Madrigal Dinner (and how the TBO Sucks)

To continue our annual tradition, we went to Madrigal Dinner last night. I had bought tickets for an entire table for my family and Rita, the McLeans, O'Reillys and the Johnsons. It was gonna be fun and Magda's first Madrigal experience.

Buying tickets for Madrigal has become an ordeal, since they sell out so fast. I did not realise that you now seem to be able to buy them online, so Meredith did the usual thing of lining up at the the Erwing Center box office bright and early when they went on sale. It turned out that the line was so long, she called me to try getting the tickets over the phone. So I called the Texas Box Office and after sitting on hold for some 15 minutes I got through.

I put in order for 10 tickets for the best table available on Saturday (this was table "V" - actually fairly far back) to be mailed to my house. After waiting a couple of weeks with no tickets arriving, I called back a week ago to verify everything was OK. They appologized that "somehow" the tickets were marked for "will call" and to pick them up at the Texas Union Ballroom before the show. But when I showed up at the register yesterday, the teller took a look at my name and directed me to the suit in charge. He had my ticktes (yay!), but the were for the night before! And, unlike in years past when we used to accomodate mistakes like this by setting up an extra table, they couldn't set up a table for us due to fire codes, etc.

And apparently I wasn't the only whose tickets got screwed up by the TBO (but the only one holding ten tickets). I was pissed! I felt responsible for ten people, including a guest from Brazil and my mother-in-law who'd just spent the week being very helpful at our home. And half the people in our group had been helping make Madrigal happen for many, many years (two former producers, several former singers, actors and serfs, and I'd been hosting their site for years now). We did get some chairs against the back wall and the Madrigal crew and catering came through for us by serving us entertainment and food (after we had gorged ourselves on Wendy's food from downstairs). So I can't stay mad at them, but I'm still very pissed at the Texas Box Office -- what a bunch of incompetent losers.

I'm curious how much hassle they'll give me about refunding my tickets. I have no qualms about doing a charge-back on my credit card, complaining to the Texas Union management or even taking them to a small claims court. In the future, I'll strongly avoid ordering from the TBO over the phone.

As for the play itself, I wasn't quite able to follow the plot, sitting in the back and dealing with the baby. But they were getting laughs and and seemed to have a good time. And the singers were very enjoyable, both on stage and when wenching around the tables. We even got to hear a new song.

Madrigal dinner 2004 Photos.