"The mother got nasty and claimed the daughter "did nothing wrong; it was an accident that her phone went off,"
Surely the girl heard the announcement to turn off all phones. I assume most broadway theatres have that. The twit.
I once saw Ralph Fiennes in a play when a phone went off in the audience. He broke character and shouted at the offender. The audience broke into applause, the offender went red and the play continued.
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/16/05
Good for Patti!
This is one of my biggest pet peeves. I've had this happen to me while on stage also, and it is unbelievably distracting. No matter how in the moment you are, when a glaring light pops on in the see of darkness your eyes will automatically go to it and it will pull you right out of your character.
I was a Top Girls last weekend, in the mezzanine, and there were some teenage girls sitting a two rows in front of me texting, I was ready to clobber them over the head. Fortunately I did not have to as at intermission an usher told them they had to turn the devices off because the cast had complained that they could see the phones and it was distracting.
We were up in the mezzanine and the actors complained!
If you cannot, or choose not to, follow the rules you deserved to be thrown out.
" If Patti wasn't able to do her craft because of the texting, like another poster said, shouldn't she have been trying to focus even more on the role and her performance than obsessing over one particular audience member?
I totally agree. It is, however, sad how common courtesy in this country has all but disappeared. The decline of manners will continue with or without the intervention of Ms. LuPone.
Wow that girl must have felt so embarrassed.
If you are desperate to text, don't go to the theater and especially don't sit in the front row. I hope this girl and her mother were terribly embarrassed - maybe embarrassed enough to NOT do this ever again.
I doubt seriously if they are the least bit embarrased. To most people that is perfectly acceptable behavior no matter where you are.
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/3/06
It's disrespectful to go to the theater and text. Imagine if you were the performer? While singing your heart out, would you want someone texting? It's completely disrespectful. If I was Patti, I would have done the exact same thing.
I agree it is very disrespectful to the actors and the audience.
Let it be a lesson to her not to do it again.
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/3/06
Agreed, Belle!
Yeah for Patti!
Well hip hip hooray-GOOD FOR PATTI! It drives me crazy when the little blueish light comes on. It's so distracting and I'm automatically pissed off, which I did not pay for. RUDE AND TOTALLY OBLIVIOUS BEHAVIOR. Texters distracted me at In the Heights and Catered Affair this year, but at Affair I somewhat welcomed the intrusion...anger tops boredom in my book.
Hooray for Patti! You come to the theatre to watch, not to text, eat, sleep, etc. The sooner people learn that the better.
Go Patti!!!
Adding my kudos for Ms. Lupone. These folks wouldn't be texting in church...well, on second thought they probably would. Oh, well. It's annoying and disrespectful.
i dont understand why you would be looking down at your phone while patti is performing right in front of you..when I go I don't take my eyes off the stage.
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/17/04
Unless a close family member is close to dying in the hospital -- in which case you should be with them and not at a theater ANYWAY -- there is NO EXCUSE for a cell phone to be on or in use during a theatrical performance. None. Zero tolerance.
And don't forget ... Hepburn did it first. During the run of COCO, an eager fan took a flash photo of Hepburn upon her entrance, about ten minutes into the show.
Hepburn stopped the show dead, ordered the ushers to find the perpetrator, berated the man in front of the audience and then announced they would start the show again ... FROM THE BEGINNING. The audience cheered wildly.
She walked off stage, the curtain came down and the orchestra started again at the overture. Needless to say, no flash photography ever happened during COCO again.
Updated On: 7/3/08 at 09:19 AM
There are SPECIFIC rules that are announced at the beginning of the show and ANYONE who doesn't follow them should be IMMEDIATELY thrown out. Period. How difficult is it to turn your phone off before coming into the theatre? If you need to use it, go outside the theatre! Camera . . . leave it in your bag the entire time you are in the theatre. Period. No pics are allowed inside the theatre. Not of the curtain prior to the show starting, not of you and your friends in your seats, not of the curtain call, not of the star singing her seven o'clock number. NONE!!
SOME PEOPLE, however, think they are above the rules and, more importantly, think they are the center of the universe. Personally, I think many cell phone users are disrespectful to people around them. If you are in a crowd (e.g., on a train, standing in line in a store, etc.) and you need to use your phone, don't scream at the top of your lungs. It's disrespectful. Don't just gab on for hours because you are bored. Handle important business quickly and quietly and get off the phone. It's the polite thing to do. I have the feeling these 2 people that got thrown out probably get yelled at in a LOT of situations for being VERY self-centered.
Broadway Star Joined: 12/9/06
Patti ****ing wins.
Little bitch is just lucky Patti didn't come down from the stage and smash the friggin' cell phone.
Amaaazing...supposedly there are "wrong facts" in this retelling, but cell phone girl's version makes it sound even worse, ("I was kinda bored anyway..."), if possible?
BWW is just mean, y'all
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/21/06
Well done. And anyone who thinks otherwise isn't a performer, or a good one.
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/16/07
I just got a brand new phone the day before, so I really didn't knwo what it could do.
She didn't know it was possible to turn it off?
All this said, theatre management is just as much to blame for the state audiences are in as the audiences themselves and at this point, I don't know what can be done.
Crap. She edited it!
Did anyone see the original?
And the performers aside, it's rude to her fellow audience members--more so, in fact.
Frankly I would have happily shoved the phone up her fundament, called her from the corner, and left a message with her colon saying what a great show she was missing.
(Don't let the top hat fool ya, fellas . . . )
That reminds me of one of the classic moments from my favourite TV show. Go to the Tubes of You and enter "thick of it jolson" as a search item. Watch the first video. Good luck with the Glaswegian accent. ^_^
(EDIT: and don't watch if you're offended by foul language! Sorry, should've mentioned that sooner. XD)
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