15 Golden Rules of Theatre Etiquette- Page 2

[B3TA07]

Posted: 7/26/09 at 10:17pm

LOL, I agree with you completely lull89

[faithzilla]

Posted: 7/26/09 at 10:38pm

I HATE giving standing ovations when the show doesn't deserve it. It sucks when I see a horrible show at our tiny local community theatre and everyone stands. I HAVE to stand because if I don't I look like a bitch and I know people there :/

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 7/27/09 at 1:02am

I should not have to apologize for making someone move if I arrive on time to a show. What am I sorry for? Buying a center seat? A simple excuse me is enough. Don't buy an aisle seat or don't arrive early if you don't want to move.

[legally_popular]

Posted: 7/27/09 at 1:04am

I completely agree about the standing ovations for every show. I can't stand it. I have only giving a legit standing O for a couple of shows and performers. Otherwise, if I'm standing it's because a) the people in front of me are standing and I can't see, b) I'm starting to gather my things to leave and make sure there's nothing on the floor, or c) getting up to dance (Hair, Xanadu)!

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 7/27/09 at 1:06am

As Sondheim once remarked, people are standing for paying that much and taking time to get there. They feel a standing o validates their experience no matter how poor. I bet if you polled all who stood up, not all would give the show anything close to a rave.

[eatlasagna]

Posted: 7/27/09 at 1:41am

EVERY damn time i go to the theater... i ALWAYS cough! i dont know why and it bugs the crap out of me... in the movies, i'm fine, in church i'm fine... but stick me in a play or musical then i start having coughing fits, and oddly enough during act 2 (never act 1)!!!! i don't get it!

oh... and i know it's not theater... but the ONLY person who deserves entrance applause is Al Bundy! hahhaa... oh man, I love how every character on that show got entrance applause...

[winston89]

Posted: 7/27/09 at 7:12am

I find that the people who do give standing O's are tourists. But, if you go to an off Broadway show which is something tourists don't touch, you're going to see something totally different. I remember seeing a performance of Ruined and there were only a handful of people who stood. I feel that had the show been a Broadway performance of the same play, then everyone would be up on their feet.

[binau]

Posted: 7/27/09 at 7:20am

I find the apparent culture of giving endless standing ovations strange. How prevalent is it though?

i.e. would people be giving standing ovations for EVERY performance of the closed Guys and Dolls revival? Or the West Side Story revival? Or Wicked?

RE: Entrance applause. Come on I think applause is necessary after "SING OUT LOUISE" and a (presumably famous) Rose enters, it just seems so fitting for me.

[ahmelie]

Posted: 7/27/09 at 7:45am

Mamasdoin,
That article was very interesting. I had a similar experience watching August: Osage County. There are many funny moments but it bothered me very much to have people howling at the end of Act 2. It was tragic, not hysterical. It was kind of disturbing, but laughings a release of energy, so maybe at some point in a play like that it becomes to much and you have to release it some how.

[COOOOLkid]

Posted: 7/27/09 at 8:28am

Because it all depends on the culture, I just do what other people do. In things like Kabuki, it is a tradition to clap (or even shout out the actor's father in greater compliment) when a performer does a picturesque pose (mie) or changes costumes on stage. On national tours that I see, most people are indeed subscribers who sees shows often, and only gives standing ovations when appropriate. On Broadway, it's a totally different crowd.

And I don't blame just the tourists. I don't think EVERY tourists have the courage to be the initiator of those standing ovation. In most cases, those who initiate an entrance clap for the 8th replacement of Elphaba on the 2nd national tour are in fact a group of rabid Wicked fans who know every current, past, and future Elphaba/Glindas in every productions around the world. Even though it might not have been a standing-worthy performance, I'm guessing people would still give standing ovations to Angela Lansbury who hypothetically just gave the worst performance of her life in the crappiest show ever, simply because she is a Broadway legend. Many pretentious college MTs also go out of the usual to give thunderous ovation or even worship something that is currently "hip" to be obsessed over, like Next to Normal. Then, there are a group of "elite" theater fans who complain and bitch about the ubiquitous occurence of standing O's who think they are the sole qualified group of individuals who determines what was a standing-worthy performance or not.

I don't initiate any standing ovations or clapping (unless at end of the song, show, etc), and I'll just do whatever what the general consensus in that theater decides to do.

[darquegk]

Posted: 7/27/09 at 10:41am

Some recent shows have capitalized on the "Entrance Applause" phenomenon and are basically set up with buildups and holds for applause even written into the score. Adaptations of other mediums, be it books, movies, or whatever, often have the most egregious. The audience are, in theory, not only applauding the actor, but the character.

In "Spamalot" or "Young Frankenstein," almost every character has a built-in applause moment, but it's often more for the character than the actor. The actors in YF were much more famous, for the most part, as the show didn't run long without its original, all-star cast. In Spamalot, after the A-list original cast left, the characters and entrances continued getting applause, but more for the characters and the tour-de-force performance any of the principal men gives playing such a huge variety of notorious comic figures.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 7/27/09 at 10:50am

Some recent shows have capitalized on the "Entrance Applause" phenomenon and are basically set up with buildups and holds for applause even written into the score.

Recent? That's been going on since Our American Cousin.

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 7/27/09 at 10:57am

And everyone should know that PalJoey's entrance applause in "Our American Cousin" lasted a full two minutes every night.

[BlueforBroadway]

Posted: 7/27/09 at 11:32am

I know you all are talking about standing ovations, but I didn't want to start a new thread and thought this might fit in here.

I have heard that if a seat is open closer up than the one you have, at intermission, it's okay to move up.

Is this true? Have any of you been asked to move back to your original seats? I got yelled at by an usher for doing this the other night. I had done it before, and had no problem, albeit, not at this theater.

[americanboy99]

Posted: 7/27/09 at 11:40am

If I feel like standing, I'm standing. Shove it.

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 7/27/09 at 11:44am

A charming response.

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 7/27/09 at 12:10pm

Just the typical "ugly American" response, Mr Tresilian...

[americanboy99]

Posted: 7/27/09 at 12:44pm

Oh, please.

The way I choose to respond to a show I have paid good money to see is MY business. And only mine.

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 7/27/09 at 12:46pm

Americanboy, I agree with you, actually. If you feel moved to stand, you should.

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 7/27/09 at 12:58pm

Absolutely.

I was poking fun at the snotty anti-American tone of the article, amercicanboy, and left off the emoticon. If I'd been referring to you I would have said it was a "typical ugly americanboy response".

Maybe you'll agree that it isn't particularly nice to tell someone to "shove it" just because they disagree with you, though?

[madbrian]

Posted: 7/27/09 at 12:59pm

Of course folks who are genuinely moved should rise for the cast at the curtain call. I certainly don't do it for every show I see. If I did, how could I express appreciation for those truly special performances? When I do stand, I almost always wait for a specific performer who has stood out. For example, both times I saw In The Heights, I felt compelled to stand when Olga Merediz took her bow. Rarely, I am so moved by a production (like Les Miserables) that I stand at the beginning of the curtain call.

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 7/27/09 at 1:30pm

I love entrance applause. It shows your appreciation for the actor playing the role. For instance, I don't think you should applaud Alice Ripley just because she's Alice Ripley, but because you love her in the role of Diana.

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 7/27/09 at 1:35pm

I'm one of those people who, if everyone else is standing, will stand up simply because I want to see the actors and don't want my view blocked.

99% of the time, that's why I stand. Especially since now, everyone seems to jump up as soon as the first non-ensemble actors come out on stage. I kind of like to see the performers I'm applauding for.

Re: apologizing for making people let you past to your seat- I don't think you should apologize, per se, but at least say "excuse me", if only to alert the person. I hate when someone comes barreling through without letting anyone stand and accomodate their passage. They step on my feet, get tangled up in my purse, then huff impatiently and snap "Excuse me!" as they're straddling my crossed legs, like it's my fault that they're stuck. I have long legs. The aisles are really narrow. I will always stand immediately to allow someone by if given the chance, but some people are just impatient.

I can't stand entrance applause. It doesn't "honor the actors" to disrupt the show and pull the audience out of the action just so you can fangirl your favorite actor- even if it is Patti LuPone and Angela Lansbury.

[Cape Twirl of Doom]

Posted: 7/27/09 at 2:09pm

I remember seeing a performance of Ruined and there were only a handful of people who stood.

Interesting. When I saw RUINED, the whole audience stood up for an ovation the second the curtain call started. Really, it was almost everyone in unison.

[Rudy2]

Posted: 7/27/09 at 2:24pm

Angela Lansbury received an extended two-minute standing ovation as soon as the curtain rose for the final performance of "Deuce." I was in the front row and initially thought it improper, but I happily joined in. I have never spent a more moving moment in the theatre. The tears in her eyes indicated to me her vast appreciation and being touched. So I see nothing wrong with such things given certain circumstances.

That said, my other hero, George Carlin:

"Standing ovations have become far too commonplace. What we need are ovations where the audience members all punch and kick one another."