LuPone Issues Response To Showstopping Vegas 'Texting' Incident — Page 4

I love Patti the performer. I have a hunch I wouldn't love Patti the person.

I think MOST audience members are well-behaved. It's unfortunate to have those few at every show who ruin the atmosphere to a degree.

I was sitting 2nd row center at Blithe Spirit and a woman in the row behind me was chewing gum very loudly.
I mean, just so distracting. Now, not that it matters either way, but this was a play not a musical. There are moments of dramatic silence in the dialogue. If I can hear her, chances were so could a cast member or two (yes, that's how loud her chewing was).
I bit my lip in wanting to say something. I thought it might only last a moment and perhaps she would stop. Mind you, this was a grown woman. Her friend was sitting next to her. Sorry, but if that was my friend I would be embarrassed and tell them to stop.
Well, it lasted through the first 2 scenes and I couldn't take it anymore. I abruptly turned around during the next scene change and imformed her of how rude and distracting she was.
She looked quite embarrassed, as she should be. People sitting around us thanked me for saying something.

Are people just so selfish that they think they're in their own living rooms?
I don't even like this behavior in a movie theater; but a Broadway house?

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I was at City Opera for "Turandot" a while back, and the woman sitting two seats away from my companion was talking in a normal speaking voice to her friend for the first 5 minutes. It was as though she didn't know the opera had begun (an impossibility, given that there were a lot of people in yellow-face shrieking in Italian).

My friend shhhed her, and she shut up--for about a minute. Then she leaned over to argue with him and he just snapped his fingers in her face, REALLY LOUDLY.

At first I was embarrassed at my friend's behavior, but then I thought, no, he's right. He didn't need to discuss it with her. She knew it was wrong but felt entitled to do whatever she wanted.

They left at the first intermission.

I'm pretty sure these weren't first-time theater-goers. They sure as hell weren't teenagers.

I am seeing her in Atlantic City, and I do not want this to happen.

Way to go, Patti!!!

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"When I saw the Legally Blonde tour last fall some girl 2 rows down was texting throughout the first act. Not only would her phone light up every 40 seconds but it would also vibrate loudly as well. Thankfully one of the ushers approached her at intermission and told her to turn the phone off."

Precisely! This the the appropriate way to handle an issue like this. Handle it on a break or during the intermission. Not having the "professionlal" singer stop the show altogether.

Patti is unprofessional. Period.

During a Saturday matinee of the Holocaust drama "Irena's Vow," a man walked in late and called up to actress Tovah Feldshuh to halt her monologue until he got settled. "He shouted, 'Can you please wait a second?' and then continued on toward his seat

lol.

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"Precisely! This the the appropriate way to handle an issue like this. Handle it on a break or during the intermission."


FYI-1. Handle it on a break? What kind of break? ?? Intermission? What if there isn't an intermission? And how does it help by waiting for intermission?

2. You sound like it's one phone. If you look over the audience, you seen phones lit up all over the place, like fireflies at night! Many of the jerks are in the center of the house, or center of any row. How do you propose speaking to them without disrupting the entire audience?

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Precisely! This the the appropriate way to handle an issue like this. Handle it on a break or during the intermission.

Yeah, because ruining an entire act is so much better and WAY more professional.

Patti is unprofessional. Period.

Except that she's not. Period.

See how that doesn't finalize the argument?

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The problem that is now facing Patti is that more and more people are hoping to see these public reprimands. I have several friends who were at the shows in Vegas and were actually excited that this could be a possibility, especially given how notoriously rude the Vegas audiences can be.

those people are idiots.

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"Handle it on a break or during the intermission."

So I need to sacrifice my ability to enjoy the show due to the distraction in order not to make a scene? As I said earlier in the thread: That's bull****.

Here are the problems we face:

1. Pre-show announcements - People show up late, people ignore them, people are used to hearing them so can easily tune them out or they are not delivered with a strong enough hand to be effective.

2. House staff - Their job is to seat people and end obvious distractions and distractions, most prominently of the legal kind (photos/video of copyrighted material). Most people know not to use their voices in the theater and therefore do not require reprimand. On the other hand, cellphones as a new technology do not have clear grandfathered in rules. Not only that but every person in the theater has one so we cannot expect the staff, regardless of how well trained or efficient, to be on top of every person's voice AND electronic devices.

3. Ticket prices - The article from the WSJ eludes to lower ticket prices possibly meaning a lower mannered audience, but in fact I think it is the opposite. Because theater has become an art form to be enjoyed by those with a large amount of expendable income (2 tickets @ $125 + Dinner @ $90 + Parking @ $30 + Tolls @ $10 = $380 for a date night at the theater), less people have the exposure needed to know how to properly behave. An example: My niece has sat at the table with my brother and his wife since she has been able to be upright. Since she has been able to eat solid food she eats exactly what they eat in a smaller portion. She therefore does not act up in restaurants because the way to behave in a dinner situation has been ingrained in her consciousness. This same principle can be applied to those who have and have not been exposed to theater which I believe is a direct result of the inaccessibility to reasonably priced tickets.

4. Instant Gratification - Like I said in my last post, the need for instant gratification and constant connection fuels the need of people to take their devices out during shows. We must also keep in mind that on "date nights" (Thurs-Sun), a good 20-40% of the audience is only there out of companionship to appease their significant other so that boredom welcomes the use of said devices. That coupled with people without the necessary ingrained theater etiquette leads us to the perdicament we have today.

On a whole other note, those chastising Patti need to realize that the coverage of the two verbal reamings she has delivered has generated a huge amount of discussion and hopefully self reflection by people both proficient AND lacking in theater etiquette. I'd make a strong bet that the majority of people in those two theaters learned a valuable lesson and the coverage has caused many more to do so by proxy.

EDIT: "If the person onstage yells at an audience member then they are being unprofessional."

There is no such thing as theater without an audience. It is a 2 part harmony and the professionalism of a person on stage should not be compromised do to the lack of etiquette of a person viewing them. If Ms. LuPone would like to make it her vendetta to weed out offenders like this then more power to her because in the mean time, for the above stated reasons, we are at a deadlock.

Updated On: 6/23/09 at 06:37 PM

Just a hypothetical. I wonder what Patti would do if a chorus member suddenly blurted out, "HEY STOP TEXTING!" to somebody during a scene she was in and she hadn't seen any texting?

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