Broadway shows with no Standing Ovation- Page 2

[yankeefan7]

Posted: 9/15/18 at 8:56am

"I recently didn't stand for one of the best shakespere productions I have ever seen (The War of The Roses at California Shakespeare Theater) because I was in the front row and couldn't tell if the crowd would stand with me or not. I wonder if the standing O's ubiquity is starting to die off?"

Unless a show is amazing, I think it is the people up front who determine if the show gets a standing ovation. IMO it is like follow the leader - lol.

[lesmizsaigon]

Posted: 9/15/18 at 9:36am

There were a few people that did, but I refused to stand up during the bows for "The Parisian Woman." What a wreck!

[qafgenius122]

Posted: 9/15/18 at 11:10am

I’d just like to second a lack of standing ovation at The Anarchist. Besides being one of the worst things I’ve ever seen, I was in the front row.... and even tho I knew it was one act, when it ended I was still unsure what to do. Like “is it over? It doesn’t feel over” I’ll never forget that experience, but I won’t look back fondly.

[GeorgeandDot]

Posted: 9/15/18 at 11:27am

Strangely, when I saw My Fair Lady in March, the audience didn't stand, but instead applauded politely. I have my problems with that production, but the light response at the end was still strange. I heard a lot of audience members grumbling about the ending as I was leaving, so perhaps that had something to do with it.

The Anarchist is best left forgotten.

Also, I loved the original production of Passion so much and gave it a very enthusiastic ovation, but the rest of the audience seemed to be awkwardly slow clapping. The disdain for that production was audible the entire evening however.

[RemlapLBC]

Posted: 9/18/18 at 4:13pm

I think it's the people in the expensive seats up front want to feel like they got their money's worth, so they always stand, which causes everyone else behind them to.

I'm not saying shows and performances don't deserve them, but i'm not sure why it has to be every show.

Being 6'5" I appreciate standing ovations as I'm generally in need of blood to start flowing to my legs again.

[RemlapLBC]

Posted: 9/18/18 at 4:14pm

I think it's the people in the expensive seats up front want to feel like they got their money's worth, so they always stand, which causes everyone else behind them to.

I'm not saying shows and performances don't deserve them, but i'm not sure why it has to be every show.

Being 6'5" I appreciate standing ovations as I'm generally in need of blood to start flowing to my legs again.

[carolinaguy]

Posted: 9/18/18 at 4:22pm

When I saw The Band's Visit in January, only a very small smattering of people stood.

I bet it's different now since all the Tony wins.

[Jarethan]

Posted: 9/18/18 at 5:41pm

Standing ovations once meant something.  Now, they are a joke.  The point of a standing ovation -- to acknowledge something remarkable -- has been lost.  

I have seen many legendary performances that did not get SOs, e.g., Carol Channing in HD when I saw it twice, Barbra Streisand in Funny Girl, Barbara Harris in the Apple Tree, Angela Lansbury in Mame (three of the four times I saw her in it), Zoe Caldwell in Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Dewhurst and Robards two of the three times I saw it, James Earl Jones in The Great White Hope, Joel Grey in Cabaret, Mary Martin and Robert Preston in I Do! I Do! ON OPENING NIGHT, Ethel Merman in Annie Get Your Gun revival at Lincoln Center, Lansbury and Cariou in Sweeney Todd any of the three times I saw them in it, Richard Kiley in Man of La Mancha, Zero Mostel in Fiddler...Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, Pippin, Nine, Phantom (I saw the very first preview in NY and there was no SO, I saw it two more times in its first year and there were no SOs), and etc.  Now, two adequate understudies in Frozen the night I saw it got an SO, as did the cast of Anastasia.  What a joke.  I agree with the poster who said that idiots in the front of the orchestra feel they need to justify the ticket prices, so they stand, which forces everyone else to stand if they want to see anything.  I refer to it as the 'American Idolization' of America, if not the world.  I have not been to London in about 10 years, but I used to travel to London on business and have seen at least 100 shows there.  I cannot recall a single SO...yet, I understand they have become more commonplace as well.  So silly and meaningless.

[Lot666]

Posted: 9/19/18 at 8:16am

Jarethan said: "Standing ovations once meant something. Now, they are a joke. The point of a standing ovation -- to acknowledge something remarkable -- has been lost."

You mean like gratuities in the U.S.?

[Broadway Joe]

Posted: 9/19/18 at 9:28am

Charley Kringas Inc said: "The Anarchist, presumably."

Still the worst show I've ever seen and I would have absolutely left if I wasn't in the middle of the row and I've never left a show early before. That 70 mins felt like 5 hours. So bad. 

[Danielle49]

Posted: 9/19/18 at 9:50am

carolinaguy said: "When I saw The Band's Visit in January, only a very small smattering of people stood.

I bet it's different now since all the Tony wins."

Gee, tough crowd that day. I saw it in late January and again in early May, and both times the audience leapt to their feet.

[Jarethan]

Posted: 9/19/18 at 10:38am

Lot666 said: "Jarethan said: "Standing ovations once meant something. Now, they are a joke. The point of a standing ovation -- to acknowledge something remarkable -- has been lost."

You mean like gratuities in the U.S.?"

I am not sure that I understand the analogy, unless you are saying the people seem to tip more than in the past, regardless of service.  I have to admit that I do tip more than in the past (standard 15% is now 20%), but I do not see that as the same thing...I see it as helping waiters to make a living wage for a job well done.  That said, just as in the old days, I give less if service is not good.  So, I guess I do not see the analogy as applying.

PS -- I was in the first row of the mezzanine, so I was not compelled to stand when the two more than adequate standbys took their curtain call at Frozen.  Truthfully, I cannot imagine anyone being good enough in those roles to justify anyone ever standing.  The roles were just not demanding, beyond hitting certain notes in Let It Go; certainly the rest of that role (I can't remember the sister's name who sang it).