Ravinia Offers 2 for 1 Tickets to Patrons Angry at Short Sondheim Concert

Due to patrons' anger at the short duration of a concert celebration of Stephen Sondheim's eightieth birthday, the Ravinia Festival is offering these concertgoers two-for-one tickets to its upcoming production of ANNIE GET YOUR GUN, the Chicago Tribune's Theater Loop blog reports. 

The event was attached to a benefit for 800 guests, who also received dinner; however, other concertgoers were irritated that the evening's entertainment, which featured Patti LuPone, Audra McDonald, Michael Cerveris, and George Hearn, only lasted for sixty-five minutes, despite $125 ticket prices. 

The Ravinia's director of communications, Nick Pullia, told the Tribune, "This is the one fundraiser that Ravinia has for itself...The people who were celebrating at this dinner are a volunteer force who give their money and time to make our school programs happen...We do 100 concerts a year...There's just one that is also a gala. This is an evening about raising money. Perhaps it was our job to better communicate the nature of the evening."  However, regarding the complaints, he said, "We are going to look into all of this."

ANNIE GET YOUR GUN, starring LuPone, will run August 13 through 15.

Photo Credit: Russell Jenkins/Ravinia Festival