The Stephen Sondheim Society

I echo the recent comments by Keith Mould.
It's probably far too late for this year's event, but does anyone out there have any influence with the organisers (I use the term loosely) of the imminent Cardiff Festival? The advance publicity and booking arrangements have been dreadful.

Some months ago when I learned they were doing 'Ragtime' it became quite a challenge to actually book seats for it. No help from the website, hotline or box offices for months. And it was impossible to discover until very recently who would be performing. Though I did succeed in getting tickets in the end, it took some determination.

Then we learned a bit more a few weeks ago about artistes and further events, courtesy of the SSS I think.

And finally, this very morning (only 3 days before the festival begins) I received by post their latest flyer, in which I discovered even more events I would really have liked to attend had I known about them earlier. For example Cy Coleman is presenting an evening of his work and Stephen Flaherty will be talking about Ragtime. If I'd known earlier about the wealth of talent taking part in the Festival I'd have been tempted to spend the next few weeks in and around Cardiff. But I can't because I've now booked too many other shows to see elsewhere.

I really hope the Festival does extremely well, as an ex-pat Welsh aficionado of musicals. There's a feast of good work on offer. But I fear too few people know about it.