Bad Theater Behavior — Page 43

ArtMan said: "Here is something good in a bad behavior thread. Wicked is in town in my city for the next two weeks. I switched my evening performance to the matinee on Thursday (21). When I got to the theater there were multiple school buses. My friend who ushers at the theater told me there were 1400 (of 3000 seats) school kids. Most very young. I was not happy, thinking they would talk, text, etc. There was not a peep other than laughter out of those kids (at least the kids around me). How well behaved they were. Since this is a bad behavior thread, I could not believe the number of adults, at least 50, who were held at the door, since they arrived late. All of them walking and talking, to find their seats, not caring they were disturbing others including the school kids who were able to get to the theater on time."



I used to work at a theater that would occasionally have student matinees. I was very impressed with how they behaved! The thing I really noticed was how into the shows some of them got. That will always stick with me.

It doesn't have much to do with age, it has to do with how cheap your phone is. The lower cost Android phones still do that, even phones made in 2019. If you have a thousand dollar phone or the nicer Galaxies, you won't be able to do that, and due to Apple being crap, people have never been able to do. It's genius because you are forced to buy another phone from them.

I think turning off your phone is enough, but if you are paranoid about it turning on my accident, make sure to put it in airplane mode before you turn it off.

At last night's performance of WEST SIDE STORY, there was a lone girl in the orchestra who would loudly "Whoo Whoo!!!" at the end of EVERY number! So annoying (particularly in this production). I only wish I had been sitting behind her so I could have swatted her in the head with a rolled up Playbill!

JSquared2 said: "At last night's performance of WEST SIDE STORY, there was a lone girl in the orchestra who would loudly "Whoo Whoo!!!" at the end of EVERY number! So annoying (particularly in this production). I only wish I had been sitting behind her so I could have swatted her in the head with a rolled up Playbill!"

The same happened when I saw Chicago last year, except the whoo-whooing person was sitting directly behind me and leaned forward every time he whoo-whooed, so he was whoo-whooing right into my ear. I ended up proactively covering my ears at the end of every song. I wish you'd been sitting behind him with that rolled-up Playbill.

Updated On: 12/17/19 at 09:37 PM

LxGstv said: "Are dogs allowed inside theaters now?! Saw Moulin Rouge last week and the person next to me had their bag in their lap and they pulled out a small dog with a very loud collar/tag combination... that was clearly not a service dog, the dog seemed very restless inside the bag..."

I like to believe that was a service dog/emotional support animal but if not, then they definitely broke lots of rules. Did any ushers notice?

carolinaguy said: "Emotional support animals are not required to be allowed in businesses such as restaurants and stores, including theaters. So unless this was a service animal, psychiatric or otherwise, then this person was breaking rules on top of being ridiculous."

Yes, while not required to be allowed, some establishments do allow them and I’m not well versed enough in the Al Hirschfeld’s rules to know what their policies on support animals are. I don’t know if they do it on a case by case basis or something like that

carolinaguy said: "Emotional support animals are not required to be allowed in businesses such as restaurants and stores, including theaters. So unless this was a service animal, psychiatric or otherwise, then this person was breaking rules on top of being ridiculous."

Without even haven been there -- I can guarantee you that the dog was more well behaved than 90% of the human patrons! I'll take a dog sitting next to me over a human any day!

inmyownlittlecorner said: "LxGstv said: "Are dogs allowed inside theaters now?! Saw Moulin Rouge last week and the person next to me had their bag in their lap and they pulled out a small dog with a very loud collar/tag combination... that was clearly not a service dog, the dog seemed very restless inside the bag..."

I like to believe that was a service dog/emotional support animal but if not, then they definitely broke lots of rules. Did any ushers notice?"

Well, I talked to an usher and asked to be moved, they seemed surprised to hear about it, but they check bags when you go into the theater, so I’m sure they allowed it?

It didn’t seem like a service dog, service dogs are trained and well behaved. Which wasn’t really the case here. I’m not really familiar with the uses of emotional support dogs, but I did think it was funny that they both of the dog owners had the big alcohol cups from the show as well...

Updated On: 3/4/20 at 03:18 PM

I've never seen a service dog in a theater (probably wouldn't bother me), but uncontrollable, constant coughing is the worst offense in my books. I went to the first preview of Company and there was a young female (late teens I would guess) who kept coughing every 2-3 minutes for the entirety of the show, bouncing in her seat each time she had an urge. She was with her mother I assume, who could've taken care of it by giving her a cough suppressant medication, which works, or better yet left her home due to sickness. So myself, and people around had to listen to this for almost three hours, and that girl didn't ever bother to apologize once.

magictodo123 said: "ArtMan said: "Here is something good in a bad behavior thread. Wicked is in town in my city for the next two weeks. I switched my evening performance to the matinee on Thursday (21). When I got to the theater there were multiple school buses. My friend who ushers at the theater told me there were 1400 (of 3000 seats) school kids. Most very young. I was not happy, thinking they would talk, text, etc. There was not a peep other than laughter out of those kids (at least the kids around me). How well behaved they were. Since this is a bad behavior thread, I could not believe the number of adults, at least 50, who were held at the door, since they arrived late. All of them walking and talking, to find their seats, not caring they were disturbing others including the school kids who were able to get to the theater on time."



I used to work at a theater that would occasionally have student matinees. I was very impressed with how they behaved! The thing I really noticed was how into the shows some of them got. That will always stick with me."

I remember attending a performance of Big Fish. I was sitting in the front mezzanine and the entire rear mezzanine was,I assume, high school students. I remember having some fears, which were unjustified. The only thing I remember differently from a typical audience was their enthusiastic applause at the end of the musical numbers. Not sure they were that much more individually, but all of them applauded every number and were decidedly enthusiastic at the curtain call. Probably the best thing about the performance I attended, during which NLB played Act 1 and his understudy came out for Act 2. It would not have been an issue had they looked remotely alike or even took the same approach to the performance. The resultwasavery jarring performance of a second rate musical. The kids were great,though.