Seeing the audience from the stage?

[ElizabethAngela]

Posted: 12/30/09 at 9:44pm

I've just always wondered. Is a performer able to see the audience from the stage for all the lights? Even just the shadows and shapes of people?

[colleen_lee]

Posted: 12/30/09 at 9:53pm

It depends on the facility and the lighting.

Sometimes it's possible to see at least a silhouette of most of the audience. Other times it's only possible to make out the first few rows. And occasionally (especially if in a spot) it's difficult to see anyone in the house at all.

[wdwfreak]

Posted: 12/30/09 at 10:19pm

When I went to see Mary Poppins in November, a bunch of the actors recognized me at the stagedoor and asked, "Were you sitting in the front row?". So for Mary Poppins, I guess the first couple of rows.

[aasjb4ever]

Posted: 12/30/09 at 10:23pm

I was talking to Lindsay Dunn, whos in west side story, and she said that she can see about the first 5 rows from onstage during the show

[taylorPHENOMENON2]

Posted: 12/30/09 at 11:09pm

It depends on the show and the lighting.

[AwesomeDanny]

Posted: 12/30/09 at 11:11pm

I think you can usually tell if people are there, but you can't see their faces behind the first two rows. Because another poster mentioned Mary Poppins, I would think that the actors would be able to see many more people when they fly into the audience.

[Drunk Chita Rivera]

Posted: 12/30/09 at 11:19pm

Like everyone has said it depends on the lighting pretty much. I remember for sitting Onstage at Spring Awakening I was able to see the audience in certain scenes when the audience was slightly lit or when it was a dark scene onstage.

In Hair the Audience is lit most of the time so the cast surely can see them.

[kryst22]

Posted: 12/30/09 at 11:40pm

I remember Megan Hilty once said that those wearing white shirts were the easiest to spot in the Gershwin from the stage.. or maybe it was in the Pantages?