Bad Theater Behavior — Page 9

I have taken three theater trips to New York this summer, and I was very lucky in terms of audience behavior on the first two trips. This last trip, however, was different.

At Les Miz, I was sitting front row center, and as soon as the first scene started, the women behind me started to talk, kind of like they were watching television in their home. I ignored it, but it kept up for another minute or two so I turned around and asked them to please stop talking. It worked. Not another sound for the rest of the show.
My friend and I were distracted by HUMMING throughout the show. We could not figure out where it was coming from. But then we realized it was coming from the person right in front of us---the conductor! He hummed along through the show. It was too bizarre to be annoying!

At Phantom, there was a family sitting in front of us, with what appeared to be a mom, dad and two teenager girls. I couldn't hear a thing they said, but they were constantly talking during Act 1. With them, first it would be the mom and dad whisper something to each other. Then Daughter 1 would be asked her opinion. Then Daughter 1 would ask Daughter 2 to chime in. Then Daughter 1 and 2 would have their own conversation. Then Mom and Daughter 1 would have a new conversation. It went on and on like this in different combinations of family members talking. I did not ask them to stop since I technically could not HEAR them, I could only see them talking. My friends next to me though complained that they heard them loud and clear and constantly. I went to the usher and asked her to say something. She asked me who it was, and pointed out the whole family, and specifically Daughter 1. The usher used the tactic of talking to our whole section by saying "Everyone in this area needs to be quiet etc etc". The family was foreign, and the mom and dad appeared confused by the announcement, so Daughter 2 turned around and pointed at me and rolled her eyes. I smiled and waved to the parents. The family was absolutely silent through all of Act 2.

At Cinderella, we had three tween girls behind us, who talked quite a bit through Act 1. I was able to tune them out so I let it go. But then in act 2, when my song came on "A Lovely Night", I was not able to listen to that song over comments like "oh my god did you hear what the stepmother just said?" "No, what?" "What?" "Did you hear what the stepmother said?" "which one is the stepmother?" "let me have another twizzler." "You already took three!" "This is so different from the Disney movie" "But this is the Disney movie. It's just on stage" "They can't just put the movie on stage. That's not how it works" "Well that's what they did" And so on and so on. So after the first few lines of "Lovely Night" I turned around and said "please stop talking". The girls burst out laughing and kept talking and talking. Their mother was in the row behind them and she talked with them as well.

At the end of the show, as we were leaving, the girls were stepping out of their row and the mom said "Come on girls, I'm sure these two large old men will let you out first". Granted, my friend and are in our 30's and we are about 20lbs overweight, but yikes. I felt bad enough for the girls being raised by a mother like that so I didn't try and say a comeback. Incidentally, there was a 5-year-old girl next to me who was silent as can be throughout the whole show.

Updated On: 8/10/14 at 01:25 AM

If it's the same policy in theaters I worked in, we were told not to seat patrons in the front half of the orchestra, as they posed the biggest problem to the cast, who could see them, and to the rest of the orchestra.

Late patrons in the Mezz and/or balcony were not seen by as many other people.

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I guess this could count as Bad Theatre Behavior but when I was Rocky on July 12 and women who sat next was late by 2 min and when the show finished she was drunk and stumbling around.

Artman, being a teacher of tweens, it's hard to stop being in teacher mode, which is why I shushed those girls in the first place. And when the mom insulted my age and weight, sure I could have said "at least I'm not a disruptive beyotch on top of being old and fat like you" or something but that would have just made me depressed to be at their level. I just wanted them to be quiet during the show. I was not interested in getting in an argument or a shouting match with strangers. Once the show is over, I no longer care.

I hope to sit near you at an upcoming show. You sound like you would create some interesting stories ! Lol

These girls didn't shut up either, even when I asked. We were sitting stage left, first row of the orch on Thursday August 7 at 2pm

I ask once nice to be quiet, then I get mean, then I get the house manager. I don't put up with it anymore.

"It pisses me off to no end how some people treat going to see a live show, like going to see a movie."

Well, they should be quiet at movies, too...

Phantom4Ever - I believe the correct retort is "well, you're ugly and I can diet."

I would let noisy people know that I came and paid to listen to the show, not to them. If that doesn't work, a call to the ushers is in erder.....

I think it is important to realize that neither the theater-owners NOR the ushers establish the seating policies for the run of a show (on Broadway, at least). The fact that an usher isn't enforcing the "no pictures" policy or "no cell phones" policy does not mean they are not doing their job. Often the producers or the stage managers will decide what the ushers and security staff should enforce. Sometimes the house manager may tell them to not enforce a policy. And yes, sometimes the usher may, for whatever reason, not enforce a policy s/he's supposed to enforce.

There are several shows currently playing on Broadway that are prohibiting the ushers from confronting a patron who is using their cellphone during the show because they feel it is more disruptive than the cellphone use.

Many shows and theaters are permitting picture taking prior to the start of each performance. Often it is a result of the difficulty in stopping it (Mamma Mia, Phantom and Chicago have such a large non-English-speaking audience that it is virtually impossible for the ushers to prevent it and still seat 1200 people before the start of the show).

It's also important to note that not every theater employee is an usher. If the person is serving you food/drinks, that's not an usher. If the person is threatening to remove people from the theater, that is not an usher (and if it is that's a fireable offense). Ushers get the brunt of complaints from the producers, audience, and theater-owner, and yet a significant number of those complaints have nothing to do with them. But they are the default staff complained against.

Another thing to note is that ushers don't always know exactly WHERE in the theater a disturbance is happening. Just because it happens in the row in front or behind you doesn't mean the usher is able to pinpoint it. With flash photographs they only see a flash, often not knowing where it comes from. Usually they watch the audience with the expectation of it occuring again to stop it. Sometimes they can find the person, and sometimes they can't. Same with cell phone usage. They aren't always able to see or hear it. So they aren't always able to stop it.

As for re-seating, ushers in general do not have the authority to independently re-seat audience members. That said, while you do have an assigned seat at the theater, seating is entirely at the discretion of the the theater, and if they tell you to move, then it it is more likely than not because they were told by a manager to move you. And there would most likely be a reason for that to occur. It's at the total discretion of the house manager.

Broadwaygirl202---I wonder if the woman in Louisville knows that the "intermission" is not the end of the show! She probably tells her friends that the shows are good, but they don't seem to have an ending. :)