Today at "Blackbird"

A friend just posted this to his Facebook:

"Perhaps the most poorly behaved audience I've encountered.

1. Someone has their hearing aid turned up so high, the feedback was audible throughout the theater and sounded like someone was playing 80's video games for the duration of the show. Manager provided her with a house listening aid which she refused to use...incredibly distracting.
2. A couple wanted late seating. ABSOLUTELY NO LATE SEATING is printed on your ticket. There are signs at the box office, in the lobby, outside the theater. They showed up 20 minutes late and started loudly fighting with the ushers in the back of the house.
3. After badgering their way into getting seated, they proceeded to take out deli sandwiches, loudly eat them, crumpling paper and crinkling bags for the next 40 minutes (while texting).
4. The same cellphone rang lengthily (10 rings min) at least 6 times during the performance including during the shocking finale.

Updated On: 6/8/16 at 07:34 PM

This was nothing compared to The Color Purple a few weeks ago. A fourth of the audience seemed to be late, cell phones going off, and people bringing full meals and snacks. The mess they left behind was repulsive. Such a shame that no one has any manners these days. Whatever happened to class, indeed!

Owen, did you contact them via email or social media? Not that you can get your day back, but it can't hurt to let them know.



EDIT: Sorry, just saw that it was your friend's post, not yours.

Updated On: 6/8/16 at 10:00 PM

Unfortunately, the house staff can't do anything about this type of behavior. Scott Rudin prohibits the staff from doing almost anything once the curtain goes up. This allows for this type of behavior to persist.

It has probably reached the point where before the performance a person needs to come out onstage and basically read the riot act… Turn your cell phones off… No eating food… No sloshing of drinks and ice cubes etc. etc.… Make it clear that people will be thrown out if they disobey.... It is just nuts…that said… The theaters need to not allow food in after intermission etc.

I (knock wood) have been having good experiences with audiences and staff at the off-Bway productions I've been to recently. Saw Daphne's Dive tonight and I was cringing before the show started as the party next to me (second row center) had someone who they were talking about would be coming late. well, late seating is at the discretion of management, and if their party came late she wasn't seated second row center; there was no late seating interruption. No cell phones rang, no lights from texting, bare minimum talking (as in maybe two "what did she say?" and repeating the line) from the couple behind me, no hearing aid feedback, etc. It was lovely, and definitely makes me want to keep to off-Bway (again, knock wood.)

They enforced it when we went. We were in the orchestra and my wife had a medical reason for water - no ice - but they still confiscated her water bottle and we were told if you got up to go to the John, you could not come back to your seat and had to stand the rest of the way in the back. One guy got so frustrated by these rules he got up and left after 20 minutes.

I was also at Blackbird this afternoon, but in the balcony, and there was a woman rattling her bracelets for the entire show. It drove me nuts. I moved to the complete opposite side as soon as it started and I could still hear it I kept looking at the usher trying to signal her to do something but she seemed more interested in taking a nap. I'm surprised to hear that it seemed to have been much worse had I sat lower.

Then I saw Daphne's Dive tonight as well and I was also thinking how well behaved off-Broadway audiences are. Broadway has gotten out of control and something has to be done. Iv'e seen most Broadway shows the past ten years and it is happening far to often all of a sudden.

At Eclipsed, a few weeks ago, I had to call for an usher to come out after asking these two woman behind me to stop talking more than 5 times and then she tried to contest it. When I told the usher she told him I was lying but thankfully another audience member said "No, he is not," but all he did was say "please be quiet" and ran away, but thankfully they then gave it up.

Updated On: 6/9/16 at 12:52 AM

^ That's amazing. What did she say?

Jordan Catalano said: "At Kinky Boots tonight about halfway through act one, the girl next to me pulled out a big bag of salt & vinegar potato chips. She went to open the bag and I leaned into her and said (and I swear i didn't know what I said until I said it) "If you open that f**king bag, I will smack the sh*t out of you".



"Definitely not the right way to handle that situation

Threatening physical violence is not going to scare people into behaving. Go ahead and curse and confront all you want, but the physical violence threat pushed it too far

The problem could be solved if they just market Broadway as "Dinner Theater". I had the same potato chip problem the other night at She Loves Me.. This fat cow, who didn't need to be eating chips was crunching and crinkling the bag. I snapped my fingers at her and she stopped. And I had to put up with a kid of about 10 who kept kicking the back of my seat and when the Act 1 curtain came down, he said to his mother..."Is it over now?"

Maybe Rudin has a soft spot in his heart for potato chips.