Is it just me….

Bootlegs and audios have always been a thing.

It's the same as it's always been. Social media just makes us much more aware of it so it seems like it's happening more. And people tend to generalize much more when a single incident goes viral because they hear about it 75 times so it feels like 75 incidents have happened instead of a single incident they just heard about that many times.

TotallyEffed said: "It’s been this bad for a long time. Almost as bad as the cell phones going off are the people who lazily flip through their Playbills the whole damn show."

Or hold them up at eye level and wave them back and forth to fan themselves.

hearthemsing22 said: "Or has theater etiquette been AWFUL lately? It’s like people don’t know how to behave and be decent, respectful patrons. Between Jesse, Patti,all the bootlegs and audios going around…like why does no one respect performers and the shows??"

When I saw Mr Saturday Night, there was this women who kept filming the show with her phone at the beginning of both act 1 and 2. Plus her screen was at the highest brightness.


i had similar experience at MJ.

Updated On: 5/12/22 at 12:23 PM

What someone wears has no bearing on behavior.

Updated On: 5/13/22 at 05:38 AM

UWS10023 said: "And what some people wear….I was at Into The Woods and a tall fellow had on the tightest shorts I have ever seen in my life and I am not a spring chicken. From behind it looked like they had been painted on him. I thought I was at Fire Island."

I'd sure hate to be enjoying my night at the theatre and have a weirdo staring me down for what I'm wearing.

hearthemsing22 said: "Or has theater etiquette been AWFUL lately? It’s like people don’t know how to behave and be decent, respectful patrons. Between Jesse, Patti,all the bootlegs and audios going around…like why does no one respect performers and the shows??"

In 50 years, people will be grateful for those bootlegs, as we're grateful for the bootlegs (audio and visual) of Sondheim's original Broadway productions.

People should behave respectfully in a theater, and they often don't; the same thing happens at movies. The bright screens of the phones, the loud conversations as if they are in their living rooms. I think it has a lot to do with the amount of time people spend online rather than in social circles or attending public events, so then they do do those things, they don't understand how to behave. It isn't just young people, though. Older people who have retreated to an online world have somehow lost the ability to respectfully share public space with others.

hearthemsing22 said: "Or has theater etiquette been AWFUL lately? It’s like people don’t know how to behave and be decent, respectful patrons. Between Jesse, Patti,all the bootlegs and audios going around…like why does no one respect performers and the shows??"

I'm sure there are older examples, but given bootleg recordings (in audio format) and unofficial soundboard recordings exist from Ethel Merman's run in Hello, Dolly! I think it's safe to say that is not a new development in theatre etiquette violations.

And while we can and should have a debate over the ethics of bootleg recordings, it is worth noting that in many cases--short-running shows, understudy performances/debuts, cast changes, etc--they remain the only preservation of the show as it was heard by audiences.

(Not going to comment on video because at the very least audio recording isn't liable to cause distraction during the performance the way that holding up a cell phone or other video device could.)

Now, that being said, I think some of the etiquette issues have to do with mask enforcement. Don't get me wrong, I completely support the current masking rules for Broadway given the proximity issues and the need to protect both the audience and the performers. But I wonder if people's tempers aren't a little bit shorter as a result of it being one of the last places where masking is mandatory? Hardly an excuse, but potentially an explanation.