New Audience participation at Radio City Hall: Strobe lighting (aka camera flashes).
New Audience participation at Radio City Hall: Strobe lighting (aka camera flashes).
#1New Audience participation at Radio City Hall: Strobe lighting (aka camera flashes).
Posted: 12/7/10 at 1:33pm
I lol at how ridiculous I seem, but:
wtf. Is this a new thing? At the 11am show today the flashes were relentlessly constant throughout the entire show (despite the "no flash photography" announcement). Some were more considerate - the old bald man sitting in front of me smugly turned towards his wife and said "no FLASH photograph 
" and then proceeded to record video snippets of the show with his camera. Yep, that 10-second dark shaky low quality recording of a ****ing Angel 'floating' and a curtain closing - life changing memories right there.
The obese woman two seats to the left of me said that she wasn't going to take photos this year, she said she wanted to "pay attention to the show this time" (lol). And said last time the photos didn't turn out very good anyway. Maybe she felt she was missing out on the fun because she couldn't help herself after about 5 minutes. BUT, she was kind enough to turn off her flash - not kind enough to turn off the false shutter noises, however. Which I might add were louder than the audience applause. Not that I blame them, when I put on the "3D glasses" and saw the shameless citibank product placement I knew I was in trouble (at least in LEGALLY BLONDE product placement is done literally with a wink to the audience).
I loved that in the lobby the "no mobile phones" policy was strictly, strictly adhered to by an overzealous attendant, but in the auditorium ushers literally walked past people taking photos with flashes during the show and said nothing. I feel so sad that it was an approx. a fellow-20 year old I heard complaining about the flashes (taken by middle-aged adults, and older) as she walked out and not the other way around, "they never used to allow cameras in the theatre", she said to her mother.
Are people enjoying this show? The people around me seemed to be there out of obligation. It bothers me that this money making exercise can attract an audience yet theatre like the SCOTTSBORO BOYS can't. I suppose the kind of audience the SCOTTSBORO BOYS want isn't the old hick woman behind me who complained the usher, and "no one", "can speak english these days". (She spoke English just fine, get your hearing checked woman). Or then again maybe she could learn something at Scottsboro herself.
And then there is the children, well maybe they'd have a better time at the Lion King or Spider-man - unless parents think watching midgets humiliate themselves dressed as elves or the subtext of the rockettes dressed as Santa's 'reindeer' and pulling his 'sleigh' is something they want their children to enjoy.
Like walking the streets of Mumbai and feeding the homeless, watching this show for me was one of those things you have to do once in life in order to understand the most unfortunate aspects of humanity.
#2New Audience participation at Radio City Hall: Strobe lighting (aka camera flashes).
Posted: 12/7/10 at 2:02pmThank you for making my day with that! You catalogued the many reasons why I will not be attending this event.
#2New Audience participation at Radio City Hall: Strobe lighting (aka camera flashes).
Posted: 12/7/10 at 2:15pmI just wonder what these people do with these pictures they take with their phones? I highly doubt they have them printed up and framed. I suspect they show up in their facebook albums.
#3New Audience participation at Radio City Hall: Strobe lighting (aka camera flashes).
Posted: 12/7/10 at 2:30pmSomeone -- I think it might have been Trent Reznor -- recently stopped during a concert and shouted out to the sea of iPhones and cameras held in the air recording the show as well as the people posting status updates and tweets about the concert something like: "Stop documenting your life and start living it!"
dramamama611
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/4/07
#4New Audience participation at Radio City Hall: Strobe lighting (aka camera flashes).
Posted: 12/8/10 at 2:12am
Totally agree with Trent (whoever the hell that is! That has been a complaint of mine: people are more interested in documenting their lives than actually living it. Horrid, really.
Simple memories mean nothing. Welcome a new generation where Alzheimers becomes the norm since we do not USE our memories in any effective way.
#5New Audience participation at Radio City Hall: Strobe lighting (aka camera flashes).
Posted: 12/8/10 at 6:37amAnd there you have it folks, the people to whom qolbinau refers to are today's theater demographic: [insert various adjectives here]. No wonder shows like The Scottsboro Boys can't make it.
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