Musical Theatre Pet Peeves — Page 6

I think ensemble people get bored very quickly and begin to form backstories for their "characters." They really think nobody's watching them or that it adds richness.

It's really just a case of the director/SM letting them run wild.

when ppl cheer excessively. I was at Hairspray and i think it was a school outing to the theatre weekend or something, so Neil Simon was crawling with many teenagers, who wouldnt shut up.

I'm like, relax we aint at a basketball game geez.

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Oh, tall people in front of me. I'm 5'1.

Ignorant people who have no business in the theatre
"Hairspray? I thought it was about a beauty parlor?"
"Wheres Reese Witherspoon?"
"THIS ISNT SCARY! I THOUGHT PHANTOM WOULD BE SCARY!"
"Wheres Johnny Depp?"

You get the idea...

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When people smack their thighs and hum along because they know the two famous songs in the whole show... so fun.

Cellphones.

Standing ovations are sometimes great for shows, but if you are person who has seen the show multiple times, it just kind of gets old.. no offense to the performers who are doing a great job.

"people who wear prom dresses or floor legnths gowns, especially to shows like rent and in the heights, its not so much a pet peeve as it is just hilarious. "
I think it's hilarious too haha. To be underdressed and overdressed, although I have gone underdressed before, I'm not going to lie.

When I was at Legally Blonde there was this guy and girl sitting in front of me dancing in their seats to all of the choreography. It was most annoying during What You Want, Positive and Legally Blonde Remix. I wanted to shoot them!

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i love that whole " hate it when, after a button, the actors fall down laughing at what just transpired. Like in the SWEET CHARITY film, after "There's Gotta Be Something Better Than This."
that's sooo true!
it sort of demeans what they've just been doing, like, oh how silly are we....its a cheap trick

when actors are obviously bored with their run and phone in their performance

when you see an understudy run and other, regular actors mess around and try to make people corpse - i'm still there to watch a show

the people who get obsessed with what show will go into what theatre - as if that's the most exciting thing to talk about when a new show is arriving?!

the people who trash a show before they've seen it, or shill about it too

the people who claim they're in the business and therefore know everything that's going on; 1. no-one in the business knows EVERYTHING, and mostly we're working on rumours anyway and 2. often they're version of being in the business is ushering or street teaming.

the way that you absolutely have to belt everything these days before people are impressed with your voice

crazy vowel moderation - as long as haaaaaaayyy naaaaaaayyyds maaaaaaaaay (and for you US types, no, that's not how we talk!)

unnecessarily bad accents - that's just lazy. sometimes its from a crazy producer who reckons the audience won't understand them (and then we have Dick Van Dyke all over again)

acutally, yeah, producers who assume their audience are truly dumb, so take out local references when things cross the pond - come on people, the UK audience know who Gary Coleman is! and anyone who doesn't, doesn't deserve to get those jokes!

Don't diss me for my jeans. Love me for my ability to arrive on time, switch my phone off, sit quietly for the duration, and give the actors and orchestra their full due at the end of the show. :P

Amen Weez! :)

As for my biggest pet peeve... Picnics in the theatre. Seriously. When I saw Frankenstein, there was a family behind me that had gotten Subway and put it into a Duane Reade bag I guess so there would be less questioning of them coming into the theatre. They proceeded to wait until almost time for the show to start to begin unpacking the meal, and since they'd all gotten different sandwiches had to discuss who had what, etc. QUITE annoying. And I'm fairly sure that there has been at least one picnic with silver and china in the mezz of the Roundabout ~ definitely sounded like it once when I saw 110 In The Shade (and no, it was NOT when Lizzie was messing with place settings on stage).

Then again, when the theatres sell peanuts in cellophane bags that make impossible noise (*cough*Roundabout in particular*cough*), what are people supposed to think?

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Updated On: 6/4/08 at 07:38 AM

Audience members who don't turn off their cell phones.

Or talk on their cell phones.

Or take pictures with their cell phones.

OK. Just cell phones.

This isn't specific to musical theatre, but I hate when patrons come in and try to grab Playbills out of my arms while I'm examining their ticket. The other day I lectured a girl for doing it. She tried to take one from my arms and I pulled away abruptly and said "Excuse me!" She stammered something like "Sorry, I didn't mean to do anything," so I said "That's okay, you just don't take things out of people's hands." She went slinking to her seat. Hope she never tries that one again.

TEXTING! I hate when your sitting there and you just see all those annoying lights. My parents got tickets for my family to see Avenue Q (awkward, but that's an entirely different story) and my BROTHER started texting in the middle of "Purpose". I got so mad at him during intermission...

I've never seen a Broadway show so my response will have to stick to the theatre that I do know.

I hate when the house is full of people that don't know much about theatre, (example: maybe relatives of the folks onstage that wanted to support son/daughter/cousin etc.) so they act in their non-theatre manners.
- Laughing at something that's not funny.
(example: any sad death scene, think of All My Sons ending)
- Low brow humor.
(example: any form of stupidity that fans of NASCAR would laugh at for years, think like Scary Movie-esque humor)

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I don't mind latecomers, except for when they're at the end of one row, enter through the other end and make everyone stand up
I also don't like it when people cover their eyes during a nude scene (not including children)