This was my first time seeing the show and I was a little put off by what was going on at the show tonight, none of it the actual show's fault.
First off, I don't know if this is happening at multiple shows, but I guess things are slower in January (when I was at Phantom Monday it was very sparse). But tonight hardly any of the rear mezz was sold. We had purchased rush tickets, and were moved to the center of front mezz. The ushers were standing with pieces of printer paper with instructions on them, telling them what seats hadn't sold and they were moving everyone to the center section. To be honest, I would've rather sat in the side and been more comfortable than cramped.
Secondly, there were two drunk groups sitting directly, and two rows in front of us. The first, a group of 3 girls who were drunk and singing along. Someone turned and shushed them, and at intermission they moved to the empty rear mezz. In front of them was two drunk women, who were laughing at wrong times, dancing along, saying words the actors would say, and then were holding their phones up recording the final two numbers. I didn't see ushers anywhere...
Is it understandable I did not enjoy my first experience with Chicago?
Updated On: 2/1/14 at 11:03 PM
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
Why are you surprised about the sparse house? This show and PHANTOM have been running for ages. Don't expect every seat to be filled.
As for the drunks....this is Super Bowl weekend and these were probably people who were in for the game and celebrating too much.
You went to see Chicago. What did you expect? Please don't ever see Rock of Ages because you won't be happy there either.
January is typically quiet, and the Super Bowl has done nothing for NYC tourism as it turns out. You just went on a particularly bad night.
That's normal there with the head usher with a print out of seats. Many times I had Sro went to see the head usher and was seated in prime seats.
If you really wanted to sit on the side if you spoke up they wouldn't of had a problem.
Was I the only one who thought that they had taken the song 'Class' out of the show that night by the thread title? LOL
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/20/04
Yep, I thought they cut the song for some reason.
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/16/11
This behavior, however, can happen at just about any show.
And yes, I thought there was a major faux pas skipping the song.
Sorry about the thread title, I changed it. But ok, I've never heard or seen an usher doing that at a show so I was surprised and I was just wondering if that was just because the show wasn't full. And I know these shows have been running for a long time, but I was surprised with how few people were in the audience on a Friday night is all. And as for the drunks, if I saw Rock of Ages and that happened I wouldn't be upset, because that's the feel of the show, a fun, jukebox, rock concert. I just didn't think that it was acceptable at a show like Chicago and was merely surprised the ushers didn't do anything because many other audience members were getting noticeably distracted and frustrated.
I'd add my two cents, but we all know how well that went over the last time I did regarding Chicago.
Joined: 12/31/69
Ugh I was at the show last night, too, enjoying it along with some friends and there was some uptight weenie behind me telling me I was laughing at the "Wrong" parts. Then she was whining she didn't like the seats they gave her and wanted to sit over on the side. GO move! What crawled up her patootie?
If you would have waited for the warm-up comic to wave his arms and tell you it was time to laugh, this wouldn't have happened.
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