Unpleasant theater audiences — Page 2

I guess I've been lucky. All the shows I've been to this season have had nice, respectful, enthusiastic audiences. FTR since Broadway re-opened I've been to:

Waitress, Moulin Rouge, Lackawanna Blues, Trouble in Mind, Caroline and Change, Company, Hadestown, How I Learned to Drive, Funny Girl, Into the Woods.

The Hadestown audience was the best. So enthusiastic and engaged.

OceansJenny said:

Re: aisle sets not getting up immediately when the show ends. We used to put my dad, who has Parkinson’s, on the aisle seat so it would be easier for him. Part of Parkinson’s is delayed mobility so it would take him a minute to get up and down. Most people were understanding. Thankfully there are always two ways to exit the aisle. Also, those impatient can always just book aisle themselves."

Yeah, as I notice, aisle seats often tend to have the patrons who need the most and I can personally speak from experience. Even though I’m a young man, I am 6’8 and up until last December, was over 400lbs. I had A LOT of problems getting in and out of the seat, often because I had to jam myself in, and also the pressure on my knees from the seat in front of me would cause them to fall asleep/go numb.

I always warned people nearby that this was prone to happen and they were often understanding, except for one C-U-Next-Tuesday at Angels In America who screamed claustrophobia because I was slightly spilling over into her seat (even though I was on an aisle and adjusted myself). Jokes on her - I ended up in the rear orchestra in a freestanding chair and I don’t think I’ve ever had more unparalleled comfort in a theatre

Audience behavior has been trending worse and worse since theaters reopened. It's as if people have forgotten how to respect those around them, and have now downshifted into treating the theater like it's their living room.

I've not been to a ton of shows since reopening, perhaps 12, but only ONE of those shows had an audience that "behaved" throughout - Hangmen. The rest have been overwhelmingly unpleasant. Folks are texting, talking, recording, taking shoes off and having their bare feet out (vomit), singing, ignoring mask policies, getting up multiple times to use the bathroom, arriving late, or doing some combination of the above.

I've tried to give people the benefit of the doubt for the first 20 minutes or so just for my own sanity. That being said, I have had to politely ask a couple of especially disruptive audience members to be quiet and was met with absolute vitriol. I swear you'd think I asked them to sacrifice their firstborn, rather than to stop loudly singing along or talking about what they want for dinner later. The level of entitlement some people have is through the roof. I've commented on these instances in some other threads, but the worst by far was at Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. The ushers were non-existent. I think they'd given up.

Also, it's long overdue: theaters need to start including a "do not sing along" line to their pre-show announcements - not that people listen to those either, but maybe a couple will. Into the Woods referenced this in their pre-show email.

I know that the theater needs the money right now, but when will they start clamping down on this? In an ideal world, if someone is being disruptive, they're ejected the way Alamo Drafthouse does in their movie theaters. It wouldn't take long before people learn that's the case and start to better understand etiquette.

I do worry that this behavior is here to stay. I'd hate for that to "win," but it's already making me less inclined to attend live theater.

Updated On: 6/27/22 at 05:12 PM

Saw a Wednesday Matinee of Plaza Suite and had the worst audience. Women behind me talking about how they couldn’t wait for the lights to go down so they could remove their masks. I want to say 5 cell phones went off during the show. The older and wealthier audiences are the worst.

Heh, the same kind of annoyance that ...using your cell phone to record an entire performance to post to YouTube, which itself can be annoying and distracting to other audience members? Just kinda ironic to complain about the audience behavior, based on evidence created by an act of equally annoying audience behavior.

I was at Beetlejuice on Saturday. The couple next to me were occasionally talking and pulled out their phone. I have heard that Saturday matinees are the worst. Yet later that night at Paradise Square there was barely any of that during a tech stop.

Mr. Wormwood said: "I don't mind spontaneous or boisterous reactions to things but I hate hate hate singing along. Jukebox musicals are the worst for that. Older ladies were singing right behind me throughout Beautiful and Ain't Too Proud. It's not a concert, stop."

I had the same problem with Beautiful and Summer -Donna Summer Musical. What’s worse is they’re singing off key and messing up the lyrics.

I haven't seen worse behavior, its no better...but certainly , not worse. (Now, in my SCHOOL is a whole different story.)

A few phones went off for Macbeth last night, but my intermission experience was a first. After returning to my seat in the side front row, I noticed the man seated next to me throw something. I looked down and saw that he had been eating peanuts and discarding the shells all over the carpet. He noticed my reaction and started to gather the shells with his foot - then he started crushing them into smaller pieces and grinding them into the carpet. I was at a loss of what to say other than scoffing and saying “unbelievable” when act 2 began - then he ran out at curtain. Anyway, the entitlement, WOW.

I guess he thought the term "peanut gallery" meant he could go back to the days before it was just an idiom...

WOW that peanuts story is beyond uncouth. Nevermind barn dance - he belongs in a pigsty.

I'm also in the lucky minority as I've never had an unpleasant Broadway experience, not even at Rock of Ages.

Right before the curtain goes up, theatres should show a video that’s in the same vein as the comedic, airline safety videos they show before your flight takes off. It could feature a child being shushed by their parents, a Gen Z patron texting and getting their phone seized and smashed with a hammer, and an elderly person who repeatedly refuses to stop talking despite requests from those around them getting dragged by their hair, kicking and screaming, up the aisle and being throw out into the street into oncoming traffic. All in good fun, of course.