Getting Engaged at Broadway Shows
Getting Engaged at Broadway Shows
millie_dillmount
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/22/04
#1Getting Engaged at Broadway Shows
Posted: 5/31/13 at 3:43pm
Forgive me if this has been posted before (I did a search).
Cinderella posted on Facebook today that two audience members recently got engaged at a show onstage. I've heard about this happening before and was even at a performance of the Wedding Singer where this happened.
How does one usually go about this? Is it an easy request or do you have to jump through a million hoops? Does management usually ask for donations? Not that I'd want to get engaged at a show...just curious how one goes about this.
Thanks! Hope everyone is staying cool in this heat wave. 
"We like to snark around here. Sometimes we actually talk about theater...but we try not to let that get in our way." - dramamama611
Gothampc
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/20/03
#2Getting Engaged at Broadway Shows
Posted: 5/31/13 at 3:54pm
To be honest, I think it's the most self absorbed idea on the planet. People pay $150+ to watch a Broadway show. You want to show off in front of people, rent your own theater.
Oh, and you can arrange it through the producer's office.
If anyone ever tells you that you put too much Parmesan cheese on your pasta, stop talking to them. You don't need that kind of negativity in your life.
Updated On: 5/31/13 at 03:54 PM
Wilmingtom
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/18/11
#2Getting Engaged at Broadway Shows
Posted: 5/31/13 at 3:57pmThe publicist's office is the briefer and surer route.
#3Getting Engaged at Broadway Shows
Posted: 5/31/13 at 3:59pmI think its sweet when performers get engaged at their own shows, like when Darren Ritchie popped the question to Janet Dacal during the closing curtain call of Wonderland, or when Patina Miller got engaged post Pippin opening night.
#4Getting Engaged at Broadway Shows
Posted: 5/31/13 at 4:06pmI agree with you Maddie. Very cute and appropriate when performers in the show do it like at Wonderland and I think Memphis if I recall correctly and really obnoxious and annoying when it's random audience members.
Scratch and claw for every day you're worth!
Make them drag you screaming from life, keep dreaming
You'll live forever here on earth.
#5Getting Engaged at Broadway Shows
Posted: 5/31/13 at 4:08pmWhat if the other person says no? Could be reeeeaaaal embarrassing.
"Pardon my prior Mcfee slip. I know how to spell her name. I just don't know how to type it." -Talulah
millie_dillmount
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/22/04
#6Getting Engaged at Broadway Shows
Posted: 5/31/13 at 4:09pm
"Very cute and appropriate when performers in the show do it like at Wonderland and I think Memphis if I recall correctly and really obnoxious and annoying when it's random audience members."
I agree..more appropriate when a cast member does this, but it seems odd when it is random audience members. Once was fine, but now I've heard this happening more frequently lately.
"We like to snark around here. Sometimes we actually talk about theater...but we try not to let that get in our way." - dramamama611
Gothampc
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/20/03
#7Getting Engaged at Broadway Shows
Posted: 5/31/13 at 4:10pmOr you could do like Patti LuPone and get married after the matinee.
If anyone ever tells you that you put too much Parmesan cheese on your pasta, stop talking to them. You don't need that kind of negativity in your life.
#8Getting Engaged at Broadway Shows
Posted: 5/31/13 at 4:11pmI would only do it after something like VIRGINIA WOOLF.
"Pardon my prior Mcfee slip. I know how to spell her name. I just don't know how to type it." -Talulah
#9Getting Engaged at Broadway Shows
Posted: 5/31/13 at 4:44pmI read an article years ago about a couple who got engaged at Beauty and the Beast. They weren't currently in the show, but they were former cast mates, and had MET when they were in the cast together. That's okay in my book, too.
KirbyCat
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/23/08
#10Getting Engaged at Broadway Shows
Posted: 5/31/13 at 4:56pm
http://www.cinderellaonbroadway.com/packages
ROYAL PROPOSALS
Begin your "happily ever after" on stage after CINDERELLA! For no cost, pop the question to your Princess or Prince Charming in front of a kingdom full of audience members! Make it even more memorable with an optional post-show celebration for friends and family, where cast members might stop by to say congratulations to the happy couple.
GilmoreGirlO2
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/13/05
#11Getting Engaged at Broadway Shows
Posted: 5/31/13 at 5:01pm
Personally, I don’t think it’s a way to show-off for everyone. One of the biggest things my girlfriend and I share is theatre, so if we got engaged onstage after seeing a show together, it would be very meaningful (perhaps the difference is it wouldn’t matter if there were people in the audience or not).
For theatre goers who are just looking for a venue to propose publicly, no matter whether it’s a theatre stage or the top of the Empire, then I understand this frustration.
That being said, I can't believe "Cinderella" actually advertises for this!
dramamama611
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/4/07
#12Getting Engaged at Broadway Shows
Posted: 5/31/13 at 5:16pm
I just hate how EVERYTHING has become an EVENT. Is nothing private and personal anymore?
Re: the actors -- while I can understand how they might want to, this is another example of inviting fans into their lives.
To each his own.
If we're not having fun, then why are we doing it?
These are DISCUSSION boards, not mutual admiration boards. Discussion only occurs when we are willing to hear what others are thinking, regardless of whether it is alignment to our own thoughts.
#13Getting Engaged at Broadway Shows
Posted: 5/31/13 at 5:39pm
I think The Wedding Singer was the first show to actively market the idea of a post-show wedding proposal. From a marketing and revenue standpoint, it makes business sense to market this, although I don't know how special it is when it's being marketed like that.
I don't think there's anything wrong with a couple taking up the production's offer, as long as it's relatively short. I happened to be in the audience at a post-Wedding Singer proposal, and it didn't take any longer than a BCEFA fundraising speech does. The couple also seemed very nice (of course, who can really tell from something like that).
"What was the name of that cheese that I like?"
"you can't run away forever...but there's nothing wrong with getting a good head start"
"well I hope and I pray, that maybe someday, you'll walk in the room with my heart"
#14Getting Engaged at Broadway Shows
Posted: 5/31/13 at 5:48pm
I was onstage at the Kennedy Center rockin out to the reprise of Let the Sunshine In when this happened. It was a little like huh? What is going on!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmJaIHTIO5g
#15Getting Engaged at Broadway Shows
Posted: 5/31/13 at 5:51pm
After a performance of "Anything Goes," Joel Grey made a speech about how grateful we as a nation are to the service provided by the Navy (this was also during "Fleet Week," when AG had that obnoxious "Snap a Sailor" contest), and invited two naval officers (a man and a woman) onstage to receive thanks from the cast and audience. The man then proposed to the woman, and the audience ate it up.
The best part for me? When the couple climbed onstage, Sutton Foster held out her hand saying, "Hi, I'm Sutton," with that I'm-famous-but-am-introducing-myself-anyway smile, and the female officer cocked her head like, "yeah, I know. What, you think I didn't read the Playbill?"
#16Getting Engaged at Broadway Shows
Posted: 5/31/13 at 5:55pmI think it's an awful practice. Unless you're in the show or are working on it. The show isn't about YOU, it's about... well the show.
dramamama611
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/4/07
#17Getting Engaged at Broadway Shows
Posted: 5/31/13 at 6:01pmThe show isn't about the actors either...it's about the characters.
If we're not having fun, then why are we doing it?
These are DISCUSSION boards, not mutual admiration boards. Discussion only occurs when we are willing to hear what others are thinking, regardless of whether it is alignment to our own thoughts.
#18Getting Engaged at Broadway Shows
Posted: 5/31/13 at 6:06pm
I knew the second I saw the title that there would be naysayers in this thread. Two people want to get married at a Broadway show that they're in with their significant other? Great. It's a huge part of their lives that they share with one another, and it makes sense that it would be part of their proposal. Someone wants to propose who isn't in the cast? Also great. Theater is probably a huge part of their lives.
People's proposals aren't about you, assholes. You don't want to watch them, leave the theater.
dramamama611
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/4/07
#19Getting Engaged at Broadway Shows
Posted: 5/31/13 at 6:10pm
And unless you are on an aisle, you are rather held captive. SO...they are forcing their activity on the audience at large.
Note: no one here really made a big deal about sitting through it, people just voiced their opinions on it.
If we're not having fun, then why are we doing it?
These are DISCUSSION boards, not mutual admiration boards. Discussion only occurs when we are willing to hear what others are thinking, regardless of whether it is alignment to our own thoughts.
#20Getting Engaged at Broadway Shows
Posted: 5/31/13 at 7:15pm
"People's proposals aren't about you, assholes. You don't want to watch them, leave the theater."
NO, I DON'T want to watch them. It has nothing to do with the show. If they want to share their private, OFF STAGE life with hundreds of strangers, they should have some event to that effect, asshole.
<-----I'M TOTES ROLLING MY EYES
#21Getting Engaged at Broadway Shows
Posted: 5/31/13 at 7:38pmWhen I saw Memphis one of the ensemble members proposed to his girlfriend who was in the front row and I thought and was very cool and a great way to share that memory.
#22Getting Engaged at Broadway Shows
Posted: 5/31/13 at 7:41pm
Each to his own!
I know that I'd never want a public proposal like that.
<-----I'M TOTES ROLLING MY EYES
#23Getting Engaged at Broadway Shows
Posted: 6/1/13 at 6:37am
I'm a romantic (though single) at heart. If permission is obtained from the show, then I don't see anything wrong with it. from RC in Austin, Texas
"Noel [Coward] and I were in Paris once. Adjoining rooms, of course. One night, I felt mischievous, so I knocked on Noel's door, and he asked, 'Who is it?' I lowered my voice and said 'Hotel detective. Have you got a gentleman in your room?' He answered, 'Just a minute, I'll ask him.'" (Beatrice Lillie)
Updated On: 6/1/13 at 06:37 AM
dramamama611
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/4/07
#24Getting Engaged at Broadway Shows
Posted: 6/1/13 at 6:46amExcept Jane doesn't like it.
If we're not having fun, then why are we doing it?
These are DISCUSSION boards, not mutual admiration boards. Discussion only occurs when we are willing to hear what others are thinking, regardless of whether it is alignment to our own thoughts.
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