Attraction of Musicals
Musicals that combine song and dance in a play are wonderful.
Musical films such as La La Land and The Greatest Showman are also brilliant, but once you experience the power of a stage performance unfolding before your eyes, you will want to go to the theater on a regular basis.
Perhaps it’s the concentration on the stage and the extraordinary sensation that one gets from it that makes it so irresistible.
For musical fans, the Shiki Theater Company is a staple, planning and presenting a wide range of musicals, from Disney productions such as The Lion King, Frozen, and Aladdin to Broadway productions such as The Phantom of the Opera and Wicked.
Many people must have seen TV commercials and train advertisements and thought, “I would like to see this show at least once“.
I, for one, have been interested in Shiki Musicals for some time, and I would check out the seats and say to myself, “I’m going to see a Shiki Musical!” However, the S and A seats were always full, and I was one of those people who gave up, saying, “I can’t get good seats, so I’ll do it another time…“
After this situation continued for a while, “I’ll definitely get a ticket this time!” and accessed the website on the day the general sales ban was lifted, only to find that all the S seats had been filled.
“Maybe it’s because they are popular dates, like weekends and holidays?” I would like to tell those who think so.
Most of the A seats, let alone the S seats, were filled for all of the lectures over the course of several months, including two performances.
To someone who is used to musicals, this might be dismissed with a “Of course! but for me, it was a shocking fact.
Although there may be exceptions depending on the performance, it is a fact that “it is almost impossible to secure S seats in the general sales“.
In other words, if I am particular about the seat, I will not be able to enjoy the performances of the Shiki Theatre Company for the rest of your life.
What is the “Shiki no Kai”
“I wonder if they are bought up by industry insiders like baseball season seats?” I was joking with a colleague at work, “You can even buy the Shiki Theater Company’s S1 seats before they go on sale to the general public!” I was surprised by a sudden remark from a junior colleague.
According to her, if I join the “Shiki no Kai (Siki’s Fanclub),” you can make an advance reservation before the general public tickets go on sale, and you can also purchase seats at the member rate.
I remember reading on the Shiki website that such benefits are available, but “how can tickets costing 13,000 yen per person for peak S-seat dates sell out that fast?” I asked.
There are more than 200,000 members of the Shiki Theatre Company in Japan, and many of them go to see the same show multiple times, so “the S seats for most shows are gone before they go on sale to the general public!”
The Shiki Master, who herself has been a member of the Shiki Theater Company for a long time and was more eloquent than usual, completely debunked my argument.
I felt a little bewildered, thinking that I could have had a better business meeting with her if she had explained the situation to me as she did in his usual work.
After returning home, I immediately said to myself, “I’ll take the full course because I want to see the show in Tokyo, and since I don’t need the newsletter La Alpe by mail, I’ll take the web member!” I will join the Shiki membership.
The annual fee is 2,200 yen, including tax. Since the membership discount is available, I am glad to know that I can return the annual membership fee for one performance if two or more people in S-seats see the play.
Fighting the Master of Shiki Theater Company
Finally, the day of the ticket battle.
Even though the tickets are only sold to members in advance, I have to fight against more than 200,000 other Master of Shiki Theater Company nationwide.
Despite it being a holiday, I finished my morning preparations and waited for 10:00 a.m. as if I were going to work.
I had a few minutes to spare, so I opened my computer after making another cup of coffee, only to find that an unfamiliar update had started, delaying my access to the Shiki Theater Company website by a few minutes.
“A little late, but it should be fine!” I visited the site, but lo and behold, I got an alert saying, “The site is very busy at the moment. The site is currently very busy!“.
The situation was worse than the first day movie tickets at 109 Cinemas, and I couldn’t get through even after reloading the site.
I googled the site and found that it is usual for the advanced reservation site to be disconnected, and people who are used to it seem to secure their seats over the phone.
I can call and request anywhere in seat S, but “for this memorable first show, I need to get somewhere around rows 6 to 9, middle 22!” I tried to make the connection several times with enthusiasm.
After waiting for 30 to 40 minutes, I was able to access the advanced reservation site, but by then it was already too late.
Not only were the seats they had targeted, but all the seats near the front of the first and second floors were occupied.
To describe my feelings at the time, I can only say, “I’ll never forgive the Shiki Theater Company that insects of the Shiki management! If this is going to happen again and again, you need to increase the bandwidth on their servers!“
I almost left the group in anger and vigor, but I told them what happened at lunchtime tomorrow, and I couldn’t stand the thought of being enlightened by a junior member of the team.
“Calm down, I’m like Frieza. I had lost when I was a few minutes late…” I consoled myself.
In subsequent advance bookings, I was able to successfully book five popular shows in the “middle of rows 6 to 9,” which is what I was aiming for, but the internet connection delays still persist and are a challenge every time.
“Maybe it’s time to start making phone reservations…”
