Changing seats at intermission

I’ve always wondered if there is a policy for this or if it varies theater to theater. Out of the hundreds of shows I’ve seen, I have never has an usher tell me that I couldn’t move up if there are unpurchased seats. I tried to do this at Gypsy last night (my 6th time) and one of the ushers ran up to me with a huge smile in her face and said “I saw you come down from the mezzanine! I caught you!” She said she was in charge which I found hard to believe because she seemed young to be a house manager.

I asked another usher if I could sit in one of the partial view seats that were empty during the first act. She then asked this “head” usher who then went on to call me a little liar and that there is a strict policy against moving up. I offered to pay for the new seat, but she said the box office was closed. I went up to the mezzanine and moved up to an unused seat.

I’m wondering if there is an actual policy against this. I find it odd because I was trying to move to a less expensive seat. On a completely different note, Emma Zaks was in the audience.

Yeah, I have friends at Studio 54 who move me up when they can. The "head" usher last night moved up an older couple which is why I thought it was so strange. Her attitude was really annoying as well.

You should always ask. It's obnoxious to just move.

Last night at August: Osage County, I had a last row mezz seat and the whole mezz was pretty much empty. On the sides, only the first row had a couple of people in it. The ushers told us a few minutes before the show started that we could move to anywhere Row D or back, so we got to sit 4th row mezz.

The OFFICIAL policy is that under no circumstances is anyone allowed to move into seats for which he/she doesn't have a ticket without the approval of the house manager. Generally, ushers will allow people to move at intermission if there are clearly a lot of empty seats and it is unlikely that anyone will come for them that late. If the house is really empty, ushers will go ahead and allow people to move down before the start of the show, knowing that latecomers wouldn't be adversely affected even if their seat is now occupied (despite not having the authority to do so). So the usher is correct in saying that you cannot move, even if the seats are empty. Only the house manager can make that decision.

It drove me absolutely nuts when people would move without asking. We would always move people further down in the mezz when it was empty up there, but I hated when people just got up and planted themselves in the boxes. Ask first.

Thanks Fosse! I still think that a simple, “I’m sorry we can’t accommodate you. Please return to your seat,” would have been a lot nicer than the name calling. Just for the record, the house was probably at 65% capacity.

Sometimes when I do ask ushers they will say "I can't tell you you can move but..." and give me a face like, "do it and I'll pretend not to notice"

Actually, this year, I've kept a continuing record of always changing my seat at intermission, even if it's just a seat over. I don't know, but it's been rather fun! Not once have I been stopped, except once when I was told that I wasn't allowed to sit in a box seat for Spring Awakening, in which case, I moved down to the orchestra. Here's a recap:

January 6th: Legally Blonde
The Switch: Front Row Balcony to 5th Row Mezzanine

January 22nd: Little Mermaid
The Switch: Row L Mezzanine to FRONT ROW OCHESTRA, RIGHT SIDE!

February 6th: Mary Poppins
The Switch: Row B Balcony to Row A Balcony

March 4th: Young Frankenstein
The Switch: Row B Balcony (Balcony closed, so moved down to Row C Mezzanine by House Manager) to Second Row Orchestra

April 8th: Gypsy
The Switch: Row C Balcony to FRONT ROW SIDE ORCHESTRA!

April 24th: Cry Baby Opening Night
The Switch: Row L Center Mezzanine to Row F Side Mezzanine

May 25th: In the Heights
The Switch: Row G Rear Mezzanine over one seat

June 6th: Sunday in the Park with George
The Switch: Row JJ of Mezzanine to Row EE of Mezzanine

June 29th: Curtains Closing Night
The Switch: Row C Mezzanine to LEFT BOX!

July 22nd: Spring Awakening
The Switch: Row C Mezzanine over one seat

July 30th: In the Heights
The Switch: Rear Mezzanine A over towards center (About 5 seats)

July 31st: RENT
The Switch: Side Orchestra Row H to Side Orchestra Row F

August 12th: South Pacific
The Switch: Loge Row E over one seat

August 19th: Avenue Q
The Switch: Row G Rear Mezzanine Far Left Side over to Second Row Orchestra Right Side

August 20th (Mat.): Wicked
The Switch: Side Orchestra EE over one seat

August 21st (Eve.): Young Frankenstein
The Switch: Row C Orchestra over one seat

August 24th, 26th, 28th, 30th (Closing): The Will Rogers Follies at Surflight in LBI:
24th: Center Row K Orchestra to Front Row, Left Side
26th: Center Row F Orchestra over three seats towards more center
28th: Side Row A Orchestra over two seats to complete side Row A(Closer to stage)
30th: Center, Right Side Row A Orchestra to Center, Left Side Row A Orchestra

September 13th: 13 Dress Rehearsel
The Switch: Row J Side Orchestra over one seat

September 19th: A Tale of Two Cities
The Switch: Row H Right Side Orchestra over towards center two seats

And at the next three shows I see this year, I intend to do the same!

For the rush seats in the upper balcony of Boeing-Boeing, the usher at the top of the show, told me that at 8PM I could move wherever I wanted within the balcony. There weren't many of us up there, so it was a pretty nice atmosphere and at 8, all the people sporadically placed in the balcony moved to the first row.

Agree that it depends on the ushers and the theater. Like, I was at Spamalot about a month ago, and was in the balcony section. One of the ushers moved a couple of guys from my row to give them more leg room. Well, only to another empty section of the balcony. So then, other people in my row moved into those seats, and I just moved over to the right one or 2 seats to be a little more centered. Obviously in that situation we were not taking over seats that people had tickets for.

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I usually don't move unless something's really bad.

* The first time I saw Gypsy at the St. James, I was on the far side right next to the street doors and there seemed to be a party going on out there so I moved down to a group of empty seats on the far house left front row. Not the best view, but the street noise was gone.

* Two involving The Vertical Hour. Once I had a house right aisle orchestra seat. I'd been talking with a girl in the lobby who had a front row seat. Turns out she needed to be further back because she had to do something involving the set for school and needed a full view. She was walking up to the usher to ask about moving and spotted me and asked if I wanted to trade seats. Not a problem! (Especially since this was just after the moved-up closing was announced and I lost my front row center seat for closing.) I got down there and the usher there smiled and said if I wanted to move more center I could because he was going to take another woman up to one of the boxes. The second time I was in the rear mezz. A couple came in and both smelled as if they had bathed in perfume and cologne. That stuff usually doesn't bother me, but they were SOOOO strong I was beginning to sneeze and wheeze. An older couple had had front row mezz tickets but he couldn't navigate the stairs, so they were sitting in the last row. One of the ushers realized I was having issues since the couple next to me sat down and subtly told me I could move into the other couple's seats if I'd like.

* At Next To Normal one time (actually when I met CapnHook) there was an empty seat in the front row (I was second row on the side with TDF) and scooted down at intermission. No one said boo.

* Last night at Equus I moved over to the aisle seat at intermission when the couple next to me moved to another rear mezz section ~ probably for the same reason I wanted to move. There was an IDIOT who had his hair all tied up in a bubble-looking hat thing (like what some people tie dreads up in) who insisted on leaning forward. I very nicely requested he please not lean forward a couple of times before I decided the slight bit of bubblehead -blocked stage wasn't worth me losing out on my enjoyment of the play. I was lucky ~ he only blocked the edge of the stage where very little took place. I'm sure from the staggering of the seats he blocked a good bit of the view of the woman next to me. The aisle gave me a GREAT view, and theirs seemed to be better as well.

Wow...that turned out longer than I planned. Sorry.

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I also moved closer to the center for Kiss of the Spider Woman at Signature. I was all the way on the side and there were only about a few people in the row I was in, so I moved over. That's the only time I've ever moved without permission, but I'm hoping to move when I see 13. I got the $13 seats in the back of the mezz and I'm not expecting the show to be too crowded, so I'd like to get closer, but I don't care too much since I did only pay $13.