THE COLOR PURPLE Previews — Page 5

That's awful and so awful that nothing even happened.

I don't know what the protocol is in New York but in the theatre I work at if I told anyone on our public safety staff that an audience member threatened the life of another she would have been removed from the theatre and possibly questioned by police after.

I was at the second preview and unfortunately also had a terrible audience experience. Are the ushers asleep? I was in the second row Front Mezz. First a couple walked in 30 minutes late and were on the extreme side of the front row of the Orchestra. Seconds after they sat down, the man reached onto the stage and moved a large set piece over to improve their view. This wasn't good enough, so the man got up again and moved it further over. Ushers did nothing. Actors had to come back in character and move it back in place. Two ladies in front of me (first row of the Front Mezz) took out very bright camera phones and were taking video and pics through the first 10 minutes. Everyone behind them in the Front Mezz could see. The usher finally came down and asked them to stop. They set them face down with the lights on, ready to be picked up again, the usher rolled her eyes, laughed and walked away. They started up again, and began posting the pics on Facebook during the show. Act Two begins, someone else in the front row Orchestra on the opposite side sets their open Playbill right on edge of the stage. Where actors were walking. It stays there for the majority of the rest of the show, in plain view of the audience.

The ushers were so ineffective - I hope they can step it up!

It was CRAZY and everyone around us upstairs couldn't believe it. Even the ladies taking the pics and videos were appalled. It was even crazier that no one did anything. Someone spoke to them at intermission in a very lighthearted way, lots of laughter about it. So shenanigans just continued.

That at being said, Cynthia Erivo is incredible.

Well, not to flame the fire, but in the light of all this racial tension happening, maybe people are just scared to reprimand anyone in fear of being calling countless names?

That's what I'm saying. I can see the usher's hesitation. Although, c'mon. It's their job.

based on the lack of discipline from the ushers, I guess we can expect bootlegs of the show to start popping up. This sounds terrible, poor audience behavior can really ruin a show.

You mean like...we only hear about negative audience behavior at other shows? No one comes on here to post that the audience was super well behaved.....there have been crazy people at all different types of Broadway shows and people post on here about then frequently. So if you're it trying to pull the racial card, what card is it?

Iluvtheatretrash, Sorry to hear this happened. I don't understand why you didn't get the house manager and a police officer involved? At this point, your show experience was already ruined. You really couldn't have enjoyed the show from that point on.... I assume you live in NYC. I would have just demanded a refund/or tickets for another performance. If anything, getting the police officer involved would have ruined the experience of this women, who was clearly enjoying her treatment of you. Doesn't matter what color...to threaten to kill someone because you asked them to put away their camera, she is an ANIMAL and many other choice expletives.

See that is my point. No show is worth the emotions you went through. You have nothing to be embarrassed about. That is why you should have left the performance at that point and came back another night (at the theatre's expense). That piece of **** was enjoying her treatment of you more than she was enjoying the show. She was getting off on knowing she was bothering you. This management was completely in the wrong. Customer safety should be their first priority. Doesn't matter if it is a spill on the floor that may cause someone to fall or more importantly a personal threat from another audience member. That is how you handle the resolution with top management. (all part of their General Liability policy) They owe you at the very least an apology of how their team handled the situation. BTW, if she would have harmed you inside the theatre after making management aware of the situation, an attorney call would be my first priority.

Telecharge would have nothing to do with the situation. I wouldn't even waste the time and energy going that route. He should start with the theater management and if gets no resolution...the owners.

Updated On: 11/14/15 at 09:33 AM

I think the race think may be muddled by terminology.

It is widely acknowledged that different CULTURES react to theatre in different ways: we know Japanese audiences in Japan sit in polite silence till the end of a show before showing appreciation; in Italy there is a tradition of heckling in opera. It's a question of what people grow up to be accustomed to, (after all 'you have to be carefully taught'.

So clearly different CULTURES can behave differently and I think that may be where a vague generalization could be applied to what is happening at The Color Purple. That said, the misbehaviour on this occasion is way beyond the scale of mere cultural difference.

Sadly the shift towards the sense of "entitlement" of the individual in recent years seems to be a great excuse for selfishness and bigotry.

Thanks, all, for your support. Telecharge was actually incredibly helpful. I called them because the Shubert Org's phone number had been busy for hours. I just wanted to know if they could point me to a different number. The operator informed - and maybe I should've already known - but Telecharge is directly linked to the Shuberts and they're the perfect people to call.

They instructed me to send an email to have in writing with the order number and complete details of what happened. I've heard back from the Shuberts and from Telecharge that my complaint was forwarded directly to the theatre and that there would most definitely be a response. Both teams said they would be keeping me updated in the coming days... I personally think an invitation to return should be a given. If the offer doesn't happen - I may consider writing a story to BroadwayWorld or Gothamist.

I'd really rather not get into the race conversation as I'd like to believe that our races have nothing to do with what happened. Lord knows, I've met plenty of white people who are capable of that behavior. But I feel that I must admit that the staff who "handled" it were African American, the woman was African American and I am white. I was patronized and chastised and told "it takes two to fight" and "just ignore her" while she got away with threatening to kill, shoot and hit me repeatedly. It was disturbing to say the least.