Let it out! Biggest theater pet peeves

Let it out yall. What are your biggest theatrical pet peeves?

Mine is when people expect you to like a show. When they say it was so amazing, and how could someone not like it, and it deserved all the awards. Like okay. But that doesnt mean its universally liked.

Another one: People who say those who dont like bootlegs dont like poor people. That is absolutely, 100% ridiculous. It needs to stop.



also!! When people say they want original content on Broadway, instead of the same revivals and everything, but then they also complain about how “X” show should still be on Broadway....🙄 Make up your friggin’ mind!

Updated On: 12/31/20 at 01:54 PM

sparksatmidnight said: "Die if you must but stop with your disgusting coughs during quiet moments

and

rabid fans, especially those who overcompensate being fans of ****ty shows and go with the fury of a thousand deaths if you dare to say the truth about it"



oh my GOD YES TO THE SECOND ONE oh my god.

Cellphones, singing along (usually off tune), talking, chomping food, taking what seems to be hours to take the plastic off their candy/cough drop, shaking the ice in their cups, "whoo" girls and boys, talking back to the actors/actresses on stage, laughing loudly at everything like they are trying to be noticed by the actors/actresses on stage, late arrivals at curtain and after intermission, and when they do arrive when the lights are down, blurting out at the top of their lungs that they can't see.

Screaming to show enthusiasm and/or appreciation after a song. Just clap your hands and stfu

People that insist they have to scream *over* a performer who is apparently achieving excellence (usually the big note at the end of a song) - if they are enjoying it so much why would they prefer to scream over it rather than actually shut up and enjoy it? It's the most bizarre thing.

Overamplification, for sure. Obviously, there are plenty of shows with great sound design (last year's tour of The Band's Visit was absolutely perfect), but bad amplification kills the evening. It's particularly nasty in small theatres where the opportunity exists to take advantage of a more intimate space and show off the beauty of natural voices and instruments, but instead the musicians and the singers are both cranked up to ten for no reason that I can fathom.

I know this is a small thing but I get really annoyed at Scott Rudin's refusal to allow color playbills in his plays and his stinginess with production stills. I feel like it's a control freak thing of his and it's annoying. The world isn't going to end if you release a few quality color publicity stills of your plays.

qolbinau said: "People that insist they have to scream *over* a performer who is apparently achieving excellence (usually the big note at the end of a song) - if they are enjoying it so much why would they prefer to scream over it rather than actually shut up and enjoy it? It's the most bizarre thing."

Oh my gosh YES.
I have two examples.



I saw Jessica Vosk in her first Broadway performance as Elphaba. When she reached the end of Defying Gravity, everyone was cheering so loudly that I couldn’t hear the final note!! SO frustrating!!! Applaud and cheer AFTER. Not during!!
Same thing happened at the final performance of Anastasia. I couldn’t hear the final notes of “Journey to the past” because everyone started screaming and cheering, so I didn’t hear anything

Jukebox musicals

candydog2 said: "I used to work front of house in theatres in London and have many pet peeves, so I'll go for a less obvious one:

SUITCASES. Seriously people. Go check in to your hotel. On one bigmusical we'd have to store at least 2 or 3 LARGE suitcases at each performance, not to mention all the little pull-along cabin baggage ones as well.

Theatres don't have large spaces for coat-checks, and in today's security-conscious world every bag has to be searched, especially if entering a large, crowded venue. It's such a pain for security to have to stop everything while they open up your huge suitcase and rummage through your underwear in the lobby of a busy theatre. It's really SO unnecessary."

I am absolutely sure it is a pain and I try at all costs to avoid it, but I actually really needed to bring my carry-on to Wicked once. I had an evening flight to catch at JFK right after and my Airbnb was in Brooklyn. Besides check-out being very early, I would have had to add an additional 2 hours to my commute back to Brooklyn then back to the airport where I would have missed my flight.

I actually didn't expect that they would let me bring it in because I never would have thought to done so, but I looked it up online and it sounded pretty common. Once I got to the Gershwin, it seemed like they had a streamlined process as I got in and out with my luggage very quickly. But it might just be because Wicked is more of a tourist show. I probably wouldn't have tried it on a smaller show.