Bad audience behavior - revisited- Page 3

[Bruce Memblagh!]

Posted: 4/12/06 at 11:37am

Pretty much anytime I go see Rent (my fault, I only do lottery) I'm seated beside some socially inept teenager wearing a Mark scarf who bounces up and down the entire time"

There is nothing sadder and more desperate than people dressing up to bear similarity to one of the characters in a musical (ok, except Rocky Horror Show!) - especially when it is done badly! MInd you, when they try to sing the songs or tell everyone at intermission how many times they have met the cast - AS IF anyone remotely cares that their lives are so socially inept they have to resort to bragging and name-dropping to get attention.

[Thesbijean]

Posted: 4/12/06 at 11:43am

Thank you, that could not be and more true.

Kind of like how people brag about knowing a stage door man..I mean...
Updated On: 4/12/06 at 11:43 AM

[Calvin]

Posted: 4/12/06 at 11:48am

I don't even like it when the people in front of me cuddle together during a show. I know it might be a big romantic evening, but you've just turned the viewing space I had between your heads into one big blob that I have to stretch to see around. Pretend you're in middle school and just hold hands.

[Parsley]

Posted: 4/12/06 at 12:24pm

Lol - the saddos dressing up. Really a cry for help. And then going backstage with total lack of self-awareness and social limitations: "do you like my costume. it took weeks to make. I can sing you a song from the show if you want"

[Holly Therese]

Posted: 4/12/06 at 1:13pm

I think the only time you should be dressing up in a costume to see a show is if you are under the age of ten seeing something like Beauty and the Beast or as someone already said, if you are seeing Rocky.

[mikeyb16]

Posted: 4/12/06 at 1:21pm

what'much worse with these idiots is that when they sit in front of u, they just block away ur view of the stage. and if there bwhind u, they'll just throw stuff at u or poke u or something weird

[Holly Therese]

Posted: 4/12/06 at 1:44pm

Ugh I forgot about the PDA people in front of you, that happened to me last week, after they made out during half of the first act they couldn't figure out why they were so confused and proceeded to talk through the rest of the act. I wanted roll up my playbill and slap them with it.

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 4/12/06 at 1:53pm

Every time I go to the theatre, I am apalled at the behavior.

At THE DROWSY CHAPERONE the man next to me kept rooting through his plastic shopping bag, making that cringe worthy noise that can only be attributed to cheap grocery store bags.

The women behind me at AWAKE AND SING! kept saying "Gazzara sucks!" "Oh my GAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWD...just terrible!"

And to top it all off, the man behind me at LESTAT put his jacket on the back of my chair. Now, I was already pissed off because his daughter had the nerve to rest her bare feet on the seat next to me, nearly right in my face, and this wife kept taking three hours to open little candies throughout the entire show. Then, the jacket. I just turned around and looked at him and said "Okay, because that's REALLY necessary."

He acted like it was a mistake, and put his coat back on his lap. I wanted to decapitate him.

[mikeyb16]

Posted: 4/12/06 at 3:38pm

i dnt blame u, i wud hav dun the same if that happened 2 me.

if i was in a broadway performance and sum punks were interupting my acting or putting me off, I wud storm off the stage and hunt them down in the audience.

[bwaylover2]

Posted: 4/12/06 at 4:05pm

i saw the color purple
the overture was playing and this large group of people come in and start talking it was not until the first act started then the group got sushed that is so rude
Updated On: 4/12/06 at 04:05 PM

[aka.emilicious]

Posted: 4/12/06 at 5:01pm

I'm new here, but after reading this, I had to post about my high school experience (I played in the pit orchestra).

During my high schools performance of Les Mis, we were about to start the entr'acte when all of a sudden a paper ball flies in to the pit (we're about 7 feet below the stage). A paper ball, I mean seriously. The director literally jumped out of the pit and escorted the kid out of the theater.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 4/13/06 at 2:41am

When I saw Spelling Bee a couple weekends ago, two latecomers arrived in the rush seats sometime during (I think) "My Friend, the Dictionary." They were both young and drunk. The guy more than the girl. Basically, he just wanted to show off how loud he was, and they both picked Barfee as their favorite.

During Barfee's first word, they both cheered really obnoxiously, and the guy did one of those two-fingers-in-the-mouth whistles. Absolutely PIERCING.

Jared Gertner actually looked at him and thanked him (sarcastically), and of course, the two drunks were very vocal after Barfee got his first word right.

Luckily, before "Magic Foot," the guy had passed out, so except for the middle-aged couple behind me (who I successfully shushed sometime after Mitch's little monologue) there were minimal disturbances.

[MyMeredithMonster]

Posted: 4/13/06 at 3:48am

Wonderful... drunk people at the show... Ugh!

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 4/13/06 at 3:52am

Yeah, I was so glad he passed out. He didn't even snore!

I was also glad that by the end the gf was sobering up and legitimately enjoying the show. She had to nudge him awake at curtain call, I think.

[Carl Magnum]

Posted: 4/13/06 at 10:11am

The saddest thing I have ever...EVER seen is Full grown adults and socially awkward overweight teenage girls dressing up to go see CATS. And I mean full costume, spandex, wigs, gloves and makeup. WHY?

[jarretSF]

Posted: 4/13/06 at 6:33pm

I've experienced a few of these....Costumed audience members at Wicked (Over the age of 10, actually over 40 I think, pathetic, if it's a young girl in a Glinda costume, OK). I have also seen the Mark Scarves at Rent (the tour and Broadway). I saw it 3 times in the movie theatre also(the first was an advance screening in a small theatre, mostly rent heads), and the second time there was a girl, maybe 15, in the Maureen rubber cat suit, WITH HER PARENTS. The third time an obese man in front of me was snoring LOUDLY from right after La Vie Boheme on. His seat was kicked appropriately.

At Spelling Bee 3 weeks ago a teenage boy was text messaging the whole time. Fortunately after the first one and many evil stares he turned off the sound, but the blue glow of his phone was on the whole time out of the corner of my eye. His parents should've smacked him. He dropped his phone near the end of Act 2 and had to wait till half the audience got up to get it from underneath the seat in front of him.

At White Christmas in December a girl was behind me singing along to EVERYTHING. She made it extremely unpleasant for those around her.

[mrslovett7]

Posted: 4/13/06 at 9:11pm

My uncle was visiting from Florida and wanted to see a show so we went and got front row seats to Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and the cool thing about being in the front row is being able to watch the orchestra and all, right? Wrong: I was sat next to this old guy who continuously looked down and conducted the orchestra throughout the entire show, but he didn't do it subtley, ooooh no he waved his arms about as if he were conducting a symphony, a very large symphony.

Then later that night my uncle was still in the Broadway mood so he suggested we go see I Mama Mia, which I didn't even want to see in the first place but I sucked it up and sat there respectfully during the worst show I have ever winessed. The best part is that this woman walks in 5 minutes into the show past me and hits me in the head with her gigantic paper bag, sits down next to me and proceeds to sing EVERY SINGLE SONG under her breath while rocking back and forth and i kid you not, the ENTIRE row of seats were shaking because of her, and she kept looking at me like, "aren't I great at singing?!? YAY!" I turned to her near the end and very politely said, "I didn't pay $111.50 to hear you sing, please stop." omg the look on her face was priceless!

Taxi ride to the Winter Garden Theatre: $5
Mama Mia tickets: $111.50
telling the woman next to me to shut the hell up: Priceless

[saschasf]

Posted: 4/13/06 at 11:42pm

I love, love, love Rent. However, I just am not into the whole dressing as the characters thing. To me it doesn't seem like that kind of musical. Of ccourse to each their own, but it isn't my favorite part of the Rent phenomenon.

It goes without saying that if you cannot go without communicating for two or three hours by any means, then maybe you aren't mature enough for the ttheater.

[mikeyb16]

Posted: 4/15/06 at 2:14pm

if i was president or king, me 1st law was 2 put a theatre restrainin order on every person who wud cause hell in the theatre. ya'll ,ite not agree wiv me but it's wat i think the horrid imbosils deserve

[Holly Therese]

Posted: 4/15/06 at 5:57pm

Last night the people who sat behind us came in late, sat down, took off their shoes and put their feet between our chairs. We turned around and gave them the death stare. Words were not necessary.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 4/15/06 at 6:06pm

Did it work?

(Was this at Les Miz?)

[EverythingIsRENT]

Posted: 4/15/06 at 6:35pm

Lea, I didn't realize I had sat next to you at RENT before?

Seriously, I don't think wearing a Mark scarf is a costume. It's a scarf that I regularly use because the ykee pme warm, is that so wrong?

[catsuit]

Posted: 4/15/06 at 6:40pm

Going to the theater shouldd be a privelege. It's really disgusting to hear of people who take advantage of the actor's hard work. Just plain rude!

[JustChillin8908]

Posted: 4/15/06 at 6:48pm

When I went to Chicago I noticed rude behavior in both the shows.

In Wicked of course were surrounded by kids luckily the youngest in front of us was very good even though she started to fall asleep on her mothers shoulder. The kids next to us were talking not really the entire time but seemed to mention every single song that was coming up (I don't think they saw the show before but they obviously owned the recording) I just love when the mothers simply ignore their children even though the're talking in the middle of a show. *Spoiler* not so big of a deal but in the end when Elphaba comes out of the trpa door I heard a kid say loudly "so she's still alive?

In Rent it was much worse, there were these teenagers behind us who were discussing the entire story before it began (plus they were annoying and obviously RentHeads), my cousin had never seen it although luckily she wasn't listening. (they also seemed to think one of the difference between the movie and the stage version is that in the movie Angel dies in the hospital but in the stage version he dies in an orgy...) Either wasy they were annoying but my cousin still had the plot spoiled for her since when she was waiting in line for the bathroom during intermission there was a mom and a girl in front of her, the mom told the girl to tell her what happens now since she thought she'd fall asleep (which is rude in its own right), so the girl gives away the entire ending to her mom and therefore my cousin too.

I know these are not as big of deals as some of the stuff you guys metioned but they managed to annoy me none the less.

(EDITED for grammer and spelling)
Updated On: 4/15/06 at 06:48 PM

[Clovis]

Posted: 4/15/06 at 7:20pm

I am a guilty party in this thread... the mother of a 9 year old boy who talked a bit during the first act of Phantom... the good news is that he was very into it, asking questions... the bad news is that there was a woman next to him for whom this was compromising the magic of her experience. Feeling her irritation, I took the initiative, telling her that I would take him out, or to the back, if the questions continued. At intermission, I explained as much as I could in advance about the second act (he was already familiar with the score and liked it) and, lo and behold, he was silent throughout.

It's a tough call about what age to take a kid -- depends on what kind of kid they are. And I think it's very, very helpful if they've heard the score.

P.S. He never talked again in any show.