standing ovation

[Liam]

Posted: 2/23/05 at 8:25pm

is it me or are standing ovations givein away too easyly.shows should be exalent to get one and no it seems that they are expected.

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 2/23/05 at 8:28pm

Well, most of the little girls at BROOKLYN when I was there lept to their feet, which was really obnoxious. For GOOD VIBRATIONS, not one person stood (except to quickly get their coats on and run out,) and that atleast gave me some faith.

[Liam]

Posted: 2/23/05 at 8:29pm

lol

[Joshua488]

Posted: 2/23/05 at 8:34pm

Sometimes they are given too easily.

I refuse to give a standing ovation unless I truly believe that the person/production deserves it. I don't care if I'm the only one in the entire theater that is still sitting.

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 2/23/05 at 8:35pm

I stood for DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS, and that was well deserved. Everyone around me at BROOKLYN was standing, and I just stood there glaring at them. I would NOT stand.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 2/23/05 at 8:36pm

Just the other day I stood on my front lawn for several hours trying to give away some standing ovations. I didn't have any takers.

[melissa errico fan]

Posted: 2/23/05 at 9:20pm

I have seen performances that richly deserved standing ovations and didn't get them (at a performance of "Reckless", myself, my wife, and one other man were the only people who stood for Mary-Louise). I have also seen some really awful shows that got lauded at curtain call like it was going out of style ("Cats").

[brdlwyr]

Posted: 2/23/05 at 9:24pm

I saw Spamelot in Chicago and that was an easy standing o.

[StickToPriest]

Posted: 2/23/05 at 9:27pm

I recently wrote a column on this for the Arts section of the next issue of my school's newspaper.

" Rarity makes it special.
Scarcity makes it coveted.
Abundance makes you yawn.
If you give a mouse cookie every day of the week, he’s gonna stop caring about the cookie and start asking for a brownie. Why should the mouse care about something he knows he is guaranteed?
Its too bad performers today are given the cookie every time they perform.
Sure, the standing ovation tastes good. They soak it up. They bask in its’ glow. But, they knew it was coming. So, they stop caring.
Where’s that brownie?
Today’s audiences, whether in New York, Chicago or Topeka, feel the urge to give a standing ovation to every performance they see on a stage. Every play, every musical.
God, that show was crap. Why did I see this? What were these people thinking?
Oh! The curtain call! Gotta stand up and cheer.
It’s a fairly new phenomenon. It makes you look back when the standing ovation was a rare occurrence, reserved for those rare occasions when a performance, or a performer, so moves an audience that they leap to their feet. The standing ovation wasn’t a common courtesy. It was a gift from the audience. A gift thanking the performer for a magical performance.
But, today, a standing ovation is about as meaningful as a Jennifer Lopez wedding. As worthless as a dollar bill in Europe.
Maybe audiences feel that they need to stand up in order to say to themselves they had a good time. Maybe audiences at Broadway shows stand after seeing an awful show in order to justify, to themselves, paying a small fortune for a ticket. Maybe they feel it is their obligation to repay the performers.
Well. You don’t, it’s too late to justify that and it is not your obligation.
Save the standing ovations for the truly spectacular moments. Then maybe the performers will know when they have really given an audience something special.
Until then, they are just going to be looking for the brownie."

[melissa errico fan]

Posted: 2/23/05 at 9:31pm

Bravo, Priest! Wonderful column.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 2/23/05 at 9:32pm

my god that's a fantastic piece of writting. and so young. priest, I envy you...

[wildcat]

Posted: 2/24/05 at 9:23am

You got it, Priest! I recently heard a Broadway theatre veteran interviewed saying that no-one gave standing ovations to Merman or Gwen Verdon or Mary Martin or Alfred Drake except perhaps on opening nights. And now the ovation has lost its value. I hear kids in shows these days stomping offstage saying, "Boy, we bombed tonight! Hardly anyone stood!" Even worse are the 'stars' who encourage these displays. At the curtain call of SHOUT!, an Australian jukebox musical based on the life of rock'n'roll star Johnny O'Keefe, I heard this from David Campbell:

DC: You wanna hear another song?

Audience: YEAH!!

DC: Well, I'm not singing anything until you are ALL on your feet!


So, wearily and grudgingly, we stood for the damn curtain call...

[Feodor Sverdlov]

Posted: 2/24/05 at 10:43am

So true and well said, Priest. I've been going to the theater, since the 1950's. A standing ovation was an extremely rare thing to see. Sometime during the 90's, they became more and more prevalent. Odd, as the entertainment became less and less worthy. But, we live in a society that gives standing ovations to Jerry Springer! So, they really are meaningless, today. You should almost feel embarrassed to get one!

Updated On: 2/24/05 at 10:43 AM

Posted: 2/24/05 at 10:48am

While certainly overdone, I have noticed that here in LA they're not necessarily a 'given'. I still maintain that you can tell the difference between a few standing and then others begrudgingly joining in, and a heartfelt general ovation (like the one that Caroline got here.)

It also intrigues me that people rarely stand for plays. When they do, it really does seem to be deserved.

[wildcat]

Posted: 2/24/05 at 10:58am

I've noticed that plays will get a standing O if the audience feels they've shared a unique experience with the actors. The response at the end of something like ANGELS IN AMERICA, NICHOLAS NICKLEBY or TORCH SONG TRILOGY can often be the audience congratulating themselves for getting through it!