Sweeney Todd/Chicago 7/13/06 (beware, cell phone users)

[jewelchk]

Posted: 7/14/06 at 7:45am

Just saw Sweeney Todd for the first time last night-- great cast and casting. The audience response at every applause opportunity was amazing, and they got a house standing ovation afterwards (first time in a while I've seen an ovation that was deserved).

So the cell phone anicdote of the night is at one point, someone's rang from a seat rather close to the stage. And rang. And rang. The person didn't even shuffle to turn it off. You could tell because the entire cast stopped the show and all turned to glare at the spot the sound was coming from until it stopped. It was so silent in the theater, you could have heard a pin drop (or someone searching through a bag for a cell phone). Luckily it happened at a moment in the show that it didn't screw up the pacing to stop it (an earlier scene with Tobias/Mano speaking that wasn't as intense as his later ones). Just turn off the ringer before you get into the theater!!

And then the nosy celebrity whore in me just had to ask... anyone know what was going on at Chicago last night? When I walked by the theater to go to Sweeney Todd, there were paparazzi-looking photographers and it looked like a security guy following someone into the theater right before Chicago started, but they were too far in to see who it was.

[Zeitoujo]

Posted: 7/14/06 at 9:15am

woah great question! what was going on at the Ambassador?

[EponineAmneris]

Posted: 7/14/06 at 9:22am

Thank you for the review

I bet it was one of Tom Hanks & Rita Wilson's friends- hence a celebrity?

[once a month]

Posted: 7/14/06 at 2:16pm

It was Usher...he's going to take over as Billy Flynn, and it's made ALL the papers today.

[Parks]

Posted: 7/14/06 at 2:25pm

So Usher was there last night? That was in the papers?

[tgrabon]

Posted: 7/14/06 at 2:38pm

I saw Sweeney on April 12th at the matinee. A cell phone went of twice. The first time it happened I thought Michael Cerveris was going to jump into the audience and strangle someone. The phone kept ringing and he kept glaring. Finally....Patti LuPone snapped "well answer it !". It went off again a few minutes later. I saw the two owners of the phone at intermission. They were reading the directions trying to figure out how to power off the damn thing. They must have figured it out because the phone did not ring during act two.

[Becoz_i_knew_you21]

Posted: 7/14/06 at 2:53pm

Why dose it seem like cell phones always go off during silent or sad moments?

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 7/14/06 at 3:03pm

Yes, Usher is said to have attended last night' performance.

[xoxRogue]

Posted: 7/14/06 at 4:39pm

It rang during the wigmaker scene, right before Ben's line before Anthony was leaving Sweeney.

(I was there last night as well.)

[broadwaybelter]

Posted: 7/14/06 at 4:42pm

"Why dose it seem like cell phones always go off during silent or sad moments?"

a dose?!! a dose of what?

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 7/14/06 at 5:12pm

I was at Spelling Bee and taught some woman how to put her phone on vibrate. She was chosen to be a speller, so thankfully, she figured it out ahead of time.

[ruthiefan_felix]

Posted: 7/14/06 at 8:02pm

I think that's what happened last night:
http://editorial.gettyimages.com/source/search/FrameSet.aspx?s=EventImagesSearchState%7c0%7c1%7c0%7c28%7c0%7c0%7c0%7c1%7c0%7c0%7c0%7c71432168%7c0%7c0%7c0%7c0%7c0%7c%7c%7c0%7c0%7c0%7c0%7c0&p=3&tag=1

[jewelchk]

Posted: 7/15/06 at 11:58am

Thanks guys, it clearly was Usher. I did see that all over the papers in the morning, but I just figured any "on the street" pictures they used in the articles were old (because I didn't actually pick up the paper to read about it, just saw it over peoples' shoulders on the subway).

Still, it was pretty odd. I've never seen a celebrity go into a Broadway theater with security like that. The ones I've seen usually try more to just blend in, ha ha.

When the cell phone went off, I briefly thought of the story I read on this board of the show stopping for the performer to yell at front row tourists for taking pictures. I wondered if that would happen to Cell Phone Person, but then I remembered that was Cyndi Lauper, not Patti LuPone :)

[LionessInWinter]

Posted: 7/15/06 at 2:07pm

Nice of Usher to dress up a bit for the theater.

[LovinGoodMusicals]

Posted: 7/15/06 at 2:47pm

So, Sweeney is playing in Chicago now?

[SweeneyPhanatic]

Posted: 7/15/06 at 2:51pm

"So, Sweeney is playing in Chicago now?"

...

Can you even read?

[Becoz_i_knew_you21]

Posted: 7/15/06 at 3:58pm

LovinGoodMusicals, Usher was at the Ambassador Theatre where CHICAGO the musical plays.