Bad Audience Behavior- Page 3

[justme2]

Posted: 7/20/05 at 1:10pm

ok...my foot story has been completely overshadowed by barihunk's "vomiting in the next seat" story.

[YessicaB]

Posted: 7/20/05 at 1:22pm

Hey

I know what you mean.What ticks me off most are people who don't appreciate the fact other people may have a hard time coming with 100$ for a ticket and are eager to actually enjoy the whole performance without background noise!
I mean don't let me get started on this. Have you guys ever tried to get lottery tickets? About 90% of the people there will after they loose just go on and buy the 250$ tcikets at the Marriot for the same show. The lottery is for the people who otherwise can't afford to see the show!
Apart from that I finally got to see Wicked (yeah I know most of you don't like it) and was thrilled about it. But in front of me were a bunch of families with young teenagers and kids, and they felt like they had to comment on everything, most of them started to quiet down half way through the first half, but one mother and son, kept eating out of this huge bag of chips and talking loudly the entire time. I didn't know what to do and was close to throwing my purse at them. When they ruined Defying Gravity for me that was it. I got up and walked over and whispered in her ear: It's enough, I payed 100$ for my ticket, please be QUIET. I was so angry and had such a hard time not yelling shut the f*** up!
After the show everybody around us thanked me for shutting them up.
But I'm still so dissapointed to have my chance to see that show ruined by those people!

[iflitifloat]

Posted: 7/20/05 at 1:24pm

I knew that the couple eating fried chicken in the balcony at Seussical a few years back was an ominous sign...

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 7/20/05 at 2:34pm

Barihunk - When I did Naked Boys Singing, we had vomiting bridesmaids in the audience. They tried to pretend like it was someone else while their shoes are covered in the stuff. The bachelorette parties were ALWAYS a nightmare.

Margo - Your Polaroid story is my new favorite.

I advise everyone to pick up an extra Playbill upon entering the theatre so you will have something to hurl at the offenders. Trust me, it works. If we all take action, perhaps collectively we can make a difference in diminishing offensive theatre behavior and once again make theatre-going a pleasant experience for everyone (unless the show sucks).

[Elphaba]

Posted: 7/20/05 at 2:42pm

oh my God.......how ridiculous.......I would have thrown the idiots OUT.

[J. BOWDEN HAPGOOD]

Posted: 7/20/05 at 2:48pm

I've heard stories of men bringing small TV sets to the theatre during football or baseball playoffs so they could watch the game during the performance. Never actually seen it myself, but some friends swear it happens. Anyone else see this happen?

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 7/20/05 at 2:50pm

No need for projectiles. Ask people - nicely - once to be quiet. If that isn't enough, at the first opportunity go and get the house manager. Paying top $ for seats entitles you to save yourself (and others) from these idiots.

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 7/20/05 at 2:54pm

I take a blow gun and about 20 darts.

You'd be amazed at how quiet it gets with all of the loud folks passed out in their seats.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 7/20/05 at 2:55pm

After asking nicely 3-4 times, the first act is over an hour long, and if you're sitting in a 3000-seat continental-style theatre in the center, THEN grab your Playbill and FIRE!!! It is completely justified.

[Garland Grrrl]

Posted: 7/20/05 at 3:03pm

A number of months ago I went to the Kravitz Center for the Performing Arts in West Palm Beach to see a concert by a Broadway favorite of mine and was SHOCKED to see the audience bolting from the theater 15, 20 minutes before the end of the show. The folks in Palm Beach are old and very, very wealthy with a great sense of entitlement. They don't want to wait for the valet parking so they prefer to not offer their applause at the end. Shortly after that, I read an item on Page 6 of the NY Post that said the management at the Kravis Center was considering instituting a free dessert bar after the show to encourage their audiences to stop running out before the end of the show. Like bribing a bunch of selfish two year olds to stay put in their seats.

[freeadmission]

Posted: 7/20/05 at 3:08pm

That disgusts me....almost as much as the vomit thing.

[kec]

Posted: 7/20/05 at 3:20pm

"I've heard stories of men bringing small TV sets to the theatre during football or baseball playoffs so they could watch the game during the performance. Never actually seen it myself, but some friends swear it happens. Anyone else see this happen? "

On the cd "Sondheim Tonight," Michael Ball tells a story about an incident that occured while he was starring as Georgio in Passion in the West End. The story takes place during Soccer (football) season. He said there had been some problem with people bringing cameras in because of the opening scene. ON this particular day (matinee) he noticed a small red light in the audience, and naturally thought someone was videoing the scene. When the scene is over and he goes backstage, he reports the camera to a member of the house staff. A short while later the man comes back laughing. It seems that the red light wasn't a camera but a small portable radio, in the hands of a little old lady. She's listening to a soccer match and sharing the scores with the people round her!

Flash forward to the second act, when Georgio and Fosca are together, and declaring their love for each other. At the most tender moment in the scene there is a sudden shout from the little old lady. Someone on her team had apparently missed the penalty shot!

It was told with humor, and I'm sure that after the fact it was funny, but I can imagine it wasn't very funny at the time.

[WonderBoy]

Posted: 7/20/05 at 3:26pm

I'm sorry but I would lose it if someone vomited beside me! You are a much kinder person than I.

Updated On: 7/20/05 at 03:26 PM

[Adam Chris]

Posted: 7/20/05 at 3:38pm

Charm Bracelets and an Old Woman.

I know charm bracelets are all the rage right now. Have you seen the ones that have trinkets dangeling from them?

My story has to do with a performance of Les Miz where an elderly woman sitting in front of me had a huge gotty bracelet with about 5 or 6 long trinkets that hung. During I Dreamed A Dream this old lady started to shake her hand making a surprisingly loud sound. *clink* clank* clank* clink*

She wouldnt stop shaking her clenched hand. When the song was over she stopped.
...that is until Fantine's death sequence....and then it started again. When Fantine sang her last word and died...so did the 'clanks'.

I was like, "What the heck??!!"

Updated On: 7/20/05 at 03:38 PM

[cindy013]

Posted: 7/20/05 at 4:07pm

I think bad audience behavior is disgusting. I have no desire to go to the movie theatre in my city now because it's just an excuse for all the middle school aged kids in the area to make out with their boyfriends or random guys, and they wear disgusting clothes and leave every 5 minutes to go to the bathroom or whatever, personally I think they just enjoy parading up and down the isle in their slutty attire.

It amazes me how some people just don't have common courtesy. Seriously, if there's a little kid sitting behind me or something, I'll try and lean to the side or something so they can see better, I won't sit as straight as I possibly can and luagh to myself. That's just mean. Some people seriously don't care about anyone but themselves, and that's how a show can be ruined for someone.
I don't think I've had too many bad experiences at plays/musicals, except for occasional old people talking too loud because they can't hear, and the unfortunate 'kicking of the seat' deal, usually by some little kid whose parents dragged to the show even though they couldn't care less. Oh, and the sneezing right behind you where you feel the force on the back of your head and want to die. Yuck. I think the worst thing that happened was once I turned around and stared at some kid who was kicking my seat, and their mom gave me a dirty look as in "how dare you! he's my precious baby boy!" Idiot. Oh, and whenever I'm at a show and we have box seats the other people always end up complaining their tickets are for the front of the box when they aren't. When i saw Wicked in Toronto we could only get box seats, so my dad made sure we had the 3 in the front, seats 1, 2, and 3..and sure enough these creepy people came RIGHT AS IT WAS STARTING and freaked out to the ushers that they were told they'd be in front, we moves the seats, etc, when we really didn't because my mom couldn't even see because we kept them to the side and everything. Long story short they ended up realizing, hey, we have seats 4, 5, and 6 and they have 1, 2 and 3 so maybe this is right. Duh. Then we became friends and they gave us buttons with their website about plastic surgery or something, which then creeped me out. But yeah. Beware of the box seats!

I hate when someone hogs the armrest, too. Man.

[new_philosophy_girl]

Posted: 7/20/05 at 4:22pm

Man...hearing that vomit story makes me really proud to be from Philly.

A rude behavior story of my own...when I saw LITP last month a woman a few rows down from me had her cell phone ring during the opening number, talked on it for a while, got up and went to the lobby while still talking on it, then came back and very loudly asked what was going on...

[Bobby457]

Posted: 7/20/05 at 4:28pm

When I did "Naked Boys Singing" in Florida, there was a guy in the front row taking pictures...and I dont mean one or two...I mean throughout the entire opening number! Luckily I had the fist line of the show after the opening number...I said to the boy that runs onto the stage..."Hold on, honey!" and I turned to the guy in the front row and said "You! Give me that!! He says "What???" I said, "The camera in your lap, Give it to me now!!" He sheepishly hands me the camera and I proceeded to open the camera, take the film out and pulled the entire roll apart. All the while, looking at him straight in the eye and then I said "Shame on you!" The audience went wild with applause!

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 7/20/05 at 4:32pm

Good for you, Bobby!!

[Bobby457]

Posted: 7/20/05 at 4:34pm

Thank you! I loved every minute of it!

[billygoatgirl300]

Posted: 7/20/05 at 4:58pm

When I saw Folles a few weeks ago there was this girl about 6 or 7 there oppsite the aisle from me. Thorughout the whole act she kept on getting up and sitting in her mothers lap which really and it distracted me from the show.

In act two she kept on moving between her mother and father's lap and her father was about three seats down. I can only imageine was it was like for the people behind them. The show I belive was sold out so I found it wrong that she was seating in her mom's lap while a person who wants to see the show could have sat there.

When I saw Mamma Mia right before Super Troppers starts a flash went off in our area. The ushers were looking for who it was but they couldn't find them.

People at the movies also bug me. One time when I saw Sky Capitin with my dad there were this group of Middle school students behind us and they wouldn't shut up.Then one of them began to kick my seat.They runied my time at the movie. I was about to turn around and tell them to shut up. But I couldn't since the nice person in me took over.

Updated On: 7/20/05 at 04:58 PM

[little_sally]

Posted: 7/20/05 at 5:06pm

During Sunday's performance of "The Pillowman", the woman next to me felt the need to open a bottle of soda (and you know the sound a new bottle of soda makes when it's first opened) right in the middle of a scene. She also ate during the entire show.

[justme2]

Posted: 7/20/05 at 5:08pm

"...I found it wrong that she was seating in her mom's lap while a person who wants to see the show could have sat there."

Billy, that made me laugh out loud...I am sure you meant the empty seat the little girl was NOT using..but still, a good laugh at that one!

[billygoatgirl300]

Posted: 7/20/05 at 5:58pm

Yes I did mean the empty seat. Good thing she wasn't moving around during Marni Nixon's song.

[Elphaba]

Posted: 7/20/05 at 9:25pm

when we saw RENT in April, two young ladies attempted to start talking right after the first number...I leaned over and asked them to shut their traps because I paid to see who was on the stage, NOT people in the audience.

I also leaned forward and told the French family in the row in front of us to put DOWN their video camera and stop recording or I would have their video camera taken by the theater......idiots

[singingwendy]

Posted: 7/20/05 at 11:26pm

Gosh..I wish I would have seen this thread 2 years ago when I was writing my master's thesis. I did my paper on concert etiquette and audience behavior. I attempted (and I use that word purposely) to set up an audience education program at my elementary school. Oh...and the focus of my study wasn't the students...it was their parents! It really is amazing how rude people can be. I mean, parents who will come 45 minutes before the concert starts, taking the seats reserved for the kindergarten students, blocking the aisles so they can get the best camera angles for their camcorders, talking during the concert until THEIR child is on stage. The conculsion of my thesis? That parents arent' really there for an artistic experience, but to take pictures of their little darlings on stage.