THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW Starring Denzel Washington Now Playing!!!!- Page 2

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 4/16/10 at 9:10am

That's "Shake a spear", singtopher.

And elixir, the only nerve you hit is my nerve for not tolerating the moronically overly PC world we're all forced to live in now.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 4/16/10 at 9:10am

Quite honestly, I feel that at these shows the announcement should add that there should be no talking back to the actors onstage and if it happens during act one, they should repeat it at intermission.

To me, that sounds more "racist" than anything that's been said in this thread- making announcements about talking back to the actors, but only doing so at the black shows?

[uncageg]

Posted: 4/16/10 at 9:14am

Adamgreer, I feel it should be made at any show that this may happen. Unfortunately, it mostly happens at these shows. My apologies, I should have been more clear about that.

Updated On: 4/16/10 at 09:14 AM

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 4/16/10 at 9:14am

Exactly, Adam. HOWEVER, if it's a noticeable problem at a show, I think for the enjoyment of hundreds of people it should be done. Honestly, there are some very emotional moments in this play that, at least at last nights performance, were lost because of the yelling out to Denzel. It must be very hard for him to stay in character and have to listen to that. It's a real testament to what a phenomenal actor the man is.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 4/16/10 at 9:29am

I feel it should be made at any show that this may happen.

This might make me sound "racist" but I can count on one hand the number of times I have seen this happen:

the last Cat on a Hot Tin Roof revival
The Color Purple
Dreamgirls

When I saw Raisin in the Sun, the audience was very well-behaved and quiet(perhaps they were just in shock about how bad Sean Combs was?). The many times I saw Aida, there was rarely any innappropriate audience talkbacks, with the exception of when Michelle T. Williams appeared in the show.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 4/16/10 at 9:31am

It happened to me when I saw "The Miracle Worker", too.

"You Spell water, Helen!!! SPELL IT!"

[uncageg]

Posted: 4/16/10 at 9:37am

Well of course it doesn't happen at every show, but I have seen it happen outside of shows with black casts. And not just in NYC.

And I think we need to take the word racist out of the conversation. This is about manners and etiquette.

[rosscoe(au)]

Posted: 4/16/10 at 11:12am

Jordan, that wins the post of the year. Close the boards down, cause people we have a winner..

LOL

"It happened to me when I saw "The Miracle Worker", too.

"You Spell water, Helen!!! SPELL IT!"

[HeyMrMusic]

Posted: 4/16/10 at 11:59am

Jordan, I'm completely behind you on this. How did this thread turn into an accusation of your original post being racist? Ridiculous. Your post was nothing but funny. (And sad, sorry those moments were ruined for you.)

Man, if I were that conductor or stage manager at The Color Purple, I would have quit on the spot. Or stood up and yelled at everyone to shut up. That's absolutely unacceptable.

"You Spell water, Helen!!! SPELL IT!"

Funny, just too funny.

~Steven

[newintown]

Posted: 4/16/10 at 12:09pm

Has no one here ever attended an "urban theatrical?" (chitlin' circuit in the common parlance.) Talking to the stage (and to other audience members) is an accepted tradition at these shows. And they're fun.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 4/16/10 at 12:30pm

I'm sorry. I know all the white people on here are getting a little hot under the starched buttoned down collars but that Fantasia video is just pure hilarity. It sounds like the woman and her sisters in the audience are having babies.

[uncageg]

Posted: 4/16/10 at 12:37pm

newintown, I have never attended any of these shows. I don't think they are considered Chitlin' Circuit shows anymore. I think, and someone correct me as I think I am wrong, they are called box shows. (Tyler Perry shows and the old Beauty Shop shows.) I don't, and a lot of black theatergoers don't, attend them because of poor the production values and the talking back. Tyler Perry, in an interview, said that he was dedicated to giving his audiences the highest quality productions. My first thought was that he never stepped foot in a Broadway house or even a regional theater.

[Eos]

Posted: 4/16/10 at 5:06pm

"Tyler Perry, in an interview, said that he was dedicated to giving his audiences the highest quality productions."
Ha! That's a good one. I think Tyler Perry is ridiculous and I can't stand what I think he sells - mediocrity and stereotypes. He really should get out and see some shows.

[uncageg]

Posted: 4/16/10 at 5:24pm

I don't care for his plays, but I wouldn't call all of his charachters stereotypes. A lot of his characters can be indentified with in the Black community. Even as poorly written as some of them are.

Updated On: 4/16/10 at 05:24 PM

[DAME]

Posted: 4/16/10 at 5:32pm

I had a very bad experience while watching the tour of Dreamgirls. I am sorry if this sounds racist. But I have no desire of seeing any more theater with a predominantly black audience.

[uncageg]

Posted: 4/16/10 at 5:34pm

It's not racist at all. It bothers me that I don't want to go either. Some are shows that I want to see but I just don't want to have to deal with the disruptions.

[Eos]

Posted: 4/16/10 at 5:37pm

Yeah, there's always gonna be a percentage of whatever sub-group that epitomizes those stereotypes! I'm black too, and I think I've just become annoyed at my impression that many in the black community hold his work up as some kind of gold standard.

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 4/16/10 at 5:47pm

I've said it before but Jordan you crack me up. Were you there last night?

[Craww]

Posted: 4/16/10 at 6:16pm

No, reporting/joking/writing what he did and then posting a clip of an exaggerated parody of negative stereotypical black behavior -- those two things in tandem made it racist.

...I don't understand how nobody seems to understand this. I guess I shouldn't be shocked after all the behavior in the Colorblind Casting threads.

[uncageg]

Posted: 4/16/10 at 6:29pm

Eos, I think that is in large part because of the marketing he does for these shows. But even still, a lot of black people don't go to the theater because they think it is a white thing. I have heard this for years. I could never get my black friends or black partner to go to the theatre with me unless it was a black oriented show. It is just something that is inherent in a large percentage of the black community. I will send you the inter view I did with the cast of "Radio Golf" here in Denver. We touched on this in the interview. This conversation actually came up on the boards right before I interviewed them and I asked them about it.

[Sean2]

Posted: 4/16/10 at 6:33pm

You should have been at the production of 'The Merchant of Venice' with Dustin Hoffman back in London in 1987. I sat behind a family of Hassidic Jews who - no lie - broke out dinner until Dustin Hoffman came on. Out came 7 pairs of binoculars, they all stood up and applauded and hooted (along with other Jewish audience members). Hoffman had to wait, then begin the text again.

In the courtroom scene, it was like an evangelical hoedown. People shouting, the father of the family shouted out, 'PERSECUTION!!' I just about lost in in my pants. You have to completely give up watching the play. Like was said before, if they're in the grip of passion, ain't nothing going to stop anybody. But 'Merchant of Venice'?

It was, as they say, surreal.

[uncageg]

Posted: 4/16/10 at 6:44pm

My friend called me on the way home from seeing "Equus" with Daniel Radcliffe and said that 2 guys sitting second row center broke out binoculars during the nude scene. He was apalled and even embarresed.

[DAME]

Posted: 4/16/10 at 6:47pm

That is not the same. I was not talking back. I kept very quiet and to myself.

[sbflyfan]

Posted: 4/16/10 at 7:01pm

I think people should have done this during Patti's final "Rose's Turn."

"SING OUT, MAMA ROSE!!!! SING IT!!! LuPWN IT!! LuPWN IT, GIRL!!!!!!!!! STAND BACK, BUENOS AIRES"

[perfectlymarvelous]

Posted: 4/16/10 at 7:02pm

uncageg, I would've been so embarrassed if that had happened when I saw Equus...although I did wait at the stage door for the show and some girls on the next barricade over essentially asked Daniel out while he was signing autographs. He laughed it off, but it made me very uncomfortable haha.