Bad Audience Behavior- Page 4

[BeautifullyTragic]

Posted: 7/20/05 at 11:57pm

Okay, so I have two stories, both about Philadelphia audiences.

-When a tour of Mamma Mia stopped by about three years ago, a group of four of my friends went to see it. We sit down and the woman in the row in front of us turns around and starts smiling like a fool at us. She stutters out that her name is Wanda, her companion is Ted, and she is taking him out for his birthday and wants to embarass him. Her breath wreaked of alcohol, but as the show was starting, we couldn't say anything. Well, they sang (loudly) during every song, cheered the actors on during quiet parts, stood up with lighters and swayed back and forth....and this is all during the first act. During intermission, the woman leaves and as Ted goes to follow her, he falls over the row of seats in front of him, on a group of elderly women. It was pretty funny, and horribly rude.

-West Side Story was being performed at the Walnut Street theater recently, and we walked over to see it (7.50 for day-of tickets, can't beat it). So, it begins, and as late as 15 minutes into it, people are walking it. A woman walks in with her two children and sits in front of us. Her son is playing on his gameboy, and refuses to give it to her willingly - they have a ten minute game of him hiding it and her trying to get to it. Her daughter can't sit still and is standing upt he whole time, loses her shoe in the middle of the first act and starts digging under the chair in front of her to retrieve it. And thats just one case. There is crinkling everywhere, the air smells like food, and at the end, when Tony is shot, the entire audience laughs. I can understand that the blank being shot scares them, but they kept on laughing. And then as Maria is mourning Tonys death, two women in our row get up and walk out - gathering their immense collection of cheetos wrappers and crunching them into their purses as they go. It has to be one of the most disrespectful audiences I was ever in.

[broadwaystar2b]

Posted: 7/21/05 at 12:17am

The worst experience I've ever had with cellphones is when one rang off three times during the eulogy for my aunt's funeral

I'm all for the blocking, what are we waiting for?

[cabaretlulu2]

Posted: 7/21/05 at 1:06am

I don't know why but I always get irritated when audience members sing along with the songs. One time I was at a show and the guy next to me (late 40s, early 50s) sang along with every song in the show. He also booed loudly everytime the villian came on stage. He made it very difficult to enjoy the actors' performances.

[RustyJusty830]

Posted: 7/21/05 at 2:20am

One thing I HATE- People showing up late for a performance...When I was seeing Hairspray- I got house seats for my mother's birthday- About 15 minutes into the show- These people in my row (about five of them) squeeze past my seat TOTALLY interrupting my enjoyment of the show. Well, being the loudmouth that I am, I said to them as they crammed past, "Show starts at eight o'clock folks...". GRRR!

Plus, another time winning the lottery, this group of high school kids obviously on some sort of 'group trip' were acting like they were watching a movie- drinking and passing around flasks of booze while giggles, constantly readjusting their hats, obstructing my view of the stage, ect. Well, lets just say I set them straight...

Not to mention, the guy snoring as loud as a law mower behind me during part of the first act of Light In The Piazza...Yikes!

[freeadmission]

Posted: 7/21/05 at 8:35am

I've had soooo many problems at the NC Shakespeare Festival. Granted, I only went to the Schoolfest performances (10 bucks instead of 22), but still. CHAPERONES!! Aaaanyway, a particular instance made me want to kill nearly every snotty-nosed middle-schooler in the audience. It was a couple of years ago at Macbeth. When the assassin comes in to kill Lady Macduff she's holding an infant and, after a wonderously acted sort of cat and mouse scene, the assassin chases Lady Macduff off stage and she lets out this -filled scream. It was heartbreaking...truly. And what does the audience do? They f*cking laugh! The whole place. Ohhhhh it made me sooooooooooo angry!!

I understand they're probably there against their will...but there IS a certain thing called RESPECT! I've been forced to many things against my will, but my parents raised me to always be respectful or, at the VERY least, civil.

F*cking society.