Laura Benanti chides people for not applauding- Page 2

[SweetLips]

Posted: 5/20/16 at 1:28am

I can't see the video and can only presume what might have been said so can't comment on that.

What I can comment on is that 'these days' with many baring there all, words AND body, on anything that can be printed or filmed is totally out of hand-every thought and action MUST be kept.

Progress maybe, but pen pals,letter writing and waiting for the post allowed for judgment to be contained due to lack of the 'instant'.

A memory--my first visit to a Broadway theatre--the end of the show and it seemed as if I was the only one left applauding as the majority were rushing for the aisles.

I thought, 'how rude are these New Yorkers' but was later told they were all rushing for the subway. Might be true but usually there is always another train.

[daisybeetle]

Posted: 5/20/16 at 1:29am

https://mobile.twitter.com/LauraBenanti/status/733519196328316928?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet

She used the "99% of you" phrase. Hee hee ...!

[aaaaaa15]

Posted: 5/20/16 at 1:31am

Dave13 said: "Maybe the performers will work harder to get applause from the audience the next time."

You don't think the cast of She Loves Me aren't already working extremely hard?

[Wilmingtom]

Posted: 5/20/16 at 1:32am

" Applauding is showing appreciation not out of courtesy."

I propose bringing courtesy back.

[Broadway Forever2]

Posted: 5/20/16 at 1:39am

Ok it's really not that big of a deal. I personally think it's a bit much to complain on twitter but the audience should be applauding. It's just what you do in a theater. I haven't seen She loves me but by all accounts it is a great show and I'm sure she was mostly just joking around.

[Dave13]

Posted: 5/20/16 at 1:40am

aaaaaa15 said: "Dave13 said: "Maybe the performers will work harder to get applause from the audience the next time."

You don't think the cast of She Loves Me aren't already working extremely hard?

 

"

Most likely they were, but everyone has an off night.  Maybe the audience just wasn't into it.  Either way, if I am paying $100+ for a ticket, I don't feel obligated to applaud unless I enjoyed the performance. 

[aaaaaa15]

Posted: 5/20/16 at 1:43am

There's nothing in the video to suggest there were multiple people not applauding, it could just have been one. I'm sure that not enjoying it is not the only reason people don't applaud, some are just that lazy. 

Updated On: 5/20/16 at 01:43 AM

Posted: 5/20/16 at 1:50am

I have occasionally sat next to strangers who don't applaud -- once I even asked them if they didn't like the show as we were leaving -- and the woman asked why on earth I would ask such a question?  And I said, "Because you didn't applaud."  She looked at me like I had three heads.  "I didn't?" she said, "well I did enjoy it but why do I need to clap? The actors don't care. They can't see us."  

I think these are audience members who spend too much time watching TV and think actors on a live stage are no different from actors inside their TV sets. 

Dame Edna had the PERFECT solution to people who tried to run up the aisle to beat the crowds.  As she is taking her bows, suddenly the music stops and a spotlight lands on one of the offenders in the aisle as Dame Edna says, "Oh too bad you are running out early.  YOU were going to win the car . . . " 

It always got a great laugh from the rest of the audience, and the offender in the spotlight was probably cured for life from trying to run to the exit so quickly. 

[Wilmingtom]

Posted: 5/20/16 at 1:56am

"Why would anyone even remotely think people have to applaud?"

Because it's a tradition of the theater.  Have you ever been to the theater?  I understand that you don't applaud television and movies but you do in the live theater where the audience is an active collaborator in the performance.

 

[Sally Durant Plummer]

Posted: 5/20/16 at 1:58am

The tip, however, is not required. I give it if I feel it is earned. 

I suppose you don't care that people are working for $4/hour and rely mostly on tips as their income. If that's what you think of tips, you are a rude, out-of touch person.

Wilmington, I agree with you 100%.

"Whatever happened to class?"

[aaaaaa15]

Posted: 5/20/16 at 2:00am

Some people on these boards criticize the way in which theatergoers of today dress but don't have an issue with them not clapping, the oldest tradition of Broadway. Weird to me but hey.

Updated On: 5/20/16 at 02:00 AM

[Wilmingtom]

Posted: 5/20/16 at 2:40am

""Whatever happened to class?"

Sally, you absolutely summed it up.  And aaaaaa15, your point about how people dress is well taken.  But I'd rather have them come dressed badly than not come at all.  It's kind of like church, which I don't attend but I remember when people dressed for it.  It's that they're there at all that's significant, but please behave respectfully.

[Mr. Nowack]

Posted: 5/20/16 at 2:44am

A lot of tempest in a pot of tea.

[aaaaaa15]

Posted: 5/20/16 at 2:48am

Oh don't get me wrong, I don't mind how people dress (within reason). I just find it strange that some people care about that but don't mind about this issue. 

[lovebwy]

Posted: 5/20/16 at 2:55am

I agree. While I really like her, this would keep me from choosing that show to see. It is an unprofessional borderline narcissistic. And she uses dirty language. Not very classy either.

You are not entitled to applause. You are entitled to an audience being quiet, and respectful. If they're not moved to clap, ignore them.

By the way, I've never not clapped. But a person should never be called out or shamed for not clapping.

[lovebwy]

Posted: 5/20/16 at 2:57am

"Just stay at home and play with your peter". Ugh.

[aaaaaa15]

Posted: 5/20/16 at 3:04am

She's a 36 year old woman, she can use whatever language she wants on her own social media accounts. 

[perfectlymarvelous]

Posted: 5/20/16 at 3:04am

Wow, y'all really have a hard time taking a joke, don't you? 

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 5/20/16 at 3:07am

"I do not like this. One is not entitled to applause. People paid a lot of money for their ticket. If they are not moved the applaud, they shouldn't have to."

I'm of a mind that people over-applaud (God, can we stop with the entrance applause?) but even if someone is doing a great job in a show, I think applauding after songs is more complicated than blindly clapping like a trained seal after a song. There are shows where it's more or less appropriate in certain moments. You don't want to applaud if they're launching right into the next scene with dialogue. You want to hear the dialogue. Or in a dramatic moment, you might want to leave that tension in the air.

Speaking of tourists, theatre culture is different in different places. Some audiences are very vocal throughout. Some are very quiet until curtain call.

That said, it doesn't change how I feel about her as a person or performer at all. I just disagree with her.

[Wilmingtom]

Posted: 5/20/16 at 3:08am

^ This!  Benanti's sense of humor is well known and we're all taking this much too seriously.

[ColorTheHours048]

Posted: 5/20/16 at 3:09am

Some of you queens. Good lord.

[devonian.t]

Posted: 5/20/16 at 3:11am

OK the tweet doesn't make it clear whether Laura is referring to people leaving early at the bows or specifically at the end of Will He Like Me, I think.

If anyone here has read Richard Schechner they will be familiar with "transformational theatre"; Peter Brook talks about "holy theatre".  I'm afraid PThespian I cannot reduce live theatre down to the level of the financial transaction you do: drama should be a shared experience and a communication.  If the performance is working and the actors are bringing truth and their humanity to the stage, the audience should be there to do likewise.  A situation where audience members basically say, "yeah the show was great and I ought to be honest enough to acknowledge that, but actually I'm a bit selfish and I just went to get home as quickly as possible so screw you", debases and devalues the experience.  And for those who are scared of being crushed by the crowd leaving the building- just wait and let the others go ahead at the end of the bows, maybe stick around and listen to the playout, or ponder what you have just seen.  All this, of course, if you thought it was a good show.  If it's not you're thing, I'm all for leaving at the interval even.

As for the not-clapping after a ballad- I think Laura may be wrong.  I've worked on 'She Loves Me' and that number sometimes lulls the audience into a cozy and happy state, but there is no real button to it so it's quite easy for the moment to pass without the audience knowing it was an applause point.  One other thing: perhaps the director could look at whether this moment is pointed up enough to make it a clear button- is the lighting right?  Is the blocking finale enough?  Such things come into play.

I really hope Laura isn't such a diva that she demands applause even if audience members haven't been brought to that place.  I can't believe she is.

I have no sympathy with those who leave early at the bows

[aaaaaa15]

Posted: 5/20/16 at 3:19am

PThespian said: "The tradition on Broadway is to clap when you feel something is worthy of extra acknowledgment."

Who says? I have never seen anyone not clap in a moment when everyone else was.

[lovebwy]

Posted: 5/20/16 at 3:22am

"

The tradition on Broadway is to clap when you feel something is worthy of extra acknowledgment.

"

Thank you. Someone needs to inform Miss Benanti of this. I, for one, am very curious to know what the producers of her show think of her telling people to stay home and masturbate rather than see her show. It's just an ugly, nasty little video. In my opinion.

Updated On: 5/20/16 at 03:22 AM

[aaaaaa15]

Posted: 5/20/16 at 3:27am

PThespian said: "Seriously? Seriously? It happens all the time! Every night I stand there in the back of the audience and can quite clearly see who is clapping and when they are clapping. I can also see who is not clapping.

There are times when half the audience is and half the audience isn't. There are times when there is one row that is, and the rows in back and in front of them aren't.

It happens all the time!!! I promise you!"

I'm not saying it doesn't happen but from my experience it doesn't happen to such a degree where it can no longer be called a tradition. Clapping at the end of a song/performance in the theatre is a tradition. It just is. Not everyone partakes in it but it's what is expected.