Favorite Pre-Curtain, anti-cell phone announcement
Favorite Pre-Curtain, anti-cell phone announcement
#1Favorite Pre-Curtain, anti-cell phone announcement
Posted: 7/3/08 at 1:48pm
Other discussions about cell phones and similar distractions interrupting shows, prompts me to ask -- what is the best pre-curtain announcement you've heard for the issue?
For Omnium Gatherum off-Broadway a few years ago, I liked the speech that went something like this: "Normally at this time we would be asking the audience to turn off their cellphones and to unwrap their candies, but since this is a particularly intelligent show and we assume the audience is also, we are not making such an announcement tonight". Nevertheless, the couple behind me spent half the play unwrapping cellophane candies. After the show, I turned and said, "I guess the opening announcement was wrong to assume about an intelligent audience?"
I also liked seeing Do I Hear a Waltz at Pasadena Playhouse when the entire announcement was made in Italian. The only words that came out clearly in English were "cell phone" and "candy wrappers" and "photographs". It all got a big laugh, but seemed to work.
Updated On: 7/3/08 at 01:48 PM
#2re: Favorite Pre-Curtain, anti-cell phone announcement
Posted: 7/3/08 at 1:51pm
Just to let you know, there's already another thread on this.
https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.cfm?thread=930259#3426773
Unknown User
Joined: 12/31/69
#2re: Favorite Pre-Curtain, anti-cell phone announcement
Posted: 7/3/08 at 1:55pm
Welcome to Patti LuPone Gypsy! If you touch your cellphone during this performance, Patti will leap into the audience and confiscate your phone...and the hand you are holding it in!
Updated On: 7/3/08 at 01:55 PM
#3re: Favorite Pre-Curtain, anti-cell phone announcement
Posted: 7/3/08 at 1:59pm
JoeKv99, imagine if they really said that. How many people in the audience would have their phones out?
You know how some announcements say, please unwrap your candy now..and people start laughing and think it's some kind of joke. It is no joke.
#4re: Favorite Pre-Curtain, anti-cell phone announcement
Posted: 7/3/08 at 2:00pm
The Drama Desk Awards when Kristen Chenoweth said something like...
If You Don't Turn Your Cell Phones off I swear, I will make this mother 8 hours.....
It is on youtube and it makes me laugh every time!
Unknown User
Joined: 12/31/69
#5re: Favorite Pre-Curtain, anti-cell phone announcement
Posted: 7/3/08 at 2:07pmTheatre these days should take a cue from golf tournaments. You are not even allowed to have a cellphone on your person (at least at the event I went to). They have a "coat check" kind of area before you enter, in case you forgot to leave it behind.(most golf fans seem to know the rules already) If you get caught with your phone (even if it's off), you are ejected. Not really realistic for theatre, but it would be nice..
#6re: Favorite Pre-Curtain, anti-cell phone announcement
Posted: 7/3/08 at 2:24pmAt the preview of the Mamma Mia movie there was a security guy checking everyone's cell phone to make sure it was off before you could enter the theater. It was funny because once people were inside they just turned them back on.
Phyllis Rogers Stone
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/16/07
#7re: Favorite Pre-Curtain, anti-cell phone announcement
Posted: 7/3/08 at 2:29pmI don't think my favorite one has been presented yet. It will be the one that actually WORKS.
#8re: Favorite Pre-Curtain, anti-cell phone announcement
Posted: 7/3/08 at 2:39pm
Ahhh, there was a lovely one at the RSC's Histories Cycle. It must've been just before '1 Henry VI' on the Saturday (although it could've been 'Richard III' on the Sunday, in which case the numbers would have been different; seven and one, instead of four and four). Most of the audience had already been there for 'Richard II' on Thursday and all the 'Henry IV'/'Henry V' on Friday, so kinda knew the drill. I *wish* I could remember which cast member it was; one of the older gentlemen. He came out onstage and basically mimed "four down, four to go. Anyone who's been with us from the start, we love you, and please switch off your mobile phones". There was mucho applause, and no phone rings. 
Shakespeare's Globe is another one that reminds you mobile phones haven't been existed in the time the play is set. But it carries a bit more weight in a replicated Elizabethan theatre. :3
Updated On: 7/3/08 at 02:39 PM
#9re: Favorite Pre-Curtain, anti-cell phone announcement
Posted: 7/3/08 at 2:41pm
THE HISTORY BOYS used to be something along the lines of "Cell phones ringing in a theatre is now against the law!"
MTC Biltmore simply has a cell-phone ring-tone ring over the house speakers 3 times during the 30-mins prior to curtain.
#10re: Favorite Pre-Curtain, anti-cell phone announcement
Posted: 7/3/08 at 2:43pmI loved the overture to CRY-BABY, where the announcements were all made a part of it.
dramagirl487
Featured Actor Joined: 2/19/08
#11re: Favorite Pre-Curtain, anti-cell phone announcement
Posted: 7/3/08 at 2:48pmthe Legally Blonde one is the most memorable for me. It kinda made me want to kill myself =)
dramagirl487
Featured Actor Joined: 2/19/08
#12re: Favorite Pre-Curtain, anti-cell phone announcement
Posted: 7/3/08 at 2:48pmthe Legally Blonde one is the most memorable for me. It kinda made me want to kill myself =)
rich.hanson59
Stand-by Joined: 8/7/07
#13re: Favorite Pre-Curtain, anti-cell phone announcement
Posted: 7/3/08 at 3:04pmI second the Cry-Baby announcement.
Unknown User
Joined: 12/31/69
#14re: Favorite Pre-Curtain, anti-cell phone announcement
Posted: 7/3/08 at 3:22pm
I hated the Legally Blonde announcement.
I loved the Cry-Baby announcement.
#15re: Favorite Pre-Curtain, anti-cell phone announcement
Posted: 7/3/08 at 3:25pmLight in the Piazza always made my laugh.
tourboi
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/15/05
#16re: Favorite Pre-Curtain, anti-cell phone announcement
Posted: 7/3/08 at 3:26pm
I love the MAMMA MIA announcement and "warning" for audience members of nervous dispositions.
Also REALLY liked the Boston HIGH FIDELITY announcement, crude and to the point!
#17re: Favorite Pre-Curtain, anti-cell phone announcement
Posted: 7/3/08 at 3:33pmThe Light in the Piazza announcement was the best!
gypsy4
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/14/07
#18re: Favorite Pre-Curtain, anti-cell phone announcement
Posted: 7/3/08 at 3:55pmI like the pre announcement during hairspray it's funny.
#19re: Favorite Pre-Curtain, anti-cell phone announcement
Posted: 7/3/08 at 7:05pmNot Broadway but the pre-show announcements for the Cirque du Soleil shows "Ka" and "O" in Las Vegas are pretty good.
#20re: Favorite Pre-Curtain, anti-cell phone announcement
Posted: 7/3/08 at 7:22pmGrey Gardens and Spamalot!
#21re: Favorite Pre-Curtain, anti-cell phone announcement
Posted: 7/3/08 at 7:55pm
Kristen Chenoweth's Announcement
#22re: Favorite Pre-Curtain, anti-cell phone announcement
Posted: 7/3/08 at 8:19pm
Wow, she's crazy!
I knew she was funny but christ that opener is hilarious.
"27 winners are going to leave very happy and 137 nominees will leave bitter and consider getting out of the business."
and talk about that song.
I didn't think I could love her more.
Anyway I like Roundabout's preshow announcement which is just a bunch of ringtones piling up one after another. I heard it in 3penny, dunno what other shows they use it in.
And Boy From Oz's "ejector seat" quip was hilarious.
"If artists were machines, then I'm just a different kind of machine...I'd probably be a toaster. Actually, I'd be a toaster oven because they're more versatile. And I like making grilled cheese" -Regina Spektor
"That's, like, twelve shows! ...Or seven." -Crazy SA Fangirl
"They say that just being relaxed is the most important thing [in acting]. I take that to another level, I think kinda like yawning and...like being partially asleep onstage is also good, but whatever." - Sherie Rene Scott
bwayguy22089
Broadway Star Joined: 12/16/06
#24re: Favorite Pre-Curtain, anti-cell phone announcement
Posted: 7/3/08 at 8:34pmAnyone care to share the Cry-Baby one?
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