Hearing another show, while at performance in a neighboring theatre?

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 2/7/18 at 7:08pm

Have you ever been to a performance where you were able to hear the sound coming from a neighboring theatre?

[James2]

Posted: 2/7/18 at 7:12pm

I could hear the Phantom overture when I did standing room for God of Carnage.

[JBroadway]

Posted: 2/7/18 at 7:13pm

I was watching the all-female Donmar Shakespeare Trilogy in London, and at one quiet moment I could hear "Absolute Beginners" coming from Lazarus playing right next to us. 

[whatdoesntkillme]

Posted: 2/7/18 at 7:25pm

American Psycho actually had to offset the start time of their show by a few minutes because a particularly loud part of that show happened at a quiet part of The Color Purple next door, and it could be heard in the Jacobs.

[Emmaloucbway]

Posted: 2/7/18 at 7:41pm

I could definitely hear a bit of Bandstand when I saw A Doll's House Part 2 last summer.

[NOWaWarning]

Posted: 2/7/18 at 8:19pm

Once while sanding house left at Phantom of the Opera, I could hear Cynthia Erivo belting it out in the Color Purple.

[TheQuibbler]

Posted: 2/7/18 at 8:22pm

Emmaloucbway said: "I could definitely hear a bit of Bandstand when I saw A Doll's House Part 2 last summer."

I came to say I had the same experience.

[uncageg]

Posted: 2/7/18 at 8:37pm

Sittkng in tbe rear house right at the Broadhurst we could hear American Psycho at the Shoenfeld while attending Tuck Everlasting. I was told that is common between those two theaters when musicals are in tbose houses.

[WaffleOnWheels]

Posted: 2/7/18 at 8:43pm

Not exactly in a neighboring theater, but I clearly heard Once on This Island while waiting for my car in between the Gershwin and Circle in the Square.

[ethan231h]

Posted: 2/7/18 at 9:05pm

I heard Les Mis during a performance of Pippin

[mailhandler777]

Posted: 2/7/18 at 9:22pm

When I was at Eclipsed I could hear whatever show was playing next door(I forget which one it was).

[Dollypop]

Posted: 2/7/18 at 10:51pm

This was a real problem when The Roundabout had two theaters in the Criterion Center. They had to stagger start times so the other theater wouldn't be disturbed by the opening number of COMPANY.

[Islander_fan]

Posted: 2/8/18 at 12:28am

I remember doing standing room for a performance of Once and being able to hear the (albeit somewhat muffled) overture to Phantom. 

[Broadway_Boy]

Posted: 2/8/18 at 2:37am

mailhandler777 said: "When I was at Eclipsed I could hear whatever show was playing next door(I forget which one it was)."

I sat all the way on the left for another show at that theatre and could hear the music next door.  

[dramamama611]

Posted: 2/8/18 at 6:28am

And a few times, when in a longer show, I've heard squeals from stage door fans.

[Lot666]

Posted: 2/8/18 at 7:53am

While not quite what the OP asked about, it seems like NYPD car and ambulance sirens like to make themselves known during the quietest passages of a show. This is particularly irksome when the show is a period piece (e.g, Phantom, Les Miserables, etc.), so the siren is an anachronism.

[markypoo]

Posted: 2/8/18 at 9:10am

When the Bailiwick Arts Center was still in existence, on a few occasions I'd be sitting in the bigger theater watching a show, and I could hear cheering and applause coming from the studio theater right next door during the opening number of Naked Boys Singing!

[Fosse76]

Posted: 2/8/18 at 3:04pm

whatdoesntkillme said: "American Psychoactually had to offset the start time of their show by a few minutes because a particularly loud part of that show happened at a quiet part ofThe Color Purplenext door, and it could be heard in the Jacobs."

That's not true. American Psycho didn't start any later than usual. The Schoenfeld has a tendency to hold the house more than 5 minutes past the ticketed performance time for latecomers.

[JBroadway]

Posted: 2/8/18 at 3:10pm

Lot666 said: "While not quite what the OP asked about, it seems like NYPD carand ambulance sirens like to make themselves known during the quietest passages of a show. This is particularly irksome when the show is a period piece (e.g, Phantom, Les Miserables, etc.), so the siren is an anachronism."

 

In my experience, hearing sirens and other such street-noises are pretty par-for-the-course with Broadway theatres. Far more common than hearing other shows next door. 

I remember during King Charles III, during a very quiet, very tense moment at the end of the play, we could hear several drunk women hooting and hollering just outside. 

[ThirstyThersites]

Posted: 2/9/18 at 3:14pm

I remember you could hear a loud sound cue from The Perfect Crime from downstairs during The Fantasticks.

Also, in An Iliad they actually wrote in an ambulance sound cue to make it sound like it was coming from the street.