Moonlight Amphitheatre — Attraction in Vista

As an avid theater lover, the Moonlight Amphitheater has been my go-to theater for professional grade performances. Their shows are truly phenomenal. I have been consistently impressed by the caliber of voice, dancing, and acting quality they have on the stage. The performance and experience itself is not why I'm leaving a two star review.

I know that COVID has complicated a lot of things within the performing arts industry, but I have been really disappointed in how the Moonlight has handled show cancelations. I know that closing a show because of COVID is unavoidable, but I wish they would have handled all of that better.

This past summer my family and I got ourselves ready to see A Chorus Line. We were in the car, on our way there when we got the call that the performance was canceled. An HOUR before. The refund options were standard, but the kind of disappointment that came with being told it was canceled only an hour before curtain was...a lot. But, it was COVID, so I gave them the benefit of the doubt.

Till today. My mom and I splurged on $85 tickets to see a show at ClubM. It was a valentines day gift for us both. At 3pm on the day of the performance, I go to the website to see when dinner would start only to see a message that the performance was canceled. I don't know how long the message was up there but I had no CALL or EMAIL notifying me. It is 1 hour till the dinner would have started and I still haven't been notified. The number of guests isn't nearly as massive as a normal musical theater show so I am beside myself as to why I still haven't gotten a call. On their website they had a number to call if we needed help, I've periodically called and no one has answered. I don't understand why they have that message up there but no one to actually monitor the phones.

If I hadn't checked the time of dinner on their website, my mom and I would have gotten gussied up and excited only to be met with closed doors at the performance space. To say that this is unprofessional is an understatement. I'm really disappointed. They have a responsibility to notify all of their guests and they didn't do that for me. I didn't come on here to bad mouth them, but I did want to leave a message so that you all know that there is a possibility of this happening to you too. So be prepared for that. Double check your show hasn't been canceled if you book it with them.

I love the Moonlight, but I just hope that you guys come up with a better system to take care of your guests when...

We recently attended the performance of Prince of Egypt. We really enjoyed the show. The music and choreography were great. There was a problem that did not leave us with a good feel. We’ve been attending the moonlight for many years and we’ve never had a problem like this before but, we noticed in our section. There was a huge gap in seating where there was no one sitting. When the show was about to start, we saw many other groups moving their chairs over so they could be closer to center stage. I don’t think that was a big deal since those areas were all empty. So my wife and I moved our two chairs over and before we sat down, we were approached by one of the staff who told us those seats were reserved. And we would have to go back to our original seating area. I guess that wouldn’t have been a big deal except after she asked us to leave, there was still other couples that were still moving their seats over to get a better advantage point. It was very obvious looking around that we were the only two Black people in the venue. I really gotta feel that that was the cause of the situation. Even though other couples were moving to get better seats, she immediately keyed into us and made us go back to our original seating. it gave us a strong field that we have been singled out because of our race.

Photos of the empty seating area are attached. Those seats remained empty throughout the entire performance.

After discussing it with my wife, we decided to attend the last show of our series this year and then never attend the moonlight again. This is unacceptable behavior from any company or venue. And from now on, I would not be referring or advising anyone to attend the moonlight amphitheater. Especially people of color. I give it two stars because the performance was great. But the social environment left us feeling very bad.

I didn’t mind at all going back to our original seat because that’s what we paid for. It’s just very unfair to allow some and just allow others. I think there’s a word for that. It’s called...

This place is amazing…. First time there for an elementary school performance. I was not expecting a professionally equipped and run outdoor venue like this.

Parking was easy and there were multiple parking attendants guiding us to our free parking.

The amphitheater is outdoors and faces a westerly direction, so depending on the time of day, you may have some glare looking onto the stage. The sound system equals that to any concert I have been to.

The restrooms were conveniently located and also handicapped accessible. They had a snack area with food, snack and soft serve ice cream. They had a beer and wine sales (glass or a full bottle) that you could take back to your seats.

The seats!!! They have about ten rows of fixed plastic seats that run the width of the seating area and then they have a large shelf’s that you can put their “provided” beach size chairs on the turf and about two deep or a large family. See my pictures!!

We had a great time and it was very nice. The volunteers who staff the gates and picking up trash are...