Rude audience members. With a twist!

[fyffe]

Posted: 3/7/07 at 10:29pm

First off,
I realize there are other threads on this subject. I, however, have a bit of a twist in my expierence.

I am sure that everyone on here at sometime or another has expierenced an audience member or two that will just NOT stop talking through a performance. I am sure that drives most of you crazy as much as it does me. I also, would hope, that NO ONE on this board is of course the type of person that I am talking about.

So, to my story! I was attending last Friday nights performance of GREY GARDENS on the second level of the theatre and in the last row. Two seats down from me (empty between us) were two of the rudest people I have come in contact with during a performance of a show. These two really thought it was social hour. They were giggling (during parts that were not funny), chatting, getting up, sitting down, and literally holding conversation throughout the show. I could not figure why someone would pay money for a theatre event and then talk all the way through it. The people in front of them kept turning around and glaring at them, as did I, and nothing curtailed their display of rudeness. I even expected the ushers to come by and say something since they were standing nearby. NO, didn't happen.

Well, during intermission, I decided I would say something. So,and I quote, "Excuse me, could you kindly NOT talk during the second half of the show." Did I say please, NO, was I polite and to the point, YES. I mean, theatre is an event, not a weekly TV show, you know what I mean. Well needless to say this pissed off the girl and an attitude erupted. Loud comments just kept coming. I even needed to get by them to go the restroom, and after two times of saying "excuse me", she finally replied, " OH, are you talking?" Then reluctantly moved for me to pass by.

Then, during intermission, two people moved to those seats between me and the "talkers". So, I warned them that the choice to seat here might have been a mistake. Of course that riled up the girl even further, which honestly was NOT my intention, I just felt I owed the new couple a warning. So the girl jumps in the conversation and proceeds to ask me if I have a problem and said that I was rude. Again, I said, "Actually, you can be offended and defensive if you want but the fact is you and your friend talked loudly throughout the first half of the show. I am not the only person affected by this, the people in front of you were disturbed as well. That is all. AND I asked you nicely, not rudely." Here is the unfortunate part of this rather long story. She proceeds to tell the lady next to me that she is WITH the show. That she is DANCE CAPTAIN and stand in for a major role. Her name was Megan Lewis. I checked my playbill and sure enough!! I was then in utter shock! Of all people, professional Broadway performers should know simple theatre manners. I mean, am I alone here? I think watching your fellow performers from the audience, when you could be doing nothing backstage, is very admirable! But NOT at the expense of a paying customers enjoyment. This isnt the price of a movie we are talking about! I am still in awe that this even happened and further, that she had the nerve to act angry and disgruntled with me because I simply called her out on it. Anyway.......Im done ranting.

So, should I have said anything? Should I have gotten an usher and let him/her handle it? Would they have? I see about 10 shows a year and feel it is my right to ask an individual to please keep it down during the show. Anyone agree?
KEVIN

Updated On: 3/7/07 at 10:29 PM

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 3/7/07 at 10:32pm

I, however, have a bit of a twist in my expierence.

Maybe there should be a twist in your subject header, too.

(Paragraph breaks help, too.)

[fyffe]

Posted: 3/7/07 at 10:37pm

All that and all I get is a grammer lesson....lol But I took your advice!

[lesmisforever]

Posted: 3/7/07 at 10:38pm

Wow, that's shocking! I don't know if the usher would have done anything since she's in the show, but I guess trying wouldn't hurt.

Updated On: 3/7/07 at 10:38 PM

[Kelly2]

Posted: 3/7/07 at 10:40pm

I've seen this happen at a few shows I've been at, where I've known the swings/understudies who are in the audience, and they sort of feel a sense of entitlement to make jokes/laugh/cheer inappropriately/talk during the show because they're "above" the rest of the audience.

BTW: I completely agree that it's unprofessional and inappropriate, but I have heard of it happening before. It's awful.

Updated On: 3/7/07 at 10:40 PM

[SNLMedia]

Posted: 3/7/07 at 10:41pm

Shocking and unprofessional. I think you were right in what you said, and the fact that you said it politely. I don't care if you're the queen of England, if you work for the show, or whatever. EVERYONE is expected to follow proper theatre etiquette.

[rose_pearl]

Posted: 3/7/07 at 10:48pm

Yeah, just wow. I can't believe that! You would think they would be the people that would shush OTHERS for talking. I think you had every right to say something, but that is very unfortunate.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 3/7/07 at 10:50pm

Now that I've read it...HAHAHAHA!!! I hope she catches hell for it.

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 3/7/07 at 10:52pm

Thanks for pointing this person out.


They should be spoken too.

[FosseBoi]

Posted: 3/7/07 at 10:52pm

I COMPLETELY agree with what has already been said. I could care less who/what you are, you don't bother others in the theatre. I'm lucky if I get to see any shows in NY and I have been very fortuneate to never get rude audience members.

That REALLY pisses me off and yes, I believe you were deffinately in the right place to call her out.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 3/7/07 at 10:54pm

The only time I ever had something similar happen to me was at Les Miz, but it was an elderly couple who probably were celebrating their 520th wedding anniversary and 50th year of bad hearing, and after I nicely asked them to not talk (although I had to say it loudly), they quieted down. When it's someone with no excuse, much less someone IN THE CAST with even less of an excuse...wow.

[fyffe]

Posted: 3/7/07 at 10:58pm

Thanks for the support people. I stuggled with whether or not to say something to the box office, or someone at the theatre (I did not). I was also unsure if I should state her name on here or not. But, it pissed me off enough that I thought I would mention her name so that maybe someone might read this, and chat with her about it (after the show of course..lol).

Updated On: 3/7/07 at 10:58 PM

[teka21]

Posted: 3/7/07 at 10:58pm

That's not only disrespectful to the audience members, it's incredibly dismissive of your colleagues who are on stage performing. If you don't value what's happening on stage, why should anyone else?

[wonderwaiter]

Posted: 3/7/07 at 11:08pm

Also to add - you were worried about mentioning her name here, but why? She had absolutely no trouble dropping her own name to you while she was behaving so poorly in the theater, why should you have any trouble dropping her own name here? It's not like she said, "Oh, I'm entitled to act like an asshole because I'm the dance captain and stand-in for a major role and my name is Megan Lewis but shhh don't tell anyone."

She behaved poorly and made it a point to identify herself in the process. Obviously, she wants to be known.

ETA - Wanted to be known in the moment.

Updated On: 3/7/07 at 11:08 PM

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 3/7/07 at 11:10pm

Agreed. Bed! Lay!

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 3/7/07 at 11:24pm

Thanks for your post. I'm having my assistant Stacey drop a note off at the stage door tomorrow afternoon for Ms. Lewis. All my pertinent information will be on it so here's hoping Ms. Lewis replies in one way or another.

Here's Megan Lewis:

[Mrs.LinkLarkin2]

Posted: 3/7/07 at 11:41pm

I found that Saturday's evening performance of Spring Awakening had some rude/stragne people in it. People were laughing during some very "unfunny" parts, like the suicide and abortion scenes and most notably the beating scene, which def. isn't funny. What's up with that?

[nztheatreluva]

Posted: 3/7/07 at 11:51pm

I've never been t a show where I've noticed REALLY rude people, but when i was watching the Dreamgirls movie there was a group of girls talking through most of it and they started to laugh when Jennifer took ehr big breatha t the end of AIATY - why would you bother paying to go see a show or movie if you were going to talk and laugh through it?

[wonderwaiter]

Posted: 3/7/07 at 11:58pm

Well, now I'm going to be completely contrary - and for that I apologize ahead of time.

Megan Lewis is a real life person in a real life job with real life pictures of her now posted on this board in a real life thread. fyffe is some guy on a message board who signed his name as Kevin.

Megan could face actual consequences as a result of this thread (like losing her job), whereas Kevin is still "some guy".

Do any of us really know Kevin? Can any of us really verify what he is saying? No. We cannot.

If what he's saying is true, then her behavior was completely out of line, but who is he? Can we verify that he was really an audience member who witnessed this behavior? How do we know he's not a colleague who would benefit from her removal?
Why don't we reserve judgment until we find out the whole story?

Updated On: 3/7/07 at 11:58 PM

[Josephine2]

Posted: 3/8/07 at 12:11am

^^Great point WW.

fyffe, what a story! I was wondering what the "twist" would be. I realize that every story has 2 sides, but from the side you shared, I echo the sentiments of others who've posted in this thread.


Updated On: 3/8/07 at 12:11 AM

[Calvin]

Posted: 3/8/07 at 12:27am

Agree, WW. This should have been handled in the theatre with reporting it to an usher or whatnot. Even if fyffe is telling the truth, we don't know if this audience member just told him that she was this individual after seeing her name in the Playbill. This isn't the place to resolve the matter.

[wonderwaiter]

Posted: 3/8/07 at 12:35am

Thanks, Calvin. It was fun and games when it sounded like random gossip (even with the name), but when you get real people involved it makes a difference.

[fyffe]

Posted: 3/8/07 at 12:41am

I too agree that there are two sides to every story. I think the points brought up about whether or not my story is indeed the truth, are very valid. I can only assure you that this was indeed a true event and you all must take me at my word. Either way, I will not be offended.
However, it was indeed Megan Lewis as I looked her up in the Playbill myself after she mentioned her name to the other patron. It was definitely her.
I posted this here because this is a message board dealing with Broadway, the Broadway community, and similarly related subjects. I wasn't trying to resolve anything...just venting.
Kevin Fyffe

[winston89]

Posted: 3/8/07 at 1:21am

The whole actress name being mentioned thing should not make one damn bit of difference. She was being totally rude during a show and she felt that she was better then anyone else around her so she talked loudly during the show. So what if she gave the guy her name. She was being a total bitch and deserved to be called out. You would also assume that if she knew that things like talking loudly during a show could get her fired that she wouldn't do it in the first place. She F*CKed up by doing so and if her boss finds out and fires her for it then good. If you have a job and there are do's and don'ts you would not be stupid enough to intentonally do something that you shouldn't be doing.

The original poster had every right to drop the person's name. And if she gets fired then she deserves it. If only they had such harsh punishments for your paying audience member.

[winston89]

Posted: 3/8/07 at 1:24am

The whole actress name being mentioned thing should not make one damn bit of difference. She was being totally rude during a show and she felt that she was better then anyone else around her so she talked loudly during the show. So what if she gave the guy her name. She was being a total bitch and deserved to be called out. You would also assume that if she knew that things like talking loudly during a show could get her fired that she wouldn't do it in the first place. She F*CKed up by doing so and if her boss finds out and fires her for it then good. If you have a job and there are do's and don'ts you would not be stupid enough to intentonally do something that you shouldn't be doing.

The original poster had every right to drop the person's name. And if she gets fired then she deserves it. If only they had such harsh punishments for your paying audience member.