Audience Behavior — Page 5

I decided to go to the national tour of Shrek. (not one of my greatest moments) I guess the people sitting behind me were die hard Shrek fans and felt the need to quote the entire show LINE. BY.LINE. This made the already unbearable show that much more awful.
When I went to go see Anything Goes, the teen-aged kids behind me felt the need to sing along to De-Lovely and composed Stomp-like beats during 'Anything Goes'. At intermission I turned around and told them that their behavior was not appropriate for the theatre. I said if they wanted to act like that, they needed to join choir or percussion. They didn't do anything disruptive the rest of the performance.

Sorry Double Post!

Updated On: 7/17/11 at 10:13 PM

I would like to add to the visibility of cell phones chat from the previous page. I run crew at a fine arts center. One night while I was stuck up in the booth (I was spot op for this particular show), I noticed that every time there was a slight pause or scene switch, cell phones flickered on like crazy. During one transition I counted 16 phones light up!

This time, it was me.

When I saw the Next to Normal tour last month, Pearl's performance and the realization that it was the last time I'd be seeing the original production, On Broadway or on tour, hit me like a train and I was the audible weeper in the 5th row for the majority of the first and second act. I got many glares and even a glance from Emma Hunton.

Not my proudest moment.

Is that the production where Ted took out his bow and shot arrows at everyone in the temple? The set was all stuffed animal heads he brought from his own collection? Love that one!



Same thing around here, actually. We had the really awful tour of THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE come through here about four years ago, and they gave it a standing ovation. My b/f and I looked at each other like, WTF?

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"When I saw the Next to Normal tour last month, Pearl's performance and the realization that it was the last time I'd be seeing the original production, On Broadway or on tour, hit me like a train and I was the audible weeper in the 5th row for the majority of the first and second act. I got many glares and even a glance from Emma Hunton."

That is not really out of the ordinary, though, if that makes you feel better, haha. I guess it may be distracting to other audience members who have never seen it, or do not feel an emotional connection to it, but I've heard cast members say that hearing audience members weeping is emotionally moving for them. At closing on Broadway, I was up in the mezzanine because I got my tickets late and couldn't sit next to my friends. I was with complete strangers, but by the end of the second act, we were all holding hands and helping to muffle each other's sobs. Maybe you just have to be around people who understand, and I think that on tour, the audiences (/subscription holders) were less receptive to the emotional audience members. In Providence, a woman asked if I had seen it before, and when I told her how many times, she looked at me disgustedly and said, "You must be a masochist".

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A few instances to mention:

*At Wicked, a man was taking photos with a really huge-ass professional camera. He was stopped quickly by the ushers, but what makes these people think they can take photos AFTER the announcement that they can't!

*Mary P is hell now with all the kids -- I cannot believe parents are plunking down the $$ for kids under 10 to see this show. The parents in front of me had no clue how to control their three kids during the show -- they let them talk, move around, and hit my lef about as much as they wanted. It was a complete distraction that nearly ruined my experience.

*I was third row center for Catch Me If you Can. When the peanuts from the flight attendants are thrown in the audience, the two young skanks in front of me to the side got some. They didn't want them, so in the middle of the show, they ask the people behind them (sitting next to me) to pass back the peanuts to their companion sitting alone two rows behind. WTF These same skanks were on the phone texting during Act 1 and at intermission, the woman next to them (directly in front of me) gave them a lecture about proper behavior in the theater -- they gave her flack and then I let them have it (in my teacher voice). Between the two of us, we got results and they were quiet and non-phone using the rest of the show.

*Spiderman sucks, but the audience behavior is worse. I have never seen so many people (adults and kids) go in and out of the house -- loudly, too! Running up the freaking aisles like it's a playground. A really old lady across the aisle from me said, "are you kidding me?" She was livid with the disturbance and spoke to the ushers at intermission, but what good is gonna do?

*Also at spiderman, there was a child who was around 1 yr -- WTF. Luckily on the opposite side of the theater so I only heard squawks now and then. BUT -- isn't there an age minimum. Don't kids have to be non-infants! Also, this means the parents paid for their kid to see the damn show -- I'm sure they will really remember it!

*At Sister Act, two dumb hags in the second row center took photos of the finale. The usher had to get security to get them to stop -- and made them erase all of the photos. I mean, come on, you stupid fools!

*Don't mind the sippy cups being brought in, but now people are clicking the lids open and closed and/or clicking the freakin' ice in the cup. Idiots. I told the girl across the aisle to shut up the clicking of the lid (at PHANTOM) or I would take the cup away from her myself.

Other than these instances, behavior was not bad at all besides a few other instances of texting lights (even at book of mormon where the skanks in front of me paid $302 for their seats). I do like how in some theaters I noticed the ushers really watching for photos and phones and flashing people with their flashlights to send the message about its inappropriateness -- and this was usually done at the top of each act so it wasn't too disturbing to the other patrons.

Being a teacher, I don't mind calling out people, especially young people, on their bad behavior (in a respectful way). On this trip, it got results -- hopefully I won't be assaulted in the future.

pinoyidol2006 - If you ever get the opportunity to see something on Broadway, don't let an audience member ruin it for you. It really is a special experience and you shouldn't have to worry about other audience members taking away from that.

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Some annoying experiences recently..some long-in-the-tooth blonde bimbo and her female friend in the second row of ANYTHING GOES both had their phones out TOGETHER, twice. Luckily, the guy behind them was very stern and grabbed her on the shoulder...

At THE BOOK OF MORMON there was an obnoxious group of people behind me who spoiled what "Hasa Diga Eebowa" meant before they said it on the stage, pissed me off so much, they were talking through dialogue and songs (I don't mind talking through applause much), but it's especially annoying because the sound (rear mezzo) at Book of Mormon is pretty awful I thought, making it even more difficult to understand...they were also using phones - sometimes an indication that they aren't enjoying it, but by their obnoxious laughter apparently not, I almost thought they were enjoying it too much - well, I mean they were laughing at the wrong moments (I know this might sound strange..but clearly some songs while funny are not LOL FUNNIEST THING EVER after the first line, clearly it is building up to a punch line and things. And I guess because of their other behaviour it was almost like they were just laughing at everything and not really paying that much attention? I don't know, it was just strange. Laughing for the sake of laughing, I thought they were.

At MASTER CLASS, this lady kept saying "Uh, Oh" several times, even between pauses, after one particular line offended Callas (I can't remember which line exactly), I mean if you have to make an audible gasp or whatever I can understand once if it is genuinely shocking...but to keep saying it over and over again? That's just obnoxious..control yourself, jesus.

Fuuuuu

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Updated On: 7/21/11 at 12:57 PM

I saw The Color Purple twice on Broadway and each time the crowd made it very hard to hear or enjoy the show.

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I went back a little bit to find this, just because I HAVE to comment. I recently returned to Broadway after a few years away two weeks ago and was legitimately shocked at the behavior of the audience. People texted during the show, had full-volume conversations and commented on performances loudly for the whole theater to hear, showed up ten minutes late and complained about not being able to find their seats, and let their kids run loose in the aisles. Mind you, these antics occurred during three different shows in three separate theaters.

Based on this thread, it seems like this sort of behavior is becoming the norm and that appalls me. Whatever happened to the theater being a sacred place?

Updated On: 7/25/11 at 11:08 AM

Sacred? Vaudeville and burlesque (the forerunners to the b'way musical) certainly weren't sacred.

I go into the city at least once a month, where I see 2 or more shows each time. And while, yes, a phone goes off nearly every show, and I nearly always see at tleast one person texting -- I've never had the problems that most of you discuss. Individuals that are rude happens sometimes, but some of you make it sound like you are sitting in a circus atmosphere.

Maybe I'm just lucky.

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Updated On: 7/25/11 at 01:46 PM