Imperial Theater Brawl

[amanda2]

Posted: 12/21/03 at 1:06pm

Did anyone hear about the usher hitting a patron with a playbill?? Then there was a huge fight. This was during intermission and I believe the second act was helf for a few minutes! The usher was led away in handcuffs! Updated On: 12/21/03 at 01:06 PM

[shermanslave]

Posted: 12/21/03 at 1:09pm

well, we all know how rude the occasional usher can be not to mention the theatre-goer. Would have loved to have seen that. Did you have to pay extra for it?

[bially082]

Posted: 12/21/03 at 2:23pm

wow! You don''t hear about brawls in broadway theaters very often. Are they planning on doing it again soon? I wanna go watch! Where did you hear about that from?

[Auggie27]

Posted: 12/21/03 at 2:30pm

Jeesh, what a strange climate to incite violence. You expect this at an italian soccer game, not a show about the bisexual son-in-law of Miss Judy Garland. What a world, what a world. No wonder they just upped the terror alert to Orange. Be careful, theatergoers. Playbill abuse lurks hither and yon.

Updated On: 12/21/03 at 02:30 PM

[bially082]

Posted: 12/21/03 at 2:31pm

i know. I can't believe it!!

[BwayTheatre11]

Posted: 12/21/03 at 2:34pm

I didn't know they dropped a key off the stage...I thought that was only RENT.

[thirdrowcenter]

Posted: 12/21/03 at 2:38pm

Hugh had to say something during the show about that!!! Even the usher's are entertaining at the Boy From Oz.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 12/21/03 at 2:44pm

Does anyone know what prompted the brawl? It's very possible that the patron complained about how lackluster the show was--in which case the usher was so inundated with similar complaints that he lost his cool. With a dreary show like THE BOY FROM DOZE anything is possible.

[bially082]

Posted: 12/21/03 at 3:36pm

is the show really that bad?

[amanda2]

Posted: 12/21/03 at 3:36pm

It was started when a woman cut the bathroom line and the usher told her there was a line. The patron then cursed out the usher and the usher hit the patron.

[HotTicket]

Posted: 12/21/03 at 3:46pm

That theatre has a major bathroom problem. I can understand how this happened. I see a good commercial for Detrol here (gotta go, gotta go). When I was ushered to my seat, I was advised to first visit the bathroom because you had to go all the way upstairs and across the floor and it would be impossible at intermission. Good advice.

Posted: 12/21/03 at 3:47pm

If that's the true story it adds meaning to the lowest common demoninator element of Broadway audiences today.

Most folks who go to Broadway today have no idea they are not in their own living rooms.

Yours for a Better Broadway!

Bulldog.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 12/21/03 at 3:52pm

And that's what comes from men and women dancing together!

[MusicMan]

Posted: 12/21/03 at 3:58pm

Oh, Yenta, Yenta, YENTA!

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 12/21/03 at 4:16pm

So a MALE usher clobbered a FEMALE patron?

A new marketing line...

"OUR SHOW IS A HIT ON AND OFF STAGE."

I could see this happening at URINTOWN!

[orion59]

Posted: 12/21/03 at 4:39pm

Amen, Bulldog. You're absolutely right. That is what Bway much of the Bway audience has become. It's people in p[olyesther, fuschia colored track suits gouging themselves on snacks and talking out loud. The most common argument i have heard for this kind of behaviour is, "If I'm gonna spend a $100.00 on tockets, I'm going to do what I want"

I've always felt that if you subscribe to that theory, that spending money entitles you to rude behaviour, then your $100.00 may be better spent on a WWF Smackdown. Sorry if this offnds any of my fellow members here but, at this time of year when everything is crowded and poeple are rushing around, I've fed up with rudeness. If the story above is true, I can certainly understand the usher's desire to smack the woman...although it is the wrong thing to do. I wanted to slap a few epople lately who have tried to cut into line in stores because THEY are too busy and have too many things to do to have to wait in a line.

[PJ]

Posted: 12/21/03 at 4:43pm

I understand what you're saying. When I saw "Gypsy," the older couple sitting right beside us were eating potato chips at intermission and into the the 2nd act. And then, to top it off, someone's cell phone went off right before "Rose's Turn." It was during the dialogue that leads up to that number, which is included on the cast recording, and the guy answered is phone and said "I'm in the show right now. Bye." The audience groaned and turned around when it rang. Damn phones.

[MasterLcZ]

Posted: 12/21/03 at 5:09pm

Who choreographed it?

[BwayTheatre11]

Posted: 12/21/03 at 5:10pm

No respect what-so-ever.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 12/21/03 at 8:44pm

During the last performance of MASTER CLASS on Broadway, I had the misfortune of sitting behind an Asian girl who propped up her feet on the seat in front of her. During one of Dixie Carter's emotional soliloquies, this Asian lass pulled out a styrofoam container of split pea soup and began slurping it. Oddly enough the Asian gal kept her attention rivited to the stage--everyone else in the theater was rivited upon Little Miss Asia (and her soup).

At that same performance there was a group of Born-Again Christians who became vexed at the profanity in the text. They were audible in their displeasure. During intermission they were at the box office demanding refunds and insisting that there should be a sign outside of the theater stating: "This production features the use of profanity". (What is life really like in the Mid-West?)

[jo]

Posted: 12/21/03 at 10:51pm

Glancing at this thread's title, I thought the brawl would be among women ( and ocassionally men) trying to line up as Hugh's dancing partner for the evening


Jo Updated On: 12/21/03 at 10:51 PM

[Gothampc]

Posted: 12/21/03 at 10:53pm

I heard it was Liza Minnelli.

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 12/22/03 at 12:26am

This is hilarious--I suspect an extremely rude patron, and an usher who had HAD IT. But, the usher should never have crossed that line. I want to know why the usher had a Playbill during intermission, especially if wrangling the restroom line.

And, I agree--I am TIRED of all the rudeness in this city right now. People need to get a grip.

[Phantom2]

Posted: 12/22/03 at 12:48am

The show is absolutely fabulous. You have to see it to believe me.

[son_of_a_gunn_25]

Posted: 12/22/03 at 3:09am

Hmmm they talking about classifying road rage as a psychological disorder. I wonder if we'll ever see a day where they diagnose people with theatre rage. It's definition: Heightened aggresive feelings accompanied by yelling or physical altercation resulting from rude people in the theatre obnoxious. Haha whether that be cutting in line or not turning the cell phone off. I still think even with the cell phone law they should invent a machine that sends out a frequency or something that will completely destroy a cell phone if it starts ringing during a performance. Well at least something that would make the signal unable to get to cell phones during a performance, except it might affect the wireless mikes would be the only problem I never even bring my cell into the theatre with me. I leave it in the car. Ahhh I need to quit complaining, but I fear I suffer from Theatre Rage. Last time I went to see Les Mis, I was in the front row of the balcony and two cell phones went off during the show, I really wanted to just jump off the balcony into the audience below and start choking the people with the cell phones I could have too cuz I could see the light from the phones. Hmm I may need help. But if someone could figure out a way to make it so cell phones can't get any reception in a theatre withou affecting the mikes, I would love it.