Do you give a standing ovation at every show?- Page 2
Do you give a standing ovation at every show?
jordangirl
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/1/06
#25re: Do you give a standing ovation at every show?
Posted: 5/7/08 at 11:54amNope. The show has to move me to the point where I just stand...I don't think about it. If it doesn't move me to that point and I have to think, I stay sitting. I'll applaud the effort, but will not automatically grant a standing O. And this even applies to shows I've seen before...sometimes they just don't warrant one on a given night.
Experience live theater. Experience paintings. Experience books. Live, look and listen like artists! ~ imaginethis
LIVE THAT LESSON!!!!!!
LIVE THAT LESSON!!!!!!
Vespertine1228
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/30/05
#26re: Do you give a standing ovation at every show?
Posted: 5/7/08 at 12:13pm
I definitely don't. But then there's that age old problem. Lots of other people are standing up and you don't want to miss the bows of the big stars or the curtain call number. As such, I've found myself standing up quite a few times when I wouldn't have done it under other circumstances.
Not every good job is worth a standing ovation. Case in point, I saw Dangerous Liasons last night and some people stood up but I didn't think it was that fantastic in order to warrant standing.
Then again, maybe people were standing up to stretch their legs as Liasons is like the seventy-fifth three-hour show this season.
PJMPirate
Chorus Member Joined: 9/4/06
#27re: Do you give a standing ovation at every show?
Posted: 5/7/08 at 12:19pmI do, but I'll wait to stand until a particular actor takes their bow. I don't just stand at the beginning, I wait for someone that I think was especially good.
#28re: Do you give a standing ovation at every show?
Posted: 5/7/08 at 12:51pmISIIDASO - I'm with Roscoe.
9/10 - Next To Normal, Ensemble Theatre
9/18 - Brian Stokes Mitchell, Cincy Pop's
9/28 - Death Of A Salesman, Wright State
9/18 - Brian Stokes Mitchell, Cincy Pop's
9/28 - Death Of A Salesman, Wright State
WestVillage
Broadway Star Joined: 7/20/05
#29re: Do you give a standing ovation at every show?
Posted: 5/7/08 at 1:02pmI hardly ever stand. I will stand only if I'm really blown away by a show or a performance, and that is very very rare.
memphreblues
Chorus Member Joined: 1/7/08
#30re: Do you give a standing ovation at every show?
Posted: 5/7/08 at 1:12pm
I don't feel comfortable standing if no one else is, but as soon as it starts, I'll be one of the first on my feet.
I can imagine not standing for a show that was unpleasant, but so far I think I've stood for everything I've seen. Obviously some deserved it more that others, but I'll be the first to admit I'm pretty easy to please. I've always had a great time, and it's always been obviously that the performers worked their butts off up there.
NDR
Leading Actor Joined: 11/16/06
#31re: Do you give a standing ovation at every show?
Posted: 5/7/08 at 1:13pm
I'm with Vespertine1228. Sometimes to see the bows you have to stand up even if you don't want to. If I don't feel a show warrants an SO, I will most likely sit until the final lead has come out and then stand to see the full cast bow.
I do think that it is annoying that some people think every show deserves an SO. I know, maybe it moved them, but then move out of my way so I can sit and see the bows.
ashley0139
Broadway Legend Joined: 1/3/05
#32re: Do you give a standing ovation at every show?
Posted: 5/7/08 at 1:17pmI will usually stand for the first person I feel warrants a SO, whether people around me are standing or not (sometimes, this is awkward). However, then I don't want to sit back down again so I usually just stay standing. Eh. It's not an exact science.
"This table, he is over one hundred years old. If I could, I would take an old gramophone needle and run it along the surface of the wood. To hear the music of the voices. All that was said." - Doug Wright, I Am My Own Wife
#33re: Do you give a standing ovation at every show?
Posted: 5/7/08 at 1:20pmI only stand if I really feel compelled to. If I didn't like the performance it won't happen. (Except in the case of Curtains, where they only got a standing O because I had standing room.)
The choice may have been mistaken, The choosing was not... "Every day has the potential to be the greatest day of your life." - Lin-Manuel Miranda
#34re: Do you give a standing ovation at every show?
Posted: 5/7/08 at 1:38pmI have to be really impressed to give a standing ovation. Of course, this can be majorly awkward when everyone else around you is standing, but I'm pretty stubborn.
#35re: Do you give a standing ovation at every show?
Posted: 5/7/08 at 2:57pm
Usually, my desire to be true to myself and stubbornly sit is outweighed by my desire to see what's going on.
I'd say that, if I were in the front row of the mezz and able to see regardless, I would stand for about half the things I see on Broadway. Judging by the fact that standing ovations go from the front back (if an ovation starts in the middle of the orchestra, the whole back can end up standing while the front remains seated, at least for a while), it wouldn't surprise me that people's frequency of S.O. individually are much lower than the propensity for an audience to give a S.O. as a group.
MCfan2
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/29/06
#36re: Do you give a standing ovation at every show?
Posted: 5/7/08 at 3:05pm
I stand pretty often, but that's just because I usually tend to love the shows I see. 
I don't waste much time or money going to things that I only feel lukewarm about.
#37re: Do you give a standing ovation at every show?
Posted: 5/7/08 at 4:58pm
"I stand pretty often, but that's just because I usually tend to love the shows I see. I don't waste much time or money going to things that I only feel lukewarm about."
Same here.
#38re: Do you give a standing ovation at every show?
Posted: 5/7/08 at 5:14pmI normally do, mostly because I'm short and can't see. Yesterday I was at The Little Mermaid and I was in the back row and nobody really stood until the end of the cast's bows so then I stood because I couldn't see and I was clapping but then I thought to myself "This doesn't deserve a standing ovation"
#39re: Do you give a standing ovation at every show?
Posted: 5/7/08 at 6:11pm
I stand often. There is usually at least once performance in each show that I'd consider to be outstanding. If not, I might stand for the material or the overall emotion I felt during the show.
And I do admit that sometimes I stand when I really wouldn't because other people do.
Honestly, I generally think standing ovations are a pain, but if it is a great performance or show then it is worth the work. 
So, that was the Drowsy Chaperone. Oh, I love it so much. I know it's not a perfect show...but it does what a musical is supposed to do. It takes you to another world, and it gives you a little tune to carry with you in your head for when you're feeling blue. Ya know?
#40re: Do you give a standing ovation at every show?
Posted: 5/7/08 at 6:42pm
Here's my deal:
I know how it feels to receive a standing ovation, and honestly it's one of the greatest feelings in the world.
That being said, I tend not to stand for performances I really did not enjoy. HOWEVER, I ALWAYS stand for the final bow, where all the cast members bow together. This way, I can acknowledge my appreciation and not my enjoyment.
For performances I really enjoyed, I stand right when the curtain call begins. (e.g. August: Osage County, Passing Strange)
If a performer stood out to me in a certain show, I stand when he/she bows and remain standing until the last bow. (e.g. Chris Fitzgerald in Young Frankenstein)
This isn't a written set of rules, its just how it tends to work when I go to the theatre.
#41re: Do you give a standing ovation at every show?
Posted: 5/7/08 at 7:43pm
I usually stand often, although not for every show I see. Sometimes if I'm sitting in the back, I have to stand so that I can see actors take their bows. I figure it's not worth not seeing the curtain call just to prove a point.
Some shows I've stood up for:
Mary Poppins
Avenue Q
Ragtime (I witnessed an outstanding regional production)
The Phantom of The Opera
Some shows I didn't stand for:
The Wedding Singer
Rent
Aida
"You drank a charm to kill John Proctor's wife! You drank a charm to kill Goody Proctor!" - Betty Parris to Abigail Williams in Arthur Miller's The Crucible
itwontbelongnowx
Understudy Joined: 10/19/07
#42re: Do you give a standing ovation at every show?
Posted: 5/7/08 at 7:54pm
I was at Legally Blonde (Becky Gulsvig was on as Elle and I was so pleased by her preformance that I stood) and I was standing and clapping and an older woman behind me was like, " CAN YOU SIT DOWN IM TRYING TO SEE!!!" I was like, "I'm applauding the performers in the show, sorry?"
After the show she was like., "*sarcastic* Thank you so much for sitting down!!!!" And I was like, " *sarcastic* My pleasure."
She was a biznotch.
#43re: Do you give a standing ovation at every show?
Posted: 5/7/08 at 9:29pm
I used to stand all the time. Then I spent some time in the UK and became much more discerning about giving standing ovations. As odd as it may sound, West End audiences rarely gave standing ovations, only doing so when the performance was something truly amazing.
Now I only stand if I feel the show/performances are extraordinary or something that I am truly moved by. I never feel right standing for a show just because I saw it, which is something I see quite frequently here in the US- although not usually from regular theatre goers, mostly from the tourist crowd.
#44re: Do you give a standing ovation at every show?
Posted: 5/7/08 at 9:31pmIf they earn it. I usually wait till the actors who really blew me away came out.
"I told you, NO Rodgers and Hammerstein!"- Bart Simpson
#45re: Do you give a standing ovation at every show?
Posted: 5/7/08 at 9:46pm
"I definitely don't. But then there's that age old problem. Lots of other people are standing up and you don't want to miss the bows of the big stars or the curtain call number. As such, I've found myself standing up quite a few times when I wouldn't have done it under other circumstances."
I fully agree with Vespertine ! I stand only for the shows or the performers that I think deserve it ! There was no way I'd have stood for JERSEY BOYS or LITTLE MERMAID, but I had to, since everyone else in front of me did ! Patti, on the other hand, had me on my feet, the second she finished Rose's Turn !
slimandslam
Broadway Star Joined: 9/26/05
#47re: Do you give a standing ovation at every show?
Posted: 5/8/08 at 12:10am
I hate giving standing ovations. Most of the time, the performances don't warrant it. But if everyone else stands up, I don't want to be the dick who stayed in her chair (plus, I don't wanna just sit there and stare at people's asses). So I reluctantly get up.
Radioactiveduck
Broadway Star Joined: 7/18/05
#48re: Do you give a standing ovation at every show?
Posted: 5/8/08 at 3:17amI used to stand up all the time, but now I don't. I think a standing ovation should be reserved for something truly spectacular...something that gives you no choice but to stand.
LePetiteFromage
Broadway Legend Joined: 1/19/08
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