Have you ever left at intermission?
BWayJunkie
Understudy Joined: 3/16/08
#100re: Have you ever left at intermission?
Posted: 5/4/08 at 7:39pmI have been tempted before, but never have. This is kind of a departure, but, humor me. I work at the New Am Theater and on Friday we got word that Tom Cruise and his flock were seeing our show (Mary Poppins) but were going to see Hairspray first and if Suri's attention span (she's 2, u do the math) allowed them to stay for act 2 of Hairspray they'd stay, but if not, they'd run over to our theater and see act 2 of MP. Now, Hairspray is on 52nd and 8th and the New Am is on 42nd and 7th. They couldn't make it in 15 minutes, nor do our intermissions happen at the same time. He kept the whole usher and security staff waiting for his arrival, which never came. I thought it was unnecessary. But why would you buy tickets to two shows with leaving one to go to the other as an option. Is this something that many people do?
#101re: Have you ever left at intermission?
Posted: 5/4/08 at 7:59pmNot a broadway show, but yesterday a whole family walked out of Avenue Q during the sex scene!!! They won the lotto, so they were in the front row. It kind of made me like the show more tho, because i love scandalous shows!
#102re: Have you ever left at intermission?
Posted: 5/4/08 at 8:01pmI left last summer at the intermission of Spamalot. Got my money back, and went to see A Chorus Line instead (it started 20 minutes after the 1st act of spamalot ended)
LePetiteFromage
Broadway Legend Joined: 1/19/08
#104re: Have you ever left at intermission?
Posted: 5/4/08 at 11:49pm
I had a very very large WTF??? moment during the intermission of Rock N' Roll. I seriously considered leaving, until I realized that I would have had nowhere to go for the next hour while I waited for friends.
I usually love Stoppard, but this was just too much.
#105re: Have you ever left at intermission?
Posted: 5/5/08 at 12:13amI left at intermission for "Kindertransport." I hated that play so much.
--http://www.benjaminadgate.com/
#106re: Have you ever left at intermission?
Posted: 5/5/08 at 9:53am
I left last summer at the intermission of Spamalot. Got my money back, and went to see A Chorus Line instead (it started 20 minutes after the 1st act of spamalot ended)
How did you get your money back?
#107re: Have you ever left at intermission?
Posted: 5/6/08 at 6:00pm
I went to the lobby and asked to talk to the box office manager.
1- They didn't give me the right seat that I had originally purchased
2- It was obstructed view that they did give me, with NO warning
3- The lady of the lake was off key the entire first act (Marin...wow did she suck)
So I ended up talking to, I think the house manager. I complained a lot, and got a refund
#108re: Have you ever left at intermission?
Posted: 5/6/08 at 6:00pm
I went to the lobby and asked to talk to the box office manager.
1- They didn't give me the right seat that I had originally purchased
2- It was obstructed view that they did give me, with NO warning
3- The lady of the lake was off key the entire first act (Marin...wow did she suck)
So I ended up talking to, I think the house manager. I complained a lot, and got a refund
#109re: Have you ever left at intermission?
Posted: 5/6/08 at 6:13pm
I have never and most likely will never leave a show early.
Also, the second Act of "The Lion King" is superior to the first Act by far, and missing it would be a shame in my humble opinion.
3allthatjazz
Chorus Member Joined: 2/2/08
#110re: Have you ever left at intermission?
Posted: 5/6/08 at 9:49pm
#111re: Have you ever left at intermission?
Posted: 5/6/08 at 9:52pm
never a broadway production, most of them are done so beautifully anyways
but i did leave once about three quarters of the way through "she stoops to conquer". i guess it could have been ok but the actors could barely get through their lines
i was sick of being embarrased for them by then
#112re: Have you ever left at intermission?
Posted: 5/6/08 at 10:34pmI left at THE RAT PACK in Los Angeles, almost CAMELOT with Lou Diamond Phillips, but I just took a pleasant nap.
BDavis0092
Broadway Star Joined: 7/24/06
#113re: Have you ever left at intermission?
Posted: 5/6/08 at 10:37pmI was close to leaving at Cry Baby but I stayed and the second act was a little better than the first thank god.
#114re: Have you ever left at intermission?
Posted: 5/6/08 at 11:05pm
We were tempted at "The Pirate Queen". My 18 yr old son asked at intermission "Is it over? Please God say it is over". Unfortunately it wasn't. He has been Concertmaster for Pit orchestras in our area, he knows his music.
We paid full price for preview tickets the night before it opened. The theater was filled with middle schoolers on spring break school trips. It was like bad Disney - you could anticipate the rhyming word at the end of every line of song. We stayed because we paid full price, and wanted to see it dissolve in front of us.
After this one in previews last year and Cry Baby last month - we've decided no more previews. If you fly out to NYC to really enjoy a week of theater, and pay through the nose, I want to be entertained. No train wrecks for me.
#115re: Have you ever left at intermission?
Posted: 5/7/08 at 1:31amI left at intermission during "1776." I left my friends and told them to meet me outside...could not take ONE MORE second of this show.
#116re: Have you ever left at intermission?
Posted: 5/7/08 at 1:46am
when i saw the sweeney revival for the second time this huge black family (not weight huge, 3 kids huge) taking up the whole damn front row left at intermission. you could see the actors eyeing the open row during "god, that's good!" i had an aisel seat a few rows back so i ran up and sat front row!
the only professional show i left was when dirty rotten scoundrels came to my hometown (san anotnio, tx). i was really excited for the show, but jokes were falling flat, the girl who sings "oklahoma" was atrocious, and i was terribly disappointed with "here i am". oh well...
broadwayrocks2
Stand-by Joined: 1/10/08
#118re: Have you ever left at intermission?
Posted: 5/7/08 at 3:47pmThere are two shows that I wanted desperately to leave at intermission, but ended up staying, thinking something good might happen in Act Two. I was wrong both times. The runner-up for worst musical I have ever seen was Anthony Newley's 1962 English import STOP THE WORLD--I WANT TO GET OFF, although it had one song that became a big hit, and rightfully so: "What Kind of Fool Am I". I just found the acting, book and staging so annoying. I did leave during curtain calls and ran out to get a drink. The absolute worst musical I have ever seen, without one trace of redeeming value, was NICK & NORA (1991) with of all people Arthur Laurents as librettist and director. It was a murder mystery where no one cared who did it. My friends left at intermission, but I stupidly stayed to the very bitter end. It's miserable score was written by Charles Strouse and Richard Maltby, Jr. Despite some big name cast members(Barry Bostwick, Joanna Gleason, Christine Baranski, and Debra Munk), the acting was terrible. It closed quickly, unlike STOP THE WORLD which had a respectable run for 1962, 556 performances.
#119re: Have you ever left at intermission?
Posted: 5/7/08 at 4:01pmI never left during intermission of a Broadway show, but I did walk out of some regional/touring productions. I even left before intermission from a couple that were embarrassingly awful including a national tour of Hair.
#120re: Have you ever left at intermission?
Posted: 5/7/08 at 4:17pmOh, adamgreer, you're gonna make me blush! It's not that impressive. If you use the doors on 43rd, it's only five blocks to the Walter Kerr on 48th. The 2pm Grey Gardens was in progress, so there was no absolutely no waiting at the box office. Ten NYC blocks in fifteen minutes would be like going only two miles per hour. They were a delightful ten blocks, though, being out in the May sun, away from The Pirate Queen.
landryjames2
Leading Actor Joined: 5/17/06
#121re: Have you ever left at intermission?
Posted: 5/7/08 at 4:29pm
Shows I left at Intermission: Wedding Singer, The Pirate Queen, and The Little Mermaid (the worst show I have ever seen on Broadway).
Show that I most wish I had left at intermission: Lestat.
#122re: Have you ever left at intermission?
Posted: 5/7/08 at 4:46pmI wished I'd left in passing strange. It is just not my kind of music.
stagecandy
Swing Joined: 5/9/08
#123re: Have you ever left at intermission?
Posted: 5/9/08 at 3:12pmI left during intermission during Top Girls along with about half the theater.
#124re: Have you ever left at intermission?
Posted: 5/9/08 at 3:53pmWanted to at Little Mermaid but I was with my school
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