Bad Theater Behavior- Page 24

[Babe_Williams]

Posted: 4/13/17 at 9:41am

clb10162 said: "
I'm afraid I'll lose it if I take it off. Most times I don't have a bag with. I turn the light down as far as I can and try to keep my sleeve over it. 

Have you tried turning it so the face is on the inside of your wrist (i.e., the palm side of your hand)?  You can still see the time with just a quick glance.

 

"

 

Or, even better, try not wearing it to the theater?

 

[masqphan]

Posted: 4/15/17 at 6:02pm

At the first preview of Sunset Boulevard this year there were two 60ish ladies next to me that were chatting away as the show started.  The man in front of them had a fedora type hat on and the ladies lean forward asking him "Would you take off your hat?".  He actually was in the process of taking it off because he had a thin fabric beanie in hand that he was in the process of putting on instead.    He turns back to them, "Would you mind stop talking?"   Finally the ladies shut up.

I feel that some of the issue with people using phones, talking etc is worse today because with folks being so hooked on their devices that they're used to constantly being engaged in doing something.  They aren't used to paying attention around them or sitting still.  It certainly doesn't make it ok to do these things during a show.  I seriously want to slap some people when I see the way they act at shows.  I wish they'd stay home.

[wonkit]

Posted: 4/15/17 at 7:10pm

I think we should have a video synopsis available that shows people the highlights of a popular show. Then they can watch it, brag to their friends and talk about what they "saw" and NOT show up to bother the rest of us who are there to pay attention. Bragging rights without the disruption others?

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 4/15/17 at 10:55pm

karen24 said: "...The one thing that kind of irritated me was that both Jake and Annaleigh got entrance applause. I find that distracting although obviously not nearly as bad as some of the things described here. At least Annaleigh got her share and not just the Big Movie Star (he was great, nothing against him in the role!)

 

"

If entrance applause bothers you so much, you should by all means stay home and watch HBO or Netflix. Both offer filmed entertainment, uninterrupted, that will be the same no matter how many times you watch it.

Seriously. With so much of "live" theater now amplified, digitized and pre-recorded, why gripe about a rare moment when the audience reacts spontaneously and the actor has to respond to it?

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 4/16/17 at 6:57am

GavestonPS said: "Seriously. With so much of "live" theater now amplified, digitized and pre-recorded, why gripe about a rare moment when the audience reacts spontaneously and the actor has to respond to it?"

http://bigstory.ap.org/urn:publicid:ap.org:f5220b7049444bc9ab4e273edf022cba?nc=1444228480727

"I think the ideal is you walk onstage and they're so rapt by what's happening to you that they don't think of you as an actor. They get lost themselves. That's home free, right there," Jones said. "That's what we all want. Forget the entrance applause, please."

[mailhandler777]

Posted: 4/16/17 at 8:14am

Babe_Williams said: "clb10162 said: "
I'm afraid I'll lose it if I take it off. Most times I don't have a bag with. I turn the light down as far as I can and try to keep my sleeve over it. 

Have you tried turning it so the face is on the inside of your wrist (i.e., the palm side of your hand)?  You can still see the time with just a quick glance.

 

"

 

Or, even better, try not wearing it to the theater?

 

 

"

In my experience most people wear a watch to tell the time. Imagine that. Most of the time my phone dies or I don't even have it with so I need some way to know the time.

[mailhandler777]

Posted: 4/16/17 at 8:17am

Dancingthrulife2 said: "mailhandler777 said: "TweetyPie2 said: "mailhandler777 said: "At Wicked in Rochester on Saturday night the lady behind me was cracking her gum throughout the show.

 "Speaking of ushers. They were more distracting to me constantly running around during the show flashing lights in everyones faces thinking they were taking pics. I have a smart watch that I put on airplane mode but it still lights up when I clap. Guess that confused them."

 

Simple solution: Take your watch off during the show.

 

 

 

"

I'm afraid I'll lose it if I take it off. Most times I don't have a bag with. I turn the light down as far as I can and try to keep my sleeve over it. 

 

"

Don't you have a pocket or two in your pants?

 

"

I usually have 4 but with womens pants the pockets are basically non existent. Nothing fits in them and a watch that can break will definitely not fit.

[Crazy NooNooHead]

Posted: 4/16/17 at 10:18am

VintageSnarker said: "Re: ponytail discussion

I don't think we should really be policing hairstyles. Especially a simple ponytail. Unless you do something to wrap the hair where it's tied I don't understand how you would get it higher than the top of your head. Would you complain if someone was wearing their hair in a teased out afro? I think it's a different situation if someone is wearing a big hat. It's easy to take off a hat. "

Does anyone even still wear a hat?

[LxGstv]

Posted: 4/16/17 at 1:51pm

VintageSnarker said: "GavestonPS said: "Seriously. With so much of "live" theater now amplified, digitized and pre-recorded, why gripe about a rare moment when the audience reacts spontaneously and the actor has to respond to it?"

http://bigstory.ap.org/urn:publicid:ap.org:f5220b7049444bc9ab4e273edf022cba?nc=1444228480727

"I think the ideal is you walk onstage and they're so rapt by what's happening to you that they don't think of you as an actor. They get lost themselves. That's home free, right there," Jones said. "That's what we all want. Forget the entrance applause, please."

 

"

Interesting... It reminds me of when I saw The Front Page last year... it takes quite a while for Nathan Lane to appear, every time someone remotely similar to him walked on stage there would be this beginning of applause, only to quickly fade away once people realized it wasn't actually Nathan Lane... Granted, it could have been applause for the actor entering, but that's not really what it looked like...

[TheThreadMaster]

Posted: 4/16/17 at 11:48pm

"

Interesting... It reminds me of when I saw The Front Page last year... it takes quite a while for Nathan Lane to appear, every time someone remotely similar to him walked on stage there would be this beginning of applause, only to quickly fade away once people realized it wasn't actually Nathan Lane... Granted, it could have been applause for the actor entering, but that's not really what it looked like...

 

"

YES. Every time a new character came on there was this roar of applause. This was STILL occurring AFTER Goodman, Slattery, Jefferson Mays,  and Sherie Rene Scott had entered. Maybe people just assumed it was Nathan Lane without knowing that Walter Burns isnt in the text until the middle of act 2.

[Auggie27]

Posted: 4/17/17 at 12:08pm

"Sunday in the Park..." yesterday (Easter matinee), a man had his iPad on at the top of the second act. Another man kept texting until the usher came down (he ignored me). Then he finally went to the top of the balcony.  Compared to other experiences (an Apple phone at "King and I" exactly one year ago), minor perhaps. But imagine the mindset that says "I have a right to have my iPad on in the theater."  For the record, 95% of the electronic device offenders are people my age (over 50).  When this habit is laid at the feet of millennials, it's unfair.  Boomers should know better, and be ashamed. Very. 

[LJD123]

Posted: 4/20/17 at 7:09am

Took my daughter (15) to see Rent tour in Boston last Friday.  Front row center mezz, been waiting for almost a year to see this!!!  Seats next to us remained open until last minute when another mother/daughter (35?) came and sat down.  Immediately the 35ish woman said something like "Always the best for me mom, front row center, I'm such a spoiled b@tch, aren't I?" very loudly.  As the performance started, she began to sing along, and it became very annoying and distracting.  After the third time, I leaned past my daughter, who was unfortunately seated next to her, and asked her to please stop.  She looked at me in a "Who do you think you are?" manner and proceeded to sing louder.  Meanwhile, she is seated next to my 15 year old!  I leaned over again, and said "Please stop, it's enough".  She then said to her mother something loudly about me being an old b@tch and having no right to tell her what to do.  Luckily, I think after the next time she began singing he mother must have told her to quiet down, because it subsided after that.  At intermission they immediately got up and I wanted to switch seats with my daughter so she would not have to deal with sitting next to her.  She declined, saying she didn't want the woman to antagonize ME, because she was so hostile. When they came back THEY had switched seats, or I would have insisted my daughter move away.  THANKFULLY, it did not ruin our evening, and my daughter and I loved the show.  Another example of my favorite quote "Other people ruin everything".  Ugh.....

[godlessondheimite]

Posted: 4/20/17 at 7:43am

At Hello Dolly I was next to a woman who kept humming the songs. She hummed the overture and an usher came over to tell her to stop, but then she resumed singing/humming throughout the show. Her daughter, a teenager, told her to stop at one point, but why listen to your daughter, right? It amazed me that this seasoned theatre-goer didn't know not to sing or hum along, no matter how catchy the songs are or how familiar they are with the music. That's amazing! Leave the show to the people who were cast and go join a community theatre.

Updated On: 4/20/17 at 07:43 AM

[Phantom4ever]

Posted: 4/21/17 at 7:57pm

Well I just finished a 3 day, 5 show binge. Hamilton, Come from Away, Hello Dolly, Phantom, and Sunday in the Park with George. 

I did not see any cellphones near me. Nobody was letting ice slosh around in his/her cup. No crinkling of candy bags (ok maybe just a bit of that lol), NO TALKING, no singing along. It was like everybody had just gotten a good talking-to from this board before they sat down. The ushers were great too. While nobody in my vicinity was acting up, the ushers had their hands full at Hello Dolly and Sunday in the Park with picture-takers. What a workout!  The Hudson theater has no center aisle, and all kinds of people were taking pictures of the curtain call, and the ushers were flashing their lights on them to no avail. Some of them even attempted to climb over 15-20 people to get to the center of the long row where the picture-takers were. In each case, by the time the usher stopped falling over old ladies, etc, and got to the offender, the offender had already put the phone away and gave the usher a quizzical look. The oddest part was the usher would say something to the picture-taker, the picture taker would nod in agreement, and the usher would turn and do his best to not fall on top of the some old ladies on the way out of the row. I was in the mezz and I had a perfect view of it.  Unfortunately I did miss the bows because the ushers' performances were so entertaining. That said, I still love me some aggressive ushers. I think it was clear to the average person in each audience that the ushers weren't going to put up with nonsense. 

Updated On: 4/21/17 at 07:57 PM

[Addison D.]

Posted: 4/22/17 at 10:40pm

Small (130 seat) community theater.  The show is 'Betrayal'.  Two women--in the FRONT ROW--are filming the show on their phones and posting the clips to FB or Instagram or something.  WTF????

[Marianne2]

Posted: 5/7/17 at 6:54pm

I forget if I've read about this here, but some people in my row were dangling their feet over the seat in front of them at Amélie yesterday. This was in the mezzanine.  Since when is this appropriate behavior?  I mean, the ones who did have someone sitting in front of them had to stop, but some didn't. 

[@z5]

Posted: 5/7/17 at 7:02pm

Not gonna lie...I've probably put my feet over a seat in the mezz....only if no one was sitting in it though. 

[South Florida]

Posted: 5/7/17 at 7:39pm

Had a tickle in my throat a few nights ago and coughed into my arm three times during the first act.  Each time the guy in the row in front of me turned half way around as to show his displeasure.  I admit that by the third turn around I wanted to punch him.

[SweetLips]

Posted: 5/8/17 at 2:07am

@z5 said: "Not gonna lie...I've probably put my feet over a seat in the mezz....only if no one was sitting in it though. 

 

I had better not been sitting in the seat next to your feet as they would still not be attached to your legs !

 

[icecreambenjamin]

Posted: 5/8/17 at 2:25am

I saw Miss Saigon a couple of weeks ago and people were loudly talking up in the (half empty) balcony through the first ten minutes of the show.  After that a group of people began to loudly eat a full meal behind us and throughout the show, people felt the need to constantly come and go as if they hadn't spent a pretty penny on a ticket.  The night was concluded with a cellphone ringing during Maybe.  At first I thought the harp player was having a stroke. It was awful.

On the other hand, the closing night of Sunday had the best audience I had ever seen, as was expected with THE Sondheim in attendance.  They were enthusiastic, but respectful of the piece and knew right where to clap and laugh.  It was wonderful to see one of my favorite shows with an audience of fans.

[Javi]

Posted: 5/8/17 at 2:53am

I forgot to add this, but at Sunday in the Park with George on April 22 Saturday matinee, during intermission, most people went out to the restrooms or to buy drinks. Anyway, while people were away, this man in the row in front of me, took his shoes off and put his feet up on the chair in front of him for the whole intermission to try and dry his socks that were wet from the rain. An usher stood maybe six feet away and did not tell the guy to put his feet down. It was disgusting. 

[Chicken_Flavor]

Posted: 5/8/17 at 7:14pm

I don't know if this necessarily pertains, but I saw a Groundhog Day playbill in a trash bag outside my house! It just breaks my little heart to see that. ;(

[Nycat63]

Posted: 5/8/17 at 10:30pm

At School of Rock last summer a very wealthy looking father-daughter duo sat in front of my daughter and me in the front row mezz.  Daughter (maybe 13 or 14) put her phone away as soon as the announcement was made.  Daddy had not one but two phones on the entire time.  One for checking work emails and the other - no joke - for online gambling.  The lights from his phones were driving us crazy.  Another audience member asked him to turn them off and he just gave him a nasty look.  An usher eventually tried and failed as well.  They weren't there for Act 2 but when we were walking out we noticed they had moved to the orchestra.  Then we went to stage door and saw that they were going backstage - just making it that much more distasteful.  

My greatest pet peeve though is still the crinkling with the candy.  I just don't get it.  It's the biggest cliche yet it happens literally every time I'm at a show, like clockwork, generally 5 minutes into the show.  Every. Single. Time.  

 

 

[ArtMan]

Posted: 5/8/17 at 10:45pm

It always seems to take that person five minutes or more to get that little piece of candy out of the wrapper.  It drives me crazy too.

[ArtMan]

Posted: 5/8/17 at 10:45pm

double post

Updated On: 5/8/17 at 10:45 PM