Theater Entrances

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?

"Your premise is faulty. "

Can you please elaborate? What about my premise is faulty?

"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.

""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??

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.

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!

"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.