Bad Theater Behavior- Page 7

[Tugger2]

Posted: 5/23/14 at 2:54pm

I've been in some pretty awful audiences - the one that stands out in my mind is the idiot whose cell phone went off during the last speech in the recent "Death of a Salesman" - but the worst theatre hands down for bad audience behavior is any show at the Samuel J. Friedman. Multiple instances of cell phones going off, people who don't turn down their hearing aids when using assisted listening devices, people ANSWERING THEIR PHONES during the show, people talking on speakerphone during a play (yes this actually happened), people explaining plot points to their friends during the show...and the ushers do NOTHING. We even notified an usher that someone was streaming a live college football game on his cell phone right next to us and talked to the house manager. Who did nothing. Honestly, if the house manager refuses to eject people who interrupt others' enjoyment of a show, what is the point of even going?

[Tugger2]

Posted: 5/23/14 at 3:08pm

I saw Matilda last year. Brilliant show. All the children in the audience were extremely well-behaved & engrossed in the show. Our problem was a very obnoxious guy who was in our seats when we arrived. He got very upset about being moved to the seats he & his girlfriend had tickets for - the row behind us, two off the aisle - and kept arguing with the ushers that there wasn't enough leg room. He then started trying to trade seats with the two older women seated just behind us but they wouldn't budge. During the first act, he became very belligerent, kicking the seats in front of him, putting his feet up on the seat in front of him & on a kid's shoulder, and worst of all - yelling at cast members as they made entrances & exits up and down the aisles. At intermission my husband went and got the house manager to tell him what happened, and while he was gone, the guy was calling my husband names. House manager came with security & ejected the guy. He acted mentally ill, not drunk, and his girlfriend looked terrified. We were actually scared to leave the theatre & looked around before we left just in case he was waiting.

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 5/23/14 at 3:08pm

Exactly, it's their JOB. Sadly, I don't think ushers or house managers get paid enough to really care about it. Some theaters are great though, really on top of things. Those are far and few between, unfortunately.

[haterobics]

Posted: 5/23/14 at 4:37pm

Looks like Madonna took pics of Hedwig with her phone when she attended...

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Photo-Flash-Madonna-Sees-HEDWIG-on-Broadway--It-Was-Incredibly-Moving-20140523#.U3-xPRbjYds

[ClydeBarrow]

Posted: 5/23/14 at 4:43pm

"Madonna just endorsed Hedwig and the Angry Inch, starring Neil Patrick Harris, on her Facebook page, along with the photo below!"

And apparently BWW just endorsed taking pictures during a performance. Madonna is such an @sshole. She really needs to put her phone away.

[ArtMan]

Posted: 5/23/14 at 5:19pm

Yeah and if a "nobody" did it, we would get the riot act. But then again, I know better not to do it.

[RSrichie]

Posted: 5/23/14 at 6:30pm

Audiences are out of control but I blame the theatres for doing nothing. When I saw Pippin, peopl in the front row were eating fish n chips and it smelled. During intermission a lady climbed on the stage to take a picture in front of the curtain and the theatre did nothing. At Newsies the people in front of me bought tons of munchies in the lobby and ate through the whole second act opening the noisy packages. At Glass Menagerie they were selling munchies going up & down the aisles. At a concert recently an audience member was so disruptive he threw the performer and ruined the show for everyone. I kept thinking 'don't say anything they will come & throw him out', they did nothing. I made the theatre refund my money. That's what I will do from now on, if they don't control audience behavior and it ruins the show, I will demand a return ticket or a refund. Their only concern is money and if it starts costing them then it will begin to change

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 5/23/14 at 6:37pm

Yeah, Madonna has always been a vapid c*nt, so her doing something so disrespectful isn't really a surprise. I wonder if she made everyone in the section look down, and AVOID all eye contact with her as well?

Wow, RSrichie, a theater has refunded you? Was this after a show? I am shocked they would give you your money back when the audience is to blame. I will start doing that! Pippin was almost ruined for me due to horrible teenagers in back of me munching, crunching, and rustling their bags during crucial, quiet moments. UGH.

[RSrichie]

Posted: 5/23/14 at 6:41pm

You pay to see the show they put on, if it is ruined because they do nothing then you can demand a return ticket or a refund. They are negligent.

[RSrichie]

Posted: 5/23/14 at 6:49pm

What I will do now is just leave if it is too disruptive and make them give me a ticket to another performance. If enough people do this they will get the message loud and clear.

[ArtMan]

Posted: 5/23/14 at 7:37pm

Sutton, I was at a Britney(???) concert and about 20 girls from higher seats came down to the front row of my section. They were being loud, disruptive, dancing and blocking our view. I stated something to the usher who refused to return them to their correct seats. After the concert, I complained to the house manager and got tickets for another future event. I got it, probably because they were not in their right seat and the employee didn't do their job.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 5/23/14 at 7:40pm

If this had happened when Merman was alive, all hell would have broken loose. It would have been downright ugly.

[karen24]

Posted: 5/24/14 at 7:19pm

I saw Matilda on my last trip to NYC, on May 17th. As others have said in this thread, all of the kids sitting around me were perfectly well-behaved - it was the adults who were problems. We were sitting in the third row of the mezz - great seats - and before the show, a steady parade of people kept posing in front of the first row of the mezz for photos with the set behind them. I was under the impression that this was a big no-no, but no one stopped them. Then, during the show, the large group near me all had snacks and the adults were passing them back and forth. I just really wish that theaters were not letting people have food at the seats, but it seems to be almost everywhere now. Note that the KIDS were completely engrossed in the show and did not want/need to eat anything! Can people really not get through an hour and a half without eating?!

The worst, though, was the couple in front of us. The man fell asleep halfway through Act I - well, at least he didn't snore The woman apparently got bored, and actually got out her phone and started checking her messages or whatever. I gave her about five seconds and then leaned over, tapped her on the shoulder and said "Would you please not do that?" Fortunately, she immediately shut it down - but seriously, come on. I can't believe people don't realize how distracting that light from the phone is.

I guess I should be grateful that at least at that performance, I didn't hear a lot of cell phones going off.

My other experience with bad theater behavior actually happened here in Rochester, NY, when I went to see "Phantom" with a casual friend. This person talked through the entire overture. For me, the show starts when the overture starts and I do not want to talk through it, I want to listen to the music! I had never been to a show with this person before, but now I'm forewarned.

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 5/24/14 at 7:57pm

Karen, most people do realize the phone light is distracting, but some don't care and some actually believe that trying to "hide" in their lap. It doesn't. HA.

I grew up around Rochester, and I always would go to the shows at the Auditorium Theater and Geva, and most people were really respectful and receptive. Talking seemed to be the most annoying thing that audience ever did.

[brdway411]

Posted: 5/24/14 at 8:49pm

I have taken to a low and loud "Turn IT OFF!!!" if someone turns on their phone during a show. It usually works. I don't think they are expecting it from a small 60 something sweet little thing like me.

[uncageg]

Posted: 5/24/14 at 8:59pm

I out and out tell people to shut up. At a performance of ROCKY a man right in front of me pulled his camera out set on filming mode right after the cell and picture announcement. He held it right in my view. I leaned in behind him and said right in his ear "If you don't shut that off I will have you thrown out of here. It is against the law it is distracting and I work here". Scared the heck out of him and he immediately shut it off. For the record....I do not work at The Winter Garden"

[karen24]

Posted: 5/25/14 at 4:19pm

Sutton, unfortunately I have not had the best of experiences at Geva over the past few years. When I went to see "Superior Donuts," they were offering a "donut cocktail" that you could bring into the theater with you. Inevitably, the woman in front of us was completely plastered and could not stop whispering to her companion, fidgeting, etc. It was so distracting. We wound up moving to a different part of the theater for the second act. At a recent performance of another play, a woman a couple of seats down from me kept opening hard candies in crinkly wrappers and then loudly crunching them - all through the performance. Then we have the hard-of-hearing (whom we always seem to be sitting near) who keep loudly asking their companions "What did he/she say?"
It's gotten to the point where my husband almost can't stand to go with me any more - he has a really hard time filtering these things out. I can deal with it a little better but it is still very frustrating, especially since their productions are usually very good, and it is so disrespectful to the actors when this kind of thing goes on.

(For a while I tried getting us seats in the last row of the orchestra, so at least there would be no one behind us - then we discovered that the ushers stand back there and we could hear THEIR phones, or walkie-talkies, or whatever it is they have, constantly buzzing.)

Geva just finished up a run of "The Odd Couple," which was excellent - it starred Michael McGrath & Noah Racey.) We were lucky when we went to that one; the only disturbances were someone crinkling her water bottle repeatedly (bringing drinks in used to not be allowed; now it is) and a couple of cell phones going off.

[Demitri2]

Posted: 5/26/14 at 12:02am

It's a shame you can't carry a stun gun with you to the theatre.

Updated On: 5/27/14 at 12:02 AM

[sallyann]

Posted: 5/27/14 at 11:32am

Sadly yes behaviour has definitely gone downhill in theatre audiences over the last few years. It's just as bad in London where it seems to be the norm to use the theatre as a picnic spot.

[forgetmenotnyc]

Posted: 5/27/14 at 12:57pm

Theatres should NOT sell snack foods! We are just too close to each other & all in a forced position seating there to take in words & tones from artists not close to us. I don't want to hear or smell anything except what is coming from artistic choices presented onstage. The stun gun comment made me lol! I wouldn't trust the refund trick AT ALL - thus bringing us back to the same concept which is "we all have to just accept these distractions." I also liked the sweet little over 60 theatre goer who in the lowest voice possible utters: "Turn it off" & the whole quote from the rather long report ending with "...& I work here" which clearly was desperation since we all know that we really only have one try with these kinda requests. Have you noticed that things are worse when time doesn't allow us all to settle & process properly? Another reason why theatres would be better off letting in their audiences earlier - not holding them outside in line so long.

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 5/27/14 at 4:17pm

I don't know when exactly that theaters started offering full on snacks (not just bottles of water to be consumed at intermission), but it's really cheapened the theater experience. Some theaters don't allow it, and places like Carnegie Hall will never do it, luckily. The fact that people can't HANDLE NOT EATING for a few hours is.....well, quite American.

Stun guns sound GOOD.

[Wickedlover56]

Posted: 6/28/14 at 10:34pm

When I saw the national tour of Once in Febuary, the audience was awful. Three men near us decided it would be brilliant if they started to guzzle their beers during act 1, then to get completely drunk at intermission. They booed the show and stated that they would have rather seen the nonexistent tour of Spiderman. Also, during the dialogue after The Hill, someone in the first few rows dropped the beer and let it roll through the audience and have the sound fill the theatre. Many people also ate bags of spiced nuts that were sold as concessions. The show was still fantastic though.

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 6/29/14 at 3:45pm

^^^ That is just one reason why dick punches were invented. Sorry for your experience with trash.

Posted: 6/29/14 at 4:12pm

The last two shows I've gone too both had men stepping over empty seats to get to theirs rather than going around the aisle. This was bad enough at Avenue Q, but doing it in the mezzanine at Pippin actually seemed kind of dangerous.

[rjm516]

Posted: 6/29/14 at 5:06pm

Audience behavior has gone from bad to worse to unbelievable. I saw a matinee of "When We Were Young & Unafraid" last week. You'd think maybe, maybe with that show, the attracted audience would know to behave? It was among the top 3 worst audiences I've ever encountered. Phones going off, old ladies texting (!) and lots and lots of conversation. The best was this lady in front of me - I asked her to shut her phone off as the play began, 3 minutes later the man next to me asked her, 3 minutes after that the man sitting next to her asked her, finally after the fourth person told her to shut her phone off she yelled "I'm trying to!" Luckily the man next to her took it and shut it for her. I don't believe that she had that much trouble putting her phone away, especially since I saw her on facebook. aiwejf;lsdfa;wmec.