Bad Theater Behavior- Page 29

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 8/10/17 at 2:42pm

I understand there are going to be children and people with health issues and incontinence but for everyone else... can you just not go a little over two hours without needing the bathroom or concessions? Allowances for the long plays or the opera. That's different. 

[slumdogdelaware]

Posted: 8/10/17 at 2:52pm

Olivia11 said: "I know there are union rules to consider (length of show, etc) but they either need to find a way to add more bathroom stalls, particularly on the ladies room (which I know is extremely difficult) or lengthen intermission to allow enough time to use the facilities. Period. It is a ridiculous race.every.damn.show.

 I locate the bathroom on the way in so I know where I'm going, basically jump out of my seat as soon as the lights come up at intermission, walk quickly to the bathroom, don't waste time inside, and walk straight back to my seat as fast as I can (I never stop at the bar, etc), and I still barely make it (Waitress was the first time I was late, despite these best efforts). There are many others that don't and it is not their fault.   

Add facilities or lengthen intermission!

 

Oh my God, that bathroom at the Brooks Atkinson is terrible. I tweeted at Waitress for them to consider "Opening Up" a new bathroom. Did not receive a response. 

 

[JayElle]

Posted: 8/10/17 at 3:00pm

Agree with Vintage.  What's with America's bladders?  

As for phone use in stall, women need to remember it's a bathroom stall and not a phone booth. Get done and take the phone elsewhere.  As for talkers, I'm a "noise nazi."  I don't hesitate to address the problem.  I don't pay all that money to listen to a patron blabbing.  

That's also why I avoid Disney productions unless it's a late show on a nasty weather day that might keep families at home.  It's assumed kids will be talking through it.

I also found the headsets are a good way to avoid talkers.  In Comet and Ham, I thought some songs were best heard via the headset b/c it drowns out peripheral noise. With Groban singing Dush & Ashes, the headsets made it sound like he was singing directly to me. Otherwise, I just leave them on my neck until needed and it's well worth the dollar tip.

[rodrigo_ca]

Posted: 8/10/17 at 3:47pm

Tell me more about these headsets, JayElle. Do you get them at the theatre or do you bring your own?

[theNYCpro]

Posted: 8/10/17 at 4:52pm

https://twitter.com/fmichaelhaynie/status/895066652336766976

[Olivia11]

Posted: 8/10/17 at 11:24pm

Someone always raises the idea that "we should just be able to go without" using the bathroom for 2.5 - 3 hours and that's total BS.  I'm not paying top dollar for a theater ticket to be uncomfortable.  If my need to politely accommodate basic bodily functions annoys you, that's too damn bad. 
 

Updated On: 8/10/17 at 11:24 PM

[mailhandler777]

Posted: 8/11/17 at 12:13am

notalwaysontime said: "Apple watches have a theater setting now even, i used to take mine off and put it in my bag during a show until the update. The theater setting basically mutes it completely, no notifications at all, and when you lift your wrist it won't light up, you have to purposefully tap the screen to see if you got any messages, so like there's no excuse anymore. 

 

"

I wish my Samsung watch had a theatre mode. I turn the lighting down to 1 and flip it so the face is at the bottom so I don't distract anyone.

[Lissislive]

Posted: 8/11/17 at 1:27am

I've almost always been with a fantastic audience except for Les Mis and Hamilton.
At the former, an audience member was very obviously taking photos at the end of Empty Chairs at Empty Tables and Turning, both beautiful moments that I remember without a picture.
At Ham, the people directly behind me were singing along to the entire show. I basically told them that there's a reason that we were sitting in the mezz and the actors were on stage, and they continued even after that. Then, just after Philip's death (before the beginning of 1800 though, for anyone who knows what happens right there) someone's phone went off in the orchestra and you could hear it through the entire theatre

[KathyNYC2]

Posted: 8/11/17 at 1:39am

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Whats-Worse-Than-Texting-During-a-Show-BOOK-OF-MORMON-Audience-Member-Wins-the-Prize-20170810

[maybethistime3]

Posted: 8/11/17 at 8:55am

Olivia11 said: "
Someone always raises the idea that "we should just be able to go without" using the bathroom for 2.5 - 3 hours and that's total BS.  I'm not paying top dollar for a theater ticket to be uncomfortable.  If my need to politely accommodate basic bodily functions annoys you, that's too damn bad. 
 

"

If you're not able to comfortably sit for 3 hours, don't see a show.

[Olivia11]

Posted: 8/11/17 at 9:57am

If you can't be a decent human being, don't see a show. 

Updated On: 8/11/17 at 09:57 AM

[Olivia11]

Posted: 8/11/17 at 10:28am

Did you join the board two days ago just to troll?


 

Updated On: 8/11/17 at 10:28 AM

[thedrybandit]

Posted: 8/11/17 at 10:45am

maybethistime3 said: "If you're not able to comfortably sit for 3 hours, don't see a show."

Well that's a little ridiculous to say. I can sit comfortably in the same spot for three hours, doesn't mean I won't need a quick bathroom trip during intermission, especially if we've done pre-show dinner or drinks. Should people not see a show if they have to go to the bathroom once in a while?

[maybethistime3]

Posted: 8/11/17 at 10:53am

ksilver117 said: "maybethistime3 said: "If you're not able to comfortably sit for 3 hours, don't see a show."

Well that's a little ridiculous to say. I can sit comfortably in the same spot for three hours, doesn't mean I won't need a quick bathroom trip during intermission, especially if we've done pre-show dinner or drinks. Should people not see a show if they have to go to the bathroom once in a while?

 

"

Going during intermission's not a problem. No one's saying that. But in the middle of the show? Hold it in.

Updated On: 8/11/17 at 10:53 AM

[Olivia11]

Posted: 8/11/17 at 10:55am

Did you even bother to read before making your snarky comments?  My posts were entirely about using the restroom at intermission (and the associated difficulties with lack of facilities). 

 

Updated On: 8/11/17 at 10:55 AM

[pmd4art2]

Posted: 8/11/17 at 12:11pm

 Bravo to you for bringing this up.  Etiquette has been ignored or lost over the past 20 years, and more so in the recent 10.  I think that people who don't observe the common rules of theatre. Lutes should be removed from the theater.

[JayElle]

Posted: 8/11/17 at 1:11pm

Maybe the theaters should adopt policies from United Airlines.  Talk during show or tie up bathroom lines will get you dragged out with a bloody face.  Little levity folks.  

Unfortunately there are too many rude, self absorbed folks in theater.

[darreyl102]

Posted: 8/11/17 at 1:45pm

Saw the closing weekend of Mamma Mia: The Farewell Tour in St. Louis. The show was fun as always but a lady two rows in front of me spent most of the first act on the phone! When an usher finally came over, he pointed out that she was on the phone and was not supposed to be, to which she rudely replied "So?!" , he then informed her that if she wanted to keep talking, she had to take it to the lobby. She then said "No, I'll just put it up". I wanted to take her phone and smash it against the theater wall. Her sense of entitlement was sickening.

[LxGstv]

Posted: 10/15/17 at 10:42pm

Saw The Portuguese Kid tonight and this old couple next to me was incredibly annoying, every other line one of them would say “what?” and the other one repeated the line. Worse than phone checking to be honest. During curtain call they also walked out early forcing me and everyone on the row to move while the actors were taking their bows. 

[tresora]

Posted: 11/17/17 at 5:00pm

Unsure if this was an anomaly but I thought the behavior of the audience at Springsteen on Broadway was appalling. People kept getting out of their seats and walking up and down the stairs. There was a lot of whispering and people using their phones to take pictures and videos. I can understand this behavior at a concert, but it was rather distracting in the theater. I was expecting better behavior from an older crowd, too.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 11/17/17 at 5:30pm

But they are a concert crowd, not a theater crowd.

[WeTheNorth]

Posted: 11/18/17 at 2:02pm

I saw CFA in March at the performance when Justin Trudeau was there. I was sitting in the balcony right behind a woman who was on Twitter the whole show, live tweeting the event.  She even filmed Welcome to the Rock and posted it on Twitter. The usher kindly told her to turn off her phone and she did...for 5 full minutes, before going on live tweeting again. People around us started to get mad, cause she was also talking at full volume to her friend next to her. I leaned down to tell her nicely and guess what? I managed to see her name on Twitter, and she was a Liberal member of parliament (same party as Justin Trudeau). 

Despite all this, it was still an enjoyable evening with an electric crowd.

[ellbellthomps]

Posted: 11/18/17 at 3:25pm

At DEH a few months ago someone opened the emergency exit door then closed it during you will be found. When I saw Miss Saigon a few weeks ago, (This show is a HUGE tourist show, so I wasnt expecting the best theater ediquette) many people in front of me tried to take videos during the show! Someone fell down the mezz. stairs twice, and people would not stop laughing about it during I'd give my life for you. Obvisously i didnt care that he fell, but laughing for an extended period of time during a dramatic moment? Cmon.

[uncageg]

Posted: 11/18/17 at 5:09pm

The people behind me at HELLO DOLLY this past Tuesday decided to have a conversation during the Overture. I took about 1 mimute of it, turned and glared 3 times and they finally got the message. Then the seat kicking started at the top of act 2. I turned to ask the husband to stop and found his wife on the phone. I told her to turn it off. We were 4 rows from the stage.

Updated On: 1/23/18 at 05:09 PM

[JayElle]

Posted: 1/17/18 at 12:03am

This thread could go on for decades. I went to see John Lithgow and was jubilant that I had first row center orchestra.  The woman sat next to me, obviously drunk, and said "don't mind me if I'm obnoxious."  I responded, "I hope not. You're sitting about ten feet from him dead center on the stage and he will see and hear everything you say and do."

She turned to her husband and said, "gee, what a downer...can't even have a good time. Getting bad vibes from this one."

The drunk tried to chat with JL, but she soon shut up when she realized it wasn't stand-up comedy. She became increasingly bored as he told a  Garrison Keillor "Prairie Home Companion" type montage of his life about  his father's career as a theater producer while recreating the characters in the story book often read to JL by his father.  Drunk flipped through the playbill so often I wondered if she wore off the ink.  At the show's end, her husband said, "this must be a show for regulars around here."  I would've been happy if JL pulled a Patti Lupone and defended the stairs to pull the playbill out of her hand. Rude could not describe it.