SITTING ON STAGE.....WHY?

[Dancin Thru Life]

SITTING ON STAGE.....WHY?#1

Posted: 5/23/07 at 11:21am

Sorry if this has been talked about before, but I couldn't find it...

What is the whole idea of selling the general theater going public seats on the stage?

I'm totally at a loss to come up with how in any way this is a good thing (unless of course, you are the one on the stage, I guess!) I mean, if I'm in the house seats, I would find it totally distracting to have extraneous movement on stage.

We've all read many posts about how poorly many people behave in the theater to begin with. Now they are being offered the opportunity to sit on the stage during the show?!?!?! WTF?

Aside from perhaps concert productions, I can't figure out why this is becoming a more talked about practice.

Any thoughts?

When did this start?
Do you like or dislike the whole idea?
When would it be a really bad idea?
Is it greed on the producers part?
Do you think it fires up the actors or serves as a distraction?

Just curious what everyone else thinks...and I know this is the place to gather opinions!

Thanks!

"To love another person is to see the face of God!"

Updated On: 5/23/07 at 11:21 AM

[munkustrap178]

re: SITTING ON STAGE.....WHY?#2

Posted: 5/23/07 at 11:24am

I don't know when it started, but there were seats "on stage" for CATS, though they were far less distracting (you couldn't even see the people) than when watching SPRING AWAKENING, INHERIT THE WIND, etc.

I hate the idea. It's great for the producers to be able to make more money and it's great to have affordable seats, but it compromises the notion of a "4th wall." I HATE it. I find it horribly distracing to watch people WATCH a show. Horrible.

"If you are going to do something, do it well. And leave something witchy." -Charlie Manson

[AC126748]

re: SITTING ON STAGE.....WHY?#2

Posted: 5/23/07 at 11:24am

It's been around as far back as the original production of Equus in the 1970s. Personally, I can't stand it, but I can understand why some would find it thrilling to sit on stage and (indirectly) be part of the action.

"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe." -John Guare, Landscape of the Body

[wonderfulwizard11]

re: SITTING ON STAGE.....WHY?#3

Posted: 5/23/07 at 11:26am

Ya gotta get a gimmick.

I am a firm believer in serendipity- all the random pieces coming together in one wonderful moment, when suddenly you see what their purpose was all along.

[Fenchurch]

re: SITTING ON STAGE.....WHY?#4

Posted: 5/23/07 at 11:34am

It's a wonderful idea. It furthers the idea of the Ground, that a performance is about more than just the performers, it's about the space and the audience, they are all a part of how the performance goes, we're all in this together, as it were.

It's a fairly old idea, pick up the book Musicking and there's a lot about the ground in there. I think it adds a wonderful sense of vitality.

"Fenchurch is correct, as usual." -Keen on Kean
"Fenchurch is correct, as usual." - muscle23ftl

[munkustrap178]

re: SITTING ON STAGE.....WHY?#5

Posted: 5/23/07 at 11:35am

Totally disagree.

"If you are going to do something, do it well. And leave something witchy." -Charlie Manson

[gustof777]

re: SITTING ON STAGE.....WHY?#6

Posted: 5/23/07 at 11:41am

eughh...I think it works for Spring Awakening and every time I've seen in the audience I don't find the people onstage THAT distracting but that being said when i sat on stage last Friday I really didn't like it. You ended up watching/sort of being part of a performance rather than watching the show. I was glad that I sat onstage but I would never want my first experience with the show to be onstage and I don't think I'll sit onstage again. It was cool to have them be so close (although when Lea Michele practically jumped ontop of me during Touch Me it was a bit uncomfortably close and I really didn't know where or how to look) but like I said you end up watching the ACTORS perform almost like you're getting a backstage pass. I found it hard to engage in the storyling but I was fine because I've seen it so many times. I think that if it works for the show than do it but other than that leave it be. I can't comment on Inherit the Wind but I think that it works for SA.

RIP Natasha Richardson. ~You were a light on this earth ~

[KQuill]

re: SITTING ON STAGE.....WHY?#7

Posted: 5/23/07 at 11:44am

I think it's only distracting if you make it that way for yourself.

I have seen Inherit the Wind three times and I forgot they were there as soon as the lights went up.

[gymdudeva]

re: SITTING ON STAGE.....WHY?#8

Posted: 5/23/07 at 11:49am

I think you have to look at it show by show.

I have only seen it in the case of SA. The onstage folks are mostly in shadows, except for some light spill. I think it's fairly successful at creating the idea of a smaller more intimate playing space inside a larger house. And it's not a traditional show. However, I can't imagine it working at, say, Inherit the Wind, but maybe it does. In the case of Xanadu, the whole thing sounds like it is played for laughs and camp, with thde 4th wall knockecd down, so an onstage audience would definitely work in that vein.

[usmma2010]

re: SITTING ON STAGE.....WHY?#9

Posted: 5/23/07 at 12:12pm

it works for some shows such as SA, since the onstadge audience actully represents something, and some scenes in SA are a lot better from on stage

"and in the end the love you make is equal to the love you take"

[Gypsy9]

re: SITTING ON STAGE.....WHY?#10

Posted: 5/23/07 at 12:58pm

I saw the original Tony award winning Broadway production of EQUUS(1975) four times, each with a different leading actor: Anthony Hopkins, Anthony Perkins, Richard Burton, and one other that I can't remember. It was fascinating to see the different take that each actor brought to the role. But to the point of this thread: I don't recall any on-stage seating for EQUUS. Personally, I hate the idea--I wouldn't want to sit on the stage and I wouldn't want to see others sitting on the stage. Period.

Isn't EQUUS coming to Broadway next season?

"Madam Rose...and her daughter...Gypsy!"

Updated On: 5/23/07 at 12:58 PM

[munkustrap178]

re: SITTING ON STAGE.....WHY?#11

Posted: 5/23/07 at 1:02pm

Agreed, and yes.

"If you are going to do something, do it well. And leave something witchy." -Charlie Manson

[jrb_actor]

re: SITTING ON STAGE.....WHY?#12

Posted: 5/23/07 at 1:11pm

So what are your thoughts on arena and thrust seating? I think putting audience onstage is just an attempt to create these kinds of theatre settings. I suspect it is jarring for those who aren't used to arena or thrust theatre.

johnraymondbarker.com

[jaystarr]

re: SITTING ON STAGE.....WHY?#13

Posted: 5/23/07 at 1:16pm

I wonder how would this Onstage Seats work for XANADU ?
Updated On: 5/23/07 at 01:16 PM

[The Boy From Ohio]

re: SITTING ON STAGE.....WHY?#14

Posted: 5/23/07 at 1:19pm

I don't like the ideal either. I hope they do away with it for the Spring Awakening tour. People in the theater already act like idiots, I would hate to see them on stage doing something stupid or distracting. Plus if your onstage how can you start to leave during curtain call??

9/10 - Next To Normal, Ensemble Theatre
9/18 - Brian Stokes Mitchell, Cincy Pop's
9/28 - Death Of A Salesman, Wright State

[Jon]

re: SITTING ON STAGE.....WHY?#15

Posted: 5/23/07 at 1:23pm

In EQUUS, theconcept was that the audience membgers on stage were students, and Dr. Dysart was delivering a lecture. It was quite effective.

[jaystarr]

re: SITTING ON STAGE.....WHY?#16

Posted: 5/23/07 at 1:31pm

The Boy from Ohio- I have seen both Spring Awakening & Inherit the Wind this season and from my observation. Those folks sitting onstage have to wait till the show is completely done (during curtain call) before leaving the stage (there is actually a stairs for them to go up and down the stage , on the front of the first row at stage right & left) and they have to be onstage 10 mins before the show starts. When I saw Spring Awakening, all the people were already there on stage before the cast came out for the "Mama Who Bore Me: number-and the only empty ones were the seats for the cast .

I was wonderin' if those people onstage starts singing with the cast in Spring Awakening numbers. Would that be soo funny !- J*

[The Boy From Ohio]

re: SITTING ON STAGE.....WHY?#17

Posted: 5/23/07 at 1:40pm

God I hope not. People singing along with the show is a huge pet peeve of mine. I saw Dreamgirls with Jennifer Holliday in Atlanta and I couldn't hear her at all because of people singing. Drove me insane.

9/10 - Next To Normal, Ensemble Theatre
9/18 - Brian Stokes Mitchell, Cincy Pop's
9/28 - Death Of A Salesman, Wright State

[broadwayguy2]

re: SITTING ON STAGE.....WHY?#18

Posted: 5/23/07 at 1:51pm

With the onstage seats, if you show up late at SA,,you aren't admitted to your seat until affter intermission.. for obvious reasons.

First of all, I don't see an issue with a show having onstage seats if it is an ARTISTIC choice and not a 'gimmick because everyone does it' choice. It's no different than seeing a show in the round.

second of all, as a member of the onstage audience at SA, which is where I sat the first time I saw it, you aren't WATCHING the show.. you are literally experiencing the show... which, frankly, would be similar to sitting in standard house seats and being extremely attentive.. you EXPERIENCE it.

[AC126748]

re: SITTING ON STAGE.....WHY?#19

Posted: 5/23/07 at 2:29pm

But to the point of this thread: I don't recall any on-stage seating for EQUUS. Personally, I hate the idea--I wouldn't want to sit on the stage and I wouldn't want to see others sitting on the stage. Period.

There was definitely on-stage seating for the original EQUUS. I know people who sat on stage for that production. Every production I've ever seen of the show has had on-stage seating, and I'm pretty sure there is a director's note in the print edition that I have of the script.

"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe." -John Guare, Landscape of the Body

[antonijan]

re: SITTING ON STAGE.....WHY?#20

Posted: 5/23/07 at 2:40pm

...and I don't understand why a green witch flying on a broom is so popular! WHY, WHY, WHY???

[Dover]

re: SITTING ON STAGE.....WHY?#21

Posted: 5/23/07 at 2:51pm

The trend seems a little gimmicky at this point, and I haven't seen many of the newer shows that are doing it to see how bad it is, but when I have seen it I haven't been bothered. I liked it in Copenhagen. It was not distracting, but added something to the notion of these characters interacting in a void, trying to come to terms with their actions in the war, and being judged by all of us.

I haven't seen this production of Inherit the Wind, but I've done it, and knowing that the townspeople are a major character in the show, the idea of having audience members as part of that "everyman" presence sounds like a good idea, especially considering that in recent years this country has slipped so far backward that there's nothing "period" about this play, and having modern-looking people would not be a distraction for me, but rather symbolic. At least in my head it works.

[gymdudeva]

re: SITTING ON STAGE.....WHY?#22

Posted: 5/23/07 at 3:11pm

I have the script for Equus right here, and the playwright does indeed call for onstage seating. I am too lazy to type out what is says. Maybe later.

[Gypsy9]

re: SITTING ON STAGE.....WHY?#23

Posted: 5/23/07 at 4:07pm

I stand corrected. I guess I was so enthraled by seeing Hopkins, Perkins, and Burton that I missed noticing the on-stage seating in EQUUS.

"Madam Rose...and her daughter...Gypsy!"

[gymdudeva]

re: SITTING ON STAGE.....WHY?#24

Posted: 5/23/07 at 4:46pm

Gypsy: Maybe they didn't use the onstage seating for that producton of Equus. Even if it's indicated on the script, they may have chosen not to...