Bad Audience Behavior- Page 3

[CrAzIaBoUtReNt]

Posted: 10/23/05 at 4:39pm

When I saw RENT, when Angel and Collins kiss at the end of I'll Cover You, this little boy yelled,"Eeeeew!". He couldn't really help it though. It was sort of funny.

[Phantomerik15]

Posted: 10/23/05 at 4:56pm

well my stories arent that bad but...
Aug. 24th 2005-Phantom of the Opera: there were 3 people in back of me and one was the only one who knew english. so...he was always translating for the other two during most of Act one. during act 2 it was mostly silent.-i supposed he explained the rest during intermission!

Oct. 1, 2005 evening-Hugh Panaro's last performance as the Phantom in Phantom of the Opera: the old lady in front of me kept of coughing (real bad too!) towards the middle of act 2-(where all the good stuff starts happening! damn her!) then a family member 2 seats away passes her a water bottle and they keep exchanging it. i mean, they just keep reaching it over and across to each other. it was SO annoying!...just made me want to cry harder on that day...i was already heartbroken that it was Hugh's last performance as the Phantom!...and, oh gosh, the old couple next to me! they have never seen the show and during the start of the overture when the chandelier light flashes the woman was like "oh! that hurt my eyes!"...and during Raoul's Think of Me bit, the man was like "is that the Phantom" and the woman was kept on saying "is that him? i dont know? do you think so?"...i was like "give me a BREAK!!!" and this other woman next to me who probably havent seen the show either had to comment on everything that happened! and she had kept on complaining about how she wasnt a fan of these seats (i was sitting in the front mezz.) becuase it was too high up.

Updated On: 10/23/05 at 04:56 PM

[wexy]

Posted: 10/23/05 at 4:58pm

I don't remember what show it was but I was in the mezzanine for something and a woman wouldn't remove her hat so another tipped it off of her head and over the rail into the orchestra section.

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 10/23/05 at 5:32pm

Ha, I would probably have laughed if I had seen that. Unless it's for a religious reason, there is no excuse for being spiteful and keeping your hat on after people have told you it's blocking their view. She deserves to have to scrounge around the orchestra after the show looking for her stupid hat with that kind of bratty behavior.

[Conor]

Posted: 10/23/05 at 5:44pm

when I was seeing wonderful town, the man next to me was DISGUSTING! He smelt like he hadn't showered in ages and had been rolling around in dead fish. He kept pulling more and more food out of his huge trent coat, and was munching away on pringles and cheetos during the show and then he took off his shoes. He got crumbs on me at which point I told him he was disgusting, anf then at the beginning of intermission I really told him off, and he left, at which point I sorta felt bad, but that kinda faded away when I was able to breathe during the second act, hear the action, and wasn't buried under a mountain of crumbs.

[safety_in_falsehood]

Posted: 10/23/05 at 5:50pm

Hmm I have had quite a few bad experiences with bad audience behavior.

Rent- When Maureen moons Benny...this older woman of about 60, practically yelled "This is not the time or place for these disgusting displays of nudity!"

Wicked- All through the show there was a boy about nine years old whining "Mommy why is she green?"

Spelling Bee- A teenager who obviously didn't want to be there was loudly spelling the words in a very obnoxious voice.

Producers (in London) this guy's cellphone rang about 5 times during the show, and he kept saying "Well I turned it off."

Those are just a few gems I have sadly come across.

[CostumeMistress]

Posted: 10/23/05 at 6:29pm

I really told him off, and he left, at which point I sorta felt bad, but that kinda faded away when I was able to breathe during the second act, hear the action, and wasn't buried under a mountain of crumbs. ~Conor

That made me laugh.

[Anakela]

Posted: 10/23/05 at 11:33pm

nydirector2: that was me, and thanks for that info- I have never seen translation devices before, just the sound amplifying ones, I am now totally going to be looking for them the next show that I am at. :)

and reading this thread reminded me I have a singing audience member story too: Sweet Charity, the woman next to me sang along during "Big Spender." Not just sang, though, but completely performed- we're talking jazz hands, shimmying (sp?) along in her seat, etc. But the odd thing was, that was the only number she sang along to- she didn't sing or speak or anything for the rest of the show. It was a little odd. (Nope- it wasn't because anyone had said anything to her, at least not that I heard).

[EganFan2]

Posted: 10/24/05 at 9:54am

When I saw the tour of "Thoroughly Modern Millie" some woman was trying to find her seat during the opening number. Apparently at the theater I was at, they do let latecomers in. I hate that...but it's lose lose because when they don't let them in they b*tch about it. So anyway, naturally, she thought her seat was in my row. So I had to get up, and stand while she moved by. Guess what? Her seat wasn't in that row after all! So she moves back, spends a good five minutes with the usher trying to figure out where she sat. I missed most of the opening number, which ticked me off. THEN the guy in front decided to move his head back and forth throughout the entire first act. *rolls eyes*


Updated On: 10/24/05 at 09:54 AM

[Esparzafan]

Posted: 10/24/05 at 1:08pm

My all time favorites are:

1. At Naked Girl on the Appian Way, while we sat in the front row and the actors are close enough to make eye contact, I heard a rusting noise next to me. An older lady was rifling around in her tote bag and came out with...voila...a juice box, which she slurped until she stopped long enough to eat a few packs of individually wrapped saltines. The show doesn't have an intermission, but come on.

2. At Modern Orthodox: the lady next to me let her cell go off twice (never turned it off), then crossed her leg so the bottom of her shoe was resting on my pants leg. I brushed my pants off and she moved, eventually.

3. At Chitty on B'way: my husband put his arm behind the back of my chair and a German tourist behind us screamed "You are obstructing my view of the stage. Remove your arm NOW" as he tapped my husband feverishly. THe amazing thing was, his arm wasn't anywhere above the back of my seat (I'm assuming my head was in his site view, too, but I got off easy on that one) and the scene was at the very top of the stage when Caractacus was singing Hushabye Mountain to the kids in their beds. We were so stunned we couldn't even think of anything witty to say.

[shortydudette]

Posted: 10/24/05 at 3:55pm

At Doubt: There was a chorus of coughing. It was possibly the funniest experience I have ever had in the theatre. It absolutely sounded like coughing counterpoint, with a definate rhythm. (COUGH coughcough COUGH coughcough ...beat...beat...COUGHCOUGHCOUGHCOUGH cough. clear throat. cough. repeat). It was like someone was conducting the audience. This continued up until the end of Brian O'Byrne's opening monologue, which I heard none of.
At the same show, I sat next to an elderly couple and their friend, who, right before curtain, decided she wanted to sit at the end of the row because she had to leave early. So everyone in the stage-right half of the row had to shift down one seat.
With this woman gone, I was stuck next to the elderly man. He was wearing a hearing aid. Hearing aids, if not tuned correctly, emit a loud, high-pitched sound that the owner of the hearing aid, being deaf, cannot hear. It was a constant throughout the performance, stopping for only seconds at a time. He was also wearing a headset device to hear the actors better. His wife kept leaning over and, presumably not knowing how loudly she was speaking (in a normal, conversational voice), said "can you hear it now? How's this? Is it better?" He would respond "No, I still can't hear anything," and they would switch headsets. This happened at least 10 times throughout the show. The worst part was, since they couldn't hear, I couldn't say anything to make them stop without being loud myself.

[Carl Magnum]

Posted: 10/24/05 at 4:15pm

Here is a personal one from the other side of the footlights. During Sweet Charity, not the current broadway production but my final musical senior year of college, we had some early leavers (is that a word?). Either way, it was the final weekend and I was like a week away from graduation so I was past the point of worrying about being cast again. So as we are taking our bows (I played Vittorio in case anyone wondered). I see two girls get up and try to leave just as the final dance reprise thing starts. SO I sang the entire reprise to them and clapped along with the music right in their direction as they kept walking faster and faster to leave. Needless to say the cast and the audience caught on and the girls were very embarassed. What makes it better is the fact we were in a 3 quarter thrust style theatre where all the seats are above the stage and you can touch the audience if you wanted. So there girls had to pass in front of the entire cast to leave the theatre early.

And another. During a student matinee of 12th Night there was a row of girls in the very front who found it their job to tell which cast members they thought were hot very loudly. While it was an ego boost it was also innapropriate.

[BOYFROMOZ]

Posted: 10/24/05 at 11:04pm

Anakela on Wicked,

Whats the use of telling on a family for wanting to sit toghether? . Believe me, I hate people like them who keep talking. There just the "non broadway oriented tourists". The point is they bought an extra ticket. I think Wicked would care allot more if they payed for the extra ticket period. I absolutley agree that they should of bought together, although life is more important. Would you want your kid away from you at a broadway theater (Like 13 or under)? Its not like its so safe these days. That may be an understatment, but the mother probably will be lucky to find somebody to watch the kid (responsible and all). In conclusion, I think that the rules, in this case, dont matter. Sometimes its not important to obsess over those things. When I go to the theater, I find people anoying, but as a performer, I can block them out and focus on the show. Sure you can tell the usher to hush them, that would be better than complaining about a rule thats not worth it to worry about. Life is so short. Its better to make the best of it.

[greenegirl87]

Posted: 10/24/05 at 11:11pm

I was at Wicked once sitting behind two kids who kept complaining that their favorite conductor was not there that performance...during e v e r y s i n g l e song!

Is there even a difference in the music?

[BOYFROMOZ]

Posted: 10/24/05 at 11:17pm

That is very intellectual of them. Nothing to argue about, but funny. All conductors have such different styles and its nice people of the young generation appreciate different styles of conducting. As many say, our conductors provide us with energy for our performances my leading our talents throughout the show. Thats probably how I take it. Anyway....
Updated On: 10/24/05 at 11:17 PM

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 10/24/05 at 11:18pm

BOYFROMOZ, the fact is that they were squeezing 3 people into 2 seats, which is disrespectful to everyone sitting around them. It's almost like letting someone butt in front of you in line- it's rude to everyone else that was following the rules. Not to mention the people sitting on either side of them that now have to fight for foot/armrest space and makes it uncomfortable for them as well.

What about the people sitting behind them? Those seats are made to alternate so that the people behind you are seeing between your head and the person's next to you. With two heads there, it's now completely blocking their view and ruining the show for them as well.

If the mother was so concerned with having her family sit together, she should have thought of that before she used the lotto to get her tickets. They say there's only 2 tickets per winner, so it's her own fault that they had to split up. If her children are so young that she didn't feel comfortable leaving them alone, maybe she should have re-thought her plans ahead of time instead of disregarding the rules to accomidate herself.

And the rules do matter, that's why they're there in the first place: To give everyone in the audience a chance to enjoy the show.

[jam_man]

Posted: 10/24/05 at 11:22pm

That's NOTHING!!! I can top ALL of yours!!!

Last spring, our High School's musical was A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. For every show we do, we have an "open dress rehearsal" the day before our opening night. For this show, we invite parents, middle school students, and some high school students who have our drama teacher for class. Anyway, near the back of our (very professional) theatre, there was appearently a boyfriend and girlfriend sitting next to each other. I guess they were board, because she ended up doing him a, *ahem*, "favor." Right there, during the show, behind a small wall we have infront of the back sections of seats. Not only that, but he ended up, *ahem*, "showing his thanks" on the wall of the theatre - WHICH WE HAD JUST PUT UP BRAND NEW DRY WALL!!!

Well, I guess ...Forum is a crowd pleaser...

[BOYFROMOZ]

Posted: 10/24/05 at 11:26pm

Believe me, I thought that was totally unrespectfull. But think about being in their shoes. Most of these unoriented famalies want to get the day of. I know we all want to enjoy ourselves, but our saftey comes first. About the behavior: absolutley horrible. In fact, at Christmas Carol (MSG) , there were lazer lights shining at us (I was in the show) and my fellow actor almost got blind. The stage managers unfortunelly could not stop it. Believe me, planning is better, I agree with that entirely. We do have to live with these peoples habits and behaviors. Its almost doing a school project with someone you hate and want to get rid of.

[BOYFROMOZ]

Posted: 10/24/05 at 11:26pm

Believe me, I thought that was totally unrespectfull. But think about being in their shoes. Most of these unoriented famalies want to get the day of. I know we all want to enjoy ourselves, but our saftey comes first. About the behavior: absolutley horrible. In fact, at Christmas Carol (MSG) , there were lazer lights shining at us (I was in the show) and my fellow actor almost got blind. The stage managers unfortunelly could not stop it. Believe me, planning is better, I agree with that entirely. We do have to live with these peoples habits and behaviors. Its almost doing a school project with someone you hate and want to get rid of.

[Allie]

Posted: 10/24/05 at 11:26pm

AHHHHHH! That's so WRONG!

[BOYFROMOZ]

Posted: 10/24/05 at 11:26pm

Believe me, I thought that was totally unrespectfull. But think about being in their shoes. Most of these unoriented famalies want to get the day of. I know we all want to enjoy ourselves, but our saftey comes first. About the behavior: absolutley horrible. In fact, at Christmas Carol (MSG) , there were lazer lights shining at us (I was in the show) and my fellow actor almost got blind. The stage managers unfortunelly could not stop it. Believe me, planning is better, I agree with that entirely. We do have to live with these peoples habits and behaviors. Its almost doing a school project with someone you hate and want to get rid of.

[BOYFROMOZ]

Posted: 10/24/05 at 11:26pm

Believe me, I thought that was totally unrespectfull. But think about being in their shoes. Most of these unoriented famalies want to get the day of. I know we all want to enjoy ourselves, but our saftey comes first. About the behavior: absolutley horrible. In fact, at Christmas Carol (MSG) , there were lazer lights shining at us (I was in the show) and my fellow actor almost got blind. The stage managers unfortunelly could not stop it. Believe me, planning is better, I agree with that entirely. We do have to live with these peoples habits and behaviors. Its almost doing a school project with someone you hate and want to get rid of.

[BOYFROMOZ]

Posted: 10/24/05 at 11:26pm

Believe me, I thought that was totally unrespectfull. But think about being in their shoes. Most of these unoriented famalies want to get the day of. I know we all want to enjoy ourselves, but our saftey comes first. About the behavior: absolutley horrible. In fact, at Christmas Carol (MSG) , there were lazer lights shining at us (I was in the show) and my fellow actor almost got blind. The stage managers unfortunelly could not stop it. Believe me, planning is better, I agree with that entirely. We do have to live with these peoples habits and behaviors. Its almost doing a school project with someone you hate and want to get rid of.

[BOYFROMOZ]

Posted: 10/24/05 at 11:27pm

Believe me, I thought that was totally unrespectfull. But think about being in their shoes. Most of these unoriented famalies want to get the day of. I know we all want to enjoy ourselves, but our saftey comes first. About the behavior: absolutley horrible. In fact, at Christmas Carol (MSG) , there were lazer lights shining at us (I was in the show) and my fellow actor almost got blind. The stage managers unfortunelly could not stop it. Believe me, planning is better, I agree with that entirely. We do have to live with these peoples habits and behaviors. Its almost doing a school project with someone you hate and want to get rid of.

[BOYFROMOZ]

Posted: 10/24/05 at 11:27pm

Believe me, I thought that was totally unrespectfull. But think about being in their shoes. Most of these unoriented famalies want to get the day of. I know we all want to enjoy ourselves, but our saftey comes first. About the behavior: absolutley horrible. In fact, at Christmas Carol (MSG) , there were lazer lights shining at us (I was in the show) and my fellow actor almost got blind. The stage managers unfortunelly could not stop it. Believe me, planning is better, I agree with that entirely. We do have to live with these peoples habits and behaviors. Its almost doing a school project with someone you hate and want to get rid of.