Rude People in Theatres- Page 3
Rude People in Theatres
#50re: Rude People in Theatres
Posted: 9/13/05 at 10:28amDamn, double post
"NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!"
Updated On: 3/8/06 at 10:28 AM
Avigdor
Featured Actor Joined: 3/14/05
#51re: Rude People in Theatres
Posted: 9/13/05 at 10:40amunless the ushers ok this, i have to agree with the people that gave you a piece of their mind..it isnt a movie theatre and you should keep your seat. i personally find it rude that you moved. i think you should respect the other patrons in the theatre and respect the ticketing system. it is people like you that make theatre sometimes annoying to attend.
Bailey's Dad
Swing Joined: 3/20/05
#52re: Rude People in Theatres
Posted: 9/13/05 at 10:43amI agree. It's presumptuous to think that you are entitled to the seats and that the people behind you were rude. I would be annoyed too. If you didn't pay for those seats, why should you sit there (empty or not) ?
toodramatic
Stand-by Joined: 12/29/04
#53re: Rude People in Theatres
Posted: 9/13/05 at 10:59amAvigdor and Bailey's Dad its people like you who make the theatre seem pretensious and snobby...if there are open seats and you get there first and the ushers (who are in charge) dont mind, you have every right. It's theatre decorum as most of the people an this thread have proven.
showbiz
Understudy Joined: 7/27/05
#54re: Rude People in Theatres
Posted: 9/13/05 at 11:05am
Well I'm short so if I see an empty seat in front of me I'm thrilled because I can actually see everything on stage.
What really bugs me are the people who hog two armrests and won't give an inch. Sometimes I have to resort to elbowing them just so I can get part of an armrest.
#55re: Rude People in Theatres
Posted: 9/13/05 at 11:11am
When I was at Spamalot (Standing Room Only) the usher encouraged us at the beginning that if there were any seats empty during intermission that we could sit there then... but only if they went that far without being sat in.
Mujhse Dosti Karoge?
#56re: Rude People in Theatres
Posted: 9/13/05 at 12:01pmScenario - What if, after intermission, a big very very large smelly man from the balcony came to sit next to the open seat next to you. Would you be annoyed or complain? What if, in addition, you paid for that seat and your freind couldn't come?
Avigdor
Featured Actor Joined: 3/14/05
#57re: Rude People in Theatres
Posted: 9/13/05 at 12:06pmthis thread and everyone on it proves nothing..we all share our opinions but in terms of theatre "decorum" those who have been brought up properly understand that you are not entitled to the seat and it is not a right it is a privledge. and it if this seems presumtous to you that is fine...because when i go to the theatre i am not interested in sitting near a bunch of hillbillies who have no manners and move around the theatre like its a game boy from the 92 cross town bus.
carnimiriel
Stand-by Joined: 12/16/04
#58re: Rude People in Theatres
Posted: 9/13/05 at 12:14pm
Ouch! If we're all not careful, this thread is going to be renamed as Rude People on the Boards. Let's not make personal attacks on people's character and upbringing just because they do/don't agree on this issue.
Fosse76
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/21/05
#59re: Rude People in Theatres
Posted: 9/13/05 at 12:20pmI only disagree with moving if it isn't in your section. If you are in the orchestra, and the seat isn't claimed, I don't think it is a big issue. If you move down from the balcony to the orchestra, then I can see it as an issue. Ushers are supposed to discourage moving in either case, since technically, you are trespassing by sitting in an open seat.
#60re: Rude People in Theatres
Posted: 9/13/05 at 12:24pm
The big smelly man might be seated next to you anyway--what can you do? You live in NYC and have too deal with stinky people all the time.
Avigdor, nobody on the board is trying to prove anything. I don't want to sit next to the migrating hillbillies either. Nor do I want to be near the pseudo-intellectual who feels the need to pontificate before, during or after the show. Being obnoxious is not the domain of the ill-bred or the financially disadvantaged.
Of course people aren't entitled to empty seats, but during the intermission, what difference does it make to you? And you can't say that you've paid more for your tickets, because you don't know that. So long as the curtain is down, its fine. if people move during the show, not fine, but that comes more under the heading of disturbing your fellow audience members and less to do with changing seats.
And there are several points of etiquette that aren't in dispute: cell phones, gum wrappers, and talking. The announcement made before the show reiterates these rules.
Avigdor
Featured Actor Joined: 3/14/05
#61re: Rude People in Theatres
Posted: 9/13/05 at 12:42pmyour making assumptions..i never said pointed it my statement at anyone on this board..if they care to assume that blame..they are free to. i didnt assign it.
#62re: Rude People in Theatres
Posted: 9/13/05 at 12:50pm
If a big smelly man came and sat in a seat I had paid for, I would tell him to move his carcass---generally, if I have a ticket that goes unused, I keep the ticket with me, and put my purse and jacket/sweater/coat on that seat.
Of course, I've been known to trade seats with someone in the balcony (I did that at a David Byrne concert---my friend could't go, I had great seats, so I went up to the balcony at intermission, found a couple I had talked to before the show started, and switched seats with them!)
"NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!"
#63re: Rude People in Theatres
Posted: 9/13/05 at 12:59pmAs an usher, allow me to encourage you all to ALWAYS let an usher know if someone near you is eating. Many theatres have a policy against food/drink in the theatre, and if you paid for your ticket, you have every right to not have to smell someone's soup (!) or listen to someone's popcorn-munching. Even if you know that no such policy exists, play dumb. "Excuse me, doesn't this theatre have a policy against food leaving the lobby area? No? I'm sorry, it's just that there's someone down the row who's slurping a slushee and it was hindering my concentration."
Avatar - Isaac, my blue-fronted Amazon parrot. Adopted 9/7/07. Age 30 (my pet is older than me!)
#64re: Rude People in Theatres
Posted: 9/13/05 at 1:08pmMagdalene , that's a good point. If the people actually bought the tickets to the empty seats (for a better view, for more elbow room, whatever), they have every right in the world to complain, because they technically bought those empty seats. If the patron that bought the tickets for the seats didn't bother to show up to the theater, it's their own loss, and the people that just happened to get lucky with no one in front of them during the first act shouldn't complain. Hell, the person that bought the tickets may be 6'8" and love wearing tall hats, so the other people are probably better off with you there.
Like a firework unexploded
Wanting life but never knowing how
Wanting life but never knowing how
kelzama
Broadway Star Joined: 9/14/04
#65re: Rude People in Theatres
Posted: 9/13/05 at 1:52pm
There's another thoughtless rudeness:
If someone applies too much perfume (patchouli kills me) or (God forbid) wears a coat fresh out of the mothballs, I'll sneeze my head off throughout the show unless I move. I might end up not sitting next to the people I came with, but better that than a sneeze fit. Ushers are very accommodating.
Just as you shouldn't wear a hat or big hair, don't wash yourself with your favorite fragrance. Hey...it's rude.
#66re: Rude People in Theatres
Posted: 9/13/05 at 2:10pm
All i have to say is how did that family bring in a huge paper brown bag with food in it?
And I'm lucky, I haven't encountered anything bad. And when I know the show and want to sing along to it, I just mouth is and try not to mouth that loudly (cause I have HEARD people mouthing songs. Not heard the words but how their lips move and such). and with the changing seats, whatever. i guess the best thing to do is ask the usher.
<--- the set of A Midsummer Night's Dream that I was assistant stage manager for during the 2007 season at the STNJ outdoor stage.
-Dre- You must remember all the same that at the crux of every game is knowing when it's time to leave the table... And it's important to be artful in your exit. No turning back, you must accept the con is done... It was a ball, it was a blast. And it's a shame it couldn't last. But every chapter has to end, you must agree.
~Dirty Rotten Scoundrels~
There's a special kind of people known as show people. We live in a world full of dreams. Sometimes we're not too certain what's false and what's real. But we're seldom in doubt about what we feel.
~Curtains~
It is a far, far better thing I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest I go to, than I have ever known.
~A Tale of Two Cities ~
~Dirty Rotten Scoundrels~
~Curtains~
~A Tale of Two Cities ~
#67re: Rude People in Theatres
Posted: 9/13/05 at 2:31pm
Magdalene, the question wasn't if the smelly man was IN your seat, but rather next to it--would you still tell him to move?
If you have the right to protest someone's fragrance, then do I have the right to complain if the person next to me is so heavy that I can't use my armrest? Of course not--there are minor adjustments that we all have to make as members of society.
It's PREFERABLE for people to come to the theatre and behave just as I would wish, but this isn't realisitic. Just like it isn't realisitic to expect the same of subway riders.
There is a difference in being inconsiderate (too much perfume) and being rude (cell phones, food, etc)...
#68re: Rude People in Theatres
Posted: 9/13/05 at 2:58pm
I know what you meant, I wouldn't tell him to move if he was sitting in a vacant seat next to me (though if he was really smelly I might mention it to the usher
) I was making a point that sometimes an empty seat isn't really empty!
"NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!"
#69re: Rude People in Theatres
Posted: 9/13/05 at 3:05pmYeah, I agree totally. Of course, I'm way too shy to move seats after intermission--UNLESS i was really uncomfortable.
#70re: Rude People in Theatres
Posted: 9/13/05 at 3:20pm
Of course you are encouraged to fill empty seats that are closer to the front than your original seats. If you were the actors, wouldn't you rather see people in seats? They can't see all that far back, and if they see empty seats that close to the front, it doesn't exactly give them a good feeling.
I say if the seats are legitimately empty, first come, first served.
Have I ever shown you my Shattered Dreams box? It's in my Disappointment Closet. - Marge Simpson
#71re: Rude People in Theatres
Posted: 9/13/05 at 3:25pmI know that when I'm onstage (rare those cases may be) I want to see people and not seats--I can't see past the 10th row or so anyway as a rule, so if it appears and SOUNDS full, I tend to give a better show because the house is more responsive.
#72re: Rude People in Theatres
Posted: 9/13/05 at 4:21pm
I love this thread as I thought I was the only person who get tetchy during a show!! I have travelled to NYC every year (sometimes several times a year) to catch up on the theatre. What always strikes me is how so many of the audience think they are sitting in their home watching a video. This is especially true of the "big" shows like Phantom etc. which attract the out-of-towners (God knows I see the irony since no one is as far out of town as me!!). So they chat and comment and laugh even when it is not funny!
It is purgatory following the intermission when the ladies make their slow and weary way back from the powder room. Ten minutes into the second act........ and still they come!
Bus parties are a hoot in the UK e.g. the bus is planned to pick up the group of pensioners at 10.00 o'clock so the old codgers check their watches, alert their friends, get up and make their way along the row with 10 minutes of the show still to go. The sound of spectacle cases snapping shut and walking sticks being dropped is deafening!
People who break wind can also be very annoying. I should know as it is usually me!!!!!!!!!!
"Your eyes..... they shine like the pants on my blue serge suit"
#73re: Rude People in Theatres
Posted: 9/13/05 at 4:38pmLOL! This thread is hysterical---I can't wait until my next trip to NYC, so I can see if I can identify all the miscreants we've complained about!
"NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!"
#74re: Rude People in Theatres
Posted: 9/13/05 at 4:46pm
You would think that at a "highbrow" show like The Pillowman would filter out the riff-raff but you would be wrong.
I had the old lady with the CRANKED UP headset
the man eating candy wrapped in what must have been triple-ply aluminum foil
the john simon wannabe who left at intermission and made nasty comments all through Act 1
the lady who didn't want to wait for curtain call and left when the house went out, stepping over me as I was trying to applaud...
I helped her over...
I also am reminded of my friend Blake's experience with the OC of Passion...
A man in the (I call it the Dangerous Liaisons box) DL box says, "wow...I can see her crack" referring to the first scene with Giorgio and Clara in bed...that's New York sophistication for you!
Videos