Alhambra News – Alhambra Theatre & Dining

The Passing of a Legend

Mark Berman — Tue, 31 May 2022 18:38:07 +0000

In memoriam of Theodore (Ted) Johnson, founder and creator of the Alhambra Theatre.

In the mid-1960s Ted Johnson made the decision to devote his time and resources to providing a professional-level entertainment resource for the good people of Jacksonville, Florida.

"...he opened the then-named Alhambra Dinner Theater and brought in the crème de la crème of Hollywood Royalty to perform the most modern shows of the era."

In 1967, he opened the then-named Alhambra Dinner Theater and brought in the crème de la crème of Hollywood Royalty to perform the most modern shows of the era. It was because of his business savvy and dedication that the Alhambra was so successful, and using his blueprint, subsequent owners have continued Ted’s original vision of offering a high-quality live theater experience at accessible prices.

"Millions of date nights have been held between these walls, proposals made on our stage, and anniversaries celebrated at our tables."

In many ways, Mr. Johnson, by opening Alhambra, has been a friend to and of multiple families. Like myself, many employees have been here for decades. Many employees met their future spouses here. Many customers met their film and TV star idols here. Millions and millions of date nights have been held between these walls, proposals made on our stage, and anniversaries celebrated at our tables. Countless acting careers have been launched here, giving rise to future members of Broadway stages, national tours, and film and TV sets. Names like Betty Grable, Leanza Cornett, Michael Learned, and Jamie Farr have graced this very stage.

While we certainly mourn the loss of such a visionary gentleman, we celebrate what he has done for our City. Many people, including the author of this piece, owe more to Mr. Johnson than even he was probably aware of. We, here at Alhambra, thank him. We thank him for his talents. We thank him for his insight. We thank him for his legacy.

Written by Becky Uibel, Box Office Manager

How to score tickets to a SOLD OUT show at the Alhambra!

Mark Berman — Fri, 23 Oct 2020 18:39:14 +0000

Each year, and especially this year (thanks to Covid), several of our shows have sold out fairly quickly. We don't take this fact for granted and it's because of you - our loyal guests and Season Partners - that we can attribute this success. Now, we encourage everyone to book early, however, there are many who at the opening of the show are still looking for tickets. To these last-minute buyers, we dedicate this blog post!

We are familiar with the drop in your stomach feeling when you see that SOLD OUT banner across that show you've been itching to see! But unfortunately, whenever you see that SOLD OUT banner across a show, it means we either have a few single seats or we have zero seats available. The Alhambra Theatre is a rare breed in that we are a totally ticket-less venue. So if you are looking for seats, most third-party sites or persons offering an after-market ticket sale are fraudulent. There is no way to ensure that their reservation is transferred to a different party. For example, Sally could sell you her seats, take your money and show up anyway, check-in under HER name and spend your cash on a nice bottle of wine - leaving you trying to check-in under her name at the podium and "holding the bag." With that being said, the best way to score tickets to a sold out show is to call us or check frequently online to see if there have been any cancellations leading up to your desired show date. People cancel or reschedule their reservation for all sorts of reason - illness (please reschedule if you are ill!), change of plans, no babysitter, etc. Whatever the reason, we pride ourselves on being the only venue in town that doesn't penalize you for cancelling, even at the last minute. Although our tickets are non-refundable, and we do charge a day of show transfer fee, for those who give us at least a 24-hour heads-up, we offer a full reimbursement to their Alhambra account as a House Credit. These credits never expire and can be used for any future show.

The best way to score tickets to a sold out show is to call us or check frequently online to see if there have been any cancellations leading up to your desired show date.

This means that every so often, we will have seats come available at the last minute - from a few days before or the day of the show - and that can mean a big score for someone who has been calling and waiting for that perfect opening. This also means you have to be flexible... but we promise it will be worth it! Because of how strange this year has been, we had more cancellations than usual, BUT many diligent people called in and booked great seats for sold out shows like Cinderella and Grease.

So while we do recommend you book early (and often), for those who love the thrill of booking a last-minute date night or girl's night - remember this one thing, CALL US!

How We Pick Our Season Schedule

Mark Berman — Mon, 12 Oct 2020 19:13:47 +0000

Picture this: 10 people – some theater people by trade, others simply business people, others marketing people. This group sits around a room calling out show names. One person writes them on “sticky notes,” and places them on the wall, to collate and memorialize the titles. Eventually there are 20 or so titles from which to choose, all fantastic shows in their own way.

There were more titles shouted, but not all of them make the short list. “We did that show in 2007,” yells our official historian, Becky. “And we did that one in 1986, and people loved it.” “Yeah! Let’s do that one, I loved that show,” barks another regarding a separate title. Invariably, someone yells out “I know if we did High School Musical again, we would sell it out. It was just bad timing.” It’s always the marketing guy, Mark, who wants to prove it was a fluke that his daughter’s favorite show didn’t draw the crowds we draw today. Usually someone agrees, then we all laugh and move on, knowing the show will probably never again make the cut.

Eventually, the group narrows the show list to about a dozen. Most of them are musicals. We try not to repeat a show any more recently than five to seven years, and that’s where the biggest challenge comes in. For example, over the last decade we have tried to include the crowd favorite, Fiddler on the Roof, and yet each time when we’ve called to get the rights, the show has been scheduled either for Broadway or for a national Broadway tour, which immediately pulls the show off the market for the entire country of theaters like the Alhambra.

Our methodology is admittedly part science, part guessing, and part luck. It’s like trying to read the mind of 50,000 people who trust us to select great shows. Our first line of defense is always, “We know our audience will love this show.” Those go on the A-list. The next conversation is usually, “if we can get it, will the audience will love this show, or is it a little too outside the box of our usual fare?" This is typically a show like Tennessee Williams’ Glass Menagerie, which we are featuring in 2021. Those of us the in the room know it’s a great show. We remember the movie, and it was wonderful. But will a straight drama “sell” at The Alhambra. Well, there is really only one way to find out! Our summer family shows are always a fun one to debate. Honestly, the list is far shorter than you’d think. This year’s summer show, Seussical the Musical was actually our second choice, but the first choice is currently on tour, so here we are – and joyfully! We had a blast running Seussical the first time we did it (which was longer ago than we remembered), and we’re eager to run it again this summer.

“It's not as easy as it sounds! A lot of factors go into picking a season.”

There are other factors: the size of the cast, the reality of the the set designs, etc. For example, we’ve never been able to run Peter Pan because we have a low fly gallery, also known as the gallery or catwalk above the stage floor from which counterweight and rope rigging is operated. Often, we try to find a “star” vehicle in which we feature a popular actor. Thankfully for them, with the advent of streaming TV there is so much work out there for them, it is actually hard to find actors of that caliber these days who are looking for work.

After all of this, we finally have a season selected and then we go immediately into renewal mode for our Season Partners. This year more than ever, the Alhambra is going to need as much support as possible. So, we hope to see you at the Alhambra – and now you know a little bit of our secret!

Rallying Through A Pandemic

Mark Berman — Mon, 12 Oct 2020 02:25:39 +0000

We’ve all read the headlines. We know the stories and we understand the health and economic issues that have come with the COVID-19 pandemic. There are, however, some uplifting stories - and we have had many right here at the Alhambra. This story is about coming together and supporting one another in times of crisis.

We often say that our Alhambra guests and staff are like family to us. Since we all came together 10 years ago to “save” the theater, the feeling of family has never been more evident or proven until now. Most people don’t realize we actually employ more than 90 people. Our guests know our box office staff and see our servers and servers assistants. They certainly see our actors, but behind the scenes (quite literally!), we have set designers, costume makers, cooks and chefs, bakers, dishwashers, housekeepers, launderers and finance people. It’s our own economic ecosystem; one which depends on their paycheck from the theater to pay their bills and feed their families. Some of these folks have been with us for more than 40 years.

It was a big undertaking to provide curbside takeaway. It was another undertaking to open only for dinner. However, the biggest hurdle has been re-opening with limited capacity. Over the last few months, we've had to re-seat more than 50,000 people across five shows and seven months of our season - which has kept our box office pretty darned busy. And when we added matinee performances to accommodate the seats we sold, our actors had to agree work the extra shows. Not one person across the entire company thought twice.

We've kept the Alhambra open through the pandemic not to turn a profit, but to keep our family of staffers healthy – physically and fiscally. And that wouldn’t have happened without the amazing support of our guests – the other part of our family. Yes, we had to adapt as a business, but our guests had to adapt as well, and we respect and appreciate the effort they made, too. Without them, we would not have survived.

There were lots of curbside dining options, and our guests chose us. There were lots of options with restaurants offering curbside and outdoor dining options. Then, and even when restaurants could reopen and seat at 50% capacity, and our guests still chose us. Whether they have come weekly or just occasionally, it has been our guests who have made it possible for us to stay the course (even when the course seemed to change by the minute). Every decision we made to stay open was made deliberately and was fully thought through, including installing new processes and enhanced safety. None of these actions were taken lightly, and we like to think it was the trust in those processes that helped our staff feel comfortable to come to work and our guests continue to visit us.

Through all of this, if we came away with anything it’s that family is vitally important to everyone. This theater – this family – is glued together through the trust of each other to do what’s right, what’s safe and sometimes what’s difficult. We are grateful our guests have trusted us as we trust them – they have had to play by the new rules, too! We have no idea what the future looks like, but we know we’re still looking forward to it – just as we look forward to sharing each and every day with our Alhambra family.

More memories will be made. We can promise you that!