Shows You Walked Out On ( If Any) — Page 2

Girlfriend: I agree with you. Many shows are redeemed by 2nd acts. But are there many shows wherein the 2nd act provokes a 180 degree response? And entirely changes your mind?

I guess for me this thread is about those occasions when an immediate visceral response to material provokes something beyond mere impatience. Sometimes, you don't have the stamina to invest in what lies on the other side of those 15 minutes. I can only speak for myself, but with some shows, there is an early disconnect between the concept and/or its execution that no changes, due to craft or performance, will salvage and turn the evening into a pleasurable experience for me. It's v. subjective -- a chemical reaction. Even when I'm curious about the the talents involved (as I was at, say, "Thou Shall Not" -- where I DID stay, by the way, and wished I had not.) It just happens. I don't think it makes us cynical, ill-mannered theatergoers.

Slightly OT: Some great shows only get better. Arthur Laurents had to stop Walter Kerr in the aisle from leaving GYPSY after the last big strip number. Apparently Kerr already loved the show, but he would've missed "Rose's Turn." Laurents ordered him, famously, to "sit down! it's not over!" But -- per above, perhaps straining to make a point here -- if Kerr'd hated "Everything's Comin'Up Roses" at the end of act one, who's to say if he'd invest in the next leg of Rose and Gypsy's journey? Again, we all pride ourselves on having open minds -- but don't we often know real early if something speaks to us?

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Updated On: 11/23/03 at 02:29 PM

Cogently put, Auggie. The simple, sad fact is any show that has me champing at the bit to leave the theater at the end of Act One (which technically is supposed to be a cliffhanger, with the audience dying in their seats, wondering WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?)doesn't deserve an additional hour plus investment of my time, in my estimation. (How could I have forgotten to add THOU SHALT NOT to the miserable list?) And I have no problem whatsoever offering my opinion accordingly, Girlfriend. Not only am I not a critic (who has a professional ethic to uphold) but I am a theatre professional myself and an educated audience member who generally pays for the ticket, with years of theatre-going experience behind me. I can pretty much assess how a show is going to turn out early on in the evening and I have yet to regret leaving a show early (which I wish I had done at A DOLL'S LIFE, Auggie, but regrettably I was sitting with someone affiliated with the production. However, I spared myself the experience of THE LITTLE PRINCE--I was still recovering from the movie.)
The true disappointments are those shows that start out promisingly and don't come through on their promise. For example, ANGELS IN AMERICA, which offered revelation and didn't deliver. No matter how compelling the first half may be, I have to consider it a noble and experimental failure since its very premise was unworkable.
Mr. Roxy, the non-musical cacophany that is the show called The Human Comedy is conceivably one of the worst "scores" I have ever heard in any genre, ever.

Updated On: 11/23/03 at 06:36 PM

Oh, yes, Copenhagen, too!

I really liked Stones too. And I also wanted to make a quick exit from Falsettos...but the people I saw it with were in love with it.

I have never walked out of a show but have seriously thought about it.

I did however recently saw Michael Fienstine (I spelled it wrong and I do not care)was so hidiously anoying and painful to watch, I left the theater and sat out and drank at the bar until my friends came out. It was just.... arrrg!

When I saw RENT on tour, I could not count how many older folks walked out...

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DottieD'Luscia: you took the words right off of my keyboard! I have only ever walked out of one show & it was a college production of The Marriage of Bette & Boo -- & it was directed by a FRIEND of mine, which ought to tell you just how bad it was. Usually, though, I am watching a show because I am paid to be there, so I have no choice but to stay put. Shows I MIGHT have walked out of if there were an option include: Saturday Night Fever, Bobbi Boland, The Play What I Wrote, Sunset Boulevard, Sex & Longing... oh, never mind. There are too many to list!

As for walking out of a show at any time other than intermission... I do find that rude to everyone on both sides of the footlights. On the other hand, if there is no intermission, one has no choice but to flee for one's sanity between scenes.

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Yes, VICTOR VICTORIA and FAME.

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The one show that sticks out in my mind that I would have loved to walk out on but couldn't since I was there with others was Titanic! I think that was the worst show I was ever offered a ticket to! :)

Dear Mr Bulldog

That is what makes this board great - a divergence of opinions. You liked it great . Maybe if my wife & I stayed 20 minutes more we might have gotten it. It did not do it for us but I am glad you & others liked it. There are shows we loved & you did not. I have no problem with that either. To each his own

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I would never walk out on any show out of respect for the actors. I believe that however bad a show is, you should always respect the actors onstage for doing what they do, and one should never walk out on someone else's work.

Billy,

Respect for the actor's hard work is quite important and to be admired Still let's keep this good intention the real world. There are always any number of performers right up there on today's Broadway stages who would walk out of their own shows because they don't like 'em, but that would mean giving up the paycheck. Just because one is in it doesn't mean one has to like it. So if you're in the audience it's ok to leave if you've bought your own ticket. No one is judging anyone whether they leave or stay. The way of the world.

Bulldog.

It wasn't on Broadway, but I walked out on a high school production of The Tempest (INTERMISSION MIND YOU!). What a laugh... People were just pouring out; I think some of the actors wished they could leave with everyone else.

I almost walked out of a production of Once On This Island, but I am so glad I didn't. What a wonderfully pleasant little show!

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