I said no such thing Testing. I dont equate being able to drink with having a good time at all. I dont have much of an opinion on the serving of alcohol thats why my comments stuck mostly to the Rocky Horror analogy. I do think it suits the show (doesnt strike me as out of place) and in fact I think most of these incidents listed as examples of bad behavior due to drinking may just as easily have happened with a sober crowd.
Someone had a drink spilled on them? Thats why most theatres that let you bring *any* sort of drink to your seat do so with a sippy cup design. This might be an idea for ROA to consider but Im sure the drink prices would be higher if they served them in souvenir cups.
Singing, shouting, dancing? That points back to what I was saying about the type of crowd that attends. A show like this, as with rocky horror, is going to see theatre people and then its going to have its 'other' fans and in this case some of whom are more accustomed to concerts than theatre and the two types may not always agree on whats acceptable behavior... they may just not know any better. I have a very nice, very sheltered aunt who saw Jersey Boys for a 60th birthday and couldnt understand why no one was singing, she thought the crowd didnt know the words- the people around her probably thought she was just as crazy as she imagined them. She was more or less expecting a concert there and told me she thought there was too much dialogue. I do think the relative rowdiness can be approximated by the date and time of the show.
People arriving drunk and/or continuing to drink? Ive seen that at several theatres in my day and the fact that they reached their limit five minutes before they sat down next to someone by buying the drink in the lobby probably didnt make that much of a difference to the people who were sitting next to them. Are people more likely to be drunk at this show than at Phantom of the Opera? Hell yes. Is this necessarily going to change by not offering alcohol in your seat? I doubt it. Even knowing that you can buy alcohol in their seat most people will return from intermission with a full glass of their preference and in my experience a fast drinker with a fast waitress cant manage to get more than 2 drinks in a given Act without doubling up their orders and that kind of person would walk in from intermission with more than one drink anyway if they wanted to. People intent on getting drunk will just find a way to do so. This show just happens to attract people who are more into drinking than your usual theatre piece would.
I have yet to personally experience anyone behaving badly enough at ROA to disrupt my enjoyment of the show and Ive seen it a number of times. I myself usually buy a shot at intermission, but I went with friends on Halloween who drank throughout the show and I didnt find it all that distracting but then again Id seen it before. The only notably drunk people Ive seen were front row another night and they were more amusing than distracting (one stood up to flirt back during the 'playbill holding freak machine' line).
For those people who dont want to be distracted by a waitress then Id suggest getting the most centered seat possible and that way you shouldnt end up passing anyones drinks or relaying any orders. If you want to be with a crowd thats simply less likely to drink, try a weekend matinee. If even just the possibility that someone might be behaving in a way that you dont like is keeping you from seeing the show, then you probably wouldnt like it anyways... there are stripper characters in the show afterall. I always scream when the preshow announcement says you cant film unless youre hot and willing to flash us... who knows, someone else might be even more inspired by the suggestion one day.
Updated On: 11/14/08 at 05:13 AM
