Bad Audience Behavior

From the Philadelphia Inquirer - Tuesday July 19, 2005 Michael Klien's article

News flash

Candy-unwrappers, cell-phone yakkers - and now pizza orderers? Just before curtain Saturday night of Menopause: The Musical at the Society Hill Playhouse, a deliveryman arrived with a large plain pie for a group of women in Row K. House manager David Smith stopped the guy, and redirected the women to the first-floor gallery as artistic director Deen Kogan reminded them that they were not at the circus.

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Oh my! I think we've officially reached a new low!

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..... :in shock:

THATS HILARIOUS!!

Reminds me of when I saw Spamalot and I was sitting amongst a bunch of ex-frat boy types. I noticed them drinking heavily at the bar before the show and just as the curtain went up they each ran to take their seats carrying a full liter cup of beer with them. No one stopped them so they all drank their beers throughout Act One. They went back to the bar for intermission, drank lord knows how much and then as the Act II curtain ascended they each took their seats again carrying ANOTHER cup of beer. Man did they reek!

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They shouldn't even sell that crap in theatres. I can stand having stale wine-breath breathing on my all night at a show. Not to mention the fact that too many audience members are idiots enough withOUT the alcohol.

And why do theatres even sell food with wrappers? I saw Les Mis in SF a couple weeks ago, and all I heard for the first 20 minutes of act 2 was wrappers. Good GOD!! Sell boxed things ONLY!

I think even more shocking than their behavior is their taste in musicals. Did you expect a class act from people attending "Menopause:The Musical"? And ther is more than a little irony in the fact that this was at The SOCIETY Hill Playhouse.

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I saw Les Miz for the first time (yeah, I know...)in London two weeks ago. Just at the end, when Valjean is dying and Marius and Cosette arrive just in time -- someone's cell phone went off!!! Cripes, talk about a mood breaker!!!

But I was still crying my eyes out nonetheless...

Well, a cellphone rang during the very last scene of the Death of A Salesman revival a few years back. Elizabeth Franz was delivering her final lines about she and Willy finally being "free and clear" literally laying on the stage (on top of Willy's grave) sobbing and a cell phone went off, a groan went through the crowd and that beautiful moment was destroyed.

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I know this isn't a Broadway theatre (but still!)...but I saw a concert at Radio City Music Hall about a month ago, and I was shocked to see that they were selling food (I'm talking hot dogs, etc!) in the theatre! OK, so I was guilty of buying a pretzel (I was starving) but I ate it in the lobby, and chucked the rest when it was time to go back in between acts. I couldn't believe the guy next to be squeezing by w/ his hot dog and beer in hand. How tacky! It's a theatre, not a baseball stadium.

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Morosco,

I've read that such technology is illegal for use in theatres in New York, but I believe that there has been talk of a legal battle. They've put it in in theatres in other countries and apparently it works beautifully.

In the old days (and perhaps still now), doctors and people who might have emergencies of some kind, simply would leave their beeper or whatever with the house manager before the show. If a call or message came in during the show, the house manager would discreetly go to that person's seat and inform him. It's easy, quiet and provides a minimum of distraction to other audience members.

Why not put in the blocking technology and make an announcement a few moments before the curtain informing the audience that because of the blocking technology, they won't be able to receive any calls or pages during the show, but if any person needs to be reachable for some important reason, that they may check their cellphones and pagers with the house manager (who will be somewhere outside the range of the blocking) and he/she will be happy to field incoming calls and contact them if need be?

It might be a pain for the house staff some nights, but honestly, how many people on any given night would go to the trouble of checking their phones? Three? Four?

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Ahh man, ewww! Why do people do that stuff? It ruins the show for anybody around them.

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Who else thinks the PERFECT show to start "cell block" technology is Chicago??? :)

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