Curtain Call

[Cruel_Sandwich]

Posted: 12/3/05 at 1:10am

Perhaps I'm just wired tonight. Perhaps I'm just tired tonight. But I dunno...my thoughts on curtain call are just kind of bizarre and I don't know what's wrong:

Does anyone else feel the same way I do about it? I find the bows at the end to be the least enjoyable aspect of the entire play. Well...let me rephrase that....Bowing with the entire cast is great. I love that.

What I don't love is coming out and bowing individually. I dunno, I always get weirded out when people start applauding me. It just makes me feel very overwhelmed and want to crawl up into a little ball or something. I suppose it's better than being booed or having minimal applause or something.

And I don't think this would be considered as stage fright, because I really don't have that anymore. I usually get so sucked into the play itself and the performance that I completely forget that there is a audience there. And, if I remember that there is one, I never look at them. To me, these events are actually happening.

But anyone else feel weirded out when people give you applause? Dear God I'm emo tonight.

[theatreguy]

Posted: 12/3/05 at 1:23am

I've actually been thinking about this same thing. It's not really a bad feeling, per se, more uncomfortable. I'm not really sure how to describe it, but I totally agree with what you're saying.

[Kringas]

Posted: 12/3/05 at 1:43am

I love being applauded. I wish I were applauded more. Every year for my birthday, I request that the only gift I receive is an evening of applause.

It makes me feel pretty.

[nomdeplume]

Posted: 12/3/05 at 1:47am

I think it depends how the bows are done. They can actually be very exciting with the performers running in.
Updated On: 12/3/05 at 01:47 AM

[JerseyGirl2]

Posted: 12/3/05 at 3:36am

Nah, I always loved that part. But I am an attention whore.

[StageWhore]

Posted: 12/3/05 at 4:40am

As my username states, I am a whore for the stage. The reason I first got into acting was for the attention it gets me. So yeah, I love applause.

[TheActr97J]

Posted: 12/3/05 at 5:08am

Well.... in the production of Beauty and the Beast I'm in right now I am part of the MAGIC at the end of the show, so I don't get to bow with the rest of the cast. I was a little upset about it, but tonight the audience applauded after I did my fight scene and went wild after "Gaston," so my attention whore quota for the night was met.

..... and I think this year on my birthday I am going to lock myself in a room with about twenty og my friends and force them to applaud for me for the entire day. What a fabulous idea! Why didn't I think of it before.

.... people should applaud me all the time.... walking through the mall, or at work when I finish folding a shirt the other employees and the customers should all crowd around me in a circle and applaud and cheer.... or how about at school... the teacher hands back my test.... I got an 'A'.... he stands up from his seat and shouts bravo and tosses flowers towards my desk and claps and claps.....

... it is painfully obvious that this post was typed at 5:00 in the morning on a night where I did NOT go to bed.

[StageWhore]

Posted: 12/3/05 at 5:39am

Who're you playing in B&B? I was "lady with cane". Yeah, my audition sucked.

[beyondthebreakofday]

Posted: 12/4/05 at 12:25am

I agree-it's kind of weird when I am the only one being clapped for. In a group bow it doesn't bother me as much. But, on the other side of things, I always get really mad if a production does not do a curtain call. And I'm always fuming over those people who think that because the Finale has ended it is therefore ok to get up and leave. Curtain call is an audience's chance to thank the actors. Maybe it's weird for some people because some people feel that they are being thanked for something that they love doing and therefore feel that they were already rewarded by the performance itself? I tend to look forward to curtain calls when I'm feeling depressed that the show is almost over. But I'm usually self-conscious about how I bow. Is that weird?......

[CostumeMistress]

Posted: 12/4/05 at 2:09am

When I directed my final show my senior year of high school, the order of the curtain call was mysteriously taken from my control. Turns out, the cast wanted to surprise me and give me the final bow. I was shocked and honored and so excited... I ran out and gave a low bow, and once my head was low and my arms were out, I got a sudden rush of blood to my face as I realized that the entire audience could see right down my low-cut v-neck shirt. So, surprise bows... not so fun, after all.

[ashley0139]

Posted: 12/4/05 at 10:11am

I like curtain calls, but I'm always very self-concious about how I bow as well. It's so awkward sometimes.

[Cruel_Sandwich]

Posted: 7/9/06 at 7:23pm

yeah. it truly is a bizarre moment onstage.

[Over_the_Moon]

Posted: 7/9/06 at 7:26pm

I'm fueled by applause.



How do you all feel about applauding fellow actors onstage?

We do for school and I think we have for a few community shows, but for the Greeks and most of the community I've done, it's unthinkable. I think it is nice to support your cast, but it's a little unprofessional. I don't know?

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 7/9/06 at 7:27pm

I don't act, but I hated when people praised me after I played piano at a recital, especially family. I don't know why, I just did...

[shiksa_goddess]

Posted: 7/9/06 at 7:32pm

I don't act either, but I am a musician and in HS I was the concertmaster of the orchestra...walking out on the stage to all that applause was a bit daunting, but in some ways I loved it. A boost in self-esteem.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 7/9/06 at 7:34pm

At the end of 3 Penny, there was none. they just walked off stage. That was the first time I ever saw it happen

[Cruel_Sandwich]

Posted: 7/9/06 at 7:38pm

I always applaud my fellow actors onstage because I know that they feel differently than I do.

I just don't really like the whole "show-offy" and "glamorous" sides of acting where you get heaps of attention and praise upon you. I mean, it's always nice to know that people enjoyed your work but all of the applause in that one moment is pretty overwhelming.

[Broadwayboobs]

Posted: 7/9/06 at 7:44pm

I never really cared for curtain calls either...I always felt clumsy about them...can't explain it..I always just ran out, took a very quick bow and joined the rest of the cast. I prefer a full cast bow.

Mr.Roxy...recently speaking to a friend about The Three Penny Opera and no bows I learned that...that was the way I believe they said Bertolt Brecht did his shows (with no bows). So they tried staying true to him. Anyway..that was the story I was told and it made sense to me.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 7/9/06 at 7:52pm

OK - Thanks for the info

Updated On: 7/9/06 at 07:52 PM

[adamgreer]

Posted: 7/9/06 at 8:10pm

I'm not an actor, but I love the curtain calls. I love getting to applaud the actors and thank them for entertaining me.

I also think the curtain calls can be quite exciting when they're staged interestingly.

And I love individual bows, since I love to single out particular actors or actresses I'm impressed with.

[Lavieboheme3090]

Posted: 7/9/06 at 8:51pm

I know that Chorus Line doesn't have a curtin call.

[soapguy17]

Posted: 7/9/06 at 8:55pm

I think they're fun. I mean, you spend all night in character mode, it's nice to just relax, be yourself and still have people clap for you.

[Broadwayboobs]

Posted: 7/9/06 at 9:00pm

I think A Chorus Line's bows are the finally when they sing "ONE"..they all come out one at a time and tip their hats...at least that's what they did in the original production.

[singingwendy]

Posted: 7/9/06 at 9:07pm

I don't mind curtain calls...although tonight our curtain call for Evita seemed a bit strange.....not because anyone didn't get applause, or because they stopped in the middle to do a little speech because it was a benefit concert, but because after this wonderful curtain call, there is the most depressing play-off music ever!. It's essentially more music for Eva's funeral. It just seemed so out of place after big happy applause.

[cheezedoodle]

Posted: 7/9/06 at 9:09pm

Actually - according to the score of A Chorus Line - The :Finale - "One" is called Bows. There is no song called "One" in the score.

ETA: Oops - Boobs beat me to it.

Updated On: 7/9/06 at 09:09 PM