For those that are always bashing tourists and- Page 3

[Greekmusicalfan]

Posted: 2/11/08 at 7:57pm

Craig could not have said it better !!! Rudeness and bad behavior CAN NOT be generalised !!!! They are completely individualistic characteristics ! I've said it again, If you are a pig at your hometown, you will be a pig everywhere and if you are respectful and well behaved at home, you will be like that wherever you go !
As you know i come from a hugely touristic place ! We never make fun of tourists, we love and respect them with all their faults because they CHOSE to come and spend money at our city! Since the ancient times, a GUEST was a person we should honor and respect ! You have no idea of the ridiculous behavior and rudeness some Americans have, when visiting ! Do we generalise and hate them all ? No, we shrug off and laugh about it, because we know they mean no harm !

And it really makes me laugh so hard, that the most obnoxious, annoying, hateful, loathsome and ignorant poster of this board, who I don't even wanna bother to name, has the nerve to talk about good manners !!!!

[amalou]

Posted: 2/11/08 at 8:33pm

Phantom of the Opera is often considered a huge tourist trap yet every time I've seen it, the only people who were disruptive or rude were locals. One was a woman who kept giggling at completely inappropriate moments and continued whispering to me. That was really annoying. Another was a woman dressed in sweat pants and a sweat shirt with a plastic shopping bag full of candy that she kept digging into during the show.

The only time I remember being bothered by tourists is any time a field trip is involved and they may not have anything to do with being from out of town. It's just a bunch of teenage kids on the loose...like 50 kids with three worn out adults to watch over them. Chaos.

Tourists generally have to pay more to come to the city, pay for hotels, pay for dining and possibly pay for plane tickets. I don't think they're going to go through all that to ruin a show for someone.

You can't generalize based only one a few experiences, but I don't think you can say it's ONLY tourists or it's ONLY locals who misbehave at shows. Any given moron can ruin your good time, it doesn't matter where they're from.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 2/11/08 at 8:56pm

Don't walk in "packs", don't walk arm in arm with 3 friends and take up the entire sidewalk so no one can get past you.

Yeah, that's every city, and it ain't just tourists. I often think I must be the fastest man on earth because I can lap just about anyone on the sidewalk, even in New York City, where the natives are just the model of decorum and manners!

[george95]

Posted: 2/11/08 at 9:01pm

yeah this generalizing about how New Yorkers, bridge-and-tunnel-ers and tourists act is totally pointless.

[allofmylife]

Posted: 2/11/08 at 9:37pm

New York has ALWAYS counted on the tourist trade for the stage. You can tell this from the fact that any time you find a Broadway proram from the 20s, 30s or 40s, they usually come as a set of five or six all with the same date. These were the product of someone's week (often Honeymoon) in New York, seeing all the hit shows one-after-another. Welcome to New York. Come back soon, and often.

And as Johnny Carson always warned: "Never buy a watch from a man in a car. Especially if he is taking it off the wrist of a man in the trunk."

[miss pennywise]

Posted: 2/11/08 at 10:09pm

Tourists are strangers in a strange land. Give them a break.

Try to be helpful instead of critical and you'll get better results. Plus, it's the kind and decent way to act. You know, kinda like the way you want them to behave!

And I love New Yorkers, but, come on, we're a brash bunch!

[Glitter and be Gay]

Posted: 2/11/08 at 10:40pm

I love tourists! Well, on the TKTS line. If you pay attention to what those ahead of you are talking about, you can thin the line down.

Many of them get in line thinking they are going to get discount tickets to the latest hit show. When you hear them talking about wanting to buy tickets to a show that has never been on TKTS and won't be for a long time, politely tell them the show they want to see is not available. They'll want to know what is available, that's when you tell them to check the listing on the boards. They move out of line to check the listings, you move ahead. Score!

But the easiest way to whittle down the line is to listen for those who are planning to use a credit card. Then you inform them it's cash or traveler's checks only, and helpfully point them towards an ATM several blocks away.

[sopranobiz]

Posted: 2/12/08 at 10:25am

I heart broadwayworld.

[DefyGravity777]

Posted: 2/12/08 at 10:32am

New Yorkers walk fast ... try to keep up the pace, and if you are going to walk slowly, try to keep to the building side of the sidewalk.
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I have yet to see anyone walking fast in New York. I go there about 1 or 2 times a month and are almost plowing people down trying to walk past them.

[Scripps2]

Posted: 2/12/08 at 2:51pm

Slightly off-topic, my first trip to the USA was to Washington DC where I had a great time with good theatre at the Kennedy Centre, all the museums and the historic and iconic buildings as well. When I was telling the locals how much I was enjoying myself, some of them specifically thanked me for coming to Washington before I'd been to New York. So if New Yorkers don't want tourists it would appear that Washingtonians will gratefully welcome them.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 2/12/08 at 3:11pm

"So if New Yorkers don't want tourists it would appear that Washingtonians will gratefully welcome them."

I don't think anyone has said they don't want tourists. The idea is that the way people act at Disneyworld is not the same way to act when attending a Broadway show.

[Scripps2]

Posted: 2/12/08 at 6:22pm

I think there is a tourist-phobic undercurrent running through some entries on this thread. But the issues associated with tourists are not exclusive to New York or the theatre; they apply to anywhere that attracts tourists - New York, London or a small village that has coaches piling through it because it happens to be a World Heritage Site.

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 2/12/08 at 6:23pm

"Theater is a live event."

No THEATRE is.

Theater is where you go to see a film or movie.

[uncageg]

Posted: 2/12/08 at 6:26pm

As far as theatre goes, I don't think it is just the tourists but also people who are seeing popular shows who don't normally attend the theatre and don't know theatre etiquette. And that happens everywhere.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 2/12/08 at 6:39pm

Rudeness and bad behavior CAN NOT be generalised !!!!

This is BroadwayWorld. Anything can be generalized.

[winston89]

Posted: 2/12/08 at 10:02pm

I find that it is also locals who don't know how to act during theatre as well. Mostly it is teens who are with a school group or with a camp group. I saw Poppins this summer and I was in standing room next to a women who was from NYC. She was eating a bag of peanuts. Now, I am very allergic to them even the smell sets me off. I asked the usher to tell her to put them away before the show started. He said that he told her to make sure that they are away by the time the lights go down. I then reminded her that she had agreed to put them away when the lights went down. She said that they weren't bothering anyone. I tried to let her know that I am very allergic to them and they will make me break out if she didn't put them away. She still shrugged me off. I ended up breaking out in a reaction by spoonful of sugar and had to leave right then and there.

I know this is not a typical story. But, I am just using this as an example about how even locals can't always behave at the theatre.


I was with my grandmother and we saw doubt. At the end of the show I was giving Cherry Jones a very well deserved standing ovation. My grandmother literally pulled me down because she had thought that I was blocking peoples views and didn't understand why I was going to stand during the bows and that the proper thing to do was to sit.