Starting on Time
Starting on Time
#1Starting on Time
Posted: 11/6/14 at 8:07am
Yesterday I saw the matinee of The Curious Incident (brilliant by the way, but we already know that).
My seat was A-108 Mezzanine. The exact center seat of the first row of the mezzanine. People were pouring into the theatre, but I kid you not -- exactly at 2 PM -- curtain time -- I was the ONLY person seated in the entire front three rows of the center of mezzanine. Yes -- just me among about 45 empty seats! WTF? Then people started coming in. The show started at about 2:05, which seems early these days. People continued to be seated until about 2:15, when at last all those seats were filled. It was hard to follow the first 10 minutes of the show with all the confusion.
What's going on? Do people just assume it's going to start late so no need to hurry? Admittedly I've gotten used to most shows starting about 10 minutes late, but this seemed a new record for latecomers. I thought it must be a big bus group that had all those tickets, but clearly not, it was a scattering of mostly middle aged and older women. I was the only male in those entire three rows.
ArtMan
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/10/08
#2Starting on Time
Posted: 11/6/14 at 8:18amAlthough I already mentioned this a while ago, because of this thread, I'll mention it again. When I saw Lady Day on Flea Market Sunday, at least 50 people came in well after thirty minutes into the show. Some were seated in the stage area. One table, the member was having difficulty in sitting down, which made the experience even worse. At least 6 people came in 15 minutes before the show was going to end. I'm seeing Audra next year in Jacksonville. If I get the chance at stage door, I'm going to mention it to her. It had to be quite distracting to her while performing. She remained quite professional and unfazed throughout the ordeal. I, on the other hand, would have loved to tell those people what I thought about them, but I was in the last row and eager to get back to Flea market.
#2Starting on Time
Posted: 11/6/14 at 8:18amWhen I saw Curious Incident, latecomers were seated continuously throughout Act One. They didn't seem to have any set late seating cues--they just seated people as they arrived. It was incredibly distracting and totally took me out of the performance multiple times. (And it feels like latecomers are always seated in the center of a row--can't they ever have the aisle?)
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
I'm a starkid
Chorus Member Joined: 6/29/14
#3Starting on Time
Posted: 11/6/14 at 1:43pmI'm not even a performer, but I still think it's extremely disrespectful to come into a show late. The house usually opens 30 minutes before curtain up, I usually aim to be there at least 20 minutes early. There's usually a line to get into the theatre, and then if you still have time I like to use the bathroom, admire the theatre and stage, and read the playbill. It's a simple courtesy to the performers and technicians who are working to give you a couple hours of entertainment. I find it very distracting when people are seated late.
#4Starting on Time
Posted: 11/6/14 at 1:45pm
"I'm seeing Audra next year in Jacksonville. If I get the chance at stage door, I'm going to mention it to her. It had to be quite distracting to her while performing."
If you follow her on Twitter, I don't think you'd have any concern that she wasn't aware of these issues... although phones seem to be her bigger annoyance.
To be fair, though, this is up to the show. Some shows make people wait until a specific point into Act One before seating them or, in the case of Bette Midler, there was no late seating at all. They got chairs in the back where they could see down the aisle, sat behind the SRO people.
Updated On: 11/6/14 at 01:45 PM
Mr Roxy
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/17/03
#5Starting on Time
Posted: 11/6/14 at 1:54pm
About a month and a half ago, we went to a concert in MSG of Charles Aznavour. He is called the French Frank Sinatra. The man is 90 years old and writes and sings songs in different languages . He is onstage non stop for about 2 hours. Some people were actually coming in 1 hour late. His songs are emotional and yet these idiots did not care how much they bother people or the artists.
Latecomers on Broadway are a lost cause and all the producers care about is the dollar. If people who came on time are bothered by these morons, the producers could care less.
Poster Emeritus
#6Starting on Time
Posted: 11/6/14 at 1:55pmI've never seen a show to start on time, it's been a on the 05 or 07 and I think they do this so people running from the bar don't have to rush to the seats and spill a drink, or be stuck in the bathroom. Gives those few extra minutes and that way you don't have the stragglers coming in interrupting the performance. Never heard of that late though!
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