Hilarious Comments Overheard By Tourists and Audience Members- Page 87

[Gobstopper]

Posted: 3/26/09 at 9:18pm

This wasn't so much funny as horrifying, but the last time I was at RENT in Cleveland, the grown woman beside me said (and I quote), "I can't wait! I know all the words to the songs and I'm going to sing them all!" That was horrifying, but then the guy in front of us said, "Oh, yeah! Me too!" and gave her a high five! WHAT IS THAT?

So I calmly explained that I didn't care if they mouthed the words, but that it is extremely annoying when audience member sing along (which has been an experience I'd had at RENT in NYC).

Why do people want to sing along? What is that? And why should an 18 year old have to explain it to them? The hilarious bit was every so often I would hear the woman whispering the words and she DEFINITELY had only seen the movie.

[jennyish]

Posted: 3/26/09 at 10:48pm

LOL, I have no idea who Paula Dean is.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 3/26/09 at 11:23pm

http://tinyurl.com/dfrcvc

[jennyish]

Posted: 3/27/09 at 11:05am

Thanks for the tip (GOOGLE, you say?), but my point was actually that in my world, Patti and Mandy are the celebrities and Paula Dean is an American cook, restaurateur, and Emmy Award-winning television personality whom I have never heard of.

[Steve2]

Posted: 3/28/09 at 12:29pm

Jennyish, I have no idea who Paula Dean is either. I guess that's why it was funny (to me) that the receptionist was excited that she was in town. In my world as well, Patti and Mandy are the celebrities!

[Christina Cooper]

Posted: 3/28/09 at 8:25pm

At RENT Tour in San Diego..
I'm sitting in the theatre and this lady and her friend sit next to me and the first thing that she says is, "Is there anyone good in this show???"

During Intermission:

Lady #1- "Wasn't this show on Broadway?"
Lady #2- "No, I think it was on off-Broadway for about five years, and then once the movie came out they moved it to Broadway"

It was hilarious!!

[musicalbluemirror]

Posted: 3/29/09 at 11:58am

ADORABLE:: At litlle mermaid during Kiss the Girl when eric is guessing her name a little girl shouts from the audience "Ariel!! her name is Ariel!!!"

REDICULOUS:: At RENTs last sat night lotto a woman next to me asked who Jonathan Larsen was!

[RachelO]

Posted: 4/6/09 at 1:31pm

Oy, so many stories to be told. Here's some recent ones that I can recall.

At a Cleveland performance of the Jesus Christ Superstar tour, the woman behind me decided not only to sing along terribly, but to narrate the show. Incorrectly.
"But he doesn't take the money! Wait, yes he does! No...he doesn't." (He does.) "OH, YES HE DOES!"
"And now she sings 'I Don't Know How To Love Him'!" (Mary exits.) "...." (A few minutes later.) "Oh, NOW she sings it!"
All of the above occurred very loudly.

Coming from the same woman, in regards to Ted Neeley, who was playing Jesus. "He's 65? Wow! I mean, I know he was 63 when I saw him two years ago, but..."

And some others:

At Spring Awakening:
My friend reads the program and sees the listing for one of the swings. Having seen the show before, she believed that the character was playing the swing on which certain things take place during the act one finale.

At my school talent show:
Me: Oh, she's singing Defying Gravity!
My friend: Is that the one about finding your grail?

Today in choir, after my teacher has played Brand New You to us from his computer.
Me: So, are you thinking about doing Brand New You for Showchoir next year?
Him: Well, the co-director sent it to me...what musical is it from again?
Me: 13.
Him: Isn't that the one that Antonio Banderas was in?
Me: ...no. That was Nine.

Updated On: 4/6/09 at 01:31 PM

[Schmerg_The_Impaler]

Posted: 4/6/09 at 2:00pm

At Spring Awakening:
My friend reads the program and sees the listing for one of the swings. Having seen the show before, she believed that the character was playing the swing on which certain things take place during the act one finale.

Haha, that one's kind of hilarious... it's funny, too, because when I saw Cats at age ten, I thought the 'swing' was the person who came out on the trapeze in the first song!

[LittleBitRacist]

Posted: 4/6/09 at 2:17pm

after next to normal...
"that was just like seeing spamalot!"

[zoraksferal]

Posted: 4/6/09 at 2:35pm

Wicked Tour in Detroit, a middle-aged couple argued about the understudy for Nessarose (Lori Holmes).

Man- Lori Holmes, isn't that Katie Holmes' sister?
Woman- No, it would say that in the playbill!
Man- But it has to be her sister! Who else has that name?!?!

This went on for the entire first act...

[Schmerg_The_Impaler]

Posted: 4/18/09 at 5:01pm

Yesterday, I was playing some songs from my brand new iPod in the car with my mom. Since she loves Wicked, I started playing a version of "Tonight" from West Side Story sung by Kristin Chenoweth and Hugh Panaro, and I said, "Hey mom, can you guess who this singer is?"

She squinted for a minute, then said, "... Is it that lady who told everyone to stop taking pictures?"

I thought it was cute. Not just that she mistook Kristin Chenoweth for Patti LuPone, but also that she identifies Patti LuPone as "That lady who told everyone to stop taking pictures."

Updated On: 4/18/09 at 05:01 PM

[bwaylvsong]

Posted: 4/18/09 at 6:10pm

At the WSS BO:
Employee: This performance is sold out!
Guy: Which performance?
E: The matinee.
G: What show?
E: WSS.
G: Oh, are the other shows sold out too?
E: I don't know...
G: Do you sell tickets here for, say, Wicked or Shrek 3?
E: No, you have to go to their respective Box Offices.
G: Oh, are they that place across the street with the long lines?
E: No, they're in the theatres. Both are on 50th Street.
G: Thanks!

I wonder if he ever was able to get tickets for anything...

[ColorTheHours048]

Posted: 4/18/09 at 6:13pm

About 30 minutes into DESIRE UNDER THE ELMS, a woman behind me turned to her husband and said: "This isn't a comedy!"

[Jon]

Posted: 4/18/09 at 7:26pm

Didn't you kow that Sherlock Holmes was Katie's great grandfather?

And John Holmes was her uncle?

[zoraksferal]

Posted: 4/18/09 at 7:35pm

HAHAHAHA! I wish I would have thought to respond to them by saying something like that! Brilliant, just plain brilliant!

[fanzelxoxo]

Posted: 4/24/09 at 9:20pm

so at dance class i was obssessing over wicked as usual
girl in my dance class:oh i saw that musical on broadway it was so awesome!
(knowing her she likes to tell stories so i decided to prove that she didnt see it on bway)
me:oh thats cool. did u see the original cast?
girl:yeah!
me: when did u see it?
girl:just last year and they were all so great!
me: well you couldnt have because kristin,norbert, and joel all left in 2004!
girl: well they came here to our city on broadway!
me: *smacks forehead* no thats not broadway thats touring! and that cant be the original cast!

thought i would like to share

[singtopher]

Posted: 5/3/09 at 9:19am

This one happened to me yesterday as I was standing at TKTS.

Two older, upper-east-side-fabulous women were discussing the red steps.

"I just don't get it. I mean, where do they go? Someone could just fall off the other side."

Updated On: 5/3/09 at 09:19 AM

[rich.hanson59]

Posted: 5/3/09 at 10:53am

At Shrek the other night:

Usher at intermission: Sir put away the camera please, no pictures in the theatre. No pictures, I don't care what you do. You could SMOKE CRACK in the theatre, but don't take pictures.

[kchenofan]

Posted: 5/3/09 at 11:26am

My grandparents had just seen Wicked when the tour stopped in Fort Myers, FL. They know how much I love Broadway shows, especially Wicked, so Granny started telling me about the show when she came up to visit. It went something like this:

Granny: So, I saw Wicked in Florida and it had the original Broadway cast playing the two girls.
(My dad later explained that they were not the original "two girls")

(Later) Granny: Oh, Meg, you're singing "Popular" for the talent show?
Me: Yep.
Granny: That's the one the blonde girl sings, right? Glinda? Or GA-linda as they say.
Me: (fake laugh as Granny really laughs) Yeah.
Granny: And she sings it to the green girl. What was her name?
Me: Elphaba.
Granny: Yeah, I think that's it. What was it? Felaba?
Me: Elphaba.
Granny: Okay.

[BudFrump23]

Posted: 5/3/09 at 11:27am

A scene from Intermission at 9 To 5 a few weeks ago:

Woman next to me: We saw South Pacific last night, and loved it. It is such a nice theater.

Me: Have you been to that theater before?

Woman: Yes, we went a few years ago and saw...Light something...

Me: The Light in the Piazza?

Woman: Yes! That was it.

Me: How did you like that one?

Woman: Oh, we thought it was okay. But we like seeing musicals in New York more, so it was just okay.





. . . Last time I checked, The Light in the Piazza IS a musical. (I didn't have the heart to correct her)

[AndAllThatJazz22]

Posted: 5/3/09 at 8:18pm

Sweeney Todd tour:

Girl: Well maybe there's a band bellow the stage and the cast just pretends they're playing instruments.

[NovaNurse7]

Posted: 5/3/09 at 11:37pm

It didn't happen on Broadway, but I did find it amusing/sad. In my sociology class the other day, we were discussing the sociology of art and how society determines what is "art" and what is not. We were talking about how the Oscars was used as a sort of barometer for "good" films, but now is sort of losing its clout. So then I raise my hand and say that the Tony Awards are a slightly dissimilar situation because a) the general public doesn't watch them or give a damn about theater, and b) in the past they have awarded shows that have more general appeal than critical appeal. This prompted the girl next to me to raise her hand and ask, "What are the Tony Awards?"

Me: *facepalm* My point exactly.

[Chrysanthemum62001]

Posted: 5/3/09 at 11:48pm

Several weeks ago when I was in the drama bookshop I was paying for a book at the register, and this guy on his cell phone outside screams into the phone "I don't see a book store". It was one of those great NY moments. When the cashier and I heard that we both just broke out in laughter.

[MeganW]

Posted: 5/4/09 at 4:04pm

This took place at Signature Theatre in Arlington, VA, so not Broadway but theatre related.

In the women's restroom during the second intermission for Giant. They are discussing the scene in which Buck's family votes to allow oil drilling on his ranch, and their hispanic servants are standing behind them, holding out their chairs.

Woman standing behind me in line: Wait, what was that vote for?

Her companion: I don't know, but the Mexicans won. If you ask me, they either need to make clear what's going on, or take it out of the plot!