Bad Theater Behavior — Page 2

To the petite woman above who likes to get aggressive in these situations, I would just say to be very careful. The below is a true story.

A few years ago, I was at a movie and these two idiots (one man, one woman) would not shut up. There was a petite woman in front of them and after enduring the blabbering for at least 30 minutes, she turned around and very agressively told them to shut the hell up. Before I could think "good for you", the female idiot got up, charged into the petite woman's aisle and punched her right in the face. Super hard.

Chaos ensued. Police were called. The good news was that the movie sucked and everyone got a free pass to a future movie.

The moral of this story is that confronting a jerk rarely ends well and could result in assault. Do yourself a favor and don't ruin your expensive night on Broadway. Get an usher or house manager and make them do the job they are paid to do.

At Matilda had a similar situation where the adults were more annoying than the kids. Noise (crinkling water bottles) talking and taking pictures. It really ruined the experience. I spoke to the house manager at the Shubert (who asked if I had reported it - no it got MUCH worse the 2nd act and there was NO WAY any usher could have missed this

HM didn't care and the killer is my wife, outside the theatre' heard someone saying "and this idiot is in there complaining about noise. Doesn't he realize this is a kids show ? "

To the petite woman above who likes to get aggressive in these situations, I would just say to be very careful. The below is a true story.

Thanks for the warning. I'm willing to take the risk. I'm incredibly disappointed in people who let things go. I'm okay with someone swinging a punch at me. (Here's hoping 10 years of martial arts experience pay off.)

Also, movie theaters seem way more risky to shush someone in than a live theatre. I did not say a thing when I was at the Les Miz movie and a group of 5 or 6 teenage girls decided to take selfies WITH FLASH during all of Confrontation.

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Last week at the national tour of CHICAGO in Chicago, I was sitting in the 2nd row of the center orchestra. The pre-show announcement was clear and crisp about putting away cellphones-anything that lights up, and no texting during the show. I always appreciate when they are so specific and when they don't do it in a cutesy way (for example by saying that there were no cellphones in the 1920's or something).

Well the girl next to me texted through that announcement and the lights went down and she texted through "All that Jazz". At the applause for that song, she put her phone away, which made me say "Yay! She put her phone away!" during the applause. She looked at me, stared, and rolled her eyes.

She took out her phone a few times through Act I but managed to keep it so far inside her enormous purse/bookbag that I couldn't see it.

Act II started and she hunched all the way over so all I could see was the back of her head. She stayed like that until "Razzle Dazzle". Kind of a long time. During Razzle Dazzle, she slowly inched her way up until she was texting with the light in my face again. So I finally said "will you please put that away and stop texting?" She put her phone in her bag, put her bag on the floor, and crossed her arms, all while staring at me with a pissed-off-teenager look on her face.

Obviously with the man being shot and killed at the movie theater over texting, we do need to be careful. But I don't think we need to just let it go and accept the bad behavior either.

I had a bit of a conundrum at "Beautiful" because I had a crinkly plastic bag on my lap that I could not put on the floor because I had purchased a ton of tiny souvenirs (long story) that could too easily fall out or get broken if I put them down. So since I had the bag in my lap, it would occasionally make a crinkly-plastic-bag sound. I did my best to keep it totally quiet. But the lady in front of me darted her head around and stared at me every time my bag made a noise. I wanted to explain to her that I get it and I was sorry my bag made noises but I was doing the best I could. Who knows maybe she is reading this lol.

"the woman refused to get up because she had to text"

No has to text, it's a conscious decision that people with absolutely no manners or respect engage in during a performance. They honestly think it's a concert where that kind of behavior is ok. They should be grateful and excited about seeing live theater, something millions of people will never get to experience. She should have been asked to leave the theater.

Updated On: 3/6/14 at 02:50 PM

These idiots have to show everyone how important they are by paying a ton of money for a seat and than acting like they were sitting at home. "See me aren't I important. Take notice of me". The same holds true with idiots who come in habitually late . Maybe they think the that management will hold the curtain for them because they are ultra important - in their own mind.

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That's too bad, and I'm sad/surprised at the Cinderella stories here! I thought the audience experience I had at Cinderella was one of the best (mostly OBC, last June).

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""You shouldn't have hot food in a theatre, because as the foodis heated, it does give off that horrible stench. which I completely agree with, that such food shouldn't be eaten in the theatre. BUT I had a couple of people tut and another couple shake their heads, when I started eating some take out sushi which is cold and doesn't give off a smell, I got reported to an usher and they threatened to eject me, I informed the usher, that I had finished and apoligised in the interval, this happened during Romeo and Julliet four months ago, people need to get over themselfs, Sushi does not give off an aroma as it is cold, I cannot believe how I was treated"

You're kidding with this, right? YOU need to get over YOURSELF. Where do you come off thinking it's okay to attend a broadway show while eating your dinner? Smelly or not, you cannot bring in outside food. Oh, but I guess the rules are for someone else, not you. You are exactly the type of person we're complaining about in this thread. You cannot believe how you were treated? You're lucky you were allowed to remain inside the theater. Seriously?

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At "Mothers and Sons" last Sunday, I was distracted through half of the show by not one, not two, but three different people eating. The first man opened a bag of chips, proceeded to munch on them for about 10 minutes, and finally finished. He was on the opposite side of the Mezzanine, but everyone on my end could still hear him. Everyone glared at him, and I cannot believe nobody shushed him.

As soon as he finished, a large man a few rows behind me took out HIS snack and began loudly eating M&Ms or some sort of candy that would make noise every time he'd reach his stubby fingers in the bag. He got shushed several times but kept on going.

And then several old ladies decided they needed some soothing lozenges throughout the show, so that happened multiple times. A 90 minute play is the worst: You can't complain at intermission, you can't move to different seats. I don't know how these people can't sit still for 90 minutes without having to shovel something into their mouths.

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Even just sitting by people that check their phones drives me crazy. The person in front of me at If/Then on Wednesday night checked his text messages every 20 minutes or so. The glow of the phone lights up EVERYONE around you- it's maddening.

"And then several old ladies decided they needed some soothing lozenges throughout the show, so that happened multiple times."

I'm with the several "old" ladies. I'm sure I don't speak only for myself when I say that having lozenges or some other candy to suck on is a must when going to the theater. Many of us, old AND young, may feel a coughing spell coming on. No one wants to be that person. I don't go to a theater without lozenges in my purse.

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I've been there. But I feel like if you have to open them up at all, open them up within your pocket or within your purse, to minimize noise. Or do it during applause.

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Every theater should have a kill switch to immobilize all cells until intermission and than again until the end of the show.

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