Jane Kaczmarek almost Lupone'd last night in GOOD PEOPLE

[Idiot]

Posted: 4/22/12 at 2:00am

I went to see GOOD PEOPLE at the Geffen Playhouse last night. Excellent production, loved the play.

A few minutes in to the second act, a cellphone went off so loudly at the front of the house it sounded like a sound effect. It must have been on speakerphone or something, because we heard part of a phone message clearly before it was silenced.

Jane Kaczmarek froze. She may have gone up -- couldn't tell -- but she was horribly distracted because the offending patron was in the front row, probably 15 feet from her. She slowly turned her head and glared at the front row... I still couldn't tell if it was part of the play or not. It seemed like she stared for 5-10 seconds, then she slowly turned her head back toward her fellow actors, composed herself, and continued her excellent performance.

I don't think I've ever been at a performance before where an actor almost Lupone'd a patron. It was a bit thrilling, but galling at the same time.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 4/22/12 at 7:31am

Maybe if more actors reacted, more patrons would be careful.

That being said, I do know its possible to turn off your phone and it still make noise. (I'm sure some of the time its BELIEVING your phone is off when it is not.) I have my ringer off 90% of the day and on occasion is still sets off a tone.

[yankeefan7]

Posted: 4/22/12 at 11:02am

Personally, I always have my phone set to "vibrate" so it never will cause a distraction.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 4/22/12 at 11:19am

As long as you know that a vibrating phone is just as annoying to those sitting near you as a ringing one is.

[morosco]

Posted: 4/22/12 at 11:31am

For fear of my phone going off during a performance I either leave my phone at home or remove the battery until the show is over. The outside world CAN survive without me for a few hours lol.

[Owen22]

Posted: 4/22/12 at 12:59pm

When in London I have a cheap mobile I purchased there. Early on, might have been the actual trip I bought it, I guess I didn't know how to turn it off. I was in a box (yes a f*ckin' BOX!!--in one of those ornate Brit theatres where the boxes are almost as much a part of the proscenium as the proscenium...)and the phone went off. During an excellent "Oliver" with Rowan Atkinson. During a book scene. And as it was a box I had a complete view of the house as well as the stage. And I saw all audience heads move as one and look directly at me....needless to say, I check my phone about three times now before every live or filmed performance I attend...

[Patash]

Posted: 4/22/12 at 1:04pm

"As long as you know that a vibrating phone is just as annoying to those sitting near you as a ringing one is."

That certainly depends on the phone. I can assure you, you'd never know my phone is vibrating if you were sitting next to me even in a silent theatre. In fact, I rarely can feel it vibrating even though it is in my front pocket. And it doesn't make a sound at all! I realize some phones do, however.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 4/22/12 at 1:13pm

If restarting a phone after turning it off is an issue (this was for me, with my older crappier phone), just turn it to silent AND airplane mode while in the theatre. You'll be fine.

My phone vibrated while I was at The Lyons. It's a pretty loud vibration noise. I felt terrible.

[uncageg]

Posted: 4/22/12 at 1:23pm

But why even put it on vibrate? Does that mean that when you get a call you are going to pull your phone out and check it, possibly annoying those around you with the light from the phone?

[Dollypop]

Posted: 4/22/12 at 2:02pm

I shut my phone off and check my messages during intermission. I make sure the people with me do the same.

[ljay889]

Posted: 4/22/12 at 2:09pm

I shut my phone off and check my messages during intermission. I make sure the people with me do the same.

Same here. It's not difficult, folks.

[kc2]

Posted: 4/22/12 at 2:13pm

At Book of Mormon in Jan I was sat next to a woman who, after turning up a half hour late, not only didn't switch off her phone she let it play music until intermission. Why is it so hard for some people to bear the thought of being contactless for just a few hours?

[CurtisB]

Posted: 4/22/12 at 2:20pm

I always turn off my phone before even walking into the theatre. I was at Ghost last night and someone was talking on their phone in the rear orch during the show. What funds you must have to disregard a performance you spent money on! I work in a profession where I can't use my phone for 12 hours a day.

It's a sad world nowadays when people cannot be unattached from a technologic appliance for 2 1/2 hours.

[uncageg]

Posted: 4/22/12 at 2:27pm

I just got a phone in Jan of 2011. I always turn it off before entering the theater and it doesn't get turned back on until after the show.

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 4/22/12 at 2:35pm

Research shows that when we receive new information on our phones, we have an immediate impulse to check it because we find that information very reinforcing. I think for that reason people should just turn off their phones (unless there is a really good reason) because otherwise it is very difficult to resist that temptation.

[xxdrewboy85xx]

Posted: 4/22/12 at 2:46pm

Do you guys remember back in the early 2000's when Nextel phones were like the biggest thing ever ( Well they were in Michigan and Florida)??

I was at the national tour of Scarlet Pimpernel when it rolled through Broadway Grand Rapids and someone's two-way went off. The person didn't turn their phone off or silence it or anything and for about 20 minutes it kept beeping with a person yelling through the walkie talkie for the person to answer their phone. The person eventually answered their two-way and was trying to whisper to the other person that they were at the theater. About 15 minutes later someone ELSES two-way went off.

I'm so glad that damn Nextel fad is over!

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 4/22/12 at 2:47pm

It's really fascinating how in only about ten years society has SO drastically changed due to people's cell phones.

[Auggie27]

Posted: 4/22/12 at 3:23pm

Reminds me of my new pet peeve. The people who use the last moments to check for texts or email. The phone announcement is made, the house lights dim, and often for at least the first couple of minutes or so the phones are lit up. Happened to me at CLYBOURNE PARK where someone had the gall to hold it up and literally block those behind her. The smart phone screens are little computers, and so now, increasingly, we have to endure a house dotted with a sea of square white lights as the curtain rises. This mars that magical instant when house goes to full black and either the curtain rises or stage lights rise.

It's a transition that dates to before electric lights, and now it feels like rock concerts with lighters held aloft. I sound picky and/or pretentious, but I think those moments should be a bridge between one prosaic world and the mysterious next. Art starts to happen in that darkness. Or rather, we prepare to receive the art prepared for us. I believe that space should be honored.

Updated On: 4/22/12 at 03:23 PM

[Dollypop]

Posted: 4/22/12 at 3:25pm

My daughter-in-law is the "Text Messaging Queen" of Long Island. I actually had to shout to her to stop texting over Easter dinner. Our urge to communicate is getting out of control.

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 4/22/12 at 3:25pm

"It's really fascinating how in only about ten years society has SO drastically changed due to people's cell phones."

Yes, and not for the better...

[bk]

Posted: 4/22/12 at 3:39pm

Heaven forbid people should just turn their damn phones OFF for two hours - what is WRONG with people today? Don't put it on vibrate - turn it OFF. Before cell phones what the hell did people do? They lived better, that I can tell you. I don't need to know who called me every three seconds, or check to see if anyone HAS called me or anything else. It's like narcotics, but worse in a way, because it so impacts others. I almost understand it with many of the ADD kids of today, because that's all they've grown up with - what I NEVER understand is middle-aged to elderly people doing it in theaters and restaurants - STOP THE MADNESS already. It's completely nauseating. Go two hours without checking your damn phone. It won't kill you and it might even make you happy to not be connected for two hours of your life.

[uncageg]

Posted: 4/22/12 at 3:44pm

Ok, so I have a question...On a few occasions I asked someone in a theater to please turn their phone off during a performance. The screen was lit and they snapped at me saying "It IS off"! So are some phones acttually off but the screen stays lit or did these people just put it on vibrate and say it was off. Off to me means no light on the screen.

[bk]

Posted: 4/22/12 at 4:10pm

Off is OFF. If a phone is OFF it will not emit any kind of power or light. It's like heroin - they can't stop for a frickin' minute. It's pathetic, actually, this need to be connected to someone, anyone, twenty-four hours a day, to put every aspect of your life out there on Twitter and Facebook every two minutes - if that's evolution, baby, leave me OUT.

[xxdrewboy85xx]

Posted: 4/22/12 at 4:13pm

^ not necessarily. My old blackberry would glare a bright white light when I tried to turn it off occasionally. It would only stop if I took the battery out. It was the Blackberry Curve. So it technically is possible.

[TheGirlUpstairs]

Posted: 4/22/12 at 4:37pm

I was at Book of Mormon several weeks ago, and there were several instances of cell phone misuse. Two of the people sitting in the row in front of me were using their phones all through intermission. This wasn't a problem until the lights went down and the phones stayed out. They continued to email and text through the entire tableau scene at the top of Act II. Then, the phone of the girl sitting next to me went off. Luckily it was on vibrate and she had the good sense to scramble to shut it off.

As a college student, it really bothers me when people my age are completely unable to live without their phones. It makes the rest of us look bad. Off means off--if you can't go the length of a single act without checking your phone you're probably not mature enough to be seeing theatre in the first place.

What really baffles me are the people who refuse to turn their phones off but claim that they won't check them. What's the point?