Banning Food in Theatres- Page 2
Banning Food in Theatres
Sutton Ross
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/20/13
#25Banning Food in Theatres
Posted: 2/23/25 at 3:08pm
They have guidelines on how to act everywhere including Broadway playbills, off broadway and many regional theaters. I remember the long list in the program I Can Get it For You Wholesale at The Signature. If only all places could be like Carnegie Hall that allows no bull*hit and offers Ricola cough drops (wrapped in paper) that has a sign about not unwrapping anything during the performances. Everyone is respectful there for some reason.
Take a goddamned note, Broadway.
Phil B
Swing Joined: 12/28/12
#26Banning Food in Theatres
Posted: 2/23/25 at 3:32pm
Funnily enough, at Scissorhandz in London this evening, someone in the front row was continually rustling their bag of Maltesers. One of the performers (Emma Williams) turned to another performer during one of the lighter moments of the show and said “sorry, I’m just so distracted by the sweets in the front row… it’s SO loud!” It was a great moment, and the bag of Maltesers was swiftly put away…
#27Banning Food in Theatres
Posted: 2/23/25 at 3:36pm
Will Uber Eats deliveries become a norm ?
To seek revenge may lead to hell yet everyone does it but seldom as well......
#28Banning Food in Theatres
Posted: 2/23/25 at 3:38pm
I'd imagine food/drink eaten in the front orchestra would distract the actors? If the theaters have a section where no food/drink is allowed (like front orchestra) then I'd gladly save up money and pay for those premium seats.
I tell friends that if they do have to unwrap something, do it while people are clapping or laughing. NEVER do it in the middle of a song or ballad or intense or quiet scene.
#29Banning Food in Theatres
Posted: 2/23/25 at 4:25pm
How about the people who lazily flip through their playbills the whole entire show.
#30Banning Food in Theatres
Posted: 2/23/25 at 4:33pm
We're really seeing the rise of the Nicki Cochrane audience mentality.
"...everyone finally shut up, and the audience could enjoy the beginning of the Anatevka Pogram in peace."
#31Banning Food in Theatres
Posted: 2/23/25 at 4:41pm
Haven’t seen her since “Purlie”. Maybe she’s terrorizing other businesses, now.
#32Banning Food in Theatres
Posted: 2/23/25 at 4:56pm
I don't remember what actor commented on being overcome by the smell of someone's chicken dinner being passed around in the front row during a performance, but I was stunned by the fact that someone would have the audacity to do that. I went to an Off Broadway show right before covid, and the woman next to me had a big paper bag filled with fried chicken and greasy food, and I thought I was going to throw up. I had been working all week and was too tired to even deal with it, and if I hadn't been with a friend who needed the aisle seat he was in, I probably would have tried to get another seat. The fact that the ushers did nothing appalled me. It was a 3-hour play, and the smell never disappeared from the theater.
I used to go to the theater at least once a week, and I'm so appalled by audience behavior in so many ways that I have not gone in a year and a half, and when I am tempted, and see things like this, it reminds me as to why I stopped. I've become pretty much a recluse since then because public behavior is out of control and I don't feel the need to police it when the people who should don't. I used to leave the theater feeling exhilarated by having escaped from the world, and that fantasy ended quickly as the reality snapped me back. I was looking at the tkts listing today and thought I might go when my retirement kicks in, but reading this, I doubt I'll ever go again. Maybe I just aged out of being able to fully enjoy the experience, or maybe a good portion of the world has just fallen into an ill-mannered, self-centered cesspool. At any rate, I save a ton of money in not going, not only in theater tickets, but in the therapeutic curing of a psychoanalyst or a bartender.
One Grecian Ern
ErmengardeStopSniveling
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/20/18
#33Banning Food in Theatres
Posted: 2/23/25 at 5:39pm
Jordan Catalano said: "Haven’t seen her since “Purlie”. Maybe she’s terrorizing other businesses, now."
Oh I saw N.C. at a few shows this fall. She's still kickin!
MasterThespian 2
Stand-by Joined: 3/22/22
#34Banning Food in Theatres
Posted: 2/23/25 at 8:57pm
Wouldn’t make a bit of difference. People just don’t care. The rules don’t apply to them. They’ll do what they want and f—— you if you don’t like it. The decline in audiences is startling. It starts with attire. People are slobs. Don’t care what they look like as long as they’re comfortable. Sweats. Flip-flops, T-shirts. Anything goes. Remember when women wore nice dresses and men wore suits? That was a lifetime ago.
Move to manners. There are none. People eat, drink, talk and check their damn phones throughout a performance. I’ve cut back on my theatre going. Just not worth the stress and aggravation of dealing with people today.
Jordan Catalano said: "There needs to be an all-out campaign by Broadway (however you want to label it) to teach audiences how to act in a show. Will it ever happen? Of course not. But at this point it’ll only get worse, not better."
#35Banning Food in Theatres
Posted: 2/23/25 at 9:15pm
I don’t care what people wear just please stfu
CJRochester
Stand-by Joined: 11/17/11
#36Banning Food in Theatres
Posted: 2/23/25 at 9:16pm
Menken Fan said: "ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "Here’s an idea: what if there was a toothless and overly-long letter printed in the program for every show reminding people of how to behave? That would be a quick solve to all problems right???????"
A couple of years ago, right after lockdown, Playbills included something like this. I'm not sure if they still do anymore.
"
They still have that page in the Playbills as of last month. The font is very small and in many theatres the houselights are too dim, making it next to impossible to read this page before the show (even if you wanted to).
JSquared2
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/23/17
#37Banning Food in Theatres
Posted: 2/23/25 at 9:17pm
TotallyEffed said: "I don’t care what people wear just pleasestfu"
You really don’t need to post every thought that pops into your head.
MasterThespian 2
Stand-by Joined: 3/22/22
#38Banning Food in Theatres
Posted: 2/24/25 at 7:42am
I admit that sloppy attire bothers me more than most. But what REALLY drives me crazy is peoples’ inability to go an hour or two without shoving food into their faces. Guess this why the obesity rate is sky high and rising.
TotallyEffed said: "I don’t care what people wear just pleasestfu"
#39Banning Food in Theatres
Posted: 2/24/25 at 8:14am
I hope ATG is kicking some of that extra concession revenue to increased vermin control. It’s not as if nyc or these old buildings with nooks and crannies are pest free.
Still, Times Square vermin can be entertaining. I have fond memories of the roach luau’s at the dear departed Hawaii Kai.
nyc Rat Tourism
Huss417
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
#40Banning Food in Theatres
Posted: 2/24/25 at 8:15am
Kad said: "We're really seeing the rise of the Nicki Cochrane audience mentality."
Just don't say that name three times. Last time I think I saw her it was either at Jelly's Last Jam or Titanic at City Center.
"I hope your Fanny is bigger than my Peter."
Mary Martin to Ezio Pinza opening night of Fanny.
Updated On: 2/24/25 at 08:15 AM
DaveyG
Broadway Star Joined: 8/11/05
#41Banning Food in Theatres
Posted: 2/24/25 at 9:47am
schubox said:
The shaking ice in a cup thing is the only time I've ever been annoyed enough to snap at somebody. Was seeing Angels in America at the Neil Simon Theatre and the person behind me was taking a drink, then lowering the drink down, shaking it, repeat over and over. We were in the mezz and so when they lowered and shook the glass it was literally right behind my head. I thought they'd stop so I let it go, but after like 5 straight minutes of it I finally turned around and told him he had to stop and he finally put his drink down. Why anyone would think shaking a drink in the middle of a play is a good idea is beyond me"
Rudin was an abusive jerk, but one good thing he did was ban ice at the concessions of his shows.
#42Banning Food in Theatres
Posted: 2/24/25 at 12:06pm
The battle was lost years ago when theater owners realized they could charge $30 for a sippy cup on jug wine and make a staggering supplemental profit off of people who already paid a fortune for their tickets. I'll never forget the first show I saw at the Hudson where the couple behind me showed up with a full bottle of Prosecco in an ice bucket and two flutes so they could imbibe continuously during the show. I bet that bubbly cost more than my car note.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
chrishuyen
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/12/14
#43Banning Food in Theatres
Posted: 2/24/25 at 12:16pm
I often think that The Frogs's Invocation and Instructions to the Audience should be performed before every show
spicemonkey
Broadway Star Joined: 6/3/18
#44Banning Food in Theatres
Posted: 2/24/25 at 12:25pm
chrishuyen said: "I often think that The Frogs's Invocation and Instructions to the Audience should be performed before every show"
Or Elsbeth S2E1: Corey Mach / Nathan Lane’s lovely interaction in the theatre
dramamama611
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/4/07
#45Banning Food in Theatres
Posted: 2/24/25 at 1:30pm
Telling people and people listening are two very different things.
If we're not having fun, then why are we doing it?
These are DISCUSSION boards, not mutual admiration boards. Discussion only occurs when we are willing to hear what others are thinking, regardless of whether it is alignment to our own thoughts.
spicemonkey
Broadway Star Joined: 6/3/18
#46Banning Food in Theatres
Posted: 2/24/25 at 1:35pm
dramamama611 said: "Telling people and people listening are two very different things."
True
sometimes i just don’t understand how difficult it is to not unwrap candies during the performance, especially in quiet moments
#47Banning Food in Theatres
Posted: 2/24/25 at 1:42pm
They always pick the quiet or serious moments, especially the people who think they're being more considerate by opening it very, very slowly to avoid making noise. JUST OPEN IT AND MOVE ON.
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