Have you ever walked out of a show? Or seen others walk out?- Page 2

[CharRay]

Posted: 11/5/06 at 9:47am

I've never walked out of a show, and don't plan to- even if I'm bored out of my mind, something hits me wrong about critisizing a show without having seen the whole thing.

I've never witnessed many people walk out in the middle of the first or second acts, but I have seen people never come back after intermission, and a lot of people seem to like leaving about 5 minutes before the show actually ends, which annoys me more than I can say. If they're aware that the show isn't over, what's 5 minutes going to do, even if they hated it? And people that leave during the final bows, probably just to beat the traffic? *smacks*

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 11/5/06 at 9:55am

During the original Broadway run of "Les Miserables", I walked out at intermission all 4 times I attempted to see the show. For obvious reasons, I first saw the show shortly after it opened on Broadway (I see every new show), and walked out at intermission -- bored out of my fu*kin' mind. I took it as the fact I hate ballads, and it was a ballad-heavy show.

The 2nd to the 4th time I went was simply because I had friends in the cast and decided to give the show another chance. Didn't happen. I politely waited till intermission to bolt.

Tried to sit thru it again last year with the National Tour. Even after all these years, it's still the same thing.

Will I be seeing this new revival? Hmmmm. One guess.

[ruprecht]

Posted: 11/5/06 at 9:58am

The 2 times I've seen people huffing out of a show were Good Vibrations and more recently, Times They Are A Changin. I was actually shocked at how many people left Times. I kept thinking they were going to the bathroom, but no one ever came back.

[My Fair Lady]

Posted: 11/5/06 at 9:59am

When I was younger, I walked out of a lot of shows because I was too antsy to sit in a theater for 2 hours. However, now I would never walk out. My parents were tempted to walk out of Caroline or Change, but I made them stay. I told them it would probably be better. My mom and sister wanted to walk out of The Light in the Piazza, but I was loving it. I always force my parents to stay.

[Parsley]

Posted: 11/5/06 at 10:03am

I did walk out of Caroline or Change on 2 occasions, The second time I went with a friend who had a spare ticket and I thought I'd give it a go. But no, I only made it to the intermission without falling asleep. I did see the last night of it in NY and this time stayed all the way through but the second act was no better. One of the most pretentious and vacuous things I have seen.

[best12bars]

Posted: 11/5/06 at 10:07am

Back in the '80s my friend and I walked out of "Flamenco Puro" at intermission and second-acted "Big River" instead.

It's the only time I've ever walked out of a Broadway show... which amounted to nothing more than a repetitive dance recital... and it was a freebie, at that!

I have seen people walk out of several Broadway shows over the years... who knows the reasons why? But got up, they did... and come back, they did not.

[mint0621]

Posted: 11/5/06 at 10:13am

I saw a bunch of people leave at intermission at History Boys, before they won their Best Play Tony.

[whatyouown223]

Posted: 11/5/06 at 10:18am

My aunt left at the closing show of Piazza and was sitting next to Bartlett Sher and Adam Guettel. I almost died of shame.

[StephenSondheimWHOO]

Posted: 11/5/06 at 10:31am

i would never walk out on a show no matter how tempted i am. If I paid good money for the tickets it seems like a complete waste to not use them. I was very tempted to walk out on 3penny though

[bwaylvsong]

Posted: 11/5/06 at 10:50am

I would never walk out of any show, either. Not only is it a waste of money, but it disheartens the performers. However, when I saw Fiddler, the foreign couple sitting in front of me left at intermission. They probably thought the show was over, and I have a feeling this happens often with non-English-speaking audience members.

[AudreyTwoTwo]

Posted: 11/5/06 at 10:55am

I thought this was hysterical.

I was sitting in Avenue Q, and at intermission, this guy behind me (who was obviously from a foreign country) said, "This is EXTREMELY vulgar!" and walked out. :)

[Mamie]

Posted: 11/5/06 at 11:11am

The first time I walked out of a show was a really bad production of "The Miracle Worker" at Arena Stage. The director decided to make it a completely 'politically correct' show - no matter what it did to the production.

The story of course is about a young girl from the deep South, after the Civil War. The personalities of the various members of her family reflected the location and time. The attitude of the father in particular and his attitude towards the Northern teacher Annie Sullivan were important to the play. Well, in this production the actress playing Helen was a young black woman who was a little person and who was deaf. Her father was played by a white actor. Her mother was Hispanic and her brother was Chinese. Small groups of people (3-4) stood at each corner of the stage and signed the whole show. You had to constantly bend to the left or right in order to see around them. I realized halfway through the first act that I didn't really see any of the play - I was too busy trying to see around people and trying to remember who was who.

Trust me on this - it may sound interesting but it was really awful. I decided that one hour of my life was worth more than the price of any ticket. I left at intermission and didn't regret it a bit. (I've done the same 2 or 3 times since then.)

[algy]

Posted: 11/5/06 at 11:11am

I walked out of a play called "Mrs Pat" at the interval. I never thought I'd walk out of a show, but I just couldn't stand it any more.

I just wanted to nail the main character's feet to the floor and stop her from changing her outfits incessantly. I probably would have stuck it out, if it hadn't been for my mum, who was hating it and for the fact that I hadn't had any food for 6 hours and I was starving. If it had been good, the fact I was hungry wouldn't have mattered....

[ILoveMyDictionary]

Posted: 11/5/06 at 11:12am

I've never walken out of a show and I doubt I ever would. I've seen so many shows where the first act was a bore, but the second act really picked up.

[FosterChild]

Posted: 11/5/06 at 12:17pm

I saw a few people leave Caroline or Change. Not everyones cup of tea.

[courtnyj]

Posted: 11/5/06 at 12:39pm

I almost walked out of Mamma Mia at intermission. I only stayed because of my stay for the whole show rule.

I took two friends to see Sweeney Todd and they left at intermission (well, one left at intermission and the other left about two minutes into the second act). Very annoying and kind of rude when I went to the trouble of getting the tickets for them. Oh, and they arrived 15 minutes late and kept asking me to explain what was happening on stage because, of course, they had missed the beginning. They later called me and apologized, but it took me a while before I invited any more friends to the theatre.

[elphieisperky]

Posted: 11/5/06 at 12:41pm

I've never walked out of a show. But when I saw Drowsy, an elderly couple left during 'Message from a Nightingale', and didn't come back until near the end. It was weird.
Updated On: 11/5/06 at 12:41 PM

[Becoz_i_knew_you21]

Posted: 11/5/06 at 12:44pm

"I was sitting in Avenue Q, and at intermission, this guy behind me (who was obviously from a foreign country) said, "This is EXTREMELY vulgar!" and walked out. :)"

I think tht is hysterical too!

I saw a few people around me leave Wicked's intermission. I don't know why they left because I heard the man's thunderous laughter at every lame joke through the 1st Act.

[everythingtaboo]

Posted: 11/5/06 at 12:45pm

Comped or not, painful or notm I've stayed through just about every show I've ever seen. There have only been a couple of shows I've left at intermission:

Tony n' Tina's Wedding
The Immigrant
Mother, Daughter, Gun

At Ring of Fire, I came back to my third row center orch seat after intermission, literally the my row and the row in front all left. I was the only one there in my row. Awkward!

[Junior]

Posted: 11/5/06 at 1:03pm

The only show I've ever left in the middle of was a college production of "the Old Law". I felt really bad because the head of the theatre department was sitting behind me, and I knew he'd notice if I didnt come back after intermission, but once intermission came, i gathered my things and started to head out. But by the time I got to the door of the building, I saw he had already beaten me to it and was already halfway down the block!

I've been in several shows where we could see people leaving. Once when I did Jesus Christ Superstar, half of the orchestra section left in the middle of Act I. My first number (other than running around spray painting stuff during the overture) was What's the Buzz?, and when we came out for that, the house was pretty full. But when I came on again for This Jesus Must Die, the entire front section of the orchestra was gone (probably 100+ people). We found out later that it was a church group who had been offended by the fact that Jesus didn't have long hair. Oh North Carolina Baptists... you gotta love their... devotion?

The only show that I've been in that I could understand people walking out on was Cheaper By The Dozen- the musical. Not only is it just a bad show in general (the 'show stopping number' of Act II is called "The Happy Broom" for God's sake) but our production of it was pretty bad as well. Many walked out on that one, and even though I know it's taboo, I can't say I blamed them. Hell, I was IN it and wanted to leave.

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 11/5/06 at 1:12pm

I left RING OF FIRE at intermission and THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (last season - it was so stale I couldn't make it through) at intermission, as well. Other than that, no. Walked out of plenty of movies though.

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 11/5/06 at 1:36pm

The only time I have ever walked out of a show was when we saw "The Pillowman" which I was loving, however the dinner we had pre-show was not loving me...so I'm not even totally sure that counts as a walk out.

[the.hard.part]

Posted: 11/5/06 at 1:40pm

my sister left sweeney todd at intermission and my friend left POTO at intermission, after that i stopped inviting people to shows. I have been tempted to leave but always stuck it out.

[wickedfanatic34]

Posted: 11/5/06 at 1:45pm

i was tempted to walk out at intermisson on Entertaining mr.sloan. The show was horrible, the theater was freezing and ALec BAldwain was annoyong. It was the worst theater experience i have ever had. ALso my tickets were free so i would not have felt bad.

[Tag]

Posted: 11/5/06 at 2:01pm

I would have left at intermission when I saw the Chicago tour a couple years ago but I was with a group of friends. I thought it was just horrible.

One of the times I saw Lord of the Rings, about 1/3 of the balcony didn't return after the 3rd intermission. I don't know if they thought the show was over already or not.