I was looking forward to watch this show after reading marvelous reviews , when it was staged in Mumbai. The Broadway style play, as claimed in the advertisements in all the media was eye-catching and inviting. The moment, I got the first information (report 🙂 ), I booked myself , a friend along with our respective husbands for the show, to be staged on 9th March, 2018.
The venue was on the other side of my small city. I live in the western part while the play was to be staged at ,”The Arena TranStadia”, the other end of the city. It’s almost 17.5 km from my place and as per google maps, the expected travelling time should be around 45- minutes. Keeping a margin of 15 minutes, we started at 4 PM. As we were nearing the venue, we could see the building of traffic jam. Thankfully, the valet parking was available. Another 15 minutes were spent in getting a ticket, an exercise which should not be there when we have digital proof in mobile. A fancy cover with tickets was handed over. This should be avoided to save paper , environment , unnecessary efforts and time of the people.
Anyway after sorting out all the formalities by moving from one desk to another , holding the prime possession of paper ticket, got our bag checked, we entered the venue. Though, it was mentioned that no eatables and beverages were allowed inside the venue, many people have brought them and there was a pile of eatables and drink bottles on the table. It’s an inbuilt Indian psyche to find ways to break the rule and feel fantastic after being successful in breaking the law. Even the water bottles were not allowed inside and the organizers did not provided free water bottles either, which is expected when one is buying tickets worth Rs.3000 to 15000.
As one enters into the venue after all the exercise, it was soothing to the nerves. It felt like being on the sets of Mughle- Azam. The volunteers dressed in black kurta and white pyjamas were very polite and helpful. The sitting arrangement looked OK, till the play started.
The stage was so low, one always need to continuously adjust the neck to find a place to peep on the main character. The gradient of sitting was much less. Only people sitting in first five rows could be able to have a full view.
Though it was definitely a mega display of technology and talent, the sitting arrangement killed the experience. I was sitting in the platinum category, almost in middle of the hall, the experience was not as grand as it should be.
In my views, the organizers were at fault and they should try to improve upon the parameters for selection of the venue and need to review their commitment towards environment and sustainable living.