Review: KA, Revisted

More than a year ago we saw KA at MGM. We thought it was spectacular and we’ve been anxious to see again since, but we wanted to wait until discounted tickets were offered to locals. It took sometime, but 50% off tickets finally became available. Initially, I planned to get tickets for April, but when I realized that wouldn’t be possible. I called and reserved tickets 3 days in advance. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to select seats; I was told that the discounted tickets are automatically chosen. Best available seats for Friday’s 7pm performance were in section 103, Row P, seats 20-21. I questioned whether or not the seats were toward the center of the theater or on the outer edge. I was assured by the ticket agent that they were toward the center so I purchased the tickets at $68.75 each.

When we arrived to the theater I was disappointed to learn that I was misled. The seats were the last two in the outer aisle. Luckily, there were no obstructions. We were able to view the entire performance and from that perspective we also saw the moving parts of the stage. Nonetheless, I would’ve preferred and I recommend centrally located seats.

The show got started a couple minutes late. Then, ten-minutes into it, it appeared that something was wrong… sure enough, an announcement was made that they were experiencing technical difficulty and a short pause was in order. About five-minutes later, another announcement was made inviting us to the lobby for a brief intermission. People were confused, we overheard a few ask staff whether or not this was part of the show. After a twenty-minute lull the show resumed. The cast picked up where they left off, but the flow was interrupted and it really hurt the performance. The crowd was very disconnected. It became awkward at the end; the cast appeared for applause, but the theater was quiet. After the show we felt like we had witnessed both the best and worst performances of KA. Also, we were a little surprised to see that no changes had been made to show since we last seen it. Overall, we didn’t enjoy it nearly as much the second time around and I feel for the folks who paid full price because we did not receive a top-notch performance.