Flynn Center For the Performing Arts

The Flynn is okay. They often get some pretty cool things to visit Burlington. I definitely like that aspect. It is nice and historic which is also neat.
However there are a few points — I must mention:
If you purchase tickets for pick up at Will Call you must wait in this amazing line at the time of the event. The line is often a disaster. There are some octogenarians attempting to guide the people in line, but most of theses octogenarian guides seem lost and confused themselves… Perplexed at the line and as to why it happens; like they have never seen it do this before. Yet every time I visit I stand in this line — I expect it.
As much as I enjoy the curious looks on the confused faces of these cute guides, the Will Call problem could be fixed by having more windows open for pickup. I went to the David Sedaris show and they only had two windows open. The show had to be delayed because of this line. If they planned in advance for the amount of people picking up at Will Call, things would go much easier.
Once inside the seats are comfortable and the flow of people seems to work well, but the acoustics are muddled. I have been to over a dozen shows here in the past few years and every one has an echoey mud sound to it. What a shame in such a cool space.
I have found that seats near the front center of the balcony sound best for orchestra performances. And seats on the bottom left and right sound best for spoken performances, like Garrison Keillor
Because of the strange sound I always check out what the ceiling looks like. It’s huge and full of stained tiles. Is there a water problem up there? Mold perhaps? What’s happening up there? Why are those tiles still there?
The staff always seem so concerned and over taxed, even though there are dozens of them. What are they all doing? Why are so many of them people’s grandparents? Don’t be so concerned. The Flynn is not a big deal. It’s fine. Don’t worry.
It’s all so unknown, except for the line thing.
Go to the Flynn. It is cheap and always an experience regardless of what the event is.

Vermont is pretty low on places like the Flynn. It’s easy to feel cut off from the rest of the world here. The Flynn brings in performers from outside the state, often world-​class performers, so people don’t go completely stir crazy. Tickets are not cheap, but it feels like they are competitive with other similar places elsewhere. The main hall is clean and adequate to see performances. Not too big or too small. There is another performance space next door for small performances (usually local ones).

I love just knowing the Flynn is there. They draw a lot of interesting shows and every year I find a few that are interesting to me. Going to the Flynn is a treat of sorts in this way. I always have a good time and always leave thinking I should go to the Flynn more often.
I don’t like the surcharge for buying tickets online and it is not always convenient to go to the box office. I usually buy tickets at the box office, though, because I can select my exact seats. I do like that one can select exact seats online now. This seems to be a new feature or maybe it is only available for certain events but it really makes me wish the surcharge for buying online didn’t exist.
Other than that, bravo Flynn. You provide a nice evening’s worth of entertainment.

After seeing the Titanic this past weekend I am a fan. (Keep in mind that this review will ONLY be about the theater and NOT the performance on stage!)
So the theater really has that old style feel to it. This is something that I really enjoyed about visiting this past weekend. Its dark, red and a pretty good size! The seats are setup on away that you can see with just about anyone in front of you. Lighting and sound quality for the stage is also pretty good.
The ushers at the venue where pretty friendly and helpful. They will point you in the right direction to your seat.
My only complaint are the seats… They are way to small. I stand at 6 foot 3 inches tall. So sitting here for anymore than an hour can become unconformable. I think with the the rates of tickets they should be able to get better seating with more room.
Other than that the theater is very fun to visit! We look forward to our next visit at the end of May!

The Flynn brings some incredible acts to Burlington, no one will deny that. The building itself is lovely, but that’s where the compliments stop. Tickets are super overpriced, especially for an organization claiming to be nonprofit, and especially considering that unless you are a member, you will be getting terrible seats because the members get to buy first, months in advance. Their system of selling tickets is antiquated and frustrating, I can only imagine more so for their members who must fill out paper order forms to get their member discounted early tickets. For the rest of us, there is the option to buy online with exorbitant fees or attempt to call or go to the box office, where the very sweet but untrained box office staff will be completely confused by any interaction that is not extremely straight forward. You will not be able to get folks on the phone in a timely fashion, ever, and when you do, the answer that person gives you is in all likelihood, dead wrong. Their website is atrocious and flashy and difficult to navigate. It is becoming increasingly difficult for local theater to to try and do shows with them because of the expense. I would guess that this huge money suck comes largely from the worst kinds of inefficiency and the reliance on thinking they don’t have to try because of the intrinsic value of arts. I, for one, will take my money elsewhere.

if you get a chance to see a show here check it out. place is fantastic.