Entrance Applause - love it or hate it?- Page 4

[robbiej]

Posted: 5/25/05 at 2:12pm

I've actually sat back down...but only when I deemed the performance dismal.

Posted: 5/25/05 at 2:12pm

I applaud for Chita Rivera

[popcultureboy]

Posted: 5/25/05 at 2:13pm

Well robbiej, clearly you're just a bitch .

[mikewood]

Posted: 5/25/05 at 2:14pm

Has anyone else been pretty much the only person NOT to give a standing "O". I do applaud every performer even if I don't enjoy the performance. I may be a jerk but I'm not heartless. Much.

[justme2]

Posted: 5/25/05 at 2:15pm

kunhkrazy,

read the rest of the post...I go on to explain what I mean by saying that. And it's true! The same goes for the standing O's at the end of mediocre shows! Maybe it's because I'm in SF, and people are thrilled that ANY show is there to watch, but it is my experience that applause is happening just because the actor has stepped on the stage.

The only time I found it merited was when Bebe Neuwirth came on stage in the opening of Three Penny Opera.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 5/25/05 at 2:16pm

What I hate are forced standing ovations. I need to see who I am applauding for. But if people in front of me are standing up, then I can't see. So I am forced to stand up to see who I am applauding for. I wonder how many are people are doing that. Maybe an actor is getting a standing ovation that he/she doesn't deserve. Oh horrors!

[robbiej]

Posted: 5/25/05 at 2:18pm

I kept my ass firmly in its seat in the Marquise Theatre during the MILLIE curtain call.

I absolutely refused, even though many around me were up and cheering.

CIRCUS PONIES!!!

[neelyohara]

Posted: 5/25/05 at 2:18pm

I'm all for entrance applause, but I hate it when it isn't equally distributed...like when I saw Thoroughly Modern Millie last year and Dixie Carter came on--major applause, but then when Leslie Uggams made her entrance she got half the applause Dixie received. Personally I will applaud when any big name comes onstage, because honestly I've always thought that was theatre etiquette.

[Princeton78]

Posted: 5/25/05 at 2:24pm

About the comment on blocking being set up to draw entrance applause.....

When I saw "Steel Magnolias," Delta Burke was out and Sally Mayes filled in. Truvy's entrance is so perfectly designed to earn Delta a huge round of applause, that it was really laughable when Sally Mayes didn't recieve any.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 5/25/05 at 2:30pm

"When I saw "Steel Magnolias," Delta Burke was out and Sally Mayes filled in. Truvy's entrance is so perfectly designed to earn Delta a huge round of applause, that it was really laughable when Sally Mayes didn't recieve any."

That's what really bothers me! Actors should be blocked to enter in character, not to enter to applause. Unless of course there are 900 customers sitting in that beauty shop.

Posted: 5/25/05 at 2:36pm

Something that REALLY disturbed me was when Denzel made his initial entrance in CAESAR, and the 1/5 of the audience that was not there for theatre (perhaps never had been before EVER) screamed and hollered and carried on like he had just stepped out of the limo onto a red carpet. I felt sorry for everyone in the building at that point.

[melissa errico fan]

Posted: 5/25/05 at 2:38pm

I hate entrance applause. The one good thing about that shower curtain in the middle of the set in THE GLASS MENAGERIE was that it allowed Jessica Lange to enter almost unnoticed.

[mandy2loveRB]

Posted: 5/25/05 at 2:43pm

...my applause is just so natural and I never thought of "OK, he deserves one" or "oh, nah, I cannot stand up for her." And Standing O as well. So I really cannot tell when I will and when I will not ...I don't think but I just react. So, for some of you, I may be the worst kind of audience who stand up and applaud unexpectedly...sorry if I have ever been in the theatre on the same day with you guys. I never thought about this issue so I felt bad for people who don't like Entrance Applause/Standing O with no reason for themselves. (sorry for the weird post, but I felt like I want to send my apologies. Sincerely.)

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 5/25/05 at 2:51pm

I do wish that more shows were directed to discourage this. Even if I were a big star, I think I'd rather stay in character than be applauded for merely appearing.

Des McAnuff with "Tommy" did that very well (no stars to applaud for, I know) but the first act was so quick and seamless that there wasnt any applause until after Acid Queen when the audience erupted.

[FosseBoi]

Posted: 5/25/05 at 3:11pm

I love entrance applause. I think it helps you get out your excitment if your a big fan of the performer. I think it also helps the performer, energy wise. I know if I got entrance applause, I would be on top of the world!

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 5/25/05 at 3:14pm

If entrance applause breaks the fourth wall and distracts the audience/actors that much from the show, are you also annoyed when actors pause for laughter after a funny line? Would you rather the actors ignore the audiences' response and continue with the scene, and risk missing the next few lines of dialogue?

I understand that laughter is definitely more spontaneous and is usually the intent in some shows, but the "breaking the fourth wall" argument doesn't really stand up when it comes to audiences' response in these conditions.

Standing ovations, eh, it depends on the show. Usually I stand when the people in front of me stand, since I can't see anymore and you never know when someone will fall into the orchestra pit. But I have stayed sitting after shows that have just not impressed me. Yes, even when it's my little sister's middle school play.

Updated On: 5/25/05 at 03:14 PM

[Mythus]

Posted: 5/25/05 at 3:32pm

You know, I was thinking about this yesterday. I love them and hate them. Love them for obvious reasons (come on, you know George Hearn deserves that applause and more), but I kind of hate them - well, let's just say dislike them - because you're acknowledging the actor, not the character, and that kind of...I dunno. I have no idea what I'm trying to say.

I don't dislike entrance applause nearly half as much as I dislike applause right in the middle of a song, though. And there's always those awkward times when no one really knows if they should applaud or not, like right after "In Old Bavaria" in The Producers.

[mikewood]

Posted: 5/25/05 at 3:41pm

I love starting a standing ovation. I've done it a couple of times just to see if I could. Such exhilaration. Such power. Such hubris.

Sometimes I stand just because my back is really hurting.

Ouch!

[JHartnow]

Posted: 5/25/05 at 3:43pm

When we saw Fierstein in "Hairspray" the week after he won his Tony Award, he received a standing ovation upon his entrance. I was a little taken aback...

-John

[ShuQ]

Posted: 5/25/05 at 3:45pm

LoL I started the standing ovation of "Chicago" with Brenda Braxton and Charlotte D'Amboise from the second row and my friend and I turned out to be the ONLY ones standing up! The entire cast saw us and kinda laughed when they saw that nobody else was going to stand up and they all thanked us...LoL

[Gothampc]

Posted: 5/25/05 at 3:50pm

"But I have stayed sitting after shows that have just not impressed me. Yes, even when it's my little sister's middle school play."

orangeskittles, please see popcultureboy's post at 2:13pm. Please substitute your name for robbiej.

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 5/25/05 at 4:12pm

Heh, well it's not like I hold middle school plays up to the same standard as I do Broadway shows.

[ckeaton]

Posted: 5/25/05 at 4:59pm

The most awkward moment in theatre comes when someone tries to start it and it doesn't take off. That's why I'm against it.

However, I wanted like hell to do it when Carol Kane entered in 'Wicked'.

[StickToPriest]

Posted: 5/25/05 at 5:18pm

"Has anyone else been pretty much the only person NOT to give a standing "O"."

I felt like the only person who wasn't giving a standing O to Little Women. And I was sitting in the second row on the aisle and I think Maureen McGovern gave me a dirty look.

Sometimes though I start applauding and don't even realize I'm doing it. When George Hearn entered in Wicked I guess I just had a reflex that made me jump up and applaud like mad. I looked like a fool, but he smiled and made a little nod toward me, so I was happy.

[Eastwickian]

Posted: 5/26/05 at 10:32am

More of less unrelated to this thread, but Blood Brothers is directed carefully so that there is no applause until the end of the first act, and then again at the curtain calls. I think that that goes a lot of the way towards the fantastic buildup of energy and emotion in the theatre. Just a thought