Leaving Evita at intermission- Page 5

[themysteriousgrowl]

Posted: 7/12/12 at 8:23am

Ugh. Thread indigestion.

I can't believe I read the whole thing.

[BwayEqs]

Posted: 7/12/12 at 8:33am

Never left a New York Broadway show. But I have left Charlie and the Chocolate Factory local theater production, the National Tour of PETER PAN with Cathy Rigby, and a local theater production of GREASE SQUEAKY CLEAN. (That's a not-so-dirty production of GREASE -- without the swears and stuff)

[Patash]

Posted: 7/12/12 at 8:44am

"I have walked out on some movies! Haha who hasn't!?"

I haven't!

I never understand this idea of walking out on a show half way through. But if your goal is simply to tell people how many shows you've seen or what stars you've seen without regard for the show itself, I guess I get not wasting your time once you've already been able to add a show to your list. And I suppose it makes some people feel great to say "I have perfect taste and while the masses may have liked something, I was too good for it, so I left." In fact that seems to be the case here -- why else would some one go to the trouble of announcing publicly that they walked out of a show?

Personally, I'm IN theatre and I feel I learn more from watching things that are wrong than I do by watching things that are right. Analyzing what would have made it better or how something went wrong is probably one of the best learning lessons.

[Bwaydide92]

Posted: 7/12/12 at 9:22am

I don't think most people announce that they've walked out of a show. They just leave and probably tell their closest friends (the people they talk about theatre with) and probably never mention it again, unless it's relevant to a conversation or someone asks them their opinion on that production. If I walk out on something, I don't really count it as something I "saw". If my experience was that bad, it's not really something I want to remember.

I agree with you about staying and learning from the bad experience or analyzing what went right and wrong, but sometimes something is so unbearable you just have to leave.

I also think that this thread is making it seem like people walk out of shows constantly. I don't think that's the case. I think on an individual basis it happens quite rarely.

[broadwayrob]

Posted: 7/12/12 at 9:25am

To my dear Patash.........First of all, I find it highly presumptuous for you to assume any facts about why I left the show at intermission. And your tongue-in-cheek insults peppered through your entire post are humorous at best. I don't follow this board every second of every day so I was more asking for a consensus of Elena's performance versus the way I felt about it. In 15 years of NYC theatre viewing I've left twice. And have I seen the biggest shows with the biggest stars? No. I see what I like and enjoy what I like. I'm sorry you feel "insulted" by my opinions or actions, but at the end of the day the show still got my money. However, you taking my opinion and actions personally? That is a little sad and bordering on infantile.

[Patash]

Posted: 7/12/12 at 9:29am

Bewaydide92, I didn't mean to suggest that "most people" announce they walk out on shows. I'm sure some would be embarrassed to have others know they did so. I was mainly referring to the OP here who went to the trouble of announcing by posting in a way that seems to say "Elena was so bad, I walked out" as if her exit made some kind of major point about his (her) taste.

[sally1112]

Posted: 7/12/12 at 9:38am

I have never walked out on a show,and I see 15-20 community or regional productions a year, and I don't think I ever would.
I can always find something redeemable about a show, and would not feel fit to critique it until I have seen the show in its entirely.

[broadwayrob]

Posted: 7/12/12 at 9:40am

Ugly, bloated face hahahahahah. Awesome. Keep those insults coming folks. It's delicious.

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 7/12/12 at 9:53am

I'm curious if those who say they'd never leave feel the same way about books or TV shows they're not enjoying. Do you finish them anyway, because at least you might learn why it was bad?

(That's a real question, btw.)

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 7/12/12 at 10:02am

I can only speak for myself, but I think it's almost more like a personality trait that you have to see things through to the bitter end. I don't walk out of shows or movies, have finished reading many an awful book I've disliked and if I start watching a tv show I stick it out no matter how many times I vow to friends I'm deleting it from the dvr.

I don't do it to learn why it's bad or because I can find something I like about it. It's just my nature.

It's something akin to Woody Allen not being able to go into Face to Face in Annie Hall because Keaton showed up 2 minutes late. I have to see the whole thing and stay from start to finish.

Updated On: 7/12/12 at 10:02 AM

[broadwayrob]

Posted: 7/12/12 at 10:24am

Whizzer...that's totally legit. And I get that. And again it would take a lot for me to leave...I just couldn't force myself into staying for something I wasn't enjoying...unfortunately first impressions make a huge impact on me. I went in with zero expectations and often that yields positive results for me. But this unfortunately was worst case scenario. It sucks. But it is what it is.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 7/12/12 at 10:39am

Rob you don't have to apologize to anyone for your actions. It's your time and your money -- its your decision.

I find the holier than thou attitude here pretty funny. If Rob just 'hated' the show no one would care, but that he decided he'd had enough irritates people.

[sally1112]

Posted: 7/12/12 at 10:52am

@ Reg- I do finish books, movies, TV shows, etc. Again, I just don't feel I can make a full decision until I see/read the entire work. I may skim a book it is is really painful.
If I have rented or downloaded a bad movie (Wolves of Wall street- worst movie I have ever seen) I may start playing on Facebook or on here, but I keep the film on until the end.

[SNAFU]

Posted: 7/12/12 at 11:08am

Life is too precious to waste it sitting through a show you are not enjoying, watching a T.V. show or movie that is bad, reading a book that is horrible.

Did I like Evita? No. After A New Argentina I was ready to walk as well, I did stay however. The 2ND act didn't change my mind. In Evita's case, I love the show and am glad I saw the revival. I just didn't like it at all.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 7/12/12 at 11:20am

Life is too precious to waste it sitting through a show you are not enjoying

Life is too precious to read through this thread!

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 7/12/12 at 11:25am

^ THAT

I feel dumber. I actually feel like I've sacrificed some IQ points to this ridiculous thread.

Considering the number of brain cells I've killed with drugs, I should probably just back away now.

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 7/12/12 at 11:29am

Too late, Robbie. Once you start a thread, you have to stay with it till the end.

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 7/12/12 at 11:31am

But...but...can't I just walk my bloated face right on out of here, like that bad Craigslist hookup who just ran in the middle of what I consider to be a world-class blowie???

[artscallion]

Posted: 7/12/12 at 11:34am

Since I work in theatre I won't leave a show if I know someone in it or involved in it who might notice my empty seat. But other than that, I have no problem leaving a show I'm bored with or think is bad or lame or poorly written or directed or whatever.

The way I look at it is if the author or director were capable of making the second half work, why couldn't they make the first half work? It's a big clue to me that tells me that the odds are VERY good that the 2nd half will be bad also.

I look at books, TV shows, movies, etc exactly the same way. I recently tossed Stephen King's Under the Dome after trudging 400 pages into the 900 page book. I figured if I wasn't enjoying it by that point, It was probably not going to suddenly shift from boring to fascinating. I've got too much to do to waste time voluntarily doing something I'm not enjoying out of some false obligation.

[emlodik]

Posted: 7/12/12 at 11:39am

And at the end of the day, you're a seal fat loser who doesn't have 1/1000 of the talent Elena has in her one pinky. NEXT!

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 7/12/12 at 11:44am

"Life is too precious to waste it sitting through a show you are not enjoying, watching a T.V. show or movie that is bad, reading a book that is horrible."

I personally just don't get this, and I'll ask the question again - what do you do with that extra hour and a half of that precious time that you've already allotted to seeing a show? Like Reg's, this is a serious question.

To answer Reg's question, yes, I do always finish TV shows and books, that I'm not "enjoying". I may never watch that show or read that author again, but like sally says, I don't feel qualified to critique if I haven't sufficient material to critique with.

I use the scare quotes b/c it always amuses me when someone equates reading or watching anything with "torture" or calls it "painful" and so on. It's just so dramatic - but then this is a theater board - and I simply have never felt that way about anything I've seen or read. I'd say I am only really lost in or transported by theater about 10% of the time. I'm very critical, but I'm not easily bored, and like sally, I can always find something redeeming, and like Patash, I have a professional interest in analyzing where the show goes wrong.

In the end, I think - for me - it's curiosity that sees me through. Will it getter better? Worse? Will I miss something? I think life's too short to not follow through - and again, I'm speaking for myself. I'm not suggesting anyone should stay if they don't want to.


eta: and yes, it really is kind of funny to post about wasting precious time on a show they aren't enjoying on a message board - one of the biggest wasters of precious time around.


Updated On: 7/12/12 at 11:44 AM

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 7/12/12 at 11:48am

I'd personally spend the hour and a half comfortably at home with a scotch and a book. But as I say, I've only left a show once, and I would have stayed had my companion (who'd bought the tickets) not felt so strongly about leaving.

ghostlight, I'd ask if that means you watch in its entirety whatever show is on when you first hit the remote, but I seem to recall you "don't own a television machine." :)

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 7/12/12 at 11:49am

'what do you do with that extra hour and a half of that precious time that you've already allotted to seeing a show?'

Go home and masturbate to HGTV.

Duh.

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 7/12/12 at 11:59am

LOL! SonofRobbieJ, and I'm totally busted Reg! I am "one of those people" without a television machine (it figures you'd remember that!). I do, on occasion, watch a show someone has recommended - most recently the BBC Sherlock series, and I'd like to at least try Sorkin's The Newsroom. It may be that I'm very selective in the first place that I don't get so easily disappointed or find things painful to watch or read.

The scotch and a book sound fantastic (though I'm more a bourbon drinker myself), but the scotch and the book would still be there after the show, and I wouldn't enjoy them quite so much because I'd be wondering how the show I walked out of ended

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 7/12/12 at 12:04pm

And at the end of the day, you're a seal fat loser who doesn't have 1/1000 of the talent Elena has in her one pinky. NEXT!

Good way to get yourself banned. Hopefully, Elena doesn't have 1/1000 of your demeanor or immaturity.

Honestly, I just don't think there is anything particularly admirable or noble in forcing yourself to sit through something you don't enjoy when you could leave and do something you do enjoy. Life is short. Why be a martyr just to say you endured something you clearly didn't have to? GO! DO SOMETHING FUN! ENJOY YOURSELF!

Personally, I'm IN theatre and I feel I learn more from watching things that are wrong than I do by watching things that are right. Analyzing what would have made it better or how something went wrong is probably one of the best learning lessons.

I do that as well for shows that aren't great, but not horrible enough to make me want to leave. But there are some productions that can pretty much show you everything they did wrong by the end of the first act and there simply is no need to see more of the same. I'm not worried that it will be the last "learning experience" of my lifetime.