WICKED audience.... WTF????
WICKED audience.... WTF????
Quiche2
Broadway Star Joined: 7/20/12
#1WICKED audience.... WTF????
Posted: 10/14/12 at 6:54pmSo today I saw WICKED for the millionith time. I was sitting in the rear mezzanine, and a row down from me was an awfully rude man. Throughout all of Act 1 he was texting, and the bright light from his phone really disturbed me. During "Something Bad", I told an usher. The usher warned him, and he kept on texting. At intermission, she confiscated the phone. Just as intermission was ending, and the downbeat started, he actually pulled a pack of cigarretes out and took out a cigarette and lighter. The usher immeadietly stopped him. I was appalled at his rude behavior, and I hope I never have the displeasure of meeting him again. Also, during the curtain call, when the whole cast gave their final bow, he said something obscene about the cast which I will not state.
Theatre is my life. No one can take that away from me.
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#2WICKED audience.... WTF????
Posted: 10/14/12 at 7:01pmWow...some people. And I thought the half of the audience at Wicked who came back to their seats two scenes into Act II were rude...
"Brevity is the soul of wit"--Hamlet
Quiche2
Broadway Star Joined: 7/20/12
#2WICKED audience.... WTF????
Posted: 10/14/12 at 7:04pmIkr. Some poeple just have no ettiquite. I think there's a thread about other people's experiences with stuff like this, and some of it is just appauling.
Theatre is my life. No one can take that away from me.
#3WICKED audience.... WTF????
Posted: 10/14/12 at 8:42pmThe audiences at PHANTOM are full of people like him.
"TO LOVE ANOTHER PERSON IS TO SEE THE FACE OF GOD"- LES MISERABLES---
"THERE'S A SPECIAL KIND OF PEOPLE KNOWN AS SHOW PEOPLE... WE'RE BORN EVERY NIGHT AT HALF HOUR CALL!"--- CURTAINS
Wynbish
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/27/12
Quiche2
Broadway Star Joined: 7/20/12
#5WICKED audience.... WTF????
Posted: 10/14/12 at 8:56pmSTOP STEALING MY GIFS.
Theatre is my life. No one can take that away from me.
sbflyfan
Broadway Star Joined: 4/12/07
#8WICKED audience.... WTF????
Posted: 10/14/12 at 11:30pmWe have forgot-ten ou-r pub-lic man-ners.
"I'm seeing the LuPone in Key West later this week. I'm hoping for great vocals and some sort of insane breakdown..." - BenjaminNicholas2
winston89
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/18/06
#9WICKED audience.... WTF????
Posted: 10/15/12 at 4:14amI don't believe that the ushers have the ability to confiscate a cell phone. Just on that alone, I don't believe that your story holds water.
"If you try to shag my husband while I am still alive, I will shove the art of motorcycle maintenance up your rancid little Cu**. That's a good dear"
Tom Stoppard's Rock N Roll
dramamama611
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/4/07
#10WICKED audience.... WTF????
Posted: 10/15/12 at 5:32amI'm kind of with you, Winston.
If we're not having fun, then why are we doing it?
These are DISCUSSION boards, not mutual admiration boards. Discussion only occurs when we are willing to hear what others are thinking, regardless of whether it is alignment to our own thoughts.
#11WICKED audience.... WTF????
Posted: 10/15/12 at 7:08amWe must have much stricter theatre 'rules' here in Australia.We are told before the show starts to turn off phones etc.There would be no way that texting would be allowed in the theatre.It is rare for someone to talk or 'sing-a-long'--they would be speedly sushed[?]or removed.[I was an usher for years].This comment might cause a response but I have noted that even though Australians are mostly receptive to theatre,they let the performers perform, where I have found,generally,that American audiences are not content to be an audience,but are after attention on themselves. I blame reality TV.for'educating' the younger generation on behavural[I know that is spelt wrong] patterns.
Phyllis Rogers Stone
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/16/07
#12WICKED audience.... WTF????
Posted: 10/15/12 at 12:13pmI'm with Winston. This whole thing sounds made-up. I'm surprised so many people are indulging the OP.
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/31/69
#13WICKED audience.... WTF????
Posted: 10/15/12 at 12:21pm
As Elaine would say "Fake, fake, fake....FAKE."
1) The Usher confiscated his cell phone?
2) The usher was able to make it to his seat to stop him before lighting a cigarette?
3) During a curtain call you were able to overhear an obscenity muttered by someone in the row ahead of you?
You lie worse than Paul Ryan. WTF?
GilmoreGirlO2
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/13/05
#14WICKED audience.... WTF????
Posted: 10/15/12 at 12:22pm
Don't know whether this story is true or not, but I have seen a phone confiscated by an usher at a theatre (or attempted, rather). Saw "Rent" back in July and before the show an usher thought she saw 2 people take pictures. The first one (who I also believe is the only one who did) deleted the pictures in front of the usher, then she (the usher) started demanding the second guy to do the same. He said he didn't take any and was showing her, but she didn't believe him and asked for his phone. He refused and they went back and forth a little (he was not being aggresive) and then she asked him to come with her and escorted him out of the theatre.
I thought it was ridiculous that an usher was allowed to confiscate someone's phone, but this usher sure thought she had the right.
So, whether or not this "Wicked" story is true...ushers confiscating phones (or attempting to) definitely happens.
winston89
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/18/06
#15WICKED audience.... WTF????
Posted: 10/15/12 at 12:27pmThere is one big difference. Having an usher make sure you delete a picture, is not the same as confiscating a phone. Nor is it even close to it. I have volunteered at New World Stages before, and that is their policy when they see someone taking a picture on their phone. They have the person delete the picture right then and there in front of the usher. But, they don't confiscate the phone. In case you weren't sure, confiscating means to actually take away from someone, which is not something that the ushers have the power to do.
"If you try to shag my husband while I am still alive, I will shove the art of motorcycle maintenance up your rancid little Cu**. That's a good dear"
Tom Stoppard's Rock N Roll
GilmoreGirlO2
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/13/05
#16WICKED audience.... WTF????
Posted: 10/15/12 at 1:05pmWinston, I am perfectly aware of what 'confiscating' means. I am not sure you read my story all the way through - after the guy was showing the usher that he didn't have any pictures on his phone, she asked the man for his phone, to take it away, because she still didn't believe him.
winston89
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/18/06
#17WICKED audience.... WTF????
Posted: 10/15/12 at 1:18pmI did read your story. And, at no point did the usher take or attempted to take the patron's cell phone away from them. Standing over them while they delete their pictures is not confiscating a phone, nor is kicking out someone for taking said ilegal photos. Those are the two things that you claimed happened in your story. Plain and simple, an usher doesn't have the power or ability to up and take someone's cell phone from them just because they aren't using it properly in the theatre.
"If you try to shag my husband while I am still alive, I will shove the art of motorcycle maintenance up your rancid little Cu**. That's a good dear"
Tom Stoppard's Rock N Roll
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/31/69
#18WICKED audience.... WTF????
Posted: 10/15/12 at 1:26pmAn usher can tell a patron to leave- an usher can NOT "confiscate" a patron's phone.
GilmoreGirlO2
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/13/05
#19WICKED audience.... WTF????
Posted: 10/15/12 at 1:29pm
I have absolutely no investment as to whether you believe this story or not, but, to be clear, I did in fact say "He said he didn't take any and was showing her, but she didn't believe him and asked for his phone."
She was, quite clearly, trying to take his phone from him.
I also thought it was ridiculous, as I know ushers do not (or at least should not) have the power to take someone's phone from them, but, from my perspective, it seemed like this usher got frustrated that she was being proved wrong (as this man was showing her he had no pictures on his phone). I think her frustration turned into her stepping over her line of power in asking to take his phone.
Wynbish
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/27/12
#20WICKED audience.... WTF????
Posted: 10/15/12 at 1:30pmI think the usher dealing with the picture takers only asked for phone so she could verify or delete the pictures.
GilmoreGirlO2
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/13/05
#21WICKED audience.... WTF????
Posted: 10/15/12 at 1:41pm
It was quite clear she meant to take it away, not just look at it. The man was not being difficult or aggressive and was very plainly showing her his phone and the pictures on his phone.
As a side note, after she took him away, he came back to his seat a few minutes later, just as the show was starting.
#22WICKED audience.... WTF????
Posted: 10/15/12 at 1:53pm
The original story is fake.
Art has a double face, of expression and illusion.
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/31/69
#23WICKED audience.... WTF????
Posted: 10/15/12 at 2:55pmThe original story is fake....but that gif is amazing!
ArtMan
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/10/08
#24WICKED audience.... WTF????
Posted: 10/15/12 at 4:15pmI volunteer usher at three different venues in Florida. None of these are associated with the other. We are told , the usher can take a cellphone if the auduence member is nonadhering to venue policy. I have never done this, (not that I was afraid of confrontatio)but because I feel a paid employee should do this, not a volunterr. My point is there are situations that a usher has been told to take a phone.
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