ROA Drinking...

[TheCharleston]

Posted: 2/18/09 at 5:33pm

According to one of the more recent threads, there seem to be many on this board who are "associated" with ROCK OF AGES.

I would like to ask those who know (or think they know) what the drinking situation is going to turn out like?

I know there was a brief paragraph about it in a press release but that told us nothing. Is it confirmed that there are going to be waiters walking down the aisles, during the show, and passing drinks?

How will the audience members order these drinks?

How will they be able to protect a beautiful Broadway house from being destroyed by an obnoxious marketing strategy?

What about those who come to enjoy the show SOBER and choose to not drink? Will they consider dividing the seating sections?

This isn't New World Stages now. This is Broadway. There will be people paying $80 - $120 to see a Broadway show... not get heckled by drunken idiots and be spilled upon.

What has Broadway come to? Enjoy a cocktail before the show. Not during the show.

[HBBrock]

Posted: 2/18/09 at 5:38pm

To correct you, the top ticket is $99....not $120.

I personally hope they do NOT serve alcohol during the show. I agree - it's Broadway.

[snarkywannabedreamer]

Posted: 2/18/09 at 5:44pm

it's also a rock show. I heard that the drinking won't be as crazy as new world but that you would be able to bring your drinks to your seat (with some kind of "sippy cup" type thing) :) I personally think this is totally appropriate for this particular show... would it be right for something like "Story Of My Life"? maybe not, but I think the people that want to see a comedy with 80s rock will be fine with people drinking in the house.

[TheCharleston]

Posted: 2/18/09 at 5:46pm

yes. drinking in a Broadway house. that's completely respectable.

Sippy cups have detatchable tops on them. Easy to spill those babies.

[ifuweregay93]

Posted: 2/18/09 at 5:47pm

Will my beer dispenser hat be permitted into the theatre?

[Dollypop]

Posted: 2/18/09 at 5:48pm

Will I be forced to deliver my talk on "The Perils of Alcohol" again?

[TheCharleston]

Posted: 2/18/09 at 5:50pm

Can you imagine if Patti was in ROA?

[ifuweregay93]

Posted: 2/18/09 at 5:52pm

How many beer cans would be found in her dressing room?

[nydirector2]

Posted: 2/18/09 at 6:08pm

IT'S A ROCK SHOW!!! Drunken idiots and bad 80's song is the point. Just because it moved 2 blocks south and one block over doesn't mean the show should give up its core values or audience.

This comment upset me almost as much as the one about how the children in the audience ruined Shrek. IT'S PART OF THE SHOW!!!! The audience, the theatre, everything, is all part of it. Broadway is a location people, not a freaking ideal...and certainly not a church or temple. And you know what..theatre was originally presented for drunken idiots. TheCharleston...as a professor at one of the most established conservatories in the country(as you claimed before), you should know that. Embrace the fact there is something different and a show that will actually be FUN to go to and sing along with. In fact...I'll venture to say...the people who would not like the rowdy audiences of ROA probably wouldn't even enjoy the show in the first place.

[TheCharleston]

Posted: 2/18/09 at 6:11pm

One of my most beloved shows is HAIRSPRAY, which is all about fun singing and dancing.

This has nothing to do with ROA itself.

It's about showing some respect to the people who pay $99 to see a show in an established Broadway house which, by the way, shouldn't be forced to endure so much possible spillage.

[mormonophobic]

Posted: 2/18/09 at 6:12pm

You're allowed to drink in the Eugene O'Neil and that's one of the older theaters we have. True they may not offer drink service, but let's not pretend this is tarnishing the reputation of Broadway when there are bigger fish to fry. Or drinks to spill.
Updated On: 2/18/09 at 06:12 PM

[Jane2]

Posted: 2/18/09 at 6:15pm

nydirector, you're so right. Picturing ROA with a quiet, completely sober entire audience, with polite applause only after each song- fraid not.

[snarkywannabedreamer]

Posted: 2/18/09 at 6:20pm

I somewhat agree with ny director except for the statement that these are "bad" 80s songs. :) these songs are awesome!

and I really think the moral of this thread is that Charleston should stay away from the Brooks Atkinson for a while. sounds like you would have a miserable time there.

[nydirector2]

Posted: 2/18/09 at 6:23pm

Football games, rock concerts, etc. all cost more than $99 and I expect people to drink and HAVE A GOOD. I would expect the same at Rock of Ages. It's the nature of the show...no matter where it is.

As for respect. Why don't YOU respect the people who the show is actually written and marketed toward? I bet you were the type of person who complained about getting stuff thrown on you at Rocky Horror aren't you?

[massofmen]

Posted: 2/18/09 at 6:23pm

so don't go.
i think theater is becoming an environment of entertainment, not just what is on the stage but the house as well. You walk into the gershwin and you see things "from OZ". You walked into circle in the square and you saw posters of the spelling bee. People pay 100 bucks to see a show they want to be enveloped in the show. I htink its a greta idea to allow drnking during the show. No one is going to get HAMMERED in 2 hours but buzzed probably, and how cool is that. the whole theater will be screaming during "don't stop believing". Can't wait to see this on bway.

[Jane2]

Posted: 2/18/09 at 6:30pm

Just as an aside-if you have maintenance people go into the house to clean up after each performance, there won't be any permanent damage to the theater due to some spills. It didn't damage the house in New World Stages.

[CSonBroadway]

Posted: 2/18/09 at 8:31pm

I don't like the idea of this because of a past experience I had with people drinking at the theatre. These 4 women behind me at Spring Awakening were drunk and they were about in 40's. They were cracking up and being loud during the funeral scene. I thought it was ridiculous how two teenagers (a friend and I) had to tell them to be quiet instead of the other way around.

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 2/18/09 at 8:36pm

I think it's completely inaccurate to assume that all people who like to have a good time ALSO like to drink alcohol and be surrounded by people getting drunk.

I love to have a good time and applaud and cheer after songs and at appropriate times during a show, but I don't drink alcohol, and I don't like being surrounded by people getting loaded and behaving the way people do as a result while I'm watching a show on stage.

I'll see this show once, because I see everything.

But again, it is inaccurate to draw a correlation between people who like to have fun and people who drink and like being in the company of drunk people.

[snarkywannabedreamer]

Posted: 2/18/09 at 8:59pm

I agree. I hate drunken idiots and from what I hear they are doing something about it for the transfer. Plus, I think the bigger house will absorb a lot of the idiocy. However, I don't think that the correlation between having fun and being drunk was what people are saying. I think it's that you just have to manage or alter your expectation for THIS show. Approach it more like a rock concert than a night of musical theater and you will be less annoyed. If people were laughing and drunk during Spring Awakening, yeah, I can see that being really inappropriate. But at ROA I think it will just be part of the thing.

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 2/18/09 at 9:03pm

The Brooks is a tiny house. It won't absorb it, especially when you have drunk people next to you, directly in front of you, and behind you, but whatever.

How exactly are they going to ID people during the show?

The producers could get into big trouble for serving alcohol to minors.

[Dangerous Divine]

Posted: 2/18/09 at 9:13pm

What concerns me is the possibility of drink service during the show. Even if the environment is like a rock concert, (correct me if I'm wrong, since I haven't seen the show) there is still a story line. I would not want to be distracted by having to pass cups down or relay drink orders from the middle of the row down the line to the server during the show.

[snarkywannabedreamer]

Posted: 2/18/09 at 9:15pm

I believe you will get your drinks at the bar and be able to bring them to your seats.

[Jane2]

Posted: 2/18/09 at 9:19pm

And rest assure-this is not the kind of story line that demands rapt attention!

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 2/18/09 at 9:19pm

So people will be getting up from their seats during the show, walking down the aisle in front of people watching the show who have to get up and have the show blocked from view so these people can go buy alcohol, and then make everyone in the row have to get up again as they come back down the aisle?

[snarkywannabedreamer]

Posted: 2/18/09 at 9:25pm

ugggghhhh... just don't go see it. it sounds like it will be far too painful for you.