms at the King Center, while always clean and operational (Big Gold Star there) are also always a bottleneck. Now obviously that's a tough problem to solve when an entire auditorium all wants to hit the restroom during the same ten minute intermission and hopefully the remodeling will address the problem, alleviating some of those long dang lines, with people nervously tapping their feet or dancing in place.

Drinks and snacks are available for relatively reasonable prices, but I seldom take advantage of that service. (It just means more trips to the restroom! Yes. I'm old.)

The staff at the King Center are always helpful and cheerful and seem like the kind of person you'd like to have as a neighbor, (as opposed to the obnoxious guy with the dog that doesn't stop barking).

We've been to the King Center countless times and will most certainly go again. We look forward to seeing the remodeling changes and the performing artists lined up...