Unpleasant theater audiences — Page 4

Hooo buddy, let me tell you about Six tonight…

A note: I’ve seen it several times, the audiences are always enthusiastic but generally pleasant.


I was seated in the second row of the orchestra. Three men behind me talked and sang the ENTIRE show. I turned around multiple times to no avail. They (along with others) yelled back in response to Brittney Mack’s Cleves monologue, leaving her just kind of waiting for them to stop so she could go on.


THEN. One of them falls into a seemingly sudden *very deep* sleep on the stranger on their other side. At this point it’s a little concerning. The show was almost over at this point but it seemed like someone must’ve said something to company management (one of the actresses did briefly step offstage), because suddenly an usher came hauling down the aisle.


YIKES. That’s all.

ggersten said: "On Friday 7 April (Good Friday) a performance of The Bodyguard in Manchester, England was stopped 10 minutes before the end as unruly audience members were removed by police. The audience members were singing along - loudly (and poorly). The production had a "no sing-along" policy/rule.

To make matters worse, a local television program presenters had complained about the "no sing along" rules saying (paraphrasing) "what's the point of going to the show if you can't sing along?" After the Bodyguard incident, the presenters faced criticism and one has apologized.

There's lots in the UK press and Twitter about the incident including audio.
Discussion and some links over on Theatreboard starting at page 217:Bad Behaviour at a Show | TheatreBoard

And Variety:'Bodyguard' Musical Halted After 'Mini-Riot' Over Audience Sing-along - Variety"

So here is the actual video (via Reddit article) of the shocking behavior of the audience members as they are being removed from the house -- it's quite something, and the escalation during their REMOVAL just shows how far gone some people have lost their damn minds.

TheatreMonkey said: "ggersten said: "On Friday 7 April (Good Friday) a performance of The Bodyguard in Manchester, England was stopped 10 minutes before the end as unruly audience members were removed by police. The audience members were singing along - loudly (and poorly). The production had a "no sing-along" policy/rule.

To make matters worse, a local television program presenters had complained about the "no sing along" rules saying (paraphrasing) "what's the point of going to the show if you can't sing along?" After the Bodyguard incident, the presenters faced criticism and one has apologized.

There's lots in the UK press and Twitter about the incident including audio.
Discussion and some links over on Theatreboard starting at page 217:Bad Behaviour at a Show | TheatreBoard

And Variety:'Bodyguard' Musical Halted After 'Mini-Riot' Over Audience Sing-along - Variety"

So here is the actual video (via Reddit article) of the shocking behavior of the audience members as they are being removed from the house -- it's quite something, and the escalation during their REMOVAL just shows how far gone some people have lost their damn minds."

I was half expecting the audience to cheer for them to be pushed over the railing or something. Glad that didn't happen but dang ladies, read the rules and follow along. People didn't pay good money to hear YOU sing. To the show hosts who didn't agree with the no singalong rule, once again nobody paid to hear the audience perform.

"Appropriate" is a culturally created standard, not a universal norm that can never be challenged or evolve. And of course, different cultures often have different norms and expectations for similar experiences.

Do I personally want to attend shows where people sing along, talk back to performers, et al? Absolutely not. I bristle and give the mean eye at the sound of the first candy wrapper crinkle.

But I also think having conversations—in appropriate settings—about existing norms and their continued relevance or desirability is a worthwhile endeavor.

This behavior occurred last night during Hadestown in Baltimore. The women next to me had a flashlight which she used to look at the playbill but kept accidently shining it at my eyes. Nothing was said but then it got worse. At the beginning of ACT II she did not turn off her flashlight until her husband told her too 1/2 into the initial song.

Then during the singing of "Doubt Comes In", she again turned on the flashlight to look at her playbill. Multiple people around her whispered for her to shut it off which she ignored. I waved my hand in front of her face and that did not work. Finally after a little more encouragement from me, she shut if off. I could tell that she did not like being told what to do. Considering we were sitting mid-orchestra, 3 rows from the stage, I wonder how many people she annoyed including the actors.

Just up on Theatermania. It addresses quizking101's comments.



https://www.theatermania.com/news/story-of-the-week-is-theater-etiquette-dead_1697971/?fbclid=IwAR0ltl4MqsKpRILqwAGO7EOcTP9hkbFxIyHbSoS2-yRg67wmOXbOBqDiv6s

So….I guess I’m lucky. I’ve seen 6 shows this past week and only had a really bad experience at my last show, “& Juliet” which probably isn’t surprising since it’s a jukebox musical.

If anyone you have seen the show you know that the ensemble is on stage before the show officially starts. Well, she was recording the action with her phone which I didn’t say anything…except when the. Overture starts and they hold up a sign saying “no phones/recording” and she’s still recording. The woman was sitting right beside me in the 5th row center. So I said, you literally keep recording while they saying not to record.

That set off a whole night of her calling me a nazi, the c-word, a f-king ahole, a whole slew of names throughout the whole first act. Every time she would reach for something out of her bag she would look my way and lean in and call me various swear words and would numerous times bump into me but I just sat there.

Even through intermission, which I usually get up to stretch my legs, I stayed sitting and she continued to talking about me being a camera Nazi and finally she talking about how I was the part of the trouble in the U.S. with all this woke stuff (which was ironic since she was at & Juliet).

I mostly ignored her but would let out a laugh or say “wow, what a mouth on you” while she screamed at me at the curtain call saying I wasn’t yelling at the other audience members recording. I turned around to see the people behind me and said “can you believe this”.

She commented that I was alone and that was indicative that I was a jerk and other expletives.

Finally as I was leaving she threatened me and said if she had a gun she would put a bullet in my head.

Meanwhile the ppl behind me asked if I knew her and that I handled it better than they would have.

I tried to enjoy the show, even though going in I knew it would be challenging because jukebox musicals do attract crowd.

BuddyStarr said: "So….I guess I’m lucky. I’ve seen 6 shows this past week and only had a really bad experience at my last show, “& Juliet” which probably isn’t surprising since it’s a jukebox musical.

If anyone you have seen the show you know that the ensemble is on stage before the show officially starts. Well, she was recording the action with her phone which I didn’t say anything…except when the. Overture starts and they hold up a sign saying “no phones/recording” and she’s still recording. The woman was sitting right beside me in the 5th row center. So I said, you literally keep recording while they saying not to record.

That set off a whole night of her calling me a nazi, the c-word, a f-king ahole, a whole slew of names throughout the whole first act. Every time she would reach for something out of her bag she would look my way and lean in and call me various swear words and would numerous times bump into me but I just sat there.

Even through intermission, which I usually get up to stretch my legs, I stayed sitting and she continued to talking about me being a camera Nazi and finally she talking about how I was the part of the trouble in the U.S. with all this woke stuff (which was ironic since she was at & Juliet).

I mostly ignored her but would let out a laugh or say “wow, what a mouth on you” while she screamed at me at the curtain call saying I wasn’t yelling at the other audience members recording. I turned around to see the people behind me and said “can you believe this”.

She commented that I was alone and that was indicative that I was a jerk and other expletives.

Finally as I was leaving she threatened me and said if she had a gun she would put a bullet in my head.

Meanwhile the ppl behind me asked if I knew her and that I handled it better than they would have.

I tried to enjoy the show, even though going in I knew it would be challenging because jukebox musicals do attract crowd."

Oh my god. I am so, so sorry that happened to you!! That is awful. Why didn't you say something to an usher?? I would have absolutely said something. I don't care what she says to me. That is not okay. At All. Ridiculous. Just because you pay for a ticket doesn't mean you get to do whatever you want!!

Yikes! I'm so sorry you had to endure that, Buddy!

Sutton Ross said: "It's a criminal matter. Not a house manager issue. Call the cops, not an usher."

Report it to the House Manager, who would then call the cops. I know he said as he was leaving, which, yes, he should call the cops on his own. If this happened while he was still in the theatre, during the performance, or during intermission reporting it to the house manager is the first thing to do who would then call the cops.

@BuddyStarr..the more I read about your experience, the more angry I get. When did we decide we can act however we want at the theater without repercussions? Without it seriously affecting the audience and the performers? When did people decide "Oh I can do whatever I want, I can talk back, I can sing, I can film" Like why? I understand if maybe you haven't been to a show before but even then there are protocols you have to follow just like anywhere else where people have to buy a ticket, not just theater. This is awful. People like that are horrible. They should be banned.

Tuesday night at Camelot as soon as the orchestra started playing the overture the man sitting behind me opened a bag of potato chips and for about 15 minutes was smacking his lips and rustling the plastic bag. At the interval I and a friend moved to the last row in the orchestra that was empty.

why did the theatres allow snacks and candy in the theatre

Money of course. They literally care about nothing else. Not if people are respectful of one another, if people start fighting, if people scream "THIS IS SO BORING!" when Daniel Craig is speaking, if someone gets off to Tom Hiddleston in the middle of a dialogue. All they care about is cramming as many people in as possible, regardless of how miserable people are being are to one another. I have now heard about assaults, verbal abuse, criminal threats and other illegal sh*t. Security is too soft, it's disgusting and they need to be trained better. If you cannot follow rules in a theater, your ass will be kicked out or you will be arrested. Simple.

And it will never stop being this way until no one shows up to any Broadway shows, which will never, ever happen.