Forrest Theatre

Great place to see Book of Mormon. We were in the rear orchestra area and had great views, where you felt close to the show while being far back. However, during the intermission the line for the bathroom was nuts. I would recommend going to a near by restaurant outside the theater actually in order to make it back in time.

We went to the Forrest on 23 December to enjoy an evening performance of the Book of Mormon. The play was wonderful, just as we’d heard. However that enjoyment was offset significantly by the near 90 degree heat in the theatre. We were in the front of the mezzanine. I can only imagine what it was like farther back in the balcony. To compound the issue of a very uncomfortable temperature, at intermission, I went to get us something cool for us to sip on and was asked for $ 23 to purchase one diet Coke and one beer. I go to sporting events, but this was breathtaking in its greediness and insulting given that I wanted a cool sip to offset the heat in their auditorium.
It’s a beautiful theatre and could be a truly great venue. I hope the renovation taking place in 2016 addresses it’s physical shortcomings and management commits to not letting the experience at their venue detract from the experience of the play.

I came here to see the Book of Mormon with a friend, and I really like this theater! It is a small and pretty intimate space, but I like that when coming to see a play.
The staff and ushers were all extremely friendly and helpful. They have several bars/​snack stands for those who want to buy concessions.
The aisles between rows of seats tend are pretty tight, so if you are tall (I am short, but the person sitting by me had very long legs), you might be a little uncomfortable. I totally understand why the seating area has small aisles, they need to fit in lots of seats, but just note this if you need some extra leg room.
Also, bathrooms are small and the lines can get long. My friend had to take tons of stairs to get to a larger restroom during intermission, and with limited time, tons of stairs and lines for restrooms are not the best combination. I would say that the bathroom situation is my only real issue with this theater.
Our seats were fantastic, we were in the center mezzanine, in the middle of the row, and could see everything! The acoustics and lighting were great, and we enjoyed the performance very much!
I highly recommend coming here if you have a chance/​there is a show you want to see running here. I know I can’t wait to come and see some shows in the future!

I had the opportunity to see Book of Mormon on Friday Night. I scored discounted tickets on Goldstar in the rear mezzanine. I had heard the theatre was pretty small and that every seat was a good one. While this is true, the mezzanine is very steep and compact. The seats are literally on top of each other. I am 5’3 and my knees were hitting the seat in front of me. Thankfully, the three rows in front of us were empty and the people in my row scattered to make more room. My mom and I actually say a seat apart to be a little more comfortable. Concession prices are outrageous but to be expected. The show itself was phenomenal as are most of the shows this theatre has. Acoustics could be better but overall very good. Great $ 9.00 parking garage a few blocks up (very cheap for an evening in Philly).

This is a small and old theatre, that shouldn’t be written off. It has excellent acoustics, and the views from the center is excellent. I sat in the middle of row J, which was definitely not too close, and definitely not too far. The view was excellent. I do agree with other reviewers that the seats are bit on the small side, and I would have liked it if there was a steeper incline to the chairs, so that I could see above people’s heads. Also, it was a little confusing at first as to whether or not everyone was queuing up to enter or just mass walking in. Otherwise I had an excellent time, and it was a great experience.

When choosing seats don’t be afraid of sitting too close. We were in seats H5 & H7, which were great, and I believe that the people in the front were not too close either. I was skeptical of the side orchestra because the center was $ 100 more per ticket. However it was great. I would avoid the last 5 closer to the sides because some of them seemed too far.
If you’re tall enough to be uncomfortable on small planes you’re going to have your legs fall asleep here too. Get an aisle seat, and you’ll be fine.
We arrived 15 minutes prior to the play and were able to get through the crowd and to our seats in under 3 minutes. At intermission, and prior to the play getting concessions was under 7 minutes even though the line was long. Concessions were wildly overpriced, but what theatre isn’t?
The line for the bathroom at intermission was expectedly long, but very fast. Also I’m not sure about the other parts but the left orchestra had doors that opened to the outdoors at the end of the play, which made for a fast exit.
It’s an attractive, clean theatre with beautiful historic details. This would probably be a three, but on a theatre scale where the seats are always going to be too small etcetera, it’s a solid 4.

I saw the Book of Mormon here recently and I was mostly impressed with the theater! It feels really small from the outside, but there are ample seats inside. I thought that the ticket check/​entrance was really efficient when we first entered. But man there are a buttload of stairs in this place! The seats are almost on top of each other and it was pretty tight where we were sitting (but I guess that’s how they fit so many people in). The bathrooms situation was a little annoying — there were limited bathrooms on the upper level where our seats were so I had to go all the way into the basement, but that was like a billion flights of stairs. The sound/​acoustics were great — I could clearly hear and see everything from my upper mezzanine seats. I would definitely come back here to see another production should the opportunity arise!

They make you buy $ 5 souvenir cups and pour beer into them… so yeah be ready for $ 13 bud lights!
Otherwise get there 15 min early at least. Great customer service and friendly staff! Had a great time and great view at the Book of Mormon!

I’m very pleased with the entire day with the exception of the compact seats. The cast was fantastic, the music and stage were great.
The metaphors were very funny. Unless you are a complete «by the book» Christian there is nothing too over the top. Would highly recommend!

I arrived at around 1:35 to see Book of Mormon the day after Thanksgiving. There was a line about a block long to get into the theater. They didn’t even start letting people in until about 1:40. I was told that I didn’t need to wait in the line if I was picking up tickets at Will Call, so I actually managed to get inside pretty quickly.
Once inside, I made it to the balcony and tried to use the restroom before the show. After about fifteen minutes of waiting in line at the restroom because there were only three stalls but a massive line of people, my fiancé and I finally made our way to another line to be ushered to our seats. We waited in this line for about five to seven minutes, when at 2:04 exactly, the usher closed the curtain in front of us and told us that the 2:00 show was starting. There were at least 40 people in the line waiting to be seated and still more people outside the building trying to get in. There had been no dimming of the lights warning that the show was about to start, it just started without notice.
The usher finally gave way after people got really angry and they continued to seat people, but it disturbed the entire first ten minutes of the show for everyone. If you were already seated, you had to move to let people in and deal with flashlights and people walking by. If you were not yet seated, you had to deal with the embarrassment of disturbing other people.
Even if I had arrived earlier, they were not allowing people into the theater until approximately 1:40, so it would’ve done no good. The show was almost sold out, so the theater should have realized that it would take additional time to seat everyone. There is adequate room in the restroom upstairs to build additional stalls, so I recommend that the theater have enough stalls to accommodate all of its guests. Had I known that the show was about to start, I would have left the restroom line and attempted to get into my seat, but no one dimmed the lights to give a warning. There was clearly still a large crowd trying to be seated, but the show started anyway, which was disruptive to everyone and also unprofessional.
I did not leave my seat for the intermission, which was good, because the show again started promptly without dimming the lights to give people notice to head to their seats.
It’s odd to me that a theater that has been around for so long would make such a rookie mistake. I was able to brush off my experience to enjoy the show (which was fantastic), but the seating disturbance was so unnecessary and made so many people angry that I felt compelled to write a review. It would have made no difference to the audience to wait an additional five to ten minutes to finish seating, and in fact, it would have made the first song actually enjoyable.
The Book of Mormon was fantastic, which is the reason why the review still gets two stars.

Whatever you do, do NOT sit in the balcony. The seats are cramped and uncomfortable for anyone over 5’2″. Orchestra seating is much better.

I have a new workout I want everybody to do: it’s called the Broadway Butts (copyright pending) workout. Where we go to Forrest Theatre and others close by and just run the steps from the women’s bathroom in the basement to row P in the mezz. Give me 4 weeks and I’ll carve four inches out of your butt. Seriously, I was puffin’ trying to make it back to my seat when the lights were flickering on and off to warn me that I had like two minutes to sit my ass down before they turned down the house lights making it even harder to reach my seat.
While for the most part this theatre is pretty on par with most theaters (nice staff, $$ bar, tight seating, great Broadway production quality)– the most unfortunate thing about this place is that it’s parked right next to Jefferson Hospital so there were frequent helicopter sounds which were absolutely not part of the musical. Totes threw me off. It would have been great if we were watching South Pacific or something, but out of place in Kinky Boots. It also made it hard to hear the actors. And I swear it wasn’t the pounding of my heart in my ears from running up the 10 flights of steps obscuring the sound. I think.

This theater is awesome. It’s old, but the inside is beautiful. I would hate to see the theater undergo any renovations other than some cleaning, because then it would lose its charm.
I caught «The Book of Mormon» at Forrest Theatre and was not disappointed. But I won’t write about the show other than to comment that it’s amazing, you should see it (provided you are okay with a little — okay, a lot — non-​PC humor) and you should definitely try your hand at the ticket lottery. I had a great seat and when I looked around, I thought to myself that there isn’t a bad seat to be had. The theater is smaller than some other local theaters, so it’s definitely a more intimate setting, but there’s nothing wrong with that.

I went for the first time to watch the Book of Mormon. I’ve seen many shows, this one by far is my favorite, I seriously didn’t stop laughing so hard the entire play.
Keep in mind it is not for everyone though, especially those who get easily offended, if you cannot stand some explicitly, political and religious jokes, then The Book of Mormon is not your cup of tea!
The makers of «South Park» well done!
Three and half Unilocal

A long overdue review for the theatre where I saw my first ever musical performance, And like most people coming out of my era it was Cats! But coming back to enjoy an amazing production of The Book of Mormon provided me with a SERIOUS blast from the past that needed to be recognized, And while I’ve come a loooooong way where honing my musical exploits is concerned since I’ve listened to the songs of Rum Tum Tugger, I got to see how Forrest Theatre still holds up as a timeless treasure.
While I still consider Walnut Street Theater to be the king of the classics; and revel in the more independent productions that spots like Painted Bride, Curio Theater Company, and Azuka Theatre host, Seeing Book of Mormon proved how the Forrest is still the king of hosting the major upcoming big name musical theatre productions in Philly. And while it does showcase a lot of the same flaws that come with housing bigger name productions like uncomfortable seats, overpriced libations and snack items, and overcrowded restrooms during those brief intermissions; the quality of shows that it provides always manages to make all of those experiences worthwhile. Even when you’re caught singing along to the fact that someone still has… Maggots in their scrotum!

Pros: beautiful old theater with great unobstructed views of the stage no matter where you sit. The staff are friendly and helpful.
Cons: hot, cramped, not enough bathroom stalls
We sat pretty far up and back and could see the stage perfectly. The theater loses major points for lack of comfort though. I’m not even that tall and my knees were touching the seat in front of me the entire time. Crossing my legs or trying to reposition wasn’t an option. It was so hot and stuffy that I fanned myself with the playbill half the time. I wanted to drink water to cool down, but knowing how few bathroom stalls there are, I figured that wasn’t a good idea.
Tips: pay extra for the closer/​lower seats. I hear they are roomier and I would think it’s cooler on the lower levels. Wear light clothing because you will get hot. Don’t drink too much because the bathroom situation is kind of a nightmare.

Far and away the best part of the Forrest Theater is that no matter where you’re sitting, you’ll have a clear view of the stage. There are no pesky columns or large bannisters, and rows are staggered significantly so nobody’s head is in your way. On top of that, it’s a beautiful old theater, worth visiting just to check it out.
We were here last night for Book of Mormon, which was as wonderful as everyone claimed. There were only a few frustrating aspects of the venue — one, it was really hot. Granted, with a full house and sitting near the top of the old building, I sort of expected it, but I think they still could have turned the air up a bit higher. Two, there are not nearly enough bathrooms to accommodate all the ladies during intermission. I bolted as soon as the lights went on (highly recommended strategy) and managed to be at the front of the line, but there were only 3 stalls on the second floor and so pretty much everyone else was not so lucky.

A beautiful large venue! It’s difficult to get in and out of the building though, which makes it somewhat terrifying to me re: fire codes and escaping, however, even in the nosebleeds we had a decent view of the show.
I love that some of the broadway stuff is coming here, since I like eating in this neighborhood before a show as well! Maoz is a favorite, and there’s plenty of other things just a half/​block away as well.

3.5! Beautiful little theater.
If your seat is up top, expect little leg room. Try to get an aisle seat. The seats small so if you’re a big person, this will be hard and you may want to pay a bit more to sit in roomier seats below.
Even near the too, you have a decent view of the stage. Gets a lil warm since cold air sinks.
Overall, a lovely old theater. Well kept together

Was recently here to see Book of Mormons and this was our first visit to this theater. Overall a very lovely theater and all the employees we interacted with were friendly and pleasant. We were down in the orchestra level and did not see what it was like up in the mezzanine, but there didn’t appear to be many seats at all that would have possibly had an obstructed view. Downstairs is a large open foyer area where you can get drinks and this is also where the restrooms are. During intermission, much of this was taken up by the line to the women’s restroom! Overpriced food and beverages are available for purchase.
The one thing I wasn’t overly fond of was how close the rows are and you don’t have a whole lot of leg room as a result. Where this was also an issue is when people arrived to the show late and were being seated, it was often easier if everyone got out of their seat while the late people made their way to their seats. Very frustrating and disruptive to those who showed up on time and are trying to enjoy the performance.
But all in all, I would certainly come back to see another performance here.