Suspicious ticket sales for Beauty and the Beast in Carson City

This year’s performance of “Beauty and the Beast” by The Western Nevada Musical Theatre Company is going to be one of the greatest plays in Carson City yet, with about 9,000 expecting to attend, but the company also is warning people about where to buy the tickets.

Producer and director Stephanie Arrigotti said she found 26 suspicious websites advertising ticket sales to the performance series beginning Nov. 4.

The company’s goal is to sell tickets at an affordable price for the general public between $25-$28. However, the fishy sites are selling tickets from $60 to as high as $235.

Arrigotti said this isn’t an unusual situation for productions, especially with Beauty and the Beast’s elevating popularity, considering the debut of Walt Disney’s film this year.

However, she’s more concerned about meeting those who could’ve already bought suspicious tickets.

“We won’t know until they come into the theater,” she said. “This is new to Carson City. It doesn’t happen here, but Beauty and the Beast is its own hurricane.”

An example of one of those sites are shown through box-officetickets.com under Bob Boldrick Theatre, when in reality, the site has nothing to do with the theater, Arrigotti said.

Since an investigation for this has been authorized, the questionable website removed its ticket sales for the play.

Arrigotti said the suspicious sites are currently not affecting actual ticket sales. She also is tracking ticket sales from past performances to get an estimate on how the company is underselling or overselling.

She said the company ticket sales are 50 percent higher compared to last year. With that, the company won’t be able to accept the phony tickets.

However, Arrigotti said she added two more performances to accommodate.

“Among all of this, we have the jokers out there who want a piece of this action,” she said. “People from all over the country visit to see these performances. I don’t want to see 5-year-olds in Belle dresses crying having to go home because of these type of tickets.”

Evening performances are on Nov. 4, 10, 11, 17 and 18 at 7:30 p.m. at Bob Boldrick Theater. Matinees are on Nov. 4, 5, 11, 12, 18 and 19 at 2 p.m.

Tickets to the performance can only be purchased through the company’s official website at wnmtc.com or by calling 866-977-6849. If you suspect to have purchased a suspicious ticket, contact the company through its website.