We went to the Lion King last night. We ate dinner at Lola's, we enjoyed our goat and trout, Cameron especially enjoyed his chocolate pot de creme, I my pistachio baklava. Cameron looked handsome in his crisp white shirt and tie, I chose to stick with slacks and a green blazer, the photos would have been fun to have. I should have taken a photo of our smiling faces then because once we sat down in our seats at the Paramount we were no longer smiling.Our experience can be described by the following letter to the Paramount Theater manager.Note of caution: if you do not like thinking about, hearing about throw up DO NOT CONTINUE.
Additional side note: We are not child haters, just neglectful parent haters.
For Valentine’s day my husband surprised me with tickets to see The Lion King. We were so excited for the evening to come, to get dressed up and to go out to dinner, to have a special night. Unfortunately, the moment we stepped into our seats at the Paramount this special night started to unravel. Upon reaching our seats we were disappointed to see that a couple with two young children sat behind us. “Brace yourself” was my first thought because I had a feeling the night would consist of incessant talking, whispering, rustling and annoyance. I only wished that I had been correct. Right before the curtain went up that was when the horror began. I heard gagging behind me followed by swearing, and a smell that I still cannot get out of my mind. The young girl was vomiting behind me. If that was not bad enough, she continued doing so for several minutes. She was young and I cannot blame her for what transpired, but how her parents treated the whole situation was jaw dropping. They handed her the programs for her to continue to hurl into and once she finished got up and took her out. I was relieved and although my stomach was churning I was glad they did the right thing and took that poor little girl home. Moments later I quickly found out that I was mistaken and that they had decided to stay. I had to turn around to make certain what I thought was happening was real and there it sat a Ziploc bag full of puke. I wanted to gag, I was angry and the whole performance was then on ruined as that smell lingered in the air and that bag sat under the seat behind me. The whole ordeal was wretched, but had it stopped there I would most likely not be writing this letter. For the rest of the program until intermission we heard coughing, gagging, were hit in the head repeatedly with a bag whenever they thought she was going to throw up again in addition to the usual incessant kicking on the backs of our chairs and inquiring as to when it would be over.
Upon reaching intermission desperate to either leave or find alternate seats we talked to the floor supervisor. She informed us that we could not leave with a refund, get into another viewing of this show later this week or get refunded for the price difference if we moved from our $150 good seats to bad seats. Feeling completely angry, frustrated and ill we moved to the back of the house, very last row where we either had to stand to see or move our chairs into the top of the aisle to gaze downward. The seats we moved to were horrible, but the fact that our special night was ruined is unacceptable. I understand the house was full, that you cannot control who people end up sitting behind, but there should be something called common courtesy and public safety and health where if you child is puking you would be escorted out to the lobby, given a refund or moved so your unfortunate night does not become other peoples too. I would hope that you could find a way to right this wrong for us. We have enjoyed many shows at your venue over the years from Phantom of the Opera to Wicked and never before have we had anything but a pleasurable night.Sincerely,
Lisette