Orpheum Theatre — Attraction in Memphis

The show is a great show and I wish I could have enjoyed the ambiance of the show. I came with a large group of scholars on a field trip to see Wicked. We did in fact head in late by about 5 minutes and I understand there are particular protocols to enter the theater for late arrivals. However, we were seated in the uppermost section in the theater, section LGALRC on Aisle 19. The older male usher in that particular section told a group of about 90 scholars along with the chaperones that we had to wait along the wall, although there were no following sections behind us to disturb. Furthermore, late scholars within our same cohort had already been seated as we all arrived at the same time. Those seated were assigned different ushers. We simply complied and waited until the first act, when he cleared us to have a seat. Once seated, we began watching the show. The same older male usher assigned to our section came to remind scholars that cellular devices are non-permissible. He then came back about 15 minutes later and aggressively approached me on the end on the front row of our section to “step to my face” to tell me that verbatim, “Once again no cell phones in the theater and I’m not going to tell you again.” I immediately left the theater as I know that at that point he had an agenda to condescend our group that had been afforded this opportunity. I had not previously been on my phone and as a mother, but foremost as an adult, I can check my phone. I have attended a broadway show in New York and I cannot say that I am appalled that this experience was unpleasant as there were other urban, minority schools in attendance that were assigned to his section. I can respect the normed policies of the theatre and he needed to understand to respect that there are appropriate tones to deliver a message to an adult or child regardless of their race. However, I will say that when I stepped out the theater there were two other female ushers to determine the barrier for why I was visibly upset. One of the female ushers informed me that they are in fact volunteers. Therefore, I would highly recommend that ushers would greatly benefit from customer service training modules to ensure more urban schools are encouraged to bring students to engage in these types of performing arts experiences. This experience can fuel the stigma that minority individuals are not seen or heard in performing arts as nearby scholars witnessed this negative experience from an Orpheum...

It's beautiful inside. We went to see Wicked, my husband, myself, and our 10 year old son. We came from Louisiana to Memphis. These tickets were my Christmas present from my husband. We ubered there(because we've never been to Memphis, and I was having trouble online figuring out about parking) from the campground by Graceland, so it was several miles away. My husband and I have our concealed weapons permits. He had his gun in his pocket (because we were in downtown Memphis). When we got there, they were wanding people. we approached a policeman and told her the situation. She said we've had this happen before; I'll get the manager of the theater. He stone-faced, with no apologies, while we begged and I cried, said nope, You can't come in here. We said we didn't want to bring it in if we could just put it in a locked office and that we'd give him his drivers license and permit. He basically walked away from us. These tickets were $500. The police lady was super apologetic and not understanding of his attitude either. My husband had to call another uber, go back to the campground, get another uber, and come back. He missed the first 30 minutes of an amazing performance. While I understand that it's the burden of the permit holder to make sure it's okay to carry, these were somewhat extenuating circumstances and in no way does it excuse the attitude that he had towards us. It's not that we weren't allowed to bring a gun in a theater; it's that he treated us like criminals and basically trash, which is why I only have 3 stars to a 5...

Thought long and hard about this one, wasn’t quite sure what I expected… I expected good customer service. In a building as beautiful as it is. With acoustics as clear, and crisp as they are. Very disappointing. We purchased tickets to Rick James Super Freak. Good energy walking in. Everyone looked beautiful. We were walked down to the orchestra by an attendant and seated early. After the show began, we were approached by another attendant asking for our tickets. We showed the etickets and continued to enjoy the show. Moments later another attendant asked to view our tickets and asked to stand up. Showed again. But another couple began to sit. No! We sat back down and several more minutes we were asked to return to the box office. Total disgust at this point. We’d payed over $200 for our tickets and were now missing the show after so many disruptions! At no point has a manager or supervisor approached. At the front box office, we were asked name, address, and to show etickets again. Still no member of leadership has appeared. Needless to say, we were disgusted by the way in which we were handled. Although one of the attendants was apologetic, that did not dispel the fact that no upper leadership came to extend an apology for an apparent Orpheum mixup that inconvenienced my Date Night. We were very frustrated. Upset, even. Customer service was not good. Leadership was missing in action. Enjoyed the show. Did not enjoy the way Orpheum Memphis failed to acknowledge or even apologize for whatever mixup they had that...