Matinee vs Evening

Well a lot Wednesday matinees seem to bring out all the old people.

Updated On: 6/27/12 at 10:30 PM

Personally I enjoy ending the evening with an event, so I go to the evening shows. I feel restless after a matinee unless I have something as exciting to do afterward.

The performance itself, though, shouldn't differ so much whether it's an afternoon or evening performance; that would be unprofessional. Perhaps, though, you can sense that the actors are happy that they can go home or on a hot date after the evening performance.

I'm going to plan a hot date after I see Ghost again.

I also am a huge fan of 7pm shows mainly because of the public transportation I have to use to get home. I try to avoid 8pm shows if I can.

I haven't noticed much difference in the performances during a matinee compared to an evening show though.

I prefer evening shows, but I prefer seeing shows on Tuesdays because they usually have 7PM performances. But I prefer 8PM shows to the 2PM.

Sunday night is my favorite time to see shows.

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I prefer evening shows, or movies too. I guess it's just easier for me to focus on something when I've dealt with all the day's stuff, and it gives me something to focus on. Plus, afterwards I'd rather go out for drinks and discuss the show, or something.

But as everyone else seems to be saying, it doesn't really matter--when I was a teen I used to make day trips to Vancouver or Seattle to see touring shows at matinee and take the ferry back to Victoria after simply as that was the most affordable--or when I was last in London and tried to cram in as much theatre as possible, I tried to see two shows a day as often as possible.

(So yeah, Ghostfan, I think you'll see a lot of people here have seen a 2pm and an 8pm show on the same day).

I live about 1 hour from NYC, so I try to see shows frequently

I have seen two shows in one day a few times...
-A college production of West Side Story in the afternoon and Lion King in the evening
-The Wedding Singer twice in one day
-Billy Elliott in the afternoon and Jersey Boys in the evening
-Priscilla in the afternoon and Anything Goes in the evening

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I actually Think is a difference.I think it depends on the performer.I usually try to see evening performances because i feel thats when EVERYONE is there.Matinees are usually not as buisy as evening shows.

It also depends on the Audience. I think if the audience is really into it,than the actor will be really into it.You can just feel that energy in the theatre,where as if the audience isnt into it as much than its harder for the performer to get through the show.

In My opinion the Broadway Performer should give 100 percent each performance cause its there job to be invested in there scene or song but that sometimes is not always the case.

I think it depends on a role also. There are some roles that are extremely hard to do twice in one day ( emotionally).

for example: Dianna in Next To Normal. It has to be exhausting to give that emotional,raw, and numb performance twice in one day,so its possible some actors have to split there energy in half.

Example: when i saw Beauty and The Beast in chicago. I was at both Performances in one day.At the Matinee the audience was so dead and the cogsworth was SOO DEAD.He honestly looked so bored through that whole show,he wasnt interesting and didnt do much with the character.

But at the evening show the audience was electric!! they literally did a standing ovation after every other song ( god knows why) but anyways,the audience was so into it and the cogsworth ( same guy from the matinee) was FREEKING amazing! He actually got more laughs than lumiere ( who got tons of laughs that night).

So i was really confused.What made the actor change? was one of his fmaily members in the audience? was it the crowd? who knows. Of course im not saying every broadway performer does this,this was just an example i witnessed.

One of mY cirque du soleil buddies does the power track act in la nouba in disney and he has told me that he always performs his higher tricks at the 2nd show ( they perform twice every night)while he does easier but still impressive tricks for the 1st show to save his energy. So i think it depends on the part and the person. thoughts?

Other people on this board would know better than me but I think there is a greater chance of seeing a understudy at a matinee.

I have seen many shows at the Broadway level and otherwise. The quality of performance I have seen at many matinees has led me to have little reservation in attending a day performance. A singular example is the Wednesday matinee of War Horse I saw this spring. It was absolutely breathtaking. I saw How to Succeed later that night and absolutely despised it. However, that has a lot to do with the inherent quality of the shows themselves and not necessarily the performances. The point still stands.

As a performer myself I always try to give my best performance at every show. The matinee audience deserves the effort I give the night audience and nothing less.

As far as understudies go, I've gotten them at night performances and had full cast for matinees. It really depends on what the performers are going through offstage.