Appalling audience behavior at Little Mermaid last night

During the second act of the show last night, I saw the most appalling, disgusting, intolerable behavior I have EVER seen in a theatre. I was sitting in the fourth row just off the center, and in the third row dead center there was this woman and her three year old daughter. She was speaking loudly to her daughter constantly, singing the songs, raising her hands in the air and waving them around, TAKING PICTURES, and standing her daughter on her lap to see better. The audience went nuts. People half back in the orchestra were shushing this crazy lady. Whenever people would sush her or tell her to shut up she would YELL, "Are you serious?! I have a three year old! SHUT UP." This one guy behind her tried to get her to shut up and she yelled "f**k you" and gave him the finger. Twice. In the middle of the show. The three year old was amazingly well behaved. She was adorable, and didn't say more than two words the entire act. Her mother was CRAZY. She was also yelling things out in the middle of the scenes. When Ariel was going to give her voice to Urusula, she was like, "No Ariel, NO ARIEL!!!" She thought she was in a private showing. I have NEVER seen anything like it in my life. She almost got into a fist fight with the woman sitting next to her who kept telling her to shut up. Finally, someone went to get an usher. I don't really know what happened after that because it took the ushers a while to come and I think they were waiting until after the show (don't know why). I couldn't concentrate at all on the second act because there would be an episode every 5 minutes. I found out after the show that she was completely wasted. The guy behind her said he smelled alcohol on her. It was just crazy. I'm still in shock.

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Updated On: 6/1/08 at 11:32 AM

Oh.My.God.

That's crazy! A drunk mother at little mermaid. That poor girl. Could the cast tell what was going on? What did they do?

You should ask for your money back! 110 bucks (maybe more?) for *that*??

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Updated On: 6/1/08 at 11:35 AM

I did not pay that much to see it, but I know people around me did and am hoping they asked for their money back.

And yes, I believe the cast did notice. Especially during curtain call, I saw a ton of looks in that direction.

I've never actually been in a bad audience situation, so for some reason it didn't occur to me to get an usher/house manager. I don't know why. However, the woman sitting next to her was not going to let the mother just leave after the show.

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Oh good, I still have a shot at "Mother of the Year" award.

drunk and belligerent mother + 3 year old child = call the police

What a story!

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The stories i hear about the Front Of House staff in NY theatre amazes me.If we had someone like that at our theatre (manchester palace in the UK) they would be out in a second

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I never pay attention, but don't the ushers stand at the back of the house? I know when I saw August: Osage in December and we had all of the cell phones going off, those poor ushers were running all over the theater trying to locate them.

We have ushers stationed all over the inside of the theater during performances. When there is a problem, they jump right on it and have no problem asking disruptive people to leave.

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Updated On: 6/1/08 at 12:04 PM

Yep, sounds about right. When I went I encountered a lot of the same annoying things. Kids singing, pictures being taken and a LOUD lady talking on her cell phone during the entire overture. In that case two seperate ushers spoke to her and yet she yapped away. Made me beyond angry.

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Someone should have called the cops on her. She could have put that three year old in danger wandering around NYC drunk.

How horrible.

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From the lips of numerous Broadway actors --yes, believe it or not -- the actors on stage can HEAR everything, even when they're upstage and sometimes even in the wings. They can also see clearly the front portion of the orchestra and any activity in the orchestra section and front mezzanine. Even if someone is walking at the back of the house (behind the orchestra section), they can also see this, so yes... they DID see the little girl standing on her mother's lap as well as every annoying nuance this woman was doing. I'm surprised someone in the cast didn't say something to the stage manager and have him pass word to the house manager. Its been done in the past.

I think one of the actors should have gotten out of character and slapt that mother in the face.Even when I was a little kid I always hated when audience menbers would be disruptive.and why do people think they can talk during the overture are they not important anymore

Updated On: 6/1/08 at 01:02 PM

Sierra should have channeled Patti. That would have taken care of the situation!

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