Shows you almost left at intermission, ended up enjoying?

Wait...you started a thread on something to which you cannot contribute?


I cannot think of any time where Act II has been able to overcome the atrocities (or my lack of enjoyment) of Act I. If I'm considering leaving -- it is past the point of no return.

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I really wanted to leave BR'KLN at intermission!

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I have never left a show at intermission. In for a penny, in for a pound.

And if you liked Loveland in the recent revival, you should have seen the original. The scene change was one of the most theatrical moments I have ever scene. And Gene Nelson! Wow.

Wait...you started a thread on something to which you cannot contribute?

Isn't that the point of asking a question on a message board? To see if others have knowledge/experiences that you don't have?

I think one should NEVER leave a show after Act I. You owe it to yourself and the creative team to "stick it out".

I tend to act that way, too. However, I'm reminded of the idea of "sunk costs" (the money you paid for the seat is irrelevant once you're in the theater, the cost of staying for Act II is your additional time/patience), and if very few people have come up with instances where they're happy they stuck it out, isn't that evidence that we may be wasting our time if we hated Act I?

John Guare's A Free Man of Color, Act 2 was much better than Act 1 in my opinion. That is the rare exception I can think of.

In my personal opinion, one cannot really comment on a show if you've only seen half. I'm not saying that things tend to get monumentally better if you're sitting through a train wreck, but the idea of seeing half a show is so bizarre to me. Even if it's awful, I'd rather see the entire production and be able to speak to what I saw than ditch.

I've only ever left before a show was over once, and that was on two comp tickets to "Rain". After the first 10 minutes, we both had absolutely no interest in sitting through the rest, and since we hadn't invested much time or money into it, and were sitting on the outside aisle, we snuck out and went to Chipotle instead. Much better use of time.

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The only show I've ever considered leaving at intermission was Death Takes a Holiday.


I should have left at intermission.

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You owe it to yourself and the creative team to "stick it out".

No.

All I owe the creative team is the price of the ticket. That really is all. They're not doing me a favor by allowing me to see their work.

And all I owe myself is my happiness. If a miserable piece of bad theatre is making me unhappy, I owe it to myself to leave and do something that will make me happy.

This idea of "owing" things is so ... Republican.

Act II of The Addams Family was better than Act I because they dropped the thin plot and just did their own party pieces.

For me it has to be Caryl Churchill's "Easy Money" at Wyndhams Theatre, London in 1987. The show was told in rhyming couplets which took some time to get used to, however, it was the strong language that put many people off and quite a few left the theatre in the first ten minutes or so. Act 1 ended with a song by Ian Dury, every other word of which was the C word. Only about half the audience returned to their seats after the intermission - the entire row in front of me was empty apart from the man directly in front of me who just happened to be Topol. Strangely, the second act was so much better than the first, everything that had seemed puzzling was explained. I left the theatre at the end of the show thinking how good and clever the whole thing had been.

hotjohn -Do you mean Caryl Churchill's SERIOUS Money?? I do agree. Sat there at intermission thinking WTF is THIS all about?! Was really pleased with it by the end.

Starlight Express bored me to tears. I thought of leaving at intermission. I asked the usher if Act two were better. She said yes. I stuck it out. Act two was a bad as act one.
I should have left. This was in London.

I wanted to leave when I saw The Last Smoker in America...but I only stayed because my friend wanted to stay.