Smokey Joe's Cafe Tickets

Sound people were terrible. At least two singers were inaudible throughout the first half of the show, piano and sax volume also too low throughout show. The band was adequate at best. Live music should be at least somewhat inspired, but these guys may as well have been a recording. This show requires very little in the way of sets, but in this case, less IS less. The only thing less in evidence than the sets was choreography. The singing was actually good to very good, when audible, but was wasted in a very disappointing production.

This was not a show worth seeing. I'm very disappointed because one of my all-time favorite broadway songs is from this show. Unfortunately, it was completely lackluster, both visually and vocally. The mics were not working properly and the sound board operator couldn't keep up, so that definitely didn't help. But the voices were mediocre, the costumes were extremely drab, and the scenery - oh wait, there wasn't any scenery...unless you count the single curtain that hung in front of the band. To sum it up, we left 3 songs into the second act, which is something I've never done before!

Audio and lighting were very bad and never in sync. Performances reminded me of a high school talent show. Sorry, but you need to use some more creative backgrounds and some songs we could relate to better and have fun with.

What a beautiful theatre - Utica's Stanley Theatre! It's too bad this production of "Smokey Joe's Cafe" didn't match up with the beauty of this theatre. Next to "Lord Of The Rings: The Musical" in Toronto, this was one of the worst productions I have ever seen. It's too bad because the Broadway cast CD is amazing. This tour didn't hold a candle to it. The majority of the problems were the extremely poor sound and lighting. Too many times during this production, the audience members were yelling to the tech crew! It was ridiculous. During one number - the actress doing her number even yelled at the tech crew! I have never thought to ask for my money back for a stale production - ever! Guess what? I am now! Sound and lights were horrible. As for creativity - 2 or 3 of the singers were great (when we heard them) but the others fell short of their greatness. The choreography, staging, blocking and directing was something out of a high school musical or an amateur show. As for bows, this was a group show. No one should have been the first and no one should have been the last to bow. They should have had one big bow, gave the orchestra a bow and bowed once again together. Individual bows were so tacky and uncalled for in a group show such as this one. Very disappointed that we drove 1 1/2 hours for this.

Great tunes, Lieber and Stoller were nearly as prolific as Lennon and McCartney, and this group of players simply oozed with talent. Unfortunately, their professionalism was put to the test by a sound and light crew that was appallingly incompetent. The band mix was horrible, and the cast's headsets were consistently off or inaudible for the first several bars of each song. More than once, some beautiful, close four part harmony was reduced to three parts through the sound system. And when they went into the audience, the spotlight operator couldn't seem to figure out who was singing and who wasn't. To their credit, the cast pressed on with enthusiasm and ignored the audio gaffes. They gave 100% and more to salvage what could have been a disaster, and earned a standing ovation at the end. They deserved better.

The singers were very entertaining and obviously enjoyed doing the show. The Sound problems/ inoperative microphones during the first half of the show made it very difficult to enjoy. It is obvious that they didn't do a sound check on all the mikes before whey went on stage.

This could have been a great show, but unfortunately the sound system was not working well. During the first act, it was difficult to hear the singers as their microphones were not working. Since the whole show is singing, this was a big problem.

it was NOT "smokey joe's cafe" - there was no script, none of the "actors" even spoke - all they did was sing to the audience - i felt more like i was at a concert of 9 unknowns!!!