Bad Theater Behavior — Page 21

Atrocious behavior at the final show of Privacy last night. Some guy sitting next to me in row A center,  bellowing/roaring loudly with laughter (even during quieter/more serious moments). Some lady right behind me constantly: talking with her male companion (asking questions etc), cackling loudly like a hyena, amongst other super annoying and distracting things. They tried taking a picture when Daniel came onstage but got caught by an eagle-eyed usher. Throughout the first half, I was giving her dagger looks but that just caused her to complain about me to her friend.  

 

At intermission, I finally gathered the courage to ask her to stop the chatter and to tone it down a notch because it was disturbing MY enjoyment of the show.  I hinted at the fact that it would probably be best if she stopped drinking (her 2nd or 3rd alcholic bev); she said that I needed to loosen up and take a drink and started putting her drink on my armrest. Her friend tried to calm her down and even agreed that she was being a bit too loud. 

 

When the show was over, she actually tried yelling to get my attention to "tell me something." I just gave her my worst b*itch look and stated that I was not going to waste my time to talk to her. Thank goodness it was my 4th time seeing the show but I would've been really devastated if it was my first.

Updated On: 8/15/16 at 07:20 PM

I was in the city this weekend and saw five shows.  For the most part, it was just typical overly casual attire, people asking "what did she say", etc, and I have to say that the kids around me at School of Rock were extremely well-behaved.  But at The Color Purple, the woman seated next to me in the third row center orchestra was talking on her phone when Act II began. Rather than hang up as the actors took the stage, she kept going with her convo.  If looks could kill, the look Cynthia Erivo shot her sure would have.  

Anakela said: " It was my first time seeing Privacy on Sun night, row D, and ugh that crowd was the worst! This woman was the one screaming out "it's ok to date your cousin if he's cute!" and stuff, right? I know exactly who you're talking about.

If Privacy wants to continue on they REALLY need to do something/add something to their instructions about when you can and cannot use your phone. I had both two seats down to my left AND two seats down to my right those people had their phones out the entire show, just lit up and texting/typing/whatevering away. Lights on both sides of my peripheral vision, all night. And then all of the picture takers (which to their credit the Public staff were quick to shut down every time - but I'm sure there could have been a space in the fun pre-show instructions for a direction and cartoon of 'no picture taking.' ) Then I had a talker behind me all show "oh that's very funny." "that's a good point." "I didn't know that." etc., who was attending some sort of interactive theatre apparently.

I usually LOVE seeing shows at The Public, I find The Public's audience to be among the best, in my top 5 show experiences ever is seeing Hamilton at The Public with not a single cell phone light, etc. a truly magic crowd. I don't know if Sunday night was because drunks, Harry Potter fans who don't know how to theatre (yeah I'm being judgmental), people allowed to keep their phones on and out, some combo of the above, but it was easily one of the worst audiences ever. Which was disappointing because I actually really loved the concept of the show."

 

YES Anakela! When they asked if Keran (date #3) if she would want to go on a second date, she was the one who also screamed, "Of course she would!!" 

 

But thank you for validating what I was experiencing! She even had the nerve to ask the people around her if she was really making that much noise… only 1 gentleman (who sat 1 seat over from her) spoke up and agreed with me. I also concur that this was one of the worse audiences at the Public I've encountered to date; it's definitely a combo of all the things you pointed out. While it's exciting to have many parts of the play breaking the 4th wall, that audience took it way too far! 

 

I feel so bad that it was your first and only time seeing it - what a shame to have the experience ruined by a bunch of a**holes!! 

LizzieCurry said: "I caught Curious Incident this past weekend (my second time) and someone in one of the boxes was using their phone for most of the last half of Act 1. I could tell the brightness was down, but I could still see it! I told an usher at intermission and he went over and talked to both people in the box (I couldn't tell with the lights up who the actual offender was), and it didn't happen again for all of Act 2. Thank you, Barrymore usher!

 

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I guess that person didn't get what the cell phone sounds they play at the beginning of that show are for. The last time I saw it a few weeks ago one of the ushers called out during the cell phone sounds "I know, it's weird, it means don't use your phone" which I thought was amusing. 

The Cinderella story -- holy crap!

And yeah, you should get hazard pay.

Not necessarily bad behavior, but bad scents. At Hamilton last night, my friend and I discovered a foul order coming from someone within close proximity to us. They had the worst case of smelly feet - sour and strong. It was raining yesterday, and I bet the wet shoes made matters worse. The guy to my right pulled his shirt over his nose during the show.  I sure hope he didn't think it was originating from me. 

What do you do if you knew who the culprit was?

bwaylyric said: "Not necessarily bad behavior, but bad scents. At Hamilton last night, my friend and I discovered a foul order coming from someone within close proximity to us. They had the worst case of smelly feet - sour and strong. It was raining yesterday, and I bet the wet shoes made matters worse. The guy to my right pulled his shirt over his nose during the show.  I sure hope he didn't think it was originating from me. 

What do you do if you knew who the culprit was?

 

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When I heard that when you are in the cancellation line you have to go right in the theater because they don't want the tickets being re-sold, my inmediate thought was gross, some people wait in line starting at 7am or even earlier, I can't imagine being in line all day and just going to watch the show without showering. I would assume it's worse during the summer but this story is from last night.

Funny enough I had a similar experience at The King and I, there was this family of tourists and the father had his shoes off during the show, and it was bad. So inappropriate, you are at the theater not at home.

Tonight at the Great Comet, when the actors started giving out and throwing dumplings, one of the actors threw one at my younger (child) relative seated next to me. He ended up not catching the dumpling and it landed on my seat behind my back. The lady behind me was just so keen on getting a dumpling that she reached her hand down onto my chair to grab the dumpling that was touching my behind... She then proceeded to proclaim to the world, "I got a dumpling!" like it was something so spectacular. 

It amazes me that she had the nerve to basically touch my rear end just to get that stupid dumpling that would have gone to a child...

Movie theater culture has so completely taken over, and it's sad. Last weekend at Picnic Off-Broadway, a middle-aged couple sat down before the show, pulled out a giant box of milk duds, and proceeded to chomp down the whole thing before the show started. Then at the first intermission, they pull out a similarly large box of skittles. It's like they had an entire candy store in their pockets. I'm glad they confined their eating to intermission only and didn't noisily munch during the show, but seriously--you can't go two hours without snacks?

Yes, Hairspray did. When I tended bar at other theatres people got downright mean sometimes when I said we didn't. "But Hairspray DOES!!"
 

Wicked's merch also made people think all shows had snow globes, golf balls, beach towels, etc.

Someone's cell phone went off at If I Forget on Saturday.  It's unbelievable how people ignore it and let it keep ringing. I have no idea where it was coming from either.  It didn't sound close. 

djoko84 said: "Thankfully theatres don't sell popcorn. I hate the smell and the noise people make when eating it in movie theatres.

 

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The Kimmel Center in Philly (where I live) sells popcorn and small boxed meals--sandwiches, salads, etc--but they're very good about not allowing people to bring anything inside. In the several years I've been attending Philadelphia Orchestra concerts there, I've never seen anyone get a snack inside the auditorium.

Last night at The Price this woman in the box seats had her phone turned on and facing up, every time she got a notification that stupid screen would light up... it wasn't nearly as bad as people in the end that weren't applauding not because they didn't enjoy the performances, but because they were too busy taking pictures of the cast on stage... while I understand that it didn't affect the performance itself it just felt rude towards the actors, they deserve the applause at the end, they came out twice and people were still taking pictures instead of applauding... argh!

I also think it's funny that AC126748 posted that movie culture has taken over, its funny because I was talking to my partner about this yesterday, I have ran into worst behavior and ruder people so much more at the theater than in the movies to be honest... I can count on one hand the times I've had annoying people either talking or using their phones at the movies... can't say the same for the theater however, people pulling our phones or just talking happens way more often...