Entrance Applause - love it or hate it?- Page 2

[Sant]

Posted: 5/25/05 at 11:24am

"The question is why do we need to applaud anyone when they first enter? They haven't done anything but show up on time. I don't agree that stars or legends need to be applauded. They know we are eager to see them because our butts are sitting in the seats. There is plenty of time for applause after a song or at the curtain call."

I agree. Star or not, I don't think walking on stage is so much of a task that it needs applauds. And as for showing appreciation, doesn't it speak for itself that one has bought the ticket for the show? If some more appreciation is needed then one can save it to the stage door or curtain calls.

Entrance applauds for the star maybe allright in a CONCERT, but I don't think it is needed in a THEATRE PERFORMANCE.

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 5/25/05 at 11:25am

Goth, I guess you are not a performer.

Should the audience not make ANY noise during a show, no laughing, no "Ahhh" moments?

Entrance applause happens because that performer has made a name for themselves and the audience is acknowledging their accomplishments.

Exit applause is spontaneous, and shows that that particular performer really connected with the audience.

These are the things that makes live theatre so much more enjoyable than watching a film.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 5/25/05 at 11:29am

"Entrance applause happens because that performer has made a name for themselves and the audience is acknowledging their accomplishments."

The audience is acknowledging their accomplishments by showing up. Why slow the beginning of the show down with applause?

Stanislavsky "denounced lazy, self-indulgent actors who lived for applause".

[mikewood]

Posted: 5/25/05 at 11:35am

As for standing ovations, is it being put forth that standing ovations are occuring for all shows...? I disagree. I have found them to be rare occurences. My last trip to Broadway, only one of the three shows garned standing ovations. Granted the shows were "Little Women", Streetcar and "Steel Magnolias", but still.

The standing "O" was for Little Women, Sutton Foster specifically. And yes, I participated.

BTW, Maureen McGovern got entrance applause, but clearly it was anticipated. Oddly, Sutton did not.

Both Reilly and Richardson got entrance applause for Streetcar.

Neither Lily Rabe not Rebecca Gayheart got entrance applause for Steel Magnolias.

[Sluggy]

Posted: 5/25/05 at 11:36am

The second time I saw Linda Mugleston as Ruth in WT, she got some entrance applause (of course, that entrance was written for Rosalind Russell to get a big hand!). I took it as people letting her know they were glad to see HER, even though someone else's name was above the show's title. It is distracting, though, and I imagine especially so if you're up there. At least she earned the standing ovation - I HATE it when people automatically jump up at the end of a mediocre show - then they look at you funny if you keep sitting!

[popcultureboy]

Posted: 5/25/05 at 11:38am

It is a tradition to applaud a legitimate star on his/her entrance.

The key words there are legitimate and star. While I mind less applauding the onstage arrival someone like Elaine Stritch or Kathleen Turner, I find the audience clapping when the lead performer appears on stage no matter who they are every bit as redundant as the almost ubiquitous ovations.

[broadway86]

Posted: 5/25/05 at 11:38am

I agree that it's not necessary. But if a favorite performer of mine walks onto the stage, and everyone else applauds, I'm doing the same.

[ken8631]

Posted: 5/25/05 at 11:42am

Well-deserved for Christina Applegate on her first performance on Broadway of Sweet Charity.

[Sant]

Posted: 5/25/05 at 11:43am

"Should the audience not make ANY noise during a show, no laughing, no "Ahhh" moments?"

You are talking about a totally different thing than what this thread is all about.
I didn't say the audience shouldn't make ANY noise during a show, I said the entrance applauds is not needed in a live THEATRE performance. If it's a concert then it is a totally different thing when the audience is there to see the performer, when in a theatre the audience (I'm not talking about any die-hard fans of any star) is there to see the SHOW.
There's a difference.

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 5/25/05 at 11:47am

Goth,

It's not like the actors make an entrance and wait for the applause. It's a tradition.

A couple of posts say that it must be distracting, well, so must a laugh that comes in an unexpected spot. The trained actor knows how to deal with it.

I say, if you don't like an audience showing their appreciation, maybe you're better off going to the movies.

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 5/25/05 at 11:53am

I hate it. It always breaks the fourth wall.

[popcultureboy]

Posted: 5/25/05 at 11:56am

Relax, Diva. Many things in theatre are a tradition, but that doesn't mean we have to agree with them or can't question their validity. I have seen shows where the "star" received entrance applause and has then gone on to give the most shocking performance imaginable. And some established stars haven't received any (Juliette Binoche in Naked, for example) and have been jaw droppingly brilliant, rightfully earning themselves an ovation at the end.

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 5/25/05 at 11:58am

Sorry if I sounded harsh.

Didn't mean to.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 5/25/05 at 12:03pm

"It's a tradition."

So was running actors out of town when they gave a bad performance.

I've seen Judi Dench perform three times. It was so exciting to see her enter the stage because she is a great actress. But I don't feel the need to applaud her because she is trying to create an atmosphere and draw the audience into her world. I think entrance applause hinders what the actor is trying to accomplish.

[mikewood]

Posted: 5/25/05 at 12:04pm

I don't like entrance applause but it certainly doesn't ruin my enjoyment of the show.

And since it such an established tradition, it is not like it is going away. I imagine that if you are veteran, established star, not getting it would be more of distraction than getting it.

[popcultureboy]

Posted: 5/25/05 at 12:06pm

Judi Dench is a good example. I have seen her live in two productions. The first time was the last night of Amy's View in London. I didn't see the need to applaud her arrival on the stage, but the second she came on to take her bow, I was out of my seat like I'd been fired from a cannon to stand and applaud her maginificent performance.

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 5/25/05 at 12:10pm

Slight change of topic here:

Mike,

Who's getting beat up in your avitar and why?

And Goth, I'm laughing about the bit of running actors out of town.

That was a tradition that deserved to die.

[cserannie]

Posted: 5/25/05 at 12:12pm

I don't know whether the entrance applause is distracting or not but I like showing the actor that I come to the theatre mainly because of him or her.
And I think most actor throughout his stage career try to deserve that entrance applause because it has a meaning for him and for me too.

[TheColorOfFlame]

Posted: 5/25/05 at 12:12pm

I just don't see why you guys find it distracting. It is literally an integral part of the theatre experience.

Many entrances are designed specifically FOR entrance applause - Elphaba in Wicked is a GLARING example, as when she runs downstage out of nowhere, staring dreamily into the balcony, she seems to quite literally embrace her own entrance applause. The music and moment before her entrance are also synced dramatically to stir audience applause, as Glinda introduces her ("...in school!") and the music crescendoes blissfully.

The fact is, an entrance is WORTHY of applause. It is an entrance, and entrances are dramatic. You will find that even in movies, when a celebrity or star is first displayed, a good director will have designed a dramatic way of framing him or her for the first time - perhaps he or she turns to face the camera, or his or her hands are viewed first, or feet walking on the street. A kind of suspense builds up as an audience prepares for a star's first appearance.

If a director wants to avoid entrance applause altogether, so as to maintain the flow of a scene, he or she will find some way to avert it. But you'll notice that when it occurs, it occurs because a place has been deliberately created for it in the staging of the production.

[mikewood]

Posted: 5/25/05 at 12:16pm

lol

<-<-<- oh that?

That's a scene from the play I am currently directing... Sam Shepard's Fool for Love.

[justme2]

Posted: 5/25/05 at 12:17pm

Entrance applause is annnoying and many of you have already touched on the best reasons why.

I agree with many of the points, particulary applauding an actor for simply showing up on stage. It's their job to show up and begin the performance on time and in character. Applauding them breaks that fourth wall and the concentration that is needed to set the tone of the show.

I understand the points people are trying to make about someone being a "legitimate star", but when I saw Chicago in SF, people were applauding for Bianca when she first appeared and not when Brenda first came out. Both are the stars of the show and to show favor to one over the other BEFORE the show even starts is not right.

[chess12]

Posted: 5/25/05 at 12:19pm

OK. First of all, I'm not Chinese. With that out of the way, let me relate a story I once read about. A European orchestra was playing a performance in China. When the maestro entered, the Europeans in the audience began to applaud him and the orchestra as they stood. The Chinese in the audience did not applaud. When asked why the Chinese audience members kept quiet at the beginning of the concert, one Chinese person replied that the orchestra had not done anything yet! Why applaud when there has been no performance.
I've kept that in my mind every performance I've seen since, whether theater, symphony, choral, solo-performance or whatever. Do something first. I'll let you know if I liked it by applauding.

[cserannie]

Posted: 5/25/05 at 12:20pm

TheColorOfFlame - you are absolutely right.
And I think good or trained actors can handle the few seconds while they have to stop the scene.

[cathywellerstein]

Posted: 5/25/05 at 12:23pm

it can be annoying if it breaks up the consistency of the show. but if an audience wants to clap...they will clap. that's what live theatre is all about.
sometimes entrance applause can just give the show more energy because they know that they have a loving audience. sometimes actors are lucky to have an entrance that garauntees and applause.

i.e. john lithgow's entrance in DRS - the stage revolves and there he is...you just have to clap. the music is winding down and it just seems right. on the other hand, norbert (also an amazing and deserving performer) doesn't always get the entrance applause that he may deserve simply because his entrance isn't as grand as lithgow's.

Updated On: 5/25/05 at 12:23 PM

[JBSinger]

Posted: 5/25/05 at 12:24pm

If someone (preferably a legitimate legend) is given an "entrance" then applause is desireable and hightens the moment. Some stars have so much wattage and history, even they are not given an "entrance", it becomes on anyway because of who they are (i.e. Stritch, Peters, Rivera, Kitt etc..)