So, this happened at Streetcar tonight...- Page 2

[PalJoey]

Posted: 5/24/12 at 11:12am

Goth! I thought you, of all people, would stand up for the Second Amendment!

[ZoeTheGoat]

Posted: 5/24/12 at 11:43am

Daphne owned that lady!! I wish they kicked her out, but that could have been an even bigger distraction if she made a scene. That being said, I really think even if your phone rings in the theater during a show you should be kicked out. It's like running onto a basketball court during the game.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 5/24/12 at 11:47am

The Second Amendment states that people have the right to bear arms. It is well known that Broadway ushers are monsters not people.

Case in point: I went to see The Best Man a few weeks ago. My seat was in the orchestra section down in the front. There were two ushers, one at the top of the aisle, one closer to the stage. The one at the top of the aisle was looking at the tickets of people ahead of me. Since I could already see there was an usher closer to my seats, I started down the aisle. The usher at the top of the aisle screamed "I need to see your tickets!" I said to her "I'll show them to the usher down there." She was very perturbed that I had not recognized her status as the Grand Poobah of the Schoenfeld Theatre but I didn't need her to tell me to see the usher down the aisle. That's where I was already headed.

So no, that type of species does not need to have possession of a taser.

[Huss417]

Posted: 5/24/12 at 11:52am

@Gothampc

But not everyone knows where they are going and can mess up the flow if they have to come back up. I know you knew where you were going and so would I but I can see where the usher was coming from on this.

[SingingChef]

Posted: 5/24/12 at 11:54am

Hope someone got Daphne owning this dipwad on film...

[Gothampc]

Posted: 5/24/12 at 11:58am

Huss, while I understand your point, the older Broadway theaters are very small. The Schoenfeld is a very crowded theater and needs the traffic flow to keep moving, especially when there is a full house. If the ushers at the head of the aisle stop to look at every ticket, the audience will never get seated. Waiting isn't an option in that theater. I knew where I was going and that usher should have turned her attention to people who really needed help.

[felix5]

Posted: 5/24/12 at 12:03pm

Do you think Daphne will post the video on You Tube so we could see it!! I mean, it is still on the cell phone, right?

[frogs_fan85]

Posted: 5/24/12 at 12:12pm

The Usher should have taken the phone and kept it for the rest of the performance.

[trentsketch]

Posted: 5/24/12 at 12:17pm

If most of the NYPD officers aren't allowed to carry tazers, why should ushers?

I do support giving ushers squirt bottles so they can train unruly theater goers like cats. "NO!" squirt the teen with the cellphone. "No cellphones."

[ShbrtAlley44]

Posted: 5/24/12 at 12:19pm

Goth, there has been many a time while ushering when people barge right past me, only to realize they're in a completely different aisle and then have to go pushing their way past other people to get to the right place. There is a reason the ushers at the top of the aisle check your tickets first. Don't assume you know better.

[Broadway Joe]

Posted: 5/24/12 at 12:24pm

"I do support giving ushers squirt bottles so they can train unruly theater goers like cats. "NO!" squirt the teen with the cellphone. "No cellphones.""

It's not just the teens with their cellphones on. People of all ages do it.

[Kad]

Posted: 5/24/12 at 12:25pm

"The idea of giving an usher a taser is scary because some of them are a bit mentally unhinged."


They're only unhinged because so many audience members are either stupid. Or crazy. Or believe they have a great deal of privilege.

Anyone who has ushered has countless stories of insane audience behavior.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 5/24/12 at 12:28pm

ShbrtAlley, I've been going to Broadway shows since 1977. I'm quite saavy in the art of finding my seat. In the hundreds of Broadway shows I've been to, I've never missed once.

But even if I wasn't, maybe Broadway ushers should adopt the practice of meeting each party at the top of the aisle and escorting them to their seat.

Updated On: 5/24/12 at 12:28 PM

[ljay889]

Posted: 5/24/12 at 12:30pm

The photographer in question during the now infamous LuPone incident was not sanctioned

Yeah I was gonna say.... I believe the "he was supposed to be taking pictures" rumor was started by LuPone haters at the time.

[ShbrtAlley44]

Posted: 5/24/12 at 12:30pm

I'm sure you have and are, but how is the usher supposed to know that? There are generally two ushers on the aisle, so that the one at the top can send people down to the second. But it happens so frequently that people DON'T know where they're going that the tickets are usually checked.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 5/24/12 at 12:33pm

"There are generally two ushers on the aisle, so that the one at the top can send people down to the second. But it happens so frequently that people DON'T know where they're going that the tickets are usually checked."

But there wouldn't be confused patrons if the ushers actually escorted the audience to their row. Is this just a Schoenfeld issue because I've been in other Broadway theaters where they escort you to the row and say "Third and forth seat in".

[Jane2]

Posted: 5/24/12 at 12:40pm

Shame on that usher for doing what she is told by her boss.

[Kad]

Posted: 5/24/12 at 12:47pm

Goth, I work in a theatre where ushers do escort... and very often, guests will REFUSE the assistance and then meander around looking for their seat.

[ShbrtAlley44]

Posted: 5/24/12 at 12:49pm

It varies. At the top of the aisle, I have always checked tickets and either sent them down or taken them to their seats. If it gets super busy at the top of the aisle (and if they're my people, sitting at the back of the house), I will tell them the row and how many seats in. As I said, though, sometimes they barge right past me.

[everythingtaboo]

Posted: 5/24/12 at 2:42pm

I work in a theatre where we don't escort, so I always try to make a point to at least every is in the right place/aisle and depending on the crowd, let them know which side to enter from the aisle (1 or 2 vs 101 is a mindfvck to a lot of people) . I would say 85% of the people that walk past me either have to come back, or I have to break my flow and catch those same people because they're blocking the aisle wondering where to go.

Let ushers do what they're paid to do, whether you know what you're doing or not.

[Rainbowhigh23]

Posted: 5/24/12 at 2:52pm

I was guilty of bypassing the usher at "The Best Man" last night, but the usher I asked to confirm that I had found the right seat was very friendly. I usually always let the ushers seat me so that everything go smoothly. Except last night, but next time I will let them do their job. Haven't had a rude usher yet in the past few months of theater-going.

[ShbrtAlley44]

Posted: 5/24/12 at 2:57pm

And inevitably the ones who rush past are the ones who come back all up in arms about not being given a Playbill.

[broadwaybabytn]

Posted: 5/24/12 at 2:58pm

Good for Daphne Rubin-Vega. That sounds classy.

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 5/24/12 at 9:24pm

Wow. Good for her!

[jv92]

Posted: 5/24/12 at 9:31pm

Ushers are generally insane. I've encountered some lovely ones, but one most are characters, usually not in a good way.

And some are just plain dumb. One usher escorted a latecomer to her seat in the middle of the row when I saw PORGY AND BESS...IN THE MIDDLE OF "SUMMERTIME!" (Granted, it's not a brilliant rendition, but still...)

Just my two cents. I'm sure someone will pick on me for this one.