Mayo Performing Arts Center (MPAC) — Attraction in Morristown

I had been to this theatre on a number of occasions. On a Monday of the week that I am writing this review, I wanted to buy 2 tickets to the Boz Scaggs concert. I went on line and selected 2 nice seats in the orchestra. I was late to purchase, and there wasn't a large selection of good seats left. I wasn't able to finalize and click on my selection, so I called the box office. The woman that I spoke with said that I wasn't allowed to purchase these seats because I wanted 2 and there were 3 left in that row and it's the theatre's policy to never leave 1 seat unsold. Now I am a regular concert goer, and there are many people who go to the theater by themselves and purchase a single seat. If the theatre feels that way, they should only sell seats in multiples of 2. Well I have never heard of such a thing. I pointed out that on the seating chart there were several single seats dotting the chart. She told me that somebody might have purchased 3 and returned 2, thus leaving a single. That didn't make sense to me because tickets are generally not refundable. She said that members were allowed to do that. I am a member of the Count Basie Theatre and all sales are final there. She claimed that she was not "refusing to sell me tickets". Well is that isn't refusing, what is? I asked to speak to a supervisor and was told that none was available and she would have that person call me the next day. I never heard from anyone. Well, today is a Friday, and I checked the seating chart again, and lo and behold, the 2 tickets that I requested to buy were sold, and, yes, ladies and gentlemen, there is a single seat remaining!!!!!!!! I can not believe the nerve!!!!! I patronize The Count Basie in Red Bank, The State Theatre in New Brunswick, The Wellmont in Montclair, and the Bergen PAC in Englewood (all in New Jersey), and I have never been treated like this before where I was refused when I wanted to buy tickets to a show. I will never patronize this theatre again!!!!!!!! So the moral of the story is that if you see 3 seats and you want 2, you had better adopt a baby fast so that you can see the show that...

Overall it was a great experience. I don't know if it were my aging ears, my seat (3 rows back stage left, handicapped) but the sound seemed unbalanced. It was not to loud, but at times "muddy". Again, it could have been our seats or sound board issues. Great show overall.

For regular attendees or handicapped. While sitting in front of the venue we noticed what looked like a clever solution to the parking issue. There were multiple black limo bus' that were doing people at the entrance and awaiting their exit. I'm guessing it's a park and ride or shuttle. This is a very busy part of Morrison and the combination of dinner rush and showtime, parking seemed the only real concern. Do you research, I didn't because we were told about the reserved handicapped parking.

Handicapped /ADA attendees:

As for handicapped parking, they have reserved spots on the side of the building but no "clear entrance to get a v reticle vehicle into a the lot. (Sign on south street was one way, exit only, no entry)

After driving around the block a few times couldn't find it didn't seem to have an obvious entry point to their reserved handicapped parking spots)

We were however fortunate enough to get the spot in front of the venue (library side of South Street) an hour and a half before the show. Fortunately, our spot (although typically a 2 hour time limit) was free from 8-10.

In summary

Overall great experience, awesome staff clean bathrooms, and comfortable seating. If you get seats closer to center stage rather than stage left or right, you might have better sonic experience..

Strongly recommend going early, finding a lot or other transportation means and you'll find it's a very professional venue and intimate considering the great shows...

We saw magician Mike Super today. Awesome show, and the bonus was that he’s really funny. We saw jaw-dropping magic tricks while also laughing like we came to see a standup comedian.

The theater: It's beautiful, manageable in size/not overwhelmingly large and seemed well-run with very friendly employees… but I don't understand why both of the concession stands upstairs for the balcony were closed, leaving only ONE open downstairs for what seemed like a nearly sold out audience and only a 20 minute intermission. It was utter mayhem even trying to get to the end of that line, so I gave up on my desperate thirst for some water.

We also felt like the lighting left something to be desired. When Mike walked into the audience area a number of times, there was no spotlight to see what he was doing, they only raised the house lights slightly, which didn’t do much for us balcony folks.

Some of his onstage acts could’ve also used spotlighting or more frequent closeups on the big screen for the balcony too. (One prime example was when an audience participant apparently had singed hands after one of Mike’s tricks but we couldn’t see that at all).

That said, we would still come back to see another show. Maybe just make sure we don’t sit in the balcony… and bring a small bottle of water, even though they say it’s not allowed. No one checked my bag, however, and I regretted not even trying to...