Alan Cumming calls out bootlegger

[ljay889]

Posted: 11/23/14 at 4:52pm

I'm assuming this isn't something that he regularly does. Today, during the Broadway Cares speech, he said something like "after taking all of your illegal pictures and videos, the least you can do is donate." Then he points to someone in the mezzanine and said something like "really? At least cover the light with tape." He seemed pretty annoyed. Also, several cell phones rang during the final Sally and Cliff scene. really??? Annoying.



Updated On: 11/23/14 at 04:52 PM

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 11/23/14 at 5:05pm

Good for him. Everyone is sick of that sh*t.

[bfreak]

Posted: 11/23/14 at 5:38pm

[ethan231h]

Posted: 11/23/14 at 5:43pm

Good for him!

[Spil.Berg]

Posted: 11/23/14 at 5:44pm

Great work Alan

[Islander_fan]

Posted: 11/23/14 at 5:45pm

Glad he did that during the BC/EFA speech than during the show.

I was at a performance of Rabbit Hole, where, during the final scene someone's phone went off. It was a tender and dramatic moment. Both Cynthia Nixon as well as the actor playing the husband (who's name escapes me now) had to both stop, take a deep breath and then continue. This was during the time that they were collecting for BC/EFA too. She pointed out that the person who's phone went off should donate a little more. But, she didn't do it in a scolding tone a la LuPone. She did it more like a friendly ribbing.

That I don't mind. I do take issue with it happening during a show. If I payed money to see a show, I am paying to see the show and not for an actor to have a hissy fit onstage.

[Alix]

Posted: 11/23/14 at 5:54pm

He actually did the same thing when I was there last Sunday. The audience applauded when he said it, which made me happy.

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 11/23/14 at 6:01pm

Actors have every right to say something and scream at anyone they want. They are concentrating, and at work, and someone just breaks the law with their careless, selfish, sh*tty actions? Like that's ok? Nah.

They can do whatever they want.

Updated On: 11/23/14 at 06:01 PM

[bfreak]

Posted: 11/23/14 at 6:05pm

Do you think that Alan may have said it in a slightly unprofessional way though? I don't know, I may be wrong, but the way it sounds, it sounds like he said it pretty meanly. I've met him at the stage door, and he was really nice, but I'm just wondering. Thoughts?

[ljay889]

Posted: 11/23/14 at 6:07pm

Uh. somebody illegally filming a show with a visible light deserves a lot worse than what Alan said.

[bfreak]

Posted: 11/23/14 at 6:11pm

Oh, I'm sure. I just wanted to figure out the whole situation. I'm sick and tired of those bootleggers and when people's phone's go off, especially when people pay hundreds of dollars to see the show. When I met Alan, he was very nice and even though he had an event to go yo afterwards, had still took the time out to sign and chat with fans. A class act! BTW, what did you think of Emma Stone's performance, ljay889?

[OlBlueEyes]

Posted: 11/23/14 at 6:15pm

I'm a novice to this subject. Why don't they record Broadway shows and maybe release them to the public a year or more after the show closes? Do they think that people would stay away from the live production if they knew they could eventually see a recording?

I would love to see Gertrude Lawrence and Yul Brynner in King and I during the short period before cancer took her.

I think I read that Live at Lincoln Center broadcasts can only be aired twice and then never be exposed to the public again by another re-broadcast or by creation of a DVD. This doesn't make a lot of sense in an age when thousands just recorded the live broadcast of South Pacific on their DVRs.

The theater community always seems to be looking to raise money, and selling DVDs to the public would raise a lot.

[JBroadway]

Posted: 11/23/14 at 6:18pm

He made the same joke when I went to see it, but he didn't point to anyone in the mezzanine. He must make a similar joke during every BC/EFA speech.

[bfreak]

Posted: 11/23/14 at 6:24pm

Oh wow!

[PalJoey]

Posted: 11/23/14 at 7:56pm

I keep saying it: Arm ushers with tasers.

Death to all who use cell phones in the theater.

[Islander_fan]

Posted: 11/23/14 at 11:37pm

@suttonross

Your take on the situation is by far one of the most idiotic things I've read in awhile. No they don't have a right to scream at the audience. If I'm paying to see a show then I'm doing just that. Paying to see a show. I'm not paying to see an actor have a tantrum over someone filming the show. Now, yes bootlegging is wrong and isn't the most legal thing in the world, but let's not act as if it's up there with murder as one of the worst crimes known to mankind.

Ok I'm not saying I condone bootlegging a show but at the same time
I feel like it's a complex situation with no real black and white way to solve it.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 11/23/14 at 11:41pm

let's not act as if it's up there with murder as one of the worst crimes known to mankind.

Let's.

I think anyone who disturbs the silence of the theater should be tasered, tarred and feathered and left out on Times Square as a warning to others.

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 11/23/14 at 11:49pm

Islander_fan, your take on the situation is by far one of the most idiotic things I've read in awhile.

"yes bootlegging is wrong and isn't the most legal thing in the world..."

It's 100% illegal sugarpants, don't get it twisted.

"Ok I'm not saying I condone bootlegging a show but at the same time I feel like it's a complex situation with no real black and white way to solve it."

Um, once again, it's illegal. It's not complex. Those people need to be grabbed by their hair by security, erase anything they have recorded, physically thrown out of the theater without a refund, and never be allowed in the building again. Cast, crew, and GOOD patrons of theater hate people like that. They ruin the performance for everyone else. People who truly care about the arts hate disrespectful theater-goers, and if you are one of those people, please don't attend the theater. Ever.







Updated On: 11/23/14 at 11:49 PM

[n2nbaby]

Posted: 11/24/14 at 12:04am

And good members of the theater. I do not eat or drink in my seat, I do not talk, I turn off my cell phone, etc. and I enjoy bootlegs. Does this make me a bad theater goer?

[Mr. Nowack]

Posted: 11/24/14 at 12:07am

I agree that it's also wrong for a performer to disrupt the performance to call someone out. Maybe they could alert someone backstage after the scene or something to try to get the problem solved, but when I see a play there's nothing worse than the action being interrupted in any way, whether it's by an audience member or by a performer. The actors should know better than anyone (the audience members ought to know better too but thats a whole different story).

I'm not condoning bootlegging in any way, but stopping the performance is bad too, and unprofessional for an actor on Broadway. Which is worse? Who can say (that's the grey area Islander_fan refers to). The recording disrupts the actors onstage and impedes their performances but stopping the action cold disrupts hundreds of peoples' theatergoing experience.

Sure it'd be nice if nobody recorded shows but right now that's just not the case, and as they say two wrongs don't make a right.

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 11/24/14 at 12:09am

The actor wouldn't have to do that if the idiot wasn't filming in the first place. Their reaction is due to the action of the person filming. They wouldn't have to say anything if someone wasn't breaking the law.

[haterobics]

Posted: 11/24/14 at 12:10am

"I do not eat or drink in my seat"

The show sells food and drinks, so...

"I agree that it's also wrong for a performer to disrupt the performance to call someone out."

Not sure why people keep bringing up how this would be wrong in a situation where that isn't what occurred.

"Sure it'd be nice if nobody recorded shows but right now that's just not the case, and as they say two wrongs don't make a right."

A bit of a false equivalency to compare illegal recording with a performer going off book. One of these two things is actually illegal, and annoying and distracting to the performer. They aren't stopping the show because of the future bootleg, but because it is affecting their ability to focus.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 11/24/14 at 12:11am

Sounds like it's just a bit. Like Wilbur and Edna Turnblad cracking up.

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 11/24/14 at 12:16am

"I do not eat or drink in my seat, I do not talk, I turn off my cell phone, etc. and I enjoy bootlegs. Does this make me a bad theater goer?"

Im happy you weren't the dickhole in Pippin that kept throwing their drink back and chomping on their ice through act 2. I'm also glad you weren't the other dickhole that chomped/chewed loudly through their M & M's during After Midnight. Also, dickhole number 3 at Phantom whose cell phone went off five times with Miley Cyrus's "Wrecking Ball".

Thank you for not being those people. But, you support bootleggers, which makes me sad.

Updated On: 11/24/14 at 12:16 AM

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 11/24/14 at 12:20am

I will not have a bad word said about dickholes.