What do you love about theater!?

[JohnnyB!2]

Posted: 4/23/19 at 2:30pm

Hi Everyone.

I am student doing a project on Broadway and the theater!

I was just wondering what everyone loves about theater and going to see plays?

Also what would you like to see? Or what could be improved?

I am looking to help improve the theater going experience and make it better for everyone!

Updated On: 4/23/19 at 02:30 PM

[DoTheDood]

Posted: 4/23/19 at 2:42pm

There is something so powerful about seeing a performance live. No matter if it's sung or spoken, the experience of theater is unique, both in the sense it is different from movies/television, but also how every performance is always going to be different (even if just slightly).

I feel the biggest problem with theater (well mostly mainstream Broadway) is the lack of reach. Since it's kind of exclusive, there are so many people who miss great experiences (either because of location or price). Things like touring companies, local theater, and a lot of free/cheap theater are great steps, but more can be done I feel. Not easily, but still theater should be more accessible.

Updated On: 4/24/19 at 02:42 PM

[Wick3]

Posted: 4/23/19 at 2:44pm

Michael Potts sings the answer for me every day at the Prom: 

 

[JohnnyB!2]

Posted: 4/23/19 at 2:46pm

Absolutely! Thank you for your great words. 

Yes I believe reach is such an important consideration to be thought through. Especially amongst the new generation of theater goers and professionals. Theater is as old as time and I believe nothing reflects our true humanity like the canon we have in theater. I want to make sure we never lose this and bring it to a whole new generation young and old. 

[JohnnyB!2]

Posted: 4/23/19 at 2:46pm

Love this!

[Dkinny23]

Posted: 4/23/19 at 3:27pm

I love the shared experience that theater provides - hearing an audiences reaction is always uplifting. To know other people are laughing at the same jokes or gasping at the same shocking thing that happened on stage. It's what makes going to the theater so fun. I guess this is similar to a movie theater as well, but something about hearing/seeing everything live is just more thrilling. 

Something else I love is that there is always a chance of seeing different people play the same characters. I love seeing shows more than once to compare performances for certain roles and see how lines are said with different inflections. Having a different actor play a character can almost even change the tone of a show depending on how they interpret the part. Some people may not actually like this, but for me that's what makes it most interesting and different from television/movies where you will typically get one person playing a character and besides specific circumstances (death, contract issues, etc), they will always play that character.

If I had to change one thing, it would be price. Prices are just astronomical for popular shows, It definitely helps that a lot and possibly even most shows have some sort of rush/standing room/lottery system set up. But for the shows that are popular or have people lining up in the middle of the night for tickets, it makes it very difficult to see a show sometimes. 

Something else that typically irks me is when I am seeing a show and during the quiet parts, people are whispering/coughing/opening snacks/taking out their cell phones and it just takes me out of the moment. No way to stop that I suppose, but just something that will always damper my experience a bit if it's excessive. 

[JohnnyB!2]

Posted: 4/23/19 at 3:51pm

Great insight about the variations in performance. Thank you!! Perhaps we can make something that can showcase how an actor has changed something over a different performance. Like you I think that would be a really interesting thing to see. Also highlights how different people can feel different things about the same issue. Makes it ok to be who you are. We are all different but the same :)

Yes prices are crazy! And most places have gotten rid of student rush as well would be nice if they had more standing tickets like they do in England. Simulcasts are nice but do take away from the live aspect. 

 

[BwayGeek2]

Posted: 4/23/19 at 4:32pm

I'm loving this thread! It's just so sweet to see how people have been affected by theater. It really is lovely!

[magictodo123]

Posted: 4/24/19 at 8:40am

I have ushered at a few different places, a theater downtown, as well as on Broadway. Something that has really stuck with me is seeing young people being exposed to theater. There was a young man sitting by me, and the way he was so completely enraptured with the production is something that has stuck with me for the last year. I also love the experience of everyone in the audience being connected, sharing the theatrical world for however long the show is. It's magical. 

 

For people complaining about ticket prices--Broadway, when it comes down to it, is a business. Yes, it is art, and people should be able to have access to art. But it's also supply and demand. You can't just lower prices. It's not that simple. That's why rush, lotteries, discounted things like TKTS/BroadwayBox/TodayTix exist: to give people access to shows. It's so easy to say "just lower prices!" What people tend to forget is...actors need to be paid. Production costs are not cheap! There's advertising to pay for. So many factors go into the total production cost; there's also supply and demand for tickets. There are SO many factors that go into ticket prices. You can't just say theater should be accessible to everyone without seriously thinking about what a hit people  involved in the industry could take. I bet this is a conversation that has been going on for a long time, but it's just not that simple. 

[JohnnyB!2]

Posted: 4/24/19 at 9:02am

Yes agree, As a former actor I know people need to get to paid!. I think the high cost also has something to do with the fear may productions have that they wont be a hit. If everyone knew they were going to have a solid run I think prices would stabilize a bit. Maybe there is a way to equalize all this, kind of like a fellowship of theater productions. 

JB

[binau]

Posted: 4/24/19 at 10:14am

Out of curiosity how much do people want to pay for theatre? Personally, knowing how expensive it is to produce & operate shows (especially in New York City), with very few exceptions (e.g. Hamilton, Springsteen on Broadway etc.) the price we pay for tickets are reasonable - and discounted options are readily available. 

As soon as we start going much under $100 a ticket it's pretty unsustainable for a show to operate. We can't have our cake and eat it too. 

[magictodo123]

Posted: 4/24/19 at 10:26am

qolbinau said: "Out of curiosity how much do people want to pay for theatre? Personally, knowing how expensive it is to produce & operate shows (especially in New York City), with very few exceptions (e.g. Hamilton, Springsteen on Broadway etc.) the price we pay for tickets are reasonable - and discounted options are readily available.

As soon as we start going much under $100 a ticket it's pretty unsustainable for a show to operate. We can't have our cake and eat it too."

 

Excellent point! 

 

[magictodo123]

Posted: 4/24/19 at 10:30am

The only bad thing about this is that the people who can’t access theater think they’re entitled to it. If they can’t see a show, they then ask for bootlegs. Not cool.

[Charley Kringas Inc]

Posted: 4/24/19 at 1:45pm

I love theater because it's all happening right there and right then.

1: It's a group experience. There is nothing as electric as when an entire audience is on with a piece, whether they're riveted with tension or rolling en masse with laughter. Riding that wave of horde emotion is something I would almost describe as primal - Tootsie did this brilliantly for me. That many people laughing at something that funny? I saw God.

2: It's a personal experience. You enter your own little world and, along with moving with the audience, my other favorite feeling when seeing a show live is when you're totally absorbed by the performance. When you completely enter that serene space between you and the piece, and all you're doing is focusing on it and reacting. This goes with almost any art form - I love being absorbed in music, in a book, a movie, even my own daydreams. But floating out of your seat and being enveloped in the world happening onstage is such extreme bliss. It's part of the reason Fun Home wrecked me so hard - it felt so personal that the sympathetic pain and catharsis became overwhelming. All I remember about Telephone Wire is being doubled over in my seat, crying into the program, because the connection was that intense.

3: It can't be replicated! Everything that happens onstage happens onstage then, and never again. This is why a piece where the actors have terrific chemistry is so exciting, and why a piece where everything seems to be happening in dull, mechanical lockstep is so disappointing. The production of The Wolves I saw in Seattle was small and feisty and amazingly intense because this group of girls was not just playing out these scenes, but clearly had a tremendous connection as a group, which allowed for so much active detail in the subtle interactions. On the other hand, I found Come From Away here in Toronto to be more admirable than anything else because the production was so tightly controlled that it was stripped of spontaneity. I felt like I was seeing the exact same thing that the people the night before saw, and the people the next night saw, right down to the glances between actors, which took away some of the potential magic.

4: Everything that happens is happening in a very limited format. This is part of why theatrical design is my hobby, and a big part of why I love seeing shows. When you design/direct a show, you just have this cube and you have a certain amount of time to fill it in various ways to create the desired effect. What do you put into the cube? How can you layer it, how can you pace it and move things around in it to create a unified artistic whole? Robert Wilson is one of my favorite directors because he has an incredible sense of what that space means and can be, from ritual, to vaudeville, to pop art, to meditation and alarm. Every piece has the same functional format, so what are all the ways that that format and its subtleties and quirks be taken advantage of? Consider all the ways that Boris Aronson used the space - the slightly angled jungle gym unit set of Company that filled the proscenium with images and movement, the fluctuating abyss of Follies that was eventually overtaken by the intense, romantic frills of Loveland, the abstract, almost violently synthetic pop-art of Do Re Mi. 

Regarding ticket prices, top tickets for A Chorus Line in 1975 were $15, which is about $70 today. I wonder where that money is going now that it wasn't going before, or where the money was going then and it isn't going today?

Regarding bootlegs: as someone who grew up in a total nowheresville, bootlegs were a lifeline and a major reason that I'm making plans to visit Broadway this year, now that I'm finally able to! It's not entitlement to want to see some of the most fantastic pieces of theatrical art - you could almost argue that it's elitist to suggest that these pieces should be as restricted as they are. Yes, there is incredible magic and power in being there and then, but the kind of people who enjoy bootlegs are almost certainly not the kind of people who choose not to attend productions, even though they can. It's immoral to bootleg, so please don't do it, but thank heaven people do.

[B.JAMES]

Posted: 4/25/19 at 11:28am

I echo many of the sentiments above. 

I love this certain feeling I get sometimes.  It's hard to explain. But it's why I see shows multiple times and sit through the 2.5 hours just to feel THAT feeling in specific moments.

I only started watching Broadway maybe 7 years ago, but I have seen close to 100 productions. I remember my first Defying Gravity moment and feeling that feeling when she began to fly.

I got the feeling during Morning Glow in Pippin when the crown was placed on his head while the entire chorus was singing in unison.

I got the feeling in Spring Awakening when the whole cast made their way to the front of the stage while singing and signing the lyrics to Touch Me.

I got that feeling multiple times in Once On This Island.

It's hard to explain. But it makes me feel so alive. And to have a group of people in a room experience the same thing at the same time is special.  It's like a secret between you and everyone that is present, that for that moment, the rest of the world isn't in on.

[Mike Barrett]

Posted: 4/25/19 at 11:39am

Not to beat a dead horse with what others have said, but it is the community feel for me. Growing up in a more conservative area, where I’d have to keep my love for theatre under wraps, seeing a show has just always made me feel I can be myself. It’s an accepting community on many levels and I will forever be grateful for that. Theatre to me is such an experience, it’s rivrting to me when a crowd gives a truly earned standing ovation. Chills just run up and down my spine every single time. It’s such a special experience that I try and share with others whenever I can.

I also learn a lot from theatre. Stories, perspectives, ideas I may have never thought of or experiences. Seeing it play out live not only grips you more to the performance but it helps me just take so much from a show. Theatre is so different for me from film (even though I’m an aspiring sccreenwriter) where theatre truly never leaves me. Of course not all shows have the same impact, but there are very few films I wait months and months and months for, that when I see, I feel fully rewarded. God I love theatre, and this year alone I’ve seen more theatre than I ever have and I am so grateful to have meet so many great people in this community whether it be at the theatre sharing an amazing experience with a stranger, the amazing people I’ve met on here, and the future people I’m sure I will encounter. Thank you all for being awesome :)

[broadwaybabywannabe2]

Posted: 4/25/19 at 11:53am

My love of theatre started in my high school drama classes and with all theatrical productions we put on...to me these moments became my family.  All of us theatre nerds putting on a show, much like all those Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney movies i watched as a kid. When i go to the theatre whether it be musical or non, i see the family of actors and all the crew behind the curtain,  acting as one big family. Nothing thrills me more and makes me happier than to see the all the chorus members dancing and singing together to entertain us.  My happiest moments were when i was performing with other kids in all those plays and musicals i was a part of when i was young!

[JudyDenmark]

Posted: 4/25/19 at 12:05pm

I like seeing talented people show off their talents. Whether that’s performers, tech designers, writers, directors... when I go to see something and I’m blown away for one reason or another, and find myself marveling at the raw skill or creativity or both, that’s why I go. Specifically with musicals, I love being immersed in it - really feeling that emotion with all of my senses. To the point that I have adjusted my budget to splurge on good seats - I don’t really seeing the point in watching a postage stamp.

What I hate about theatre is audiences these days. I have a hard time with focus/concentration sometimes, and between the talking, candy wrappers (the fact that theatres deliberately sell those noisemakers, ugh!), singing along, wiggling around to the point of distraction, phones... it honestly diminishes my experience, and it seems to be getting worse.

I also think that prices are getting too out of control. I’m willing to pay full price for something to have that immersive experience as I said above, but it’s getting harder and harder to do that without paying premium prices. Those premiums should be for the absolute best seats in the house, not half of the theatre.

[magictodo123]

Posted: 4/26/19 at 9:31am

B.JAMES said: "I echo many of the sentiments above.

I love this certain feeling I get sometimes. It's hard to explain. But it's why I see shows multiple times and sit through the 2.5 hours just to feel THAT feeling in specific moments.

I only started watching Broadway maybe 7 years ago, but I have seen close to 100 productions. I remember my first Defying Gravity moment and feeling that feeling when shebegan to fly.

I got the feeling during Morning Glow in Pippin when the crown was placed on his head while the entire chorus was singing in unison.

I got the feeling in Spring Awakening when the whole cast made their way to the front of the stage while singing and signing the lyrics to Touch Me.

I got that feeling multiple times in Once On This Island. I absolutely LOVED the revival of Once On This ISland (if that's the production you're referring to). In my opinion, it definitely deserved Best Revival. 

It's hard to explain.But it makes me feel so alive. And to have a group of people in a room experience the same thing at the same time is special. It's like a secret between you and everyone that is present, that for that moment, the rest of the world isn't in on."

 

[JohnnyB!2]

Posted: 4/28/19 at 9:25am

thank you everyone for your replies!

so nice to see such a love of community out there! I love how theater has the power to move and unite people. a spotlight for the human soul. 

what are everyone's favorite characters? who can you identify with? 

[Charley Kringas Inc]

Posted: 4/28/19 at 11:52am

I realize I didn't really answer your second question regarding what I'd like to see, or what could be improved. Of course, what I'd like to see and what producers would like to see (and, honestly, what audiences would like to see) are probably wildly different. All things concerned, even with the iron Disney grip and the endless jukebox musicals, this has been a fairly decent decade. We've had a couple fabulous shows every year, which is, frankly, pretty close to the golden age, they just sound a little different now.

If I wanted to see, or hear, more of anything, it would be more of the Broadway sound! It's a wonderful idiom and one of my least favorite Broadway trends has been the really lousy use of country, punk, and pop. Those are three genres that can be and often are incredible, but when they're brought to Broadway they, for whatever reason, wind up sounding like songs from mediocre Disney TV movies. But, of course, modern country pop, as much as I hate it, is a juggernaut for the recording industry.

One of the biggest hits Broadway has taken in its effort to economize is the massive downgrading of the orchestra pit, and if I have to sit through another musical that sounds like it's being accompanied by a garage band made up of PE teachers who are also math teachers because the school board is out of money, I'll fold myself up into my own program and put myself through a shredder. An oboe is a lovely thing. 

This goes hand-in-hand with lousy sound mixing, as well. I've seen this in everything from massive multi-million-dollar shows to local productions, and it baffles me. Why do musicals sound like jet planes? I'm not even old and this drives me crazy, particularly on smaller shows - I attended a local performance of short Pinter plays and the interstitial pre-recorded piano music was so loud it made my eardrums crackle. Matilda is probably the low-water point in this regard. I know theater auditoriums are funny beasts but it was like listening to a cement mixer full of glass shards and alphabet soup.

edit: I'd also like to see less polish. I know that's a weird thing to ask, but there's been a scrubbed-down glee club aesthetic taking over performances that bothers me, particularly on cast recordings. Something I really love about classic cast albums is the aural quality, particularly the slight room ambiance, but also the fact that these people sound like they're using their real vocal chords and injecting the music with their own idiosyncrasies. Modern cast albums have such an airless feel - the notes all zip right up to the perfect pitch, and there's no sense that they're even singing in a real environment. It's just this perfectly manufactured voice piping out of a steely void over a rack of dry instruments.

God, I have a lot of opinions.

My favorite character is probably Mary Flynn! She's Just Great. I have never clamored for a musical sequel to anything, but I wouldn't mind seeing what she got up to after stumbling out of Frank's mansion.

Updated On: 4/28/19 at 11:52 AM

[Dave13]

Posted: 4/28/19 at 2:35pm

For me, it’s the purest and most complex form of entertainment. In a musical, you have actors and a full orchestra. Where else can you find that? It’s live. You feel like you are a part of the show. Watching TV or a movie, there is no interaction. Also as others said, you are part of the audience enjoying the show. With live performances, I tend to get more emotional. It’s more intimate. It feels more real than watching the TV. I also love the feedback you can give to the performers. You can show your appreciation and the performers get the immediate feedback.

As to what can be improved, I wish audiences were much more respectful to their fellow audience members and performers. It’s sad when an audience member ruins the show for someone else.