I saw "Titus Andronicus" at the Globe in England and a bunch of people with our group left at intermission because we had standing tickets and we had been walking ALL day and everyone felt like they were going to die, but a few of us decided to be hardcore and stay because we assumed the second act would be shorter. Sadly, it was not, and I'm still not sure how I managed to stand for three and a half hours of what is often called Shakespeare's worst play...
"Sawyer, you're going out a youngster, but you've got to come back a star!"
I've never left a show at intermission, though I've been tempted a few times.
Tarzan and Lestat were two where I wish I'd left, but was happy I stayed to see the whole thing. If In My Life had an intermission, I'm sure I would have left, but I'm glad I didn't. If I pay $$ to see something, I'm not leaving.
There was one show where, if it hadn't been for my theater-going companions, I would have demanded my money back during the intermission. It was Hot Feet. To this day, I regret staying for the biggest waste of my life, besides a nasty 24 hour layover in Tokyo on my way to China.
I never have, but my mother left atboth Aspects of Love and Miss Saigon. There have been shows I considered it, but I always believe I need to see the full show before I can make a decision on it.
I think it was last year me and my partner went to see Jeckyll and Hyde on tour at the Manchester Palace Theatre. We told a freind of ours who had just seen it(in another city )that we were going and he just laughed and said you will have a shock,i tried to get more info out of him but he said just see for yourself.
So off we went and took our seat's on the front row of the 2000 capacity theatre and noticed only about 500 people were there ,so they closed the grand tier and just left the circle and stalls open. The music started and the curtain came up on the cheapest looking set you have seen(2 stone walls and a bridge)but i thought hey it's a tour.
It got to about mid way through act 1 and i wanted to kill myself because paul nicholls who were playing the title role was so bad it was untrue.Now when i say bad i mean we wated for him to hit a single note and when This is the moment finished something happened ive not seen happen ever(and i work in theatre). People began to booo him YES ACTUALLY BOOO HIM since he killed the song dead(he made the Hoff look like a tony award winner).Act 1 dragged on and the 2 leading ladies were the only saving grace as they out did him everytime they walked on stage,and then came the interval.
I turned to my partner and just looked at him and he laughed,so we went to the bar to get a drink.People in the bar were outraged saying this was the worst thing they had ever seen and people were gen angry. The bell went for Act 2 so we went back in ,but when we got back in i noticed something odd(this is no word of a lie)almost 300 of the audience had left leaving the 2000 capacity building looking empty,but it gets worse.
As act 2 started with murder murder(which the ensemble did a great job on)i thought it might pick up,Then came the next strange event .When paul sang his next song my jaw hit the floor HE WAS MIMEING TO A PRE RECORDED VOCAL TRACK and it was soooooo obvious ,who the hell does that in live theatre?
This wassn't just in 1 song but it carried on song after song and more people noticed because they got up and left saying they should have just listened to the CD(and said it loudly). I said to myself that i was gonna see it through because as a performer i would hate to see people walking out whilst i was on stage. The 2 girls belted out In His Eyes and all the audience(about 150 at this time)gave them a standing ovation(it was as if to say that your doing great we dont mean any disrespect to you).
The finale came and involved some man jumping out of a mirror dressed like jeckyll(supposed to be hyde)and then came the curtain call.All the cast got cheers and applause(especialy the 2 leading ladies)but when Paul came out he got boooed but put on a brave face.
I got home and was in shock at what i had seen and then my freind called me and said
so how many people were left in the audience at the end of the show.
The reviews were awfull and the West End transfer it was hoping for never happened and i doubt (thanks to him)it will be back again.
sorry about the grammer im sooooooo bad at it hehehe Xxx
i know a lot of people who have left shows at intermission. last time rent came to atlanta i noticed a lot of people (including the people next to me) left at intermission.
my friend and i were going to leave at the intermission of brooklyn until we realised there was no intermission. they probably avoided an intermission because they knew so many people would leave.
"i know a lot of people who have left shows at intermission. last time rent came to atlanta i noticed a lot of people (including the people next to me) left at intermission."
Why would A LOT of people leave at intermission. Were they offended by the material? I can understand a few but, why a lot? Updated On: 8/2/06 at 10:18 PM
i would never walk out during intermission... i like staying the whole performance... but i have slept through several plays that San Diego State did a few years ago... i was BORED TO DEATH that i just ended up falling asleep... one was dragon wings fo whatever and the other was this time traveling play.... i can't even remember the names... but whatever... i slept! when i think about it... i felt like i was rude and disrespectful but when i think about it more... i just couldn't tolerate bad theater
I was the only one left in my row at "Lestat" after intermission. Some people even walked out during the First Act. I stayed until the bitter end. I am kind of glad I did because I would have missed the only good song ("I Want More").
I've seen hundreds of shows but, so far, I have never left until the end. I always hope for a turn-around in the second act.
"I've lost everything! Luis, Marty, my baby with Chris, Chris himself, James. All I ever wanted was love." --Sheridan Crane "Passions"
-------
"Housework is like bad sex. Every time I do it, I swear I'll never do it again til the next time company comes."--"Lulu"
from "Can't Stop The Music"
-----
"When the right doors didn't open for him, he went through the wrong ones" - "Sweet Bird of Youth"
------------
---------
"Passions" is uncancelled! See NBC.com for more info.
There are only two shows in which I halfway thought about leaving during intermission: Chicago and Perfect Crime (which was almost funny in a sad kind of way).
I'm a firm believer in staying until the cast leaves the stage after curtain call; I'll gladly be the last one to leave the parking lot! The only time I have ever left at intermission was the Porgy and Bess tour. I wouldn't have left although I didn't like the show at all, but the people I was riding with insisted on leaving. In fact, it looked like half the audience was leaving.
I never have----but I was really tempted for two shows: "By Jeeves" (I stayed because I think it's rude to leave--especially if you're in the first few rows---besides, there were two people sitting behind us who were far more entertaining than the show) and "Ring of Fire" (which did get better in the second act).
i would have during Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (sorry..norbert wasn't there that day anyway!!), but we had a friend who's not from New York with us and it was only like her 2nd broadway show. otherwise, def would have
Walked out on Neil Simons "I Ought to be in Pictures", Marie Christine and Woman in White (I could not remain awake). If Passion had an intermission, I would've left that as well.
When I was 6 my grandmother took me to Cats and I threw up at intermission. Needless to say, we left.
I see no problem with leaving at intermission, for all the reasons discussed in this thread. That said, all shows that I've seen that were bad enough for me to want to leave were morbidly fascinating and I couldnt bring myself to leave since they were so bad they were somewhat hilarious.
"Don't thank your parents, if you were raised in a nurturing environment you wouldnt be in show business"--Conan O'Brien at the 2006 Emmy Awards
I never have, but I have thought about it! The show was Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. I went with a friend and her parents and we went to see All Shook Up as a matinee. Loved that show. We went to dinner in the Marriott Marquis and spontaneously went to the ticket booth to see another show that day! For that night, we could have went to All Shook Up or Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. We got tickets for CCBB and truthfully,we would have been better off seeing ASU again! At the third song, my friends mom leaned over and asked if we wanted to leave at intermission and we were all in agreement. That hushaby mountain was enough to put ME to sleep! We got the tickets discounted and since they were in the mezz, they werent that much money so it would have been easy for me to leave. But, thank god that car flew right before intermission! But, im glad we stayed for the whole show, even though the first act was painfully boring. That just my opinon though! Also, the second time I saw Rent there were a few women who left at intermission who were "disgusted" by the action on stage. Oh well!
I've never left a show at intermission but I've thought about it. I would have left Brooklyn but we were there on a field trip with school so I couldn't leave, and besides that there was no intermission. If I had gone to the BWW boards back then I would have known to avoid the show and could have saved my money. Oh well, my friends and I still laugh at the experience of the show, so that's one good thing that came out of it. But the scary thing that came out of it was that our teacher loved the show!
I was VERY very close of walking out of Miss Saigon... and I'm mad at myself for reading reviews of Lestat before I went. I heard the second act was better, but another godknowshowlong of suffering?
I was also very close to walking out the first time I saw Jersey Boys. I could not stand the first act of that show, though I can say it does get better. I've walked out of...
Tarzan Chess Hot Feet Taboo (and then went back to see it again... my friend got the tickets)
I think that's it... that's all I remember, anyway. Most of the time I can stick it out... just so people don't say "YOU DIDN'T EVEN SEE THE ENTIRE THING". I must suffer to stay stubborn and b*tchy.
NEVER! Not after what I paid for some of those tickets!
"Picture "The View," with the wisecracking, sympathetic sweethearts of that ABC television show replaced by a panel of embittered, suffering or enraged Arab women" -the Times review of Black Eyed