The horror of standing ovations on Broadway. It's getting awful. — Page 4

I will say sometimes it can be awkward. When I saw a show recently, I was incredibly moved and impressed and wished to stand up, however I was sitting quite close and no one else was standing. I wanted very badly to be the lone ovation-giver but working in the industry, the idea of drawing that attention to myself and being nearly face-to-face with the cast was discouraging. Very unfortunate, I may have made the wrong call simply out of my own embarrassment.

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I remember watching a Merv Griffin Show, featuring Beverly Sills and Ethel Merman, where he celebrated the work of Cole Porter. They were discussing the opening night of ANYTHING GOES (1934) and Merv asked Merman if there was a standing ovation that night. She replied that there was, and he commented that the standing ovation was a rare event back then, not like 'today', where it's very common. That had to have been in the early 70's (I was in high school, the earth had just cooled), so this phenomenon of all shows getting a standing ovation has been going on for at least 35+ years.

Having said all that, I distinctly remember seeing GIGI in San Francisco in 1973 and it did NOT get a standing ovation, but at LORELEI, several months later, Carol Channing did get a standing ovation.

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Clapping in time to the curtain music bows prevents the performer hearing the individual response to their performance--if I clap louder for a particular performer,it gets lost in the noise and robs me of the pleasure of showing my appreciation.Can I digress and say how appaling it is that TV is 'educating' studio TV audiences to scream and yell whenever a performer goes for a high note or wiggles their arse,and are now taking their new-found 'I want to be noticed' into the theatre and screaming their tits off whenever they feel like it.

Too many people are coming to visit New York City.