Bad Audience Behavior- Page 7

[Lamc16]

Posted: 12/18/05 at 6:01pm

this was not a personal experience of mine, but a funny story i heard ben stiller tell on either letterman or conan... last season when he, amanda peet, and jeffery wright were doing "this is how it goes," one night they all couldn't help but notice a woman in the second row, slowly but surely, starting to fall asleep. they continue to do the play as usual, until it gets so bad, that the woman is now not only asleep, but her head is cocked back, mouth wide open, and she is snoring. the cast then proceeded to make as much noise onstage as they possibly could, to see which one of them could successfully wake the woman up (ie: stomping when entering, coughing, yelling, etc). nothing did the trick. ben stiller just shrugged it off saying, 'if you want to take a $75.00 nap, that's your problem.

[Conor]

Posted: 12/18/05 at 6:05pm

When I was at Les Mis there was a young girl probably about 9 or 10 sitting in the row in front of me. Anyways I was expecting her to be confused and to ask questions a lot, but she didn't. Anyways, at some point a gun went off, and she screamed REALLY loud. But the gunshot was loud and I remember thinking that it wasn't supposed to happen at that part and a lot of people jumped, but I digress... anyways the woman sitting next to the little girl, who wasn't with her party, flipped out at the little girl for screaming. She made such a scene whisper yelling at the kid about maturity, and the parents about bringing kids to shows that were inappropriate, it was so rude and ridiculous. The poor little girl was mortified and she cried, and the family actually left, but it totally wasn't their fault the girl was really doing well and not being a problem. To top it off, the woman and her friend got to slide over 4 seats and get a more central seat. It was so obnoxious.

[Joe Mike2]

Posted: 12/20/05 at 12:19pm

I sat next to a man at a performance of Les Miz who farted repeatedly during the entire show. The smell was horrible and it made it very difficult to enjoy the show. It went on the entire time -- through both acts. I felt sorry for the man but it made the show a very unpleasant experience for me and I'm sure the other people around us.

[SpellRENT777]

Posted: 12/20/05 at 3:59pm

You will always get those people who aren't exactly happy to be there and they are a bit rude.But, its almost part of broadway.

I went to All Shook Up and in front of me were two mothers and their daughters and son. The son was quite loud and the daughters were quite loud. They talked about how, "we never sat this close! Not even at Wicked!" But, thank god they shut up before the curtain went up.

I actually went to see the Scarlet Pimpernel on broadway with a doctor a while back! Obviously he had the end seat and was on-call. Half way through the second act, his beeper (IN at the time) went off. He ran outside and got many mean stares. His wife later went after him a bit later.

Finally, I used to be an aid to a CCD class in my local town. The teacher of that helped out told me about a her time out to the theater. She said she went to the Music Man quite late and her seats were up in front. She went to her seats to find people sitting in them. She actually stopped the show by having an all-out shouting fight with the man in her seat! The audience gave her dirty looks and the cast members were very bothered!

[Piazzaslight]

Posted: 1/8/06 at 3:37pm

OK, OK, I have another one. When I was at SOUVENIR, there were not one, but TWO cell phones going off. They had to make an announcement when the second act started reminding people to turn the phones off. Some people.

[brandonm]

Posted: 1/8/06 at 4:08pm

On my 13th Birthday I went to NYC for the first time. On my birthday I saw Hairspray. Behind me wuz a girl around ten (old enough to know not to talk) and she kept asking her mom about the show. Every time a someone would come on stage the girl would ask her mom who they were. Then she kept asking about the plot, she didnt understand any of it and she wuz getting on my nerves. Her mom let her talk too. It wuz annoying.
This second one wasnt in live theatre, but I saw the Rent movie 3 times. The first time only ten people were there so it fine. The second time a group of teens were sending text messages to each other on their cell phone. Then, right in the middle of La Vie Boheme they got up and left. The 3rd time I saw it, pretty much the same thing happened.

[LilBwayLady]

Posted: 1/8/06 at 4:13pm

well when i saw lestat on Dec.29th there was no standing ovation when it was clearly enjoyed by the audience...my mom and i were the only ones standing up....oh and when i went to see peter pan in sac. all the little kids kept asking their parents very loudly about why there was no "never smile at a crocodile" song in it (which i was actually disappoointed with as well)

[N0tThatGirl213]

Posted: 1/8/06 at 4:37pm

When I saw Aida a couple of summers ago, this guy at the end of my row stood up and very loudly said "Oh my god, they DIE?" as the tomb was rolling back in the finale. Amusing, yes, but very rude.

[kate2]

Posted: 1/8/06 at 4:46pm

When i saw DRS, not too long ago, the usher was going up the aisle before the show telling people that "phones must be turned off and the taking of pictures is not allowed" This idiot in front of me stands up and asks "What about movies?" I couldnt contain myself, so i just blurted out before i could think... "WHAT DO YOU THINK, GENIUS?!" then he sat down

i guess i was the rude audience member there, but he was stupid

[TLKfan]

Posted: 1/8/06 at 8:10pm

Off the top of my head:

-Les Mis: The last year on Broadway there was this family in front of me and they had some major BO. I could deal with that, but the one kid really loudly asked if Fantine was dead(it was two scenes before she actually did

-The Lion King: I've seen the show tons of times so I know the lines and sometimes I whisper the lines to my mom, but this woman in front of me yelled out the lines before the actors even said them. I was so mad! It totally ruined all the jokes in the show.

-I just have to mention seeing Evita in movie theatres. When Evita is singing (the scene where she meet all the rich people outside and they don't like her) and the camera pulls back and she's by herself. It's completely quiet and some womans laughs sooo loud. I don't know why she was laughing..

I've done some rude things too. Ofcourse I try to be as respectful and ontime as possible, but once I was really late with my mom to see Lion King and go figure, but we had center orchestra. While getting to my seat I accidentally stepped on a lady's foot with my huge boots. She yelled so loud...I think I stayed in my seat the whole time. I was so embarrased, and to this day I think about it.

[wonderfulwizard11]

Posted: 1/8/06 at 9:16pm

I saw a high school production of ITW and three girls behind me would nto stop talking. I really wanted to turn around and tell them to be quiet.

[Kringas]

Posted: 2/27/06 at 8:02pm

Sorry. I thought this was the other thread.

Updated On: 2/27/06 at 08:02 PM

[Gypsy2]

Posted: 2/27/06 at 10:22pm

When I saw Thoroughly Modern Millie, two weeks before it closed, this little girl who was around 7 or 8 years old was sitting behind me. Not only was she constantly kicking my seat, but she talked throughout the whole thing. For example, when they're at the speakeasy and are drinking, she yelled to her dad "WHAT ARE THEY DRINKING DADDY? IS IT GRAPE JUICE?" So I'd turn around and polietly ask her to be quieter, and to stop kicking my seat. I guess she didn't understand english? So after another try, I asked her dad, who seemed to get that his daughter was being a pain, and would whisper "Shh, SHH" to her. Naturally, it really didn't have any affect.

[Marlene]

Posted: 2/27/06 at 10:36pm

Please keep your shoes on, and feet off the orchestra pit at all times.

[ACL2006]

Posted: 2/27/06 at 11:56pm

Not sure if anyone knows this, but you have all the right to tell an usher about any annoying audience behavior. When I first saw Contact with my acting class, we had this really old couple in back of us constantly saying "what did they say?", "who's that?", etc. My theatre teacher got up and told an usher. The usher asked the people to remain quiet as it was disturbing to other people. They then said very loudly, "but we can't hear anything". Everyone turned around and they got up and left.

Maybe it'll work for someone else.

Another case was when I saw Little Shop, a 8 or 9 year old boy came in with a pillow & blanket and took his shoes off. A lady sitting next to him told his parents they shouldn't of wasted $100 just so their son could take a nap. They didn't seem happy about that and had their son put his shoes back on.

Updated On: 2/27/06 at 11:56 PM

[Yeah, um, no.]

Posted: 2/28/06 at 2:35pm

I was at Sunset Boulevard and a woman in front of me carried on an entire conversation with her companion during the first act. During intermission, she got up and I wrote her a note that said she must not realize how far her voice carried and how disruptive it was. I left it on her chair and watched her read it when she returned to her seat. She didn't say a word during the second act.

And good luck at The Wedding Singer. Stephen Lynch's fans call out like crazy at his own shows.
Stephen Lynch Website

[colleen_lee]

Posted: 2/28/06 at 3:21pm

--During the pre-Broadway run of "The Lion King" in Minneapolis, a family with young children (probably ages 2 and 4) sat behind my mother and I. Only a few minutes into the show, they busted out the cheerios and milk for the kids. The kids were bored with the show and didn't seem to understand it, they got antsy and we kicking the back of the chairs, whining, just generally being a pain. Then at the beginning of the second act they started THROWING the cheerios and milk. I ended up with milk spilled in my hair and all down my clothes. I dress pretty nice when I go to the theater and I had to take my pant suit to the dry cleaners after the show as there was milk ALL OVER IT.

[keatonbynumbers]

Posted: 2/28/06 at 3:24pm

Seriously? Did the parents take any responsibility for that? Or notice?

[colleen_lee]

Posted: 2/28/06 at 3:31pm

"Seriously? Did the parents take any responsibility for that? Or notice?"

They didn't seem to give a crap, though we gave them the "dirty looks", they just ignored us and let the kids have their little food fight.

The parents didn't seem to be interested in the show either, so I am not sure why exactly they decided to stick around after intermission.

[melissa errico fan]

Posted: 2/28/06 at 3:37pm

I have two recent ones.

First, at the recent Encores production of KISMET, I was sitting in the last row of the Grand Tier. About a half hour into the first act, I heard someone about two rows into the mid-mezzanine talking on their cell phone. Luckily, an usher noticed it and politely told the person to either get off the phone or leave.

I took my four-year-old son to see a children's theatre production recently and about 10 minutes after the show started, a woman in the row in front of me proceeded to change her child's diaper in the aisle. Then, she went to the usher, handed him the soiled diaper, and asked him to throw it away for her. Truly disgusting and rude.

[Esparzafan]

Posted: 6/30/06 at 8:50am

Here are two from the past week:

* At The Water's Edge, a woman two seats away brought a HUGE plastic shopping bag of snacks and proceeded to take them out, fetch a bottle of water, etc. She moved during intermission. Two middle aged women put their feet on the edge of the empty seat next to me. But the strangest that day was the smelly waves of spiced deli meat that would waft by. I have no idea where it came from (and it wasn't the snack bag lady, as she left). Mystery.

*The worst was last night at Burleigh Grime$ at New World Stages. It was raining last night pretty hard and people were trying to dry off in the restrooms as many people had been caught in the downpour. I was sitting next to a woman who was by herself (early 20s maybe). We were in row G, so there weren't seats in front of us, but an aisle for people to walk by. My seat mate took off her shoes, spread out her bags on the floor around her and proceeded to rub her bare feet and legs (she was wearing a long skirt that she kept rolling up and putting down, over and over) and jump around in her seat the entire first act. I swear, I though she was being attacked by bed bugs! She would not sit still. She left at intermission and unfortunately came back. She did the same manic stuff during Act 2, but also engaged in picking between her toes and smelling her hands repeatedly. I thought I was seeing things, but she wouldn't stop. You can't make this stuff up!

[EthelMae]

Posted: 3/4/15 at 9:42pm

This is not a new topic at all but I only post it because I'm furious with audiences at the theatre. It's not a matter anymore of will it happen, it's now a matter of- it will happen-be ready for it.
Today at CURIOUS DOG, top of Act 2-which is a record-no problems in Act 1-a woman 3 seats to my left- started putting her hand in some sort of chip bag and preceded to eat. She then continued rustling the bag with her hand and eating. The woman right next to me told ME to tell her to be quiet. I let it go trying to focus on the play. Finally, as she wasn't going to stop, I had to lean over my partner and then lean over the woman next to him to get to her to say "you must stop that-you must stop that." She waved her finger at me as if telling me to calm down. Well, as usual, my heart was racing and it took me a few minutes to calm down and get back into the play. Which I did. I apologized to my partner who told me he was about to say something too. As usual, most stayed mute and put up with it. I don't think there's any answer. Like I said, I've come to expect it. Oh, there wasn't a peep out of her for the rest of the performance.
I just don't remember this kind of behavior years ago-I'm talking about the 70's.
BTW- we loved the show!

Updated On: 3/4/15 at 09:42 PM

[ethan231h]

Posted: 3/4/15 at 10:07pm

I unfortunately was at Mamma Mia since I got a free ticket last weekend and the audience was literally talking loudly through the overture and a little bit during the prologue, then on their phones throughout the show and eating very loudly, and the ushers did nothing.

[atuomala]

Posted: 3/4/15 at 10:57pm

Last night during a preview performance of The Audience, three cell phones went off over the course of Act I which was less than an hour long. I just don't understand people. With all the warnings, all the signs, there should be no excuse for a cell phone going off EVER, yet it feels as though I can't sit through a performance of anything without several cell phones going off. I feel as though I hear more cell phones going off amongst a crowd of middle-aged adults in a Broadway show than I do a movie theater surrounded by teenagers. Go figure.

[NJ_BroadwayGirl]

Posted: 3/5/15 at 12:03am

Here's one for the "bad behavior happens in every price range of seats" category - I was at Wicked tonight in very good seats and I had a set of talking teenagers on either side of me! The talkers were doing it just enough to annoy me but not enough for me to backhand them ... I mean ask them to be quiet.

There were also several adults texting in the two rows in front of me and someone behind me who was either snoring during the second act or had a serious breathing problem. Yikes.