My worst theater experience

As an audience member, that is. Which actually had very little to do with the show itself.
Okay, so my friend and I got tickets at TKTS for Little Women. We sit down and the single seat to the left of my friend, and the four seats in front of us are taken by a family from Israel. The mother asks me if I've ever read the book and if I would please explain what happens so she can explain it to her daughters--who don't speak English. Now, it's been a few years since I've read the book, but I gave it my best shot. She explains some to her daughters and the show starts. So throughout the entire first act, she and her husband are talking to their daughters in Hebrew, and definitely not even trying to whisper. The littlest daughter would say something, the mom would shush her, and then the mom would proceed to talk louder than her daughter was. The people the row in front of them repeatedly turned around to shush them and the little girl in front of them even turned around and glared. (They were talked to by the ushers at intermissions--I don't know if it worked, we moved for the second act.)
So, that was part of it. Also, there's a girl behind us whose cell phone goes off not once, but twice!! Apparently, she didn't turn it off the first time. The woman next to me is unwrapping candy, and the guy across the aisle is coughing the entire show. Now, I don't hold that against him, but it added to the frustration.
Also, there was a concert going on next door, so there was a nice base beat underneath the entire show.
So yeah, all in all, a great day at the theater. I can't handle bad audiences.
Done complaining now.

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What show?

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This happened at RENT. My mom wasnt that familiar with the show, so OF COURSE she didnt want to know before the show what all happened. So we sit down, and the guy behind us begins to tell his date, that was old enough to be his daughter, which it wasnt his daughter, EVERYTHING that happens! OF COURSE my mother, who ALWAYS speaks her mind, rather loudly makes a comment to the effect of, "OH! I was DYING to know what all happens in the show, so the suprises will be totally ruined for me!" I'm SURE the guy heard her. I think he and his date left before the show started. Although, they might have left after Act1, or sat somewhere else. So far, I havent relly had any bad experiences. THANK GOD!

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*facepalm* Not all Israelis are that rude, I swear.

the SRO people in Brooklyn were fighting over a single during the entire show. I mean, going at it. screaming, shouting etc...

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Are there ANY parents out there that still disaplin? I know there are A FEW at least. Thats one problam that a lot of ppl run into at theatre. Most parents just let there kid(s) sit there and let them do what ever they want to do. How ever, I know that some times the childeren can not sit still for 2 and a half hours. But the parents should know if the child can do that or not.

Ok I'm done with my ranting that was a little random.

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Are there ANY parents out there that still disaplin?

Looked like your parents didn't disaplin you to spell discipline correctly.

It does seem like audiences are getting worse with time. LITTLE WOMEN was bad - people coughing all over the place, old people talking loudly to their companions, and a man two seats down who was constantly reaching into his peanut m&m bag for single m&m's. My companion, who NEVER gets upset, actually shushed him at one point! I almost fell over.

At FIDDLER about a month later, this man next to me must have had some sinus issues because every 2 minutes or so he'd put his finger on one nostril and sniff loudly. OMG. I wanted to punch him!

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ClumsyDude15- What did the guy do when you told him to stop?


He got very angry and saw all my Wicked stuff and called me a Wicked head and told me to shut up. I told him to stop or I would make a fuss and I almost got up to tell an usher and he told me would stop but he gave me this mean face. He didnt kick me again.

I also had noise issues when I saw Little Women in December. The girls sitting in front of me were more interested in text messaging on their cell phones, people were coughing, and I heard many a candy wrapper.

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I've never had any terrible experiences as an audience member so I guess I'm lucky. The two bad experiences have been pretty recent. The first was when I saw A Streetcar Named Desire. This man kept blowing his nose during a performance, and this was not a quiet blow, this was like trumpets blowing. I understand that he might have had a cold and sneezing is fine, but this was just rude. The other experience was at my high school. This year they did The Laramie Project (I was not in it) and during one of the shows - which I was ushering for - 8 cell phones went off. I mean 8!!!! I know that its a high school production but still. I think that there should be little electric zappers in everyone's chair that way if its their cell phone that goes off, they get a little zap. They'll learn that way!

The other day, they taped Virginia Woolf for the Lincoln Center archives. The man behind me was seated next to the camera and proceeded to complain loudly about it for 10 minutes, even though it was in no way obstructing his view or making noise. A woman brought an open cup of beer back to her seat (ushers not doing their jobs). Then the people in front of me took out sushi during one the intermissions and proceeded to devour it WITH soy sauce (which smelled). Lastly, the woman in front of me neglected to turn her cell phone off, and of course it rang about 2 minutes into the third act. I felt like leaning over and congratulating her on the fact that her cell phone will now be heard on the video of the production, and anyone who watches it will be sitting there thinking "What an as*hole to leave your cell phone on."

bdwybelle, I like the zapper idea. Perfect solution. If people are stupid enough not to check their cellphones during pre-show announcement, they deserve to be zapped.

Another thing that annoys me, and I'm sad to say, it was some of my friends when we went to see Wicked, is very loud crying. I know that sounds mean...but really, it kinda ruins the moment when the people next to you are sniffling really loud, digging in their purses for kleenexes, and blowing their noses like foghorns, especially during really quiet parts. They were doing it all throughout "For Good" pretty much until the end of the show. Maybe I feel that way just because I've seemed to master the art of crying silently.