Very bad "Fiddler" behavior the other night — Page 3

I started bringing my kids at that age to professional theater. We talked many times about their expected behavior....which I brought up for many years before attending again. By the time my kids were ten, they fully understood...evidenced by shaking their heads in disdain over other kids NOT displaying proper theater etiquette.

But as another poster said: it's the parents to blame.

I had a young boy near me at Les Mis the other night and he said to his mother just when Stars was starting, "what's going on"? The mother started to explain from the beginning and she was shushed by about 5 people. I was surprised at the amount of people who got upset but it did help. The mother did stop talking but missed the whole song because she was too busy glaring at the people who shushed her, like they were wrong.

I have no problem with young children being introduced to the world of live theatre, but they should be well prepared by the parents. I would tell them the situation, about how this is not television or a movie, etc. I would explain we will get a break during the show and then we can go over things because the audience cannot talk when the show is on. There are ways to prepare children, but a lot of people don't go that extra step. They are so eager to excite their children with live theatre that they forget that important step.

On a side note, Alfie Boe was incredible and lived up to the hype and he sang as gloriously as he did in the 25th anniversary show, however, I did get annoyed with his voice as the range never changed. He sang the entire show in one key it seemed like. Ramin changed the key many times to fit the scene. I still feel privileged to see Alfie live. This was however, the first time I didn't cry at the end. Alfie wasn't crying or getting emotional like Ramin did. All in all, it was great to see him do the part live. I am looking forward to seeing John Owen Jones return the stage. He is one my favorites like McVey.

Updated On: 1/28/16 at 06:15 AM

My wife an I both both of our kids to the theatre for their first time at 5 YO. Before the show we discussed the need to be quiet and respectful. We gave them the 'basic' idea of the story and told them they could ask at intermission if they had questions. For each of their 'first', we chose aisle seats in the last row of the front mezz so they should see and I could make a quick and non-distracting exit if something went wrong (nothing did). It just takes preparation.