GreasedLightning said: "christinelavin said: "I saw Humans but sat upstairs and didn't connect with the show at all -- so don't sit upstairs…"
You seem to be the only Human (heh) to think so. Most people I've spoken too have enjoyed the show just as much if not more from the mezzanine because of the two-tier set. Sorry that you did not connect.
"They have a lot of rules at that show (no late seating, if you leave you aren't allowed back in, and the water bottle fiasco)."
Many shows have late seating policies or those of such you describe. Water bottles are never allowed in the theater. Whether they catch it or not is another story. But this is nothing new.
I have been going to Broadway shows for 30+ years -- and I always have a water bottle and it's never been confiscated once -- til The Humans. I swear! When they told me I could get it back at the bar after the performance I was skeptical -- but yes, all the confiscated water bottles were lined up and it was up to us to figure out which was ours (I was lucky that mine was a new brand -- Niagara -- and I spotted it quickly).
I was sitting way up, two rows from the top, over to the left (as you look at the stage). Maybe it was (as Dame Edna liked to describe) "an acoustic trough" because not one but TWO audience members (one in my row, a few seats away, the other in the row behind, also a few seats away) got up and left during the course of the play -- one five minutes in, the other about 30 minutes in. I couldn't see details of the actors faces and every now and then I missed a line of dialogue. Acoustics can get tricky sometimes in such a situation. There were some lines that the orchestra section roarer at that the upstairs audience in my section didn't --
I think it's human nature that over the course of 90 minutes if you don't see the actors' faces well, and every so often a line of dialogue isn't understandable -- the audience member in that situation is not going to get the full experience. My hearing is fine and my eyesight (with glasses) is good -- my experience for that particular play in that particular theater was not the best. I'm glad yours was fine. But I would not recommend sitting too far up in the mezzanine off to the side -- and I think the two who left would concur.
One other thing that affected my experience -- and this is my own personal quirk and my active imagination (yes, my bad) -- I never read programs before a show (always after). I want the story to unfold on the stage -- I don't want to know which actors were in this play or that play or how many times on Law&Order. None of that matters. I just want to watch the story unfold. So all I knew was the title -- "The Humans." At the door, when they took my water bottle and also announced, "No late comers will be let in. If you are not in your seat when the lights go down, you have missed it. If you must leave your seat at any time, you will not be allowed back in to the theater."
To me that signaled the show was going to be a thriller -- no water bottles because you might be startled and spill water on your seat mates. No coming in late because every detail is so specific that there can't possibly be a distraction that could take your eyes off the stage even for a moment. And if you must leave -- you can't come back in because that would also be a distraction that might ruin the experience for everyone around you. Combine those strict rules with the heavy strange noises emanating from the apartment above at the beginning of the play -- along with the title, "The Humans," well I guess my imagination ran wild and expected some kind of Twilight Zone or "Wait Until Dark" thriller. I still don't understand confiscating water bottles. Tonight I saw "The Color Purple," and I showed them my water bottle and my knitting -- even said, "Just a water bottle and knitting," and not only was I let in -- they were selling wine up and down the aisles.
I guess every theater has it's own rules. And I'll be more careful where I sit the next time I go to the Helen Hayes.
