85 percent unsold

The fall musical posters that are going up around the community today. Taking a page from the great Bud Heidgerken...we will promote, promote, promote! (Click on the photo to enlarge.)

Troubling news for the Fine Arts at B-B-E...at 8 a.m. today I did an analysis of the ticket sales for our upcoming fall musical at Olson Auditorium. Out of a total of approximately 800 seats available across three nights, 85 percent of the tickets are unsold. This would be equivalent to the boys' basketball team having just 90 fans for a home game (in a gym that comfortably seats 600).

B-B-E's fall musical is a delightful and hightly entertaining show called The Addams Family - School Edition that will show on Friday, Saturday and Sunday this weekend. The Friday and Saturday shows are at 7 p.m., and the Sunday show is at 2 p.m. This creates three convenient opportunities to take in the musical. You could even easily, without a doubt, go to the state football game on Saturday and make it back for the Saturday show if you wanted to. (I will do that, you can too!) If the night shows don't work, you can't tell me that you can't make it on Sunday. What on earth could possibly be that important on Sunday afternoon that would prevent you from going to the final show? You can't use the Minnesota Vikings as an excuse, either, because they kick off with Chicago at 7:20 p.m. CST. So, that excuse is out.

If we can't give our musical kids a proper crowd, then what's the whole point? Can you imagine putting a fall's worth of work into a show, and then you end up just showing it to mom and dad and maybe a couple siblings and a grandparent or aunt and uncle. That's it. Really? Hardly anyone from the general community is coming? Because when I look at ticket sales right now, that's what I am being told.

I know families with young children would have to consider how to make the musical work. It's a show that younger elementary kids could see, but with the lack of activities at night this weekend - getting a babysitter is not out of the realm of possibilities! We need to fill out our theater for these musical shows. What type of turnout would make me happy? Well, that's not that hard to figure out. Looking out in the crowd and seeing more empty seats than filled seats is really, really disappointing. In fact, it really hurts a theater student if they see that. It's very depressing. That is something that would be unacceptable. Think about this: right now, 85 percent of the seats are empty!!! Come on!!! We can do better!

You can pre-order your tickets and pay in advance! Pick a night and get it done. Click over here to take care of that: https://tinyurl.com/2kztc3fa. And Yes, you can purchase your tickets when you get to the auditorium. It is recommended that you arrive at 6:30 p.m. or earlier if you haven't prepaid your tickets. Ticket prices: adults $7, children/students $5 and senior citizens also $5.

I spent the better part of my Wednesday night at musical rehearsal, and the kids looked great while going through scenes mostly in street clothes. They are working on timing and some of the mechanics of stage movement, but it has really come together nicely in the past week. Overall, the cast is young, and many of the upperclassmen have three or fewer years of stage experience. They have overcome that in big, big ways. I am supremely proud of what they've accomplished this fall. The 2022 fall musical Anastasia featured the kids I will always refer to as the "Big Three" with Paige Klaphake, Dylan Hirman and Tiyana Schwinghammer. Those three had many, many years of stage experience. They were instrumental in fueling a resurgence in theater interest after the pandemic halted the possibily of a 2020 fall musical. This year we have two students who I am calling the "Big Two" because of all they've done for the theater program. They are the only seniors on the musical roster: Jeffrey Cihlar and Maddy Carroll. They're both simply the nicest kids you could know, and they have brought a friendly and energetic presence to the stage. Any student organization needs that from upperclassmen. This is Jeffrey's second musical, and this is Maddy's first musical, although Maddy was on the stage crew in 2021 and 2022.

Here's a video from rehearsal last night:


I actually have more exciting college athlete notes to go through and write about, but that is going aside for now. I need to figure out how we can sell more musical show tickets.

Huge shout out to Palmer Creations of Glenwood for their super quick turnaround on printing musical posters!!! They are going up around the community today and tomorrow.