I want to love this place but they make it very hard. I've had several bad experiences here but yet I continue to try supporting them and I keep getting disappointed in the end. This is the last theatre downtown but unless something changes with the management I can't imagine it will be around for much longer, despite all the 4 and 5 star reviews that is has received which you'll notice all relate to the bar and/or restaurant.
Here is a short summary of my most recent experience. I went to see a movie with friends. They had the standard playtime's for the movie, they took my money and no one warned me about anything else that would be going on that night. Not even mid-way through the movie some loud music starts up which is followed shortly by screaming and shouting. They were having a party in the lobby! I couldn't even hear parts of the movie due to how loud the music was. I came in through the front door and I would have liked to exit through the front door but it was blocked off because of the party. I told the bouncer, yes I said bouncer, that I wanted to talk to a manager because I'd like a refund. It took a while and the consensus was that no one from the box office was around so I couldn't get a refund but I was given two free passes for next time, in fact everyone in the theatre that night complained and got free passes. If you have to give out triple the amount of passes that you received money for you aren't exactly coming out ahead. The only thing that moved this one star experience to two stars was the fact that when I returned the next day the manager of the box office listened and agreed it was both a shame and a poorly scheduled disaster plus my friend and I both got our refunds in the end. I wish I could say this whole fiasco was a surprise but it's actually status quo for The Orpheum. I'd hardly even call this place a theatre any more, they haven't even replaced the projection bulb in the Stage Door and probably won't until the Wisconsin Film Festival rolls around. They don't show nearly as many independent films as they used to and in my opinion they miss a lot of potential revenue by not having any matinee showings. I would gladly pay the normal ticket price to see some classic & foreign movies during the day but instead this place has become nothing more than a brunch spot. It's a sad state of affairs for this lovely and historic theatre. Cinema gets much more respect from respect over at the UW Cinematheque and those showings are free!