Theater Entrances
Theater Entrances
lunch
Understudy Joined: 7/13/15
#1Theater Entrances
Posted: 7/13/15 at 10:50pm
When I was a child in the 1970s, the audience entered Broadway theaters through the multiple main front doors that led into a lobby (usually very small) and then into the theater.
But now, the audience enters through a single side door and the main front doors are covered with opaque film, usually promoting the current production. These doors are only opened after the show for everyone to exit through.
I'm guessing the change was made for security reasons, so the theater staff can easily manage the entering crowd through a single small door.
Can the experts here give me the whole story on this?
lunch
Understudy Joined: 7/13/15
#3Theater Entrances
Posted: 7/13/15 at 10:59pm
"Your premise is faulty. "
Can you please elaborate? What about my premise is faulty?
dramamama611
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/4/07
#4Theater Entrances
Posted: 7/13/15 at 11:04pm
Yes, most theaters only allow patrons through one door. But you still go through the lobby.
lunch
Understudy Joined: 7/13/15
#5Theater Entrances
Posted: 7/13/15 at 11:20pm
"Yes, most theaters only allow patrons through one door. But you still go through the lobby. "
Yes, I didn't mean to say that the lobby was always bypassed. Sometimes it's the only way to get to the seats. But the lobby entrance doors are usually not used anymore as an entrance.
Does anyone know why?
Maybe you are all too young to remember the experience of everyone entering through big glass doors that were open to the street. It was a more dramatic experience.
#6Theater Entrances
Posted: 7/13/15 at 11:21pm
Many theatres have multiple doors open. Many theatres don't use side doors for entry. There are no hard and fast rules. The main change I have noticed in recent years is the rather inexplicable lining up well in advance of the doors opening. Also, of course, the advent of scanners has slowed down the entry process. But other than a show which has low attendance, there are multiple scanners is use. There are also theatres that are somewhat hampered by their architecture, but this is nothing new; they are old theatres that have always had the same means of ingress. (The only exception I can think of is the Belasco which eliminated the separate entrance for the balcony, mainly because it was offensive.)
dramamama611
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/4/07
#7Theater Entrances
Posted: 7/13/15 at 11:23pm
""Yes, most theaters only allow patrons through one door. But you still go through the lobby. "
Yes, I didn't mean to say that the lobby was always bypassed. Sometimes it's the only way to get to the seats. But the lobby entrance doors are usually not used anymore as an entrance.
Does anyone know why?
Maybe you are all too young to remember the experience of everyone entering through big glass doors that were open to the street. It was a more dramatic experience."
What theatres are patrons NOT entering through lobby doors??
lunch
Understudy Joined: 7/13/15
#8Theater Entrances
Posted: 7/13/15 at 11:39pm
"""Yes, most theaters only allow patrons through one door. But you still go through the lobby. "
Yes, I didn't mean to say that the lobby was always bypassed. Sometimes it's the only way to get to the seats. But the lobby entrance doors are usually not used anymore as an entrance.
Does anyone know why?
Maybe you are all too young to remember the experience of everyone entering through big glass doors that were open to the street. It was a more dramatic experience."
What theatres are patrons NOT entering through lobby doors??
"
By lobby doors I mean the large glass doors that go right to the street. Not the doors between the lobby and the seats.
For most Broadway shows in the last 20 years, these doors are covered with decorative, opaque film and only used as exits. In the older days, they were left clear, or maybe covered with fabric curtains, and people entered and exited through them.
A few recent examples of what I mean:
1. Book of Mormon at the Eugene O'Neill. Everyone enters through one or two doors on the left front of the theater. The other doors are kept closed until after the show.
2. Hand to God at the Booth. All patrons enter through the box office door around the corner, not on 46th Street. The main doors open for exit purposes only.
3. Something Rotten at the St. James. Patrons also enter through a single door and the main doors are open only for exiting.
I guess you all are too young to realize that those big panels on the front of a theater that are covered with show posters are actually doors that used to be used as entrances and exits.
FishermanBob
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/9/12
#9Theater Entrances
Posted: 7/13/15 at 11:57pm
Those doors to which you refer at least at some theaters often times lead directly into the Orchestra seating area on either the right or left side. It makes sense to open them and offer them as a quick exit for those audience members sitting on that side of the orchestra at the end of the show but completely unsuitable as an entrance for all patrons at the beginning. I'm sure they wouldn't want people seated in the Mez or the other side of the Orchestra having to walk through rows of seats and then up and down multiple aisles to reach their assigned seat.
I've been going to see live theater since 1970 and I can't ever recall entering from the street directly into a side of the Orchestra seating area. If that makes me "too young" I will gladly accept the compliment.
#10Theater Entrances
Posted: 7/14/15 at 12:17am
lunch, I think you are mis-remembering. Let's use the Booth as an example. Those doors on 45th street (there definitely are no doors on 46th street but it would be interesting to see how that would work) have never been used for entry. I can vouch for almost the same time period as Bob (I think my first time there was That Championship Season), but you can find archival pictures that show the use of just the diagonal doorway at prior times. What you are suggesting is an entry that requires people to climb several steps to enter the auditorium directly. that never happened. There are many theatres with exit doors house right. But they would be impractical for entrance use.
#11Theater Entrances
Posted: 7/14/15 at 11:16am
lunch, I know what you mean. Yes, the single entry doors basically started after 9/11, just like the lines that started forming around the same time. In college, I used to visit NYC and all the doors were open and there was not a single line to get into a theatre. Now, the doors closest to the box office tend to be shut off for ticket pickup and one door at the far end is open for entry into the lobby. Inside the lobby, there may be a couple of doors open with ticket takers but almost always, you go through one door. There are exceptions to this but usually, that is what happens. I would imagine all this was because of the security measures that were put into place after 9/11 and have just remained. Some theatres still check bags & backpacks while others don't. The single door entries don't bother me so much as having to get in a long line of people in order to go inside. I hate that!
#12Theater Entrances
Posted: 7/14/15 at 11:54am
thommg, I think you are talking about something different than lunch. S/he is not talking about the doors that go from the street into the vestibule but rather those that go from the street directly into the auditorium.
henrikegerman
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/29/05
#13Theater Entrances
Posted: 7/14/15 at 1:30pm
"By lobby doors I mean the large glass doors that go right to the street. Not the doors between the lobby and the seats."
So by "lobby doors" you mean the doors that are nowhere near the lobby?
Ok.
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