(I couldn’t resist the title. Billy Madison fans got me!)
On the night of Wednesday October 28th, 2015, thirty
minutes after the 19th hour (that’s 7:30 PM), a childhood dream of
mine finally came true right before my very eyes...
Kinda.
The Price is Right Live, a
traveling interactive stage show derivative of the most popular gameshow
of all time, came to the Altria Theater at 6 N. Laurel Street. I was invited by some friends at the last
minute so I did no research before going; I just knew the ticket was free (for
me, otherwise they were $35-$55) and I assumed I was seeing the show I had
watched almost every day for years (and then every day I was sick/at home for
any reason during a school day for many many more years) with my grandma.
So you can tell by the title that I’m not thrilled with the
experience. HOWEVER, the title is mostly an ode de Sandler. It’s more intense that my actual
opinion. The show was disappointing in
my opinion, but 1) it was still fun, no doubt; 2) I probably wouldn’t have been
as surprised and disappointed if I had known I was going sooner and actually researched
what the show was; and 3) I should’ve expected many differences given that they
can’t afford the same show you see on TV when you’re traveling around to almost
every major city in the country.
So that being said, here’s my rundown of my Price is Right
Live experience:
We got there and settled in right before the show started. I was there with three friends (numerous others scattered throughout), one of which is a relative of the city fire
marshal. So we didn’t just get to see the madness of the bar lines, we got to
hear about the madness of trying to close some of the bars downstairs because
they were either out of beer and/or they were trying to get people back
upstairs to the seats. We had all
pregamed at Postbellum up the street and walked over, so two people in the
group stood in line and grabbed beers for everybody and then we were good. Plan people!
Drink responsibly J
So the lights go down and we’re so pumped. They go through a few messages, then start a
video highlight reel...
It was all so
nostalgic! I was the biggest dork,
yellin’ and clappin’ and bouncin’ around.
I wished my grandma was there so badly (don’t worry, I don’t mean she’s
passed way, she just wasn’t there). Then
an MC came out to warm the crowd up and introduce the night’s host, Todd Newton. Apparently this gentleman has been on many
shows and interviewed many a celebrity (here’s his IMDb if you’re curious). I cared not. I didn’t even care if it was going to be Drew
Carey. It wasn’t ever going to be Bob
Barker, so I wasn’t ever going to care who the host was.
Then they started the show.
Since the Altria Theater has two balcony sections, they called the
names of the first four contestants to come down to contestants row super early and then filled the time with banter and more videos so the people had time to safely make it down the stairs and to the stage.
According to the announcer, 3600 people gathered in the Altria Theater that night. By the end, only 30 would make it on stage. Whew. The odds weren’t great. But I knew that going in, and was just amped to watch the show. In fact, I openly DIDN’T want to be called to go up because of my stage fright. Sure I’d luv to win some prizes, but not at the cost of haunted dreams and traumatic regret the rest of my life (totally rational fear, obviously).
So they called the first four names and then
went into a breakdown of how the rest of the show would work. The contestants would stand up and go to the bidding stands when the
host said they were ready, they would bid on the prize (with lots of audience
help of course), and if their bid was the closest to the actual retail price
without going over, they got to go on stage to play a game. However, the other three contestants that
didn’t get on stage were to go back to their seats. So unlike the real game where you get to stay
in contestants row until you either get on stage or the show ends, here you had
one shot to get on stage or you were done for the night.
The games they selected to play were awesome. They played Cliffhanger, Any Number, More or
Less, Hole in One (which was a spectacle because the guy playing was obviously WASTED,
even taking his phone out on stage to text while
the host was talking to him…in front of 3600 people), and the oldest favorites
like Hole Punch and Plinko! Although
Plinko was tough to watch because the guy got screwed with prizes/prices he had
to guess in order to get the Plinko chips.
The audience was even wrong every time and getting upset (in the end the
guy got two chips and one went in $100 and the other went in $0…so I guess at
least it wasn’t a total loss).
Side Story: I <3 the lady in the pic above! She got so excited when she went up on stage, her dentures actually flew out of her mouth. She caught them before they fell....but not before the host saw and made fun of her for about 10 minutes. It was cute at first, but she (along with the audience) started to get a little annoyed with the host after awhile.
I knew the prizes had to be different to cater to the lower
budget of this traveling circus, so at least I was prepared to adjust my
expectations for that. The prizes ranged
from an Elvis bobblehead to Coach bags and Kate Spade shoes; from an antique
popcorn maker to a trip to Vegas; from numerous kitchen appliances to a
car. They were very into three things
from what I noticed: kitchen appliances,
women’s designer brands, and novelty items.
But hey, they still had cash, so there was never a chance that there was
nothing a contestant would like.
I think it was after all the games had been played that they
went into yet another video montage of newer highlights from the show. But then it was time for a moment that we (at
least anyone who was a fan of the show) were waiting for: the
big wheel!!
But unlike the game
where the winners from each of the games come back to spin the big wheel,
instead they called up three more random names from the audience.
So to recap: if you’re
called up to contestants row and don’t get on stage – you’re done. If you’re called up to contestants row, win
your way on stage, then do either terribly or awesomely at your game – you’re
done. If you then got called up to spin
the big wheel and went over with your two spins – you’re done. If you won the big wheel, guess what – you’re
still done.
For the showcase showdown they called up yet two more random
names! And they bid on the same
showcase! This is where we would see our
only car of the night BTW, and it was a Chevy…something I don’t hear a lot lol.
And I can’t even remember what the other prizes were (hopefully I will and
update this blog ASAP haha). But I do
remember a guy and a girl were bidding on it.
The girl bid way too low, I think around $11,000, maybe even in the
single digit range. The guy knew what he
was doing and bid just around $2000 shy of what the actual retail price
was. So good for him! And then it was over.
It felt like no time had passed, and that clearly they had
so many more people to call up. But
alas, t’was the end. And I was left
feeling…disappointed. Maybe it was just
because I’m a brat with a highly addictive personality and I just wanted more. And that’s the way you leave ‘em, right? But it was still a good time and very
entertaining. I don’t want that to get
lost in my wishy washy, “meh” reactions.
So maybe my title was a little misleading. All-in-all, it was a fun experience. True fans will like it, but not love it. Kids that don’t have a clue what the show is
will enjoy it because it’s a game show and they don’t know what to expect. So, good times for all! J Yay!
Keep an eye out next year for the Price is Right Live show to come
through Richmond again. And in the
meantime, for any info on upcoming shows at the Altria Theater, click here.
They spelled my name wrong. Sigh. But I didn't win and the Altria is beautiful so who cares?!
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