“Keep it gay!” cries a song in The Producers. But one London producer is simultaneously following that advice for a show he’s producing but keeping it quiet that he’s doing so.
I was recently applauding here (on 9 December) that Raymond Gubbay – the Mr Christmas of popular classical music promotion – was stretching his reach: “though his typical repertoire is sing-a-long carol evenings and carols-by-candle night, he also spies commercial opportunities in the offbeat, too, like promoting the London Gay Men’s Chorus concerts at the Barbican on December 21 and 22 (Make the Yuletide Gay) as part of his schedule there.”
But disturbingly, I now realise that his inclusiveness of such events only goes so far. While he seems to single-handedly keep the Sunday Times culture section advertising afloat with a regular full-page ad for his Christmas shows in it, the ad yesterday didn’t include these gay concerts. Perhaps there is no need, I thought – maybe they’re sold out. But I’ve just gone online this morning and seats are still readily available.
It seems strange to produce an event and then keep it quiet, especially when you’re already paying for the space. Perhaps he’s concerned at ruffling the feathers of the families who usually book for his concerts. But you can’t have it both ways: happy to take (and make) money from gay concerts, but deliberately exclude them from your advertising.
UPDATED AT 2.30PM: Within a couple of hours of my posting the above this morning, I received a phone call from Raymond Gubbay personally to tell me that I was incorrect: though the concerts were not included in yesterday’s Culture ad, there was no policy to exclude them, but each concert was independently budgeted for PR purposes, and some of that budget was kept back to promote the concerts in the gay press. Since the full page ad in the Culture was already being paid for, I didn’t entirely follow this reasoning, but I am happy to accept that their motives are not sinister in excluding it.
Some friends of mine tried to get tickets for the London Gay Mens Chorus concert last year at the Barbican, promoted by Raymond G. They were told by the Barbican that it was sold out.
I ended up with two spare tickets at the last minute when some friends were ill. I thought there might be a returns queue. But when I asked at the box office they told me that Raymond G had just "returned" a whole block of tickets he had failed to sell, so the concert was not sold out at all. It was a shame to see so many empty seats for such a good concert.
Also, why are the tickets so expensive at £30 each?! Tickets for the Barbican's Great Performers series are cheaper - I saw Cecilia Bartoli the other week for around £25 and that was a front row seat in the circle.
The barbican also tell me that they cannot offer group discounts on Raymond G concerts - why not????
Come on Raymond - sort it out mate !