Special Treatment Helps Ensure a Good Show
Florida Today
July 29, 2005
By Pam Harbaugh
Sometimes, all it takes to make a visiting performer happy is picking the red candies out of a bowl of M&Ms. For others, it can get more complicated.
The King Center for the Performing Arts is at the beck and call of people such as Josh Groban, who, while getting ready to perform last year at the Melbourne venue, said he wanted to go fishing.
He was told the "pond out back" had some fish in it. That's where he headed.
"I do remember hearing them say they needed him on stage and they said he's out back fishing," says Nance Burroughs, marketing director for the King Center.
Typically, King Center staffers decorate the green room (the room where artists gather while waiting to be called on stage) for Thanksgiving, Halloween or Valentine's Day. The green room also may contain a special meal of food requested by the artist.
"If they want a massage, we get someone in to give a massage," Burroughs says. "If they want to take their children to Kennedy Space Center, we've set up tours. Or go fishing.
"It's going to make a wonderful experience. They're going to feel that 'wow, these people really went out of their way to make me feel welcome.' Translation: If they're happy backstage, when they come out, they're going to give it their all for our audience. That's what we want."
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