Audience Behavior- Page 6

[quizking101]

Posted: 7/25/11 at 2:16pm

I am sad to say that the only people who text during shows (or turn their phone on 'silent' and not off) when I go...is my parents.

I yell at my mother to not only silence her phone, but to SHUT IT OFF...she refuses. When we saw SPRING AWAKENING on tour (which was painful to sit through), she was texting my sister to check on her when she dropped her phone. I immediately kicked it away from her grasp and held onto it for the remainder of the show. I don't care if she is my mother, I'm a bitch about that sort of thing.

On a lighter note, at WOMEN ON THE VERGE, I told her LuPone was going to kick her ass if she texted during the show. Oddly enough, she listened...

Updated On: 7/25/11 at 02:16 PM

[dramamama611]

Posted: 7/25/11 at 2:30pm

I think what we see in B'way audiences is just a microcosm of America at large. People's manners in general are horrid. People don't think rules apply to them, and they don't believe that they are being rude.

I certainly don't like it, but its not just happening at live theater.

[LegallyBroadway2]

Posted: 8/15/11 at 11:11pm

Spider-Man.

Sold out show on Saturday. I was siting in Row K center with a friend. This is my favorite show, so I was so so sooooo excited. I noticed a center section aisle empty spot. About six seats.

The lights dimmed- I was thinking GREAT they are going to wander in, a huge group with shopping bags-

oh they did. Ushered to their seat during Bullying By Numbers.

Fine fine I get it, benefit of the doubt.

A woman in front of me keeps talking to her husband in a foreign language.

A row behind me is another separate group of foreigners. They were LOUD. Seriously loud, laughing at their own conversations.

GREAT. They kept talking. I was TRYING to block them out of mind. We gave them some polite but PLEASE STOP looks.

Then the late center group suddenly stands. Two girls go running to the aisle, along with a woman with a cell phone. They run to the back.

The two in front of me keep talking until a lovely lady leans forward and stabs the woman with her eyes.

Behind, they get the signal though the looks most have been throwing them.

The center two girls and the woman with the cellphone return to their seats.

The husband in front is texting. Intermission, it is quite clear he has no idea of the plot so the others are trying to fill him in- obviously a language barrier. But seriously, if you can't understand the language I wouldn't text.

A companion to the wife in front of my friend is sitting on his chair, folded, texting. The music begins for Act Two. He texts. The lights fade.

Still blocking our view. I finally tap him on the shoulder. He sits and soon puts his cellphone away.

The Green Goblin walks into the house and escorts a man to his seat (afterward, I asked Patrick Page and he said he saw the man up and leave and decided if he was to return, he would walk with him)

The final scene begins to fly in, and the fourth row on the side sections stands. A larger woman and two boys get up, and walk up the aisle. They STAND in the aisle and talk a bit. The Usher who stands on the side walks forward. The boy forgot his sweater. So as the Goblin is performing close stage right, the boy is busy climbing over people to get his sweater.



I think for this show, it should be a strict rule not to leave your seats during the performance. Someone could get hurt. Spidey lands all over the house.
Updated On: 8/16/11 at 11:11 PM

[jaxandmci]

Posted: 8/16/11 at 10:50am

Granted it was a Saturday matinee of Mary Poppins but there were young children (kindergarten age or so) everywhere wearing those tennis shoes with the motion-triggered blinking LED lights in them. It wasn't a problem at first but about 20 minutes into the show they all became completely bored and started fidgeting (as I knew they would). There were colored strobes flashing all around me for the remainder of the show. A bunch of texters would have been less distracting. NOTE TO PARENTS: Take your kids' annoying blinky shoes off and put them on the floor under the seat!!!

[morosco]

Posted: 8/16/11 at 12:20pm

On a side note....why don't they make blinky shoes for adults?

[MattDean]

Posted: 8/16/11 at 1:22pm

I just don't understand inappropriate behaviour at the theatre...

...tickets are generally expensive so why pay good money to talk, text, get distracted/cause a distraction, etc?

I also don't understand parents that allow their children to misbehave - are they not aware that their tickets cost good hard money and not only are their children spoiling the show for themselves but also for others around them? Parents can 'switch off' to their own children - but others around can't! Sometimes the theatre can seem more like a playground. I think people might have the attitude that 'We paid for the tickets, we can behave the way we want!'

...I was once at a performance of Cats when it played at Birmingham Hippodrome, here in the UK, and for most of the performance four children in front of me were changing seats, playing games, out-doing each other with claps and cheers and...throwing, YES, throwing sweets in the air! We spoke to the parents several times and called an usher. Their response? They're children, they're having a good time - they're enjoying themselves! The performance ended up with me and my partner having a stand up row with the so-called parents!!!

I always sit in the stalls but now, when I can, I book front row - yes, sometimes the view can be restricted but at least I get no one annoying me in front and if there's anything going on behind me the orchestra is loud enough to drown them out. Besides, I honestly think the closer you get to the stage the fewer disturbances you encounter. For me the middle sections are the worst. My opinion anyway...



Matt (who is quickly becoming a theatre GRUMP!)
:)

[GlindatheGood22]

Posted: 8/16/11 at 9:28pm

When I go to shows I generally try to follow two rules:

1. Sit down.
2. Shut the hell up.

It has not escaped my notice that the 'touristy' shows are usually the ones with the most audience disruptions. People come in from out of town, see Billy Elliot and act like they're at the movies because they haven't been to the live theatre enough to make the distinction.

I'm a massive theatre bitch, aren't I.

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 8/16/11 at 9:59pm

I'm old enough to remember when one didn't go to the theater without a jacket and tie. I was very happy when it became acceptable to wear jeans and a simple shirt. (Thank you, "Hair"!)

But apparently it was a slippery slope to all sorts of too-casual behavior...

[littlegreen2]

Posted: 8/16/11 at 10:13pm

When I saw Jerusalem a little over a week ago, There was a couple in our (completely empty) row who sucked face all throughout intermission and the short break between the acts. I even watched at the beginning of act 3 and they weren't stopping.

It wasn't distracting, but I just think it's weird behavior.

[GlindatheGood22]

Posted: 8/16/11 at 10:40pm

Especially at such as romantic, love-affirming show as Jerusalem.

[chellylovesrent2]

Posted: 11/27/11 at 10:31am

My grandmother and I went to see Lion King in the summer, and we were next to a family with two kids who looked around the ages of 7-10. They all had a bunch of snacks, drinks which doesn't bother me though it sure looked like they were at a movie. They took pictures of them sitting and then the mom kept shouting "Waa HOO!" during some of the scenes.

During intermission, they got out a VIDEO camera and were waving to the camera and moving it to look around the theatre. Shortly after an usher came and told them to turn it off. Thank god!
Their behaviour annoyed me. Yeah it probably was their first show, though the parents should be a good example to their kids and know how to act respectful while in a public setting like a theatre.

[AMH]

Posted: 11/27/11 at 11:29am

I recently attended a regional production of TIME STANDS STILL. The theater is very small; anytime someone makes even the slightest sound, everyone else hears it. The gentleman next to me was drinking out of a plastic cup and everytime he would take a sip, I could hear the ice move around in the cup and his fingers rub against the lid; this was quite distracting. Whenever he would pick up his drink, my attention would turn away from the play and onto him. (This could be due to my own lack of concentration, but I still found it to be bothersome.) My personal preference would be for people not to eat or drink in the theater at all... but I know that's unlikely.

This isn't as extreme as most of the stories in this thread, but it was still annoying.