Bad Theater Behavior — Page 27

I was at Dolly the other day, and the man behind me+ his family and friends were incredibly rude. The man kept saying profanities whenever something funny happened, and his family also kept whispering and commenting on the show.

Marianne2 said: "I agree about late seating when it's a huge crowd. I saw Wicked at the Boston Opera House a couple of weeks ago. Everything was fine until after intermission. Once the first song for act 2 was done, the ushers let so many people come back in to reseat. There had to be at least 15-20, maybe more. How is that fine?



"

Maybe people were still in line for the bathroom when he second act started? I heard that's a common issue at the ladies bathroom in Waitress. There was even an article about it, not Waitress specifically, but about the bathrooms situation on Broadway.

When I saw The Great Comet on Wednesday, at intermission the woman behind me was talking about the teenage boy sitting downstage center who sang along and sang in the faces of the cast who, according to her, loved his enthusiasm. I actually didn't notice it during act one and I didn't see him do it during act two. The woman was like "oh it was so cute! The cast just loved it, you could tell! He just sang right along with them!" All of her friends in her row were like "wait a minute. You thought it was cute that some kid sang along? You're kidding, right?" And she started to back off her comments by saying that maybe he was just mouthing the lyrics and the cast just enjoyed his energy.

Also at Comet....a woman sitting on stage (at a table stage right of Pierre's den) was dressed JUST LIKE Mary, down to the hairstyle!





However, just yesterday I nearly hurt the man sitting behind me at the banquettes. Druing the first 20 minutes he just coudn't shut up, talking to the rest of his party, cracking jokes and being obnoxious. He finally stopped after the 3rd time (or so) of my sushing and glares. Then it started up again at the begining of Act II....I turned around and asked, "really?". His son (an adult, too) had to tell him to be quiet. I was just waiting for him to talk again...but he didn't.

Updated On: 8/4/17 at 04:11 PM

Well at least it wasn't as bad as Lucas Steele (Anatole) said when they were performing off-Broadway. He said one patron vomited into her purse. Talk about a scene stealer.

I have lip-synced at the theatre before, but it has been very brief and I'm usually caught up in the excitement/emotion of the performance. But if you are exaggerated like that girl at Comet, then you're definitely a problem.

Recording entire shows like that is so common now. People always say to me "I loved Hamilton! The original cast was better than the replacements though." And I say something about how I didn't know they were able to see both casts, or I didn't know that they were able to get to New York City, etc. And they always say "Oh I just watched them on youtube!" I teach high school and all of my musical theater nerds have seen every Broadway show that they are interested in seeing on youtube. And if you read the comments, everybody is very thankful because they say they have no way to ever see these shows in person so illegal recordings are vital for them. My cousin has three elementary school-age kids who are obsessed with Hamilton and they watched the OBC on youtube so many times that when they finally saw it live in Chicago they were so disappointed that it was different actors from youtube. This is the world we live in now.

And as for the video just posted, I LOVED Great Comet. And I was not expecting to at all. I thought I would be bored to tears but instead I was enchanted by it. However, if I would have watched that bootleg video, I would have thought no way this is not the show for me. That video does not capture the experience in the theater at all.

By the way, I just saw 8 Broadway shows:

Great Comet--perfect audience

Play That Goes Wrong--perfect audience

Phantom--perfect audience (even the dreaded day campers)

Indecent--perfect audience

1984--perfect audience (even the high school group, although they did not but it was in muffled yet excited whispers and I could tell that they had just read the book so it was kind of cute)

Prince of Broadway--the people behind me narrated the show for each other

Bandstand--perfect audience. Only thing was the elderly man next to me could not fit his knees into the rows without being in terrible pain. I tried to get him to switch seats with me since I was on the aisle and he could stretch out, but he wanted to stand in the back instead.

Chicago--perfect audience

disneybroadwayfan22 said: "When I saw Cabaret last night at the Kennedy Center, the couple in front of me wouldn't stop canoodling each other during the whole show and during Maybe This Time, the guy tried to take a picture of Leigh Ann, but I stopped him. And shortly before that, a person behind us took a picture with his/her flash camera "

I was at that show too in the balcony ("Hello, poor people!". The couple across the aisle from us kept eating their mixed nuts VERY loudly and drinking from the ice-filled cup. They kept passing the items between each other and would put the cup down, only to pick it up 10 seconds later. The nuts (the food, not the couple) were in a plastic container that apparently required loud exertions to open. I think they were drunk, given the way they were eating/drinking/talking/falling up the stairs.

Btw, balcony seating was very tough for my husband's legs.

disneybroadwayfan22 said: "When I saw Cabaret last night at the Kennedy Center, the couple in front of me wouldn't stop canoodling each other during the whole show and during Maybe This Time, the guy tried to take a picture of Leigh Ann, but I stopped him. And shortly before that, a person behind us took a picture with his/her flash camera



"

I love people that use their flashes from 50 feet back from the stage at shows or concerts. How do these people not understand how flashes work?

This really upset me, I was at Great Comet on Saturday and loved every moment of it and stood up to give a standing ovation and the man behind me after about 10 seconds poked me and said "we can't see, do you mind sitting down? They didn't do that good of a job" I was literally stunned and didn't know what to say or do so I sat down but stool up again a bit later. I know we have a standing ovation crisis in theaters but really, isn't it up to each to decide to stand or not?

Also, parents, please sit with your kid(s) between you so that they annoy you and not the people who did not pay to have to babysit them or deal with their bad behavior.

bisous3 said: "Nicole 10 said: "Last night I went to see The Great Comet and there was a girl seated on stage who was mouthing along every single line of the show. For those of you unfamiliar, during Natasha & the Bolkonskys Princess Mary and Natasha grab stools and sit at a table with audience seated onstage. The girl was sitting next to Mary and she was leaning in close to Mary and was making relentless eye contact while mouthing the song along. She continued this throughout the whole song! I get that some fans are very passionate but when there is a literal spotlight on you and you are seated onstage right next to the performers, PLEASE don't do this! It's not only distracting to the audience, but also to the performers! This girl leaned in to every single performer passing her, trying to sing together with Anatole, Helene, Sonya, everyone!



I think someone must have talked to her during intermission because she wouldn't even pick her head up to watch the show in the second act. She seemed very deflated. But man oh man, someone really did needed to talk to her!



"

I was there too!! At intermission I was coming back from the ladies room and over heard two gentlemen complaining to someone who worked at the theater. Before Act 2 started I saw another person go over and have a chat with her. There was another girl sitting to that girl's left that wasn't lip synching like the girl you're referring to, but reacting to every burp and fart like she was part of the cast with these animated facial expressions and hand gestures. It was almost annoying as the lip syncher but not quite. I particularly appreciated how as soon as each cast member saw what the lip syncher was doing they proceeded to completely ignore her. But what a complete and utter distraction she was! I was FURIOUS!



"

I witnessed lip syncher. It appeared she had dressed up as Helene - which is a weird trend I've noticed at the Comet and no other show. I was at one of the downstage tables and I first noticed her mouthing the lyrics during The Duel. I thought for sure I was the only one that was being driven crazy by her conspicuous participation, but then in Act 2 she stopped completely so I assume someone complained to an usher, who then spoke to her.

As the great Homer Simpson said, I hate the public so much.