How many times has this happened to you? You’ve got tickets for an 8 p.m. show at the Fox. There’s a restaurant nearby you’ve heard of, so you make arrangements to meet your friends there at 6:30 p.m. Unfortunately, so does half the neighborhood. By the time you are seated, you’re starting to sweat a little because it’s after 7 p.m. The kitchen is busy, so the food takes a while to arrive. Now you’re done with your meal, but you only have five minutes to pay the bill, get to the theater and find your seat (not to mention parking). You arrive five minutes after curtain and end up cooling your heels in the lobby until the ushers find a break in the show. It’s embarrassing, stressful and completely avoidable. Next time, buy a Dinner and a Show package.
Frequently, local restaurants partner with the Fox Theatre to offer special pre-theater menus. For one low cost, patrons can purchase a show ticket and a prix-fixe meal. “It’s one-stop shopping,” says Jamie Vosmeier, director of group sales and subscriptions at the Fox Theatre. “You make your dinner reservation and theater reservation at one time, and you pay for it all at one time. The restaurant’s ready for you, so the stress of your evening is taken away.”
Vosmeier says booking Dinner and a Show packages has another advantage patrons may not realize. “It’s done for you weeks in advance, so you’re able to book your Dinner and a Show reservations before tickets go on sale to the public.”
The next Dinner and a Show package is “One Singular Sensational Girl’s Night Out,” which is being offered March 4 and 5 in conjunction with A Chorus Line and Ecco. 5th Group Restaurateur Michael Erickson says the three-course Dinner and a Show menus his restaurants offer have three seatings per night, at 5:30, 6 and 6:30 p.m., and feature signature dishes, such as fried green tomatoes or goat cheese balls with honey and black pepper.
“Being able to pay that one price for a full evening of entertainment is convenient and certainly works with people’s budgets nowadays,” Erickson says.
For more information or to order tickets for Fox Theatre Dinner and a Show packages, visit foxtheatre.org, e-mail foxgroup@foxtheatre.org or call 404-881-2000. For Atlanta Symphony Orchestra packages, visit atlantasymphony.org, e-mail asogroups@woodruffcenter.org or call 404-733-4848.
