Do you ever leave a show during intermission?- Page 2

[LI Larry]

Posted: 8/2/06 at 2:23pm

The only time I actually got up and left during a show was an off-broadway show called The Lunchtime Anxieties (or maybe Monologues). It was absolutely horrible. It was in a small theater on 42nd Street and half the audience had already left by the time I finally left. And the whole thing was only 90 minutes. I just couldn't sit through anymore. It was directed by Michael Rupert and I was a big fan of his from Falsettos. The only other times I wanted to leave was during both versions of The Real Thing. I saw the original and hated it. I saw the revival 20 years later wondering if age had changed me. It didn't. I hated it more the second time. There was also a Brian Friel show done right after Dancing with Lunasa that lasted a week. It was so awful, I skipped the end because I needed to use the men's room and really couldn't care less what happened. I almost walked out of LEstat but knew the second act was better.

[SCBWannabe]

Posted: 8/2/06 at 2:30pm

My boss and I left The Odd Couple on the Actors Fund Performance night. It was dreadful.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 8/2/06 at 2:33pm

I don't see what the cost of the ticket has to do with anything. The money's paid and you can't get it back whether you stay or not. You didn't pay to be tortured so, why go back for more punishment?

If you went to an expensive restaurant and the dish you were eating was terrible would you then order a second helping of it? Or would you get something else or just leave? With a bad play, I don't have the option of "ordering something else." There's only one play on the menu and it's bad. I'm stuck with a lousy dish that I've already paid for and can't get a refund for. So rather than getting more, I just leave.

[NathanLaneStalker]

Posted: 8/2/06 at 2:41pm

SCBWannabe - Why didn't you like The Odd Couple? I liked it! But Matthew was BAD!

[gustof777]

Posted: 8/2/06 at 2:42pm

yeah cost of the ticket means not that much to me. I just feel wrong about leaving no matter how awful

[neddyfrank2]

Posted: 8/2/06 at 2:44pm

The only time I would have left a show is during The Dead, the reason I didn't is because there was no intermission.



Muscle- You left a show while it was still going on?! That is one of the rudest things I have EVER read.

[Brodybaby03]

Posted: 8/2/06 at 2:44pm

I had to leave TABOO after act one to go on a blind date....the date was fun but it never went anywhere and I still regret it to THIS day!

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 8/2/06 at 2:45pm

I know, I feel bad, but i was in the MEZZ, no one even noticed, and it's not like i had to disturb anyone on my way out.

[HumATune]

Posted: 8/2/06 at 2:53pm

I left a college production of HAIR several years ago. But I really didn’t like the show itself. I might give the show a second chance now, because a lot of things about me have changed since then.

My option is that it’s better to leave during intermission than to sit through another act and project negative vibes through the theater. I try to keep a poker face or a polite smile, but I know that sometimes my body language gives away my true feelings, and I’m not always conscious of that. How awful for the actors and audience members around me to see that I’m clearly not enjoying myself.

But if your one of those people who is very good at controlling your body language, then go for it and sit through act two.

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 8/2/06 at 2:54pm

You should, Carole Anne. But, you know how I feel about TABOO.

shows i walked out of
Ring of Fire
Tarzan
Souvenir
Bye Bye Birdie (at Encores! )
Well
Beauty and the Beast

shows i wish i had walked out of
Hot Feet
Good Vibrations
Lestat
La Cage aux Folles
The Odd Couple
The Woman in White
Brooklyn
Dracula
Never Gonna Dance
Enchanted April
Thoroughly Modern Millie

[javero]

Posted: 8/2/06 at 2:58pm

Never, but did consider doing so the first and only time I saw 'Rent' on BWay last summer. The musical just wasn't what I was expecting.

[Chanticleer148]

Posted: 8/2/06 at 3:00pm

Yes!

I did not sit through Urinetown. It was a waste of time and money.

I also once left an appalling production of Tom Sawyer, and I also left a production of Bee Hive which was worthless.

[NathanLaneStalker]

Posted: 8/2/06 at 3:01pm

Urinetown is a great show!

[gustof777]

Posted: 8/2/06 at 3:03pm

It is but in the wrong hands I can see it being pretty horrible

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 8/2/06 at 3:07pm

Muscle, Meryl Streep would be so upset with you! :)

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 8/2/06 at 3:09pm

Wait. You walked out of BRIDGE AND TUNNEL?

That is sad.

I have walked out a show mid-performance.

[Calvin]

Posted: 8/2/06 at 3:11pm

So far -- only Hot Feet.

[NathanLaneStalker]

Posted: 8/2/06 at 3:12pm

Was Hot Feet bad or just boring?

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 8/2/06 at 3:13pm

Both.

[Calvin]

Posted: 8/2/06 at 3:16pm

Indeed. And I would have walked out of the recent Starlight Express tour had I not been with my parents.

[ZONEACE]

Posted: 8/2/06 at 3:22pm

"Zoneace, didn't you leave Bombay Dreams during intermission?"


No. The performances were good, and the songs were catchy so i stayed, espite not being too thrilled with the story.


and there was a community theatre production of Copacabana that I not known someone int he cast i would have left during. But that's cause the show is just BAD!

[mathewbrock]

Posted: 8/2/06 at 3:30pm

Margo, I love you and agree with everything you said.

In my 4 years of attending theatre in New York, I've only walked out of LESTAT. I feel completely justified in doing so and have no regrets.

In college I left a production of THE GRAPES OF WRATH at intermission. Getting drunk at a college party was way more rewarding than watching that damn pickup truck crawl across the stage again in Act II.

[Robos89]

Posted: 8/2/06 at 3:33pm

I've never walked out of a show during intermission and never will. That's bad manners. To those who left LESTAT after intermission...you missed the best part of the show. The secons act is AWESOME. Allison Fischer was aboslutely amazing! The first act was boring, but the second was so much better!

[BwayBaby18]

Posted: 8/2/06 at 3:35pm

I left the 7th time i saw Sweet Charity because i couldn't stomache seeing Charlotte D'Amboise kill act 2.

I saw that show 15 times so i really think it doesn't matter.

[WickedGeek28]

Posted: 8/2/06 at 3:36pm

Never.