Ruth Eckerd Hall

"Attended The Florida Orchestra (TFO) concert here. The concert was spectacular as is to be expected of TFO. I am attaching pics of the opening movie theme conducted by a dinosaur. But this review is about the Eckert Hall: While the acoustics are very good, there are major flaws to this venue. Some are unable to be fixed, others are just poor planning by those who manage this facility. Before I explain the major flaws of this venue , I must also acknowledge how very courteous every person from parking attendants to ushers was here. 1. The most obvious flaw is the seating. There is no middle aisle(s). FIFTY seats wide with no escape aisle?! Where IS the Fire Marshall? There is NO way this is a safe layout for access and egress! Does someone have to have a coronary and be inaccessible to paramedics in the middle seats? Or, worse yet, would a fire or other tragedy happen before the city wakes up to demand fixing this unsafe condition? Even the ticket salespeople are very aware of how undesirable it is for people attending. So they have to warn buyers that the more central they sit, the more people you have to climb over to get to your seat. And the closer you sit to the side aisle, the more people who climb over you! With minimal investment, 4 center seats could be removed, and a center aisle can be stepped to safely provide access and egress. Many middle seats are empty due to the nuisance of having to climb over 25 people to get to them anyway! 2. SIGHT LINES not only lousy but are worse for the more expensive tickets?! The stage is FLAT not stepped, so the front 15+ rows are too low to see past the front row of the orchestra! People in the cheaper seats, which are higher up, can see the entire orchestra. How absurd is this? Obviously, this stage was designed for multiple uses, which would require a flat performance for ballets or musicals, etc. So, sadly, with the tremendous talent of 100 musicians, they are stuck with a facility which does not have risers which are common in most orchestral facilities. So sound is great, but you may as well just close your eyes to listen. At Chicago's Orchestra Hall, the front three rows of seats are half price because you can only see the front row of the orchestra. Quite a contrast to Eckerd Hall, where the first dozen rows should be cheapest! TFO is very talented with brilliantly planned concerts. However, to make themselves available, they perform concerts at 3 venues, here at Eckerd, Straz in Tampa, and Mahaffey in St Petersburg. So, while they are smartly being 'local' to each city, they do not have the luxury or expense of a permanent location to be properly arranged. One wonders if a nearby high school auditorium or mega church might be better arranged, have far more comfortable seating with much Safer access and egress."

"Great venue. There was a surprising amount of leg room. Easy parking. Acoustics were awesome! Looking forward to seeing more concerts here in the future."

"Great place to see a show! The sight lines and sound are excellent and the staff is always welcoming. Easy parking and leaving the venue. The drawback to the venue is there are no aisles to break up the seating. The seating goes completely across the auditorium and you must shuffle by everybody to get to the middle."

"What a great facility. The staff was great and very efficient. It was a packed house and despite that fact the crowds were moved in and out very quickly. Barely any wait times for anything. The parking situation was great as well. We went to see Michael carbanaro from the Carbanaro Effect. Great show and that includes the lighting and sound. Definitely will go see another show at this great facility."