Russell Auditorium - Milledgeville, Georgia

Simon Robson

Nice theater on the GCSU campus. The building is pretty historic and well maintained. On the smaller size, but great for local productions. Seating is good anywhere. There is only an entry hall with ticket booths and a couple of bathrooms for the public.... no concession area. Parking is on the surrounding streets.

Kelly L

Lovely auditorium. Visited here for my daughter’s band concert and the acoustics were great, temp was comfortable, place was clean. Bathrooms leave a bit to be desired but it’s an older building so it’s sort of expected.

Sean Basile

Beautiful antique auditorium but the seats are small. I’m a fat guy and I was pretty snug in the seats. Modern audio and intelligent lighting has brought the old auditorium into the 21st century.

Kimani F

It's been a while since I've seen the Nutcracker. Any other time I would've been in the backstage, changing, and preparing my little girl, to perform on stage. This year was a little different because various scenes from other cultures were introduced such as Bollywood (India) and Russia. It was very exciting and I really enjoyed it! Excellent job GCSU!

Annie Bananie

My visit was for the annual production of The Nutcracker. The production was wonderful. The auditorium is a good space, but bathrooms are inconvinient, down very deep steps to basement area.

K.G.

Always love having my daughter's dance recital here ! Always enough room for every one . Good view from every seat and there is enough room in the aisle or front to kneel down and take quick pictures and/or videos without being in the way.

ars5960

While not on the level of the Hollywood Pantageus Theatre in California, or the Orpheum in Phoenix, Arizona (duh), the Russell Auditorium built in 1928, and completely remodeled in 1996, seats 982 people.

From the outside, the rich Southern architecture is clearly noticeable in the red brick, and white columns. But, on the inside, it does lack the zip of a 91 y.o. building. And, is a far cry from the opulence of the Orpheum in Phoenix.

For the 2nd performance celebrating the 23rd Annual showing of The Nutcracker (by the Georgia College Theatre Group, with a guest artist making an appearance, the cast as gone from 40 to 200!), the event drew a very good crowd (over 3/4 full).

While having seen a few live performances in my life, including the Rockettes, Beauty and the Beast, and Shen Yun, this is my first time going to a Ballet :-o.

While the stage settings were nothing too elaborate (except for the growing Christmas Tree), the costumes were done up beautifully (though the one scene of wearing torn jeans, t-shirt and sneakers wasn't part of 1895 Russia).

And despite, a few minor wardrobe malfunctions (a hat, and a couple of head pieces coming off), and misques in choreography (especially in the little ones), the performance was absolutely fantastic!

Though, next year, I will do something different. And, that's not sitting in the first row.

While I enjoy being up front, because no one in front of you), here, being about 6-7 feet from the stage, sometimes there was too much going on to take it all in.

Also, something you would never see at a major production performance, is some of the cast mingling with the crowd (I turned around, and almost knocked over one of the scenes lead ballerina), as there were quite a few relations between cast and members of the audience.

It's unfortunate that tomorrow's matinee is the last performance of The Nutcracker. So, if you can't make it tomorrow, definitely mark it on your calendar for next year.

For the low cost of $12.00 ($8.00 for seniors + $5.00 for GC faculty, students and family), a great time was had by all.

Kate

This theater is part of the beautiful Georgia College campus. The theater department and continuing educating programs are phenomenal. Russell was originally a lecture hall so it can be a little wonky for some productions, but they make it work well.