Theater etiquette gone forever??- Page 4

[Fanb]

Posted: 1/3/10 at 1:03pm

In Japan, cellphones do not work in theaters. If a patron is concerned about receiving an urgent call, they may check the phone at the door and check for messages at intermission.

[ManhattanGal]

Posted: 1/4/10 at 9:35pm

I can recall when a woman would never dream of going into Manhattan without wearing "seamless" silk stockings and a tailored suit. The whole experience has changed.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 1/4/10 at 9:39pm

But everything has changed....dress codes EVERYWHERE have relaxed. HELL, folks use to dress up to fly on PLANES.

I don't think the way we dress is the issue.....it's the "me" attitude.

[wexy]

Posted: 1/4/10 at 9:52pm

Manners are dead everywhere.But I do like the old movies when everyone runs across the street to a bar during intermission, shoot down a couple a few drinks and go back for the second act.

Years ago when I took my sister's family to see "1776" there were group of agitated people screaming in Russian as the overture began.
"What's wrong with them" my sister asked. "Maybe they thought they going to see "1917"

Then I went to see "Threepenny Opera", the people behind me were holding up and studying an xray when the overture began.

[Eris0303]

Posted: 1/4/10 at 9:54pm

First of all, maybe I'm out of touch with today's teens (I am almost 30) but what parent in their right mind let's their teenage child roam New York City (the kids couldn't have been more than 16 at most. There was no adult with them).

I'm 30 and I don't feel this way. As for being alone I don't know if I'd let my child wander NYC alone but I might if he/she was was with friends. Safety in numbers and all that. Besides, for all you know those kids didn't live far from the theatre.

[aspiringactress]

Posted: 1/4/10 at 11:04pm

I think that with kids, it's all about early exposure in an appropriate way. My parents started taking me to TheatreWorks before I could really talk, and by the time I could, I had learned to behave. They did the same thing with opera--they started me at the Amato Opera downtown, which is a lovely little theater that presents shortened versions of opera for children. I never had any problems because they taught me well, and I'm lucky because I was always able to see a wide variety of shows. It's all about the parenting.

[beingalive123]

Posted: 1/5/10 at 1:55am

What bothers me the most is people talking during the overture. I attended the tour of south pacific during its san francisco run. The overture to south pacific has always been one that truly thrills me and excites me like very few overtures can. And when it began, people continued to talk through the overture. I at first thought that the audience needed a minute to settle down, but this went on for the entire overture. I couldn't believe the lack of respect for the orchestra. It to this day still bothers me.

[mattonstage]

Posted: 1/5/10 at 8:48am

As far as age, Shrek seemed to have no age restrictions. Every night I bartended there, the coat room was full of strollers. I guess the cutoff was around 2 years old actually. There was one night, it was raining, that a woman got up to the mezzanine wearing a rain poncho. I was at the mezz bar and saw her drop something, when she bent over to pick it up I saw two little legs dangling under the poncho. I looked up and caught the eye of an usher, who had also seen this. We gave each other a "WTF, did I just see that" look, as the woman went into the ladies room. The usher followed her in, and the patron spent the entirety of the show in the downstairs lounge, with the baby, waiting for her family.

[desiree armfeldt]

Posted: 1/5/10 at 9:32am

When I saw WSS last year, the people next to me were genuinely convinced that they were also in the show. They sang through the entire thing. Not kidding. Only when the Spanish lyrics appear did they seem to lose their footing. And at the end of the quintet, the woman in front of me raised her arms to the sky on the last note.....

[hushpuppy]

Posted: 1/5/10 at 12:13pm

Manners have been gone for years. One of the most miserable theatrical experiences I've had was sitting amidst a goup of Russian tourists during TITANIC in 1997. They obviously didn't understand the language so they talked throughout the entire production. And when they weren't talking, they were eating, noisily, while passing cooked food around. I was up in the balcony and there was no usher to be found so I suffered throughout the whole first act. Luckily they left at intermission (probably thinking it was over).

My pet peeve is people who bolt up the aisle as soon as the curtain comes down (if not sooner) in a mad rush to 'beat the crowd' and get back to Westchester, or wherever they live. I had a good laugh at OKLAHOMA! when this couple packed up and left immediately after the title number, obviously thinking that the show was over. Honestly, if you can't wait 5 more minutes, then stay home in front of the television.

[Eris0303]

Posted: 1/5/10 at 12:20pm

Every night I bartended there, the coat room was full of strollers

I don't think that's indicitive of there being children under 2 there. I've seen parents put kids as old as five or six in a stroller just to keep an eye on them when traveling.

The usher followed her in

I hope this was a female usher.

the patron spent the entirety of the show in the downstairs lounge, with the baby, waiting for her family

Did the usher make her wait there because she had the baby?

[Weez]

Posted: 1/5/10 at 12:26pm

My pet peeve is people who bolt up the aisle as soon as the curtain comes down (if not sooner) in a mad rush to 'beat the crowd' and get back to Westchester, or wherever they live. I had a good laugh at OKLAHOMA! when this couple packed up and left immediately after the title number, obviously thinking that the show was over. Honestly, if you can't wait 5 more minutes, then stay home in front of the television.

Mostly I'm one of those audience members who waits until the band's final playout has finished and gives them a final round of applause. But sometimes I do have to rush out as soon as the curtain comes down, if I want to be able to get home at a halfway decent hour. Public transport can be a bitch. :P

[uncageg]

Posted: 1/5/10 at 3:09pm

I was allowed to go to NYC from Philly when I was 16. But I had to go with a friend. We went to see shows together. And we dressed for the occasions. To this day I dress for the theatre as it feels like a special "event" no matter how often I go.

Some friends and I were just talking about dressing for the theatre and were discussing how parents will dress small kids like the characters in the shows they are seeing. (I have seen this twice at Wicked along with a few other shows) I guess this is alright but I just keep thinking, "this is not Halloween people". Let them dress up like that at Halloween. Put a nice dress on the little girls and make them feel "grown up". I can remember wearing a clip on tie as a kid and I felt grown up. It also can tend to make you act a bit more "mature". So I think, to a degree, the way we dress does matter a bit.

Just my random thoughts.

[jonmbway4652]

Posted: 1/10/10 at 9:25pm

I just saw the national tour of August: Osage County and there was a woman in front of me who was checking sports scores on her blackberry throughout the entire first act. This was by far the rudest thing I have ever seen a theatre patron do in my life. Someone finally told her that it was bothering them and asked her to put away. When this person told her to stop she acted baffled that she was disturbing anyone.

[CockeyedOptimist2]

Posted: 1/10/10 at 10:14pm

I was at a performance of Wicked, sitting Center Orchestra 3rd or 4th row on the aisle. Next to me was a man who had brought his young son, probably about 10 years old, to the show. The boy behaved perfectly and seemed to enjoy the show. The father, however, snoozed through the entire performance...snoring. Whenever I adjusted myself, I made a point to "accidentally" elbow him and disrupt his slumber for a moment until he dozed off again. I don't understand how audience members can think that they're so far removed from the actors onstage, especially sitting mere feet from them! There is no way that the poor actors couldn't see him. So rude!

[musicfan123]

Posted: 1/10/10 at 10:25pm

I went to see A Little Night Music a few weeks ago and I was sitting in the balcony. When Catherine Zeta Jones started singing Send in the Clowns a woman in our row decided to start getting ready to leave. She stood up, put on her big puffy jacket, zipped it up and starting rustling her plastic bags. It was ridiculous and so loud. And so disappointing to not hear large portions of the song.

[MillieDillmount]

Posted: 1/11/10 at 12:27am

To me I just love, and respect the theatre so much! It's an art form, not a night out to the movies! I am always so disgusted when I see people [kids and adults] eating candy, drinking water, soda. I always want to take it away from them and throw it away! I still don't get why theatres have consession stands? I guess I can't really get mad at them when it seems it's encourged.

At White Christmas a couple of weeks ago there was this guy who sat behind me, every five minutes he would SIP his water bottle! No, he wouldn't just take one big drink, it was a sip, sip, sip, sip, about ten times. Then five minutes later he'd do it all over again! I shot him so many looks, he didn't notice, or care. He looked like he was half asleep anyways. At least then he would have been quiet! haha. Oye.

And at Shrek there were these three kids who sat near me, they loved it and it was fun to look back every once in a while to see them laugh, and get into the show. Until intermission the parents bought them each a bag of candy! And they ate it very nosily through the second act. They weren't so cute then!

My biggest thing is cell phones, though. I am always shocked when I see people with their cell phones out. Really? And what happens when that starts to ring? I mean what's so important that you can't wait two hours for? If it is that important, maybe you should have stayed home? Some people just baffle me!

Although, I have always hated late people, and could never understand why they come in late. Until it happened to me. This was in 2008, we bought tickets to see Shrek in previews in July, I was soo excited. Well, the day finally came, I live in northern Maine and we took the bus down. I'm not kidding, we were supposed to get in NYC at 5:30 ... we didn't get in the city until 8:30! I was soo mad! But I had these tickets for five months, and since it was Thanksgiving weekend that was the only time we could see Shrek without missing out on another show we had tickets for. So mom and I walked in during the end of I Know It's Today, in the third row. I felt HORRIBLE, but it was something beyond our control. So now I'm not so quick to judge people who are late. Yes, sometimes it is just out of rudeness, but it's sometimes something you can't help.

End rant.