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Michael Grade and his "Customers"

AddicktedAddickted
in General Charlton
Not sure how frequently Mr Grade has been coming to The Valley recently. However, the current regime's customer service skills appear to be rubbing off on him.

If you are unaware, Mr Grade is the co-producer of Sunset Boulevard, starring the fragrant Glenn Close making her West End debut as Norma Desmond as part of the ENO production at the Coliseum.

Miss Close has missed several performances and despite the role being ably continued by her understudy, certain customers are obviously miffed that they are paying £150 to see the show without the star performer they were paying their money to see.

Complaints and request for partial refunds were sent to the co-producers in numbers. Instead of a polite refusal, there were responded to with offensively offhand letters that all but told the complainants to piss off and consider themselves lucky they got to see any show at all.

I understand that this response has upset a few regulars who are looking at collective litigation. I shall be watching with interest.

Comments

  • LincsaddickLincsaddick
    There's been similar problems with Sheridan Smith in 'Funny Girl' .. tricky situation .. is there a premium on tickets simply because a 'star' is due to appear or is the stated price the 'going rate' .. I suspect that any action seeking refunds will be unsuccessful, there is almost certainly a clause in the ticket buying 'contract' covering Grade and co ..

    Similarly, you buy a ticket to see (say) Arsenal play CAFC at the Valley in the F A Cup and Wenger picks his reserves .. would you be able to claim a refund ? .. no is almost certainly the answer
  • BangkokaddickBangkokaddick
    I remember many years ago being disappointed that Richard Beckinsale pulled out of the performance of Funny Peculiar that I saw. However the stand-in was excellent and his absence was soon forgotten. The show was stolen, however, by a young Northern actor called Matthew Kelly!
  • adsads
    edited May 2016
    Bangkokaddick said:

    I remember many years ago being disappointed that Richard Beckinsale pulled out of the performance of Funny Peculiar that I saw. However the stand-in was excellent and his absence was soon forgotten. The show was stolen, however, by a young Northern actor called Matthew Kelly!

    Are you sure you hadn't dreamt this....Matthew Kelly? Star of Game For A Laugh? Saw him in Dick Whittington last year and he was easily outclassed by Keith Chegwin and Jimmy Krankie
  • KiwiValleyKiwiValley
    Watch out for Chatlton Athletics latest production Les Miserables.

    starring
    Roland Duchatelet
    Katrien Meire
    Dick Murray
    Delort's Dad
    Colin
    A cast of a thousand network players
    Six Coaches
    And just 2% of Charlton fans
  • FiiishFiiish
    mogodon said:

    In fairness to Grade in this instance, people bought tickets for the show and not for a certain cast. Absences happen and in my experience stand-ins are usually excellent. The terms and conditions are clear and while hugely disappointing for those who only wanted to see Close, it happens. At least the theatre replied (something not known at Charlton) and I can't see any of the replies were offensive so much as factual and curt. It's a bit like buying a ticket to watch Barcelona and then asking for a refund because Messi wasn't playing.

    I take your point and theatre is about the whole cast and the show itself, not just one actor, but they cannot justify asking for £150 a ticket unless there is a big name on the bill. And even though you correctly say absences happen, what percentage of performances are being done by stand-ins? If it is larger than normal then cynics might suggest that the big name actor is being used purely to pump up ticket prices and there was every intention that the actor was going to miss quite a few performances. Stand-ins should only be used because the actor genuinely cannot do the performances, not because they are picking and choosing which nights to perform. Otherwise genuine case of false advertising, surely?
  • StigStig
    Bangkokaddick said:

    I remember many years ago being disappointed that Richard Beckinsale pulled out of the performance of Funny Peculiar that I saw. However the stand-in was excellent and his absence was soon forgotten. The show was stolen, however, by a young Northern actor called Matthew Kelly!

    Were his opening lines, 'Tonight audience, I'm going to be Richard Beckinsale'.
  • AlgarveaddickAlgarveaddick
    I once went to see "Cooking with Elvis", a four hander starring Frank Skinner. On the (Thursday) night we went Frank was absent, as was Joe Cafferty, the other male lead. So 50% of the cast was missing, and I subsequently found out that Frank never appeared on a Thursday because he was filming Baddiel and Skinner Unplanned. I made a complaint (as they knew when they sold me my ticket that the main star would be absent) but they didn't give a monkeys.
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  • golfaddickgolfaddick
    mogodon said:

    In fairness to Grade in this instance, people bought tickets for the show and not for a certain cast. Absences happen and in my experience stand-ins are usually excellent.

    I once saw a show in London purely because it was closing early due to poor reviews after I had thought it sounded rather good "An Italian Straw Hat" it should have had Tom Conti in the leading male role but he'd buggered off after a few weeks & by the time I saw it the understudy was making a great go at it............no idea to this day who it was, but it was a great show.
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