Have you ever seen a musical on Broadway that didn't get a standing ovation? — Page 2

Yes, most of them before 2002. I remember noticing that the standing ovation started to get built into the curtain call post 2002 with lighting shifts, orchestrations, etc. I agree that it was influenced by American Idol, etc. But it was also part of the destination tourism shift of the newly renovated Times Square district and its attendant "luxury event" ticket pricing. It spilled into everything including concerts, dance, etc. The absence of a standing ovation now signals either that the show was really bad or it is not pitched primarily to tourists.

Updated On: 3/24/24 at 02:00 PM

In My Life, Cry-Baby, The Life, and early in previews Titanic, Wonderland and Scandalous.

The hundred or so of us that were left by the end of Scandalous applauded politely. (They had moved everyone from the mezz down to the orchestra and it was still mostly empty,) Not exaggerating when I say I'm not sure the cast could hear us over the orchestra.

SisterGeorge said: "Not only have SOs become ubiquitous in the US after every type performance (musicals, dramas, concerts, ballet, magicians, comedians), but increasingly there are a few audience members who inevitably stand up any time a singer in a musical holds a high note for more than tree seconds. At Tommy recently, not only did a woman in front-center Orchestra jump up mid-show for an SO, but also turned around to manically encourage the rest of the audience to join her. And like witlesslemmings, much of the rest of the Orchestra section did."

Oh. My. God. I think I was at that show. Okay but listen. I hate that so much for so many reasons. First of all, I understand being impressed, but nobody in the opera is about to start applauding in the middle of the high note of Nessun Dorma. It distracts the performer from the music. I mean, there's a recording of the applause drowning out Harvey Fierstein in Hairspray so much that he couldn't find where he was meant to come in in You Can't Stop the Beat and was off beat for almost a measure, and we're talking about a four time Tony Award winner professional who generates an absolutely absurd amount of applause. He's used to this kind of thing, but even he got thrown off by it. You just can't applaud these things. Unless it's very clearly in the music and staging that you should applaud, don't applaud in the middle of the song! Like the only time I'm going to applaud in the middle of the song other than a clearly indicated entrance applause or a break clearly made for applause is if there's a dance break and there's something incredibly impressive that I don't think will be disrupted by clapping. And I will never hoot and whistle at every line the way every single audience did at everything in Be More Chill. Man that show is like subpar at best but the community is so dedicated that every entrance, every high note, every thing somehow warranted applause. I was ecstatic when I saw Beetlejuice during its remounting and even moreso when I saw Wicked after the pandemic but I would never interrupt the performers like that. I'll applaud a ton at the end of a big song, sure, but a lot of these people really gotta learn vocal care and stop screaming.

A friend who is a Broadway performer commented 'yes, now everybody instantly stands, but about a third of them don't clap at all because they are busy filming the curtain call.' A bit of a sardonic comment, but I think it is true that curtain calls have become more about the audience's desire to solidify their experience when they go to the theatre rather than a way to politely thank and honor the cast for their performances.