While I agree that Civic can put on some great productions, their quality consistency is not always great, which explains my three stars, since it's right in the middle.
To speak to the positives first:
Spokane is ripe with talent, including directing talent. I know I can always expect exceptional blocking and plot development when I see Kathie Doyle-Lipe's or Troy Nickerson's name on a production. The leads are almost always exceptional, and typically the chorus and support cast is towards the higher end as far as talent. The musicians in the pit orchestras are also consistently good to great depending on the show.
The negatives:
Production quality is severely lacking at Civic (as of 2014). I attend several shows each year and the sound quality is consistently terrible, especially in their musicals. Not sure if a better investment in sound equipment or an investment in better sound technicians would fix the problem, but it's incredibly distracting, and very disappointing when it gets to a pivotal moment in a show or a big chorus number and the mics are either blown out, or the EQ is not properly set. At Civic's level there's really no excuse for the mics not to work correctly and the sound quality to be at least semi-professional. I've seen shows towards both the beginning and the end of their runs, and the sound is the same. It's interesting because the people I talk to about civic, sound is consistently a problem that is brought up, both by attendees and cast members. The sets can also either be amazingly professional, or they look like a low-budget poor high school production. So it's a 50/50 shot of one or the other. With their most recent production of Les Miserables, I was especially disappointed with the background set, as it looked like something more from a cartoon version of 'A Christmas Carol" than a production of Les Miserables, which kind of cheapened the show and the effort the stellar cast had put into it.
All in all, Civic is a good theater company with the potential to be great if they invested more in it's sound and set pieces to bring their productions into the level of theater that attendees expect for the price of the ticket. It might be helpful for them to move outside of their own people and bring in some new talent to help, especially as far as tech is concerned. Sorry to put the negatives in there, but the point of Yelp is to give an honest opinion, not just promote the business. Obviously, I still buy tickets to their productions, so I still like the company, just would like to see an effort to grow beyond just changing the look of the building. read more