The standing ovation is a filthy American habit.

He sounds like a friendly person.

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He sounds like someone who spends a lot of time on Broadway chat boards.


I kid, I kid.

you know... i can't recall any show that i've been to where the audience stands up right at the end of the show... most shows everyone stands up when the stars of the show take their bow or when everyone is on stage after the stars take their bow to do the final group bow...

anyways... i think this guy is just overexaggerating in his article.. eh

What would he think of Patti LuPone's standing ovation in the middle of the show?

He seems soo happy! I wish he was in the audience during the fimling of Legally Blonde for MTV. That audience practicaly gave every number a standing O.

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"He's not wrong in the slightest.

I've seen way too many undeserved standing ovations. COUNTRY WIFE, DAMN YANKEES, to name a few..."

If by Country Wife you mean Country GIRL (hmmm...wonder if you saw it...) the show did not deserve an ovation, but Peter Gallagher's performance sure did.

Ditto with Damn Yankees, while the show was overall middling, the three leads damn (heh heh) well deserved that ovation.

Updated On: 7/31/08 at 09:29 PM

He should go suck an egg. Glad he isn't American.

Signed,
A filthy American who has habits

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Updated On: 7/31/08 at 09:48 PM

In the end, who really cares? That guy needs to get over himself. Go colonize Mars if you have such an issue with the way Americans show their enthusiasm for things you find in poor taste.

When I first started seeing shows, which wasn't too long ago, I felt like it was part of the package. You see a show, and you stand once it ends (or when the lead walks out). Now, I can call myself a regular theatre-goer, and now I know better.

I'm all for encouragement, but 4/5 of the time, the performances don't deserve one. Perhaps not standing would encourage the performers to do better next time.

When you're sitting in the first few rows, and you look back and everyone's standing, you're obligated to stand. I was reluctant to stand at Young Frankenstein, but I had too. Subscription houses though, are mostly filled with locals who don't give standing ovations away so quickly (i.e. Sunday in the Park with George, although completely deserving of it, I thought).

I totally agree with him. The standing ovation has become completely meaningless in New York. I was surprised to see so many dissenting voices in this thread, given how much the rash of undeserved standing ovations has been criticized on this board.

Although I do see where he is coming from, I rarely if ever see people leaping to their feet before the curtain has fallen. Almost always it is when the first supporting/lead character comes out that the audience generally enjoyed.

That being said, I think it is a shame that standing ovations are commonplace now. Partially what he said is too... it's becoming commonplace and therefore it doesn't hold the significance for an actor as it once did.

And lastly, I think its a pain when people stand up in front of me in places where I don't think it was really standing o material BUT if I don't stand up, then I can't see any of the curtain call... so its either stand up meaningless or sit there and be unable to see anything.

"But why are we suddenly doing it here?" he asks. "Suddenly"?????? Where has this guy been for the past 20 years?

Blood Brothers was the first show I saw several years into its run that got (and even publicized its) nightly, ritualistic standing ovations. In LONDON.

I thought it was an okay show, and I enjoyed it. I saw it a few times because I went to London with different people at different times and they wanted to see it. But I never thought it deserved a standing ovation. Yet every time I saw it, Standing Os. I actually thought they were "planned."

I understand that the show still gets standing ovations every night...and it's been running in London for almost 17 years! "SUDDENLY"? Please Mr. B, don't blame us.

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