Attention Ushers & House Managers: WAKE UP! — Page 2

First let me say that for the most part I have had generally good experiences with front of house staff. (Except for one outrageous experience at the Hirschfeld involving my father, his wheelchair and an absolutely dense, rude and unecessarily combative usher and house manager.)

Secondly, I am not one of those theater goers who feels that the price of my ticket entitles me to act however I please in the theater. I arrive on time, my cell phone is off, my food is home in my refrigerator, all personal articles of clothing remain on my person (well I do take off my coat in the winter) my gum remains in its wrapper, I pop in a Listerine strip before the show starts even though I keep my mouth shut throughout the show.

HOWEVER, I do feel that the price of my ticket entitles me to a pleasant experience from all employees of the theater whether on stage and off. If a member of the front of house staff is disgruntled, unhappy, stressed out - I'm sorry, but I don't want to know about it. Not my problem. I am paying throught the nose for my evening/afternoon in the theater (I'm one of the lucky ones who can afford full-price and don't mind paying it for a good seat) and I expect a first-class experience from the minute I walk in the door until the minute I leave. In other words, ushers and other front of house staff, like Broadway Matt stated, are working in a service industry and have to remember that, no matter how horrible the job is. Dealing with the public is hard work, I agree. Eight shows a week is a tough schedule, but the front of house staff need to be as up to the task as the performers onstage. They are part of the show too.

---

Having read similar threads like this before, when I saw my first shows in NY, I was pleased to have no bad experiences with ushers. And because I knew what a stress that it can be sometimes, I was very appriciative that all the ushers I encountered were so very kind.

---

Please, there are good and bad in every job.

As for seating, the rules are usually set up by the production, not the house. So if an usher is told that as long as it isn't a musical number, they can seat latecomers, then you're going to see people being seated during a scene. Again, the rules come down from the production. Contact the producers if you have a problem with that.

---

orangeskittles, I agree that ushers should know better, but again, sometimes they don't - there have been numerous mentions of the few bad apples who don't take their jobs seriously. I've often been pulled aside by loud head ushers letting me know about my break time in the middle of the first scene and talking at full volume, and it's embarrassing. But neddyfrank shouldn't have just stood there and ignored the noise; he should have told them to be quiet.

I've complained twice to ushers about audience members constantly talking during a performance. The first was during the original run of Promises Promises and the second time was during the original run of Evita. The ushers did nothing either time. In fact, the Evita usher told me that the situation generally worsens if theatre staff gets involved.