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A 'Wicked' Disappointment

Via Web, A 'Wicked' Disappointment
Boston Globe
By Andrea Estes, Globe Staff | May 8, 2006


She made special plans for her daughter's 21st birthday. She ordered tickets online, flew from her home in Chicago to Boston with her other daughter to meet the birthday girl, a Wellesley College junior, and took them all to a matinee of the Broadway smash ''Wicked" at the Opera House.

But that was where the fun ended. When Sharon Parker arrived at the will-call window and asked for the three $120 tickets she had ordered online, there were none waiting. The confirmation number on the receipt she had printed out and brought with her only baffled the theater's staff.

''I was in shock, totally in shock," she said. ''I had in my hand an order, yet they had nothing for me. It was horrible. My daughter was standing in the lobby crying."

Stories like Parker's have been multiplying in Boston lately, theater operators and city officials say. And, because Mayor Thomas M. Menino happened to be entering the Opera House with his wife, Angela, when the Parkers' drama was unfolding in the lobby, the city has now embarked on a crusade to discourage deceptive ticket-sellers.

Saying he was horrified by the incident, Menino has asked Patricia A. Malone, director of the Mayor's Office of Consumer Affairs and Licensing, to meet with all the city's theater operators and develop regulations to help combat unscrupulous ticket-sellers. She plans to ask the theaters to take down the names and addresses of victims, and report the incidents immediately to Boston police.

''We want to know why so many tickets end up being sold on the Internet," said Malone, whose office has received many complaints about ticket brokers. ''I want to know how people are buying bogus tickets or paying for tickets that aren't the ones they ordered. I want to know how this happens so it doesn't happen again."

The problem of fake or double-sold tickets has been especially common for performances of ''Wicked," a wildly successful musical adaptation of Gregory Maguire's revision of ''The Wizard of Oz," theater operators said.

''It breaks your heart," said Drew Murphy, president of Broadway Across America Boston, which owns the Opera House and operates the Colonial Theater and Charles Playhouse. ''They have phony tickets or we'll have three or four people coming with tickets for the same seats. It kills us."

It could also kill tourism, or at least spread bad feelings about Boston when the victims are out-of-towners, city officials worry.

In the Parkers' case, they tried for an hour to find someone outside the theater who wanted to sell extra tickets.

Menino dispatched an aide, who appealed unsuccessfully to theater personnel to find someplace for the Parkers to watch the show. Just before the curtain, a theatergoer gave one spare ticket to a police officer who was directing traffic outside. Justine Parker, the Wellesley student who was celebrating her 21st birthday, went in alone. Her mother and distraught 12-year-old sister, Katie, wandered in the rain. They found an early flight out of Boston.

Menino said he planned to contact the family. ''It makes you feel so bad," he said.

Officials of the ''Wicked" tour said they have tried to alert the public to website scams, issuing press releases telling consumers that there are only two legitimate ways to buy tickets -- either from the box office or from Ticketmaster.

The Parkers bought their tickets from WickedTickets.com, a site that popped up first in a Google search using the words ''Wicked" and ''tickets." The site features the ''Wicked" logo and a drawing of a witch with the caption ''Wicked: The Untold Story of the Witches of Oz." The Parkers said they thought they were buying from the official ''Wicked" website. And they did not realize the $120 price per mezzanine seat was substantially higher than the face value of tickets to the show, which range from $30 to $90.

Officials of WickedTickets.com, based in Houston, have apologized to the Parkers. They have also added a disclaimer to their Web page, noting that it has no official tie to the musical.

''We really do our best to be upfront with the customers," said Jim Barr, the company's chief financial officer.

He said a former employee failed to process the Parkers' ticket order. ''I'm so sorry that it happened," he said. ''We're going to contact Ms. Parker immediately and let her know she can get a refund."

The story may have a happy ending.

Both the Opera House and WickedTickets.com said they would offer the family free tickets for another ''Wicked" performance.

''We have extended an invitation," said Ann Sheehan, spokeswoman for Broadway Across America Boston. ''Sharon is thrilled."
Andrea Estes can be reached at estes@globe.com.