The original Spamalot had castle towers at either side of the proscenium. When I saw it from the outside end of row B, I was mostly behind the stage-left one, so I saw half of the stage. That was a premium seat for the whole run.
Among current shows, from front side orchestra I felt that The Outsiders was directed/designed very strongly toward the middle of the orchestra and nowhere else.
Making sure all of the fringiest seats (of which my Outsiders seat wasn't remotely one) have as much view as possible is probably a losing battle. In some theatres, the outer ends of the orchestra are WAY outside the proscenium (looking at you, St. James). But at the very least, in today's one-price orchestra world, someone needs to be checking and reducing prices when what they're offering is less than the full experience. |
