Broadhurst Theatre Being SUED!! — Page 3

Like some other people on this board, I may have been at this performance. I was sitting fairly forward, so I don't know exactly what happened, but it was very disruptive. It went on for more than just a couple of minutes with at least 1 audible voice (despite a lot of "shhhh!") and definite commotion. The actors were definitely aware (they talked about it at the stage door), and I don't know if it affected their performance. I heard talk from the audience about asking for a refund -- it was not that minor an incident.
As I said, I don't know exactly what happened or if the day I went was even the day of this particular incident, and I am certainly not excusing excessive manhandling, but I am guessing that someone was being disruptive and also refusing either to be quiet or to leave. The theater/police don't have a lot of good options at that point.

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"I think he was in the original company of Hamlet..."

Original as in at the Globe in 1608!

And what's he been doing since 1974 (the year of his last TV credit)?

Breaking this down according to the article:

"The group arrived shortly before the show began. Buka left his seat to help his friend, Bill McGough, 76, who walks with a cane, find his place."

Then where were the ushers to assist with audience members with special needs? Usually, a 70+ patron with a cane is a red flag for ushers (I was an usher for 10 years) and if they weren't with him, they should have been aware of the seating situation.

"While still standing behind the last row of seats - not blocking anyone's view, Buka insists - the ushers confronted him and tried to kick him out. He first explained why he was standing, and then began to argue that he should be allowed back to his seat."

So the ushers didn't check to see if he had a ticket? If they did, did he not have it on him? Sounds like a lot of info is deliberately missing here.

"The altercation then sparked a flurry of violence in which theater ushers pushed him toward the door, picked him up, carried him over to the lobby, and then dropped him on the floor, he alleged."

Did the violence begin when the ushers allegedly pushed him or did he start the violence? Also unclear.

And then the article does a complete 180:

"Peter Entin, president of theater operations at the Shubert Organization, which owns the Broadhurst, said Buka was disrupting the performance.

'He got into an altercation with another customer and the other customer punched him,' Entin said.

The theater management called the police, Entin said.

'Suffice it to say it was not the ushers,' he said. 'The police were the ones that got physical with him.'"

If it's true about the police, then there would be a police report and enough witnesses to complete debunk Buka's excessive lawsuit. $300,000??? How on earth do they justify that number?

Now, I am willing to go along with the rude usher story as I've experienced my share of unbelievably rude ushers and box office staff in Broadway theatres. Many do have a tendency to forget that not every person who attends a Broadway show is a foreign tourist and can understand English when spoken to in a clear, civilised manner. And as an usher, I can also relate to the story of the patronizing patron who feels a ticket entitles them to the run of the house. Unfortunately, this article sheds no light on either side and only stirs up an already muddy story, so I'm not sure the comments here are really justified if nobody actually knows what happened.

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Original as in at the Globe in 1608!

And what's he been doing since 1974 (the year of his last TV credit)?

That's kind of a silly statement. Im sure most of us would kill to have had something like that on our resume. It would be like the Wicked of 1940. Had to put that into perspective for many users.
Perhaps since 1974, after his 49 tv/movie credits and four decades performing, he decided to retire in his mid-fifties. Perhaps he was in WII and had a pension. The question is not when his acting ended, but rather when will someone else's begin.

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I just wish the ushers and theater managers would take similar action against people who talk, use cell phones during a performance, and otherwise disrupt a show. It's been my experience that theatre staffs ignore such behavior and claim they can't do anything when another patron brings it to their attention. I'd have given a million dollars to have seen the woman who sat behind me at a preview of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels thrown out on the sidewalk. On the other hand, the way she was trumpeting how funny the show was ruined it for everyone around her. We could all have cared less that she saw the movie 19 times and thought it was the greatest film ever made. But she felt she had to tell everyone in the six rows surrounding her both before the show and during intermission. She also laughed hysterically through the entire show, even when it wasn't supposed to be funny.

I'm really not surprised that this happened - whatever it may have been. But the Broadhurst does have rude ushers who don't do their jobs. I had a problem during the run of ITW and was shocked when an usher started yelling at me, before the show started, - and I was a house manager for a regional theatre. After my incident, I always gave the story to my ushers as what not to do. Besides, technically an usher can not touch a patron - whether to help them or not. The patron has to touch the usher first.

I find it kind of hard to believe that the ushers actually lifted him up and dropped him on the ground.

I've always had the theory that Shubert Security has been secretly amassing an arsenal of law enforcement equipment and will someday stage a coup to defeat the NYPD and take over ownership of all of NYC. But that's just my theory...

As far as the Broadhurst goes, it does happen to have the reputation of having the meanest ushers on Broadway, but even so, this guy's story sounds crazy. I wish I wasn't out of town right now, I'd love to get the dirt from those who would know.