When I started going to the theatre...- Page 2

[ArtMan]

Posted: 5/8/16 at 10:04am

Great points, PThespian.  I have had those bossy women try and tell me I couldn't use the men's room.  They underestimated who they were dealing with.  If I really have to go (and that's usually the case) I tell them tough and walk right on in.  Doesn't bother me a bit.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 5/8/16 at 10:06am

John Adams said: "...and speaking of how times have changed... dramamama611, I've taken the liberty of doing things the "old-fashioned" way, 'cause your spellcheck needs a spanking! (Really, computer? a Gilmore??)

"

LOL....I caught the errors before I saw your post.  Damn auto-correct.  I really must stop writing on my phone.  (But I'm glad you could figure it out!)

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 5/8/16 at 10:10am

The reverse should therefore be true. One time I was finished using the urinal. I turned around and found a woman who berated me for not zipping up before I turned around from the urinal. I told her it was tough if it bothered her.She rushed out in a huff. As far as rushing out at intermission, I and many other men have done it - rushing out to go . On a few occasions, when no one was in the mens room, unsolicited or not, I stood outside so a woman could go.The urge is an equal opportunity offender.

 

Solution is make 2 bathrooms where anyone can go. We did not make the rules as to how you can go. Many times, I have waited on line to go and was uncomfortable. Deal with it one and all

 

Updated On: 5/8/16 at 10:10 AM

[LarryD2]

Posted: 5/8/16 at 10:18am

I have no problem with a woman availing herself of the men's room if there's no line (I'm a proponent of inclusive bathrooms in general), but the women who barge into the men's room and try to dictate the terms by their very presence piss me off. I worked front of house for years and had many similar situations to those PTThespian describes: a woman would barge into the men's room, and her girlfriend would come in and deputize herself the potty police. That's just not how it works. If you want to pee with men, fine. But you can't say that no men are allowed to come in because you're there.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 5/8/16 at 10:26am

Well...they can SAY it...but I agree, they don't have any more right to it than the men.  Y'all have to pee, too.

 

I have no qualms with going into the men's room if I'm truly concerned with either making it back to my seat or not making it in time.  I do it as school all the time and I can't tell you the number of women (adults) that hold me up as "brave".  REALLY?  I have to pee, that's not brave, it's avoiding embarrassment.  

 

[LarryD2]

Posted: 5/8/16 at 10:40am

That's insane. I would have reported the incident and made a stink.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 5/8/16 at 10:51am

That is what it is coming to gang. I would have gone right than & there & than sued the hell out of the theater owner. Maybe they should start selling men & women's depends with the show logo on it. This is just another bad experience that will impact on future audiences. Do you think this person might think twice about either attending again or not going back to that theater?

 

If you cannot go, you may literally make a stink.

[mc1227]

Posted: 5/8/16 at 11:00am

Dollypop said: "When standing ovations were given they were well deserved.

 

^^ yes!

 

[mc1227]

Posted: 5/8/16 at 11:30am

I don't think this thread should be a political statement but should be shared for younger audience members to know that the environment at a theater used to be quite different than it is today.

My biggest  complaint about going to theater today is what we all seem to have issues with, lack of respect for the actors by talking, rustling candy wrappers, not turning off cell phones, coming late, etc.  it's more of a statement on lack of consideration and manners in society today.  The getting dressed up part for me meant that it was a very special event (like flying used to be) but that is all changed because it's much more accessible to more people and our society is just much more casual.

I do love the diversity and different styles of today's shows.  I do miss that  special feeling that going to see a show was not a regular occurrence but a very special one.  And  i do wish we were just more considerate of each other.  Change is most times good but not always.  

[hork]

Posted: 5/8/16 at 11:40am

A man would never go into a ladies room if there were women in it. Why is the reverse okay? Ladies, just stay out of the men's room. There are few places I can go to avoid loud women chatting and giggling. Don't take this one away from me.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 5/8/16 at 11:43am

This is the new norm men. Get used to having your rights whittled away a little at a time. This comes as no surprise. 

[Ring-a-ding]

Posted: 5/8/16 at 11:54am

The problem is not women. The problem is that theater audiences are female by a significant majority and theater facilities are failing to meet the needs of their patrons. I'd wager that more women's lives than men's are regularly impacted by the ability to access a bathroom within a reasonable time. 

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 5/8/16 at 12:03pm

When you are impacted, it makes no difference regarding your sex. Maybe men should stop going to theater  altogether and it would solve the problem.Many theaters have an extra women's bathroom upstairs so if you are upstairs and a man you have to go all the way to the lounge bath room to go. By that time, there is a  huge line to the bathroom. What about elderly men who have physical problems?

[AHLiebross]

Posted: 5/8/16 at 12:20pm

Hogan and Mr. Roxy, I think you're representing opposite sides of the same political coin. It's ok to wish that patrons were more polite in the theater today, as they were in the 1950's, without wanting to return to the 1950's. The only problem with the politeness of the era was that sometimes, it was indeed linked to sexism or racism or some other kind of bigotry, such as a lady saying, " The Jews ruin the theater experience because they're so loud."  (I remember my MIL's fear in 1980 that she would catch HIV at La Cage aux Folles!)I don't miss discrimination, but I wish people didn't talk during performances.

Mr. Roxy, really, who is trying to take away your rights as a man? Is it someone demanding equal pay for equal work? Is it someone complaining that Trump gets a free pass for his own infidelity while troglodytes say Hillary is unfit to be President because of her husband's infidelity? Is it a woman who is more qualified than you beating you for a job?

Lurches towards equality are slow and painful, and sometimes people get hurt unfairly, but we MUST continue to demand equality for all.

Audrey

[HogansHero]

Posted: 5/8/16 at 12:34pm

@AHLiebross, agreed. My comments were really directed to the how-we-dress aspect. I understand (and in many cases share) the dislike for phones, noise etc. Where I part company is when it is about "annoyances" that are really just personal problems. The only thing I care about in relation to what someone wears is when it is a big coat that encroaches on my seat, a hat or hairdo that impairs my sightline, or something like that. And in my experience the worst offenders are not young people but old people who (a) talk during the show, even if only to ask what was just said or (b) don't know how to turn off their cell phone's noisemaker. The former is nothing new, and the latter is the lion's share of the significant disruptions I've had to suffer through. 

[wonderfulwizard11]

Posted: 5/8/16 at 12:48pm

hork said: "A man would never go into a ladies room if there were women in it. Why is the reverse okay? Ladies, just stay out of the men's room. There are few places I can go to avoid loud women chatting and giggling. Don't take this one away from me."

Yeah, how dare those women need to use the restroom? Can't they save all their gossip and talking for the kitchen? 

[Ring-a-ding]

Posted: 5/8/16 at 1:01pm

If you are attending a public venue where the line for the men's bathroom regularly takes longer to clear than the line for the women's bathroom, then, again, that venue is failing to meet the needs of its patrons, but the fact that men may have to wait as long as women to use the bathroom is not a complaint worthy of concern. Bathroom facilities should be designed so that the wait for the restrooms is the same for men and women. The experience PThespian described is not acceptable, but it is also not the norm. 

[Jarethan]

Posted: 5/8/16 at 1:57pm

Mr Roxy said: "Brings back many memories. . We had David Merrick in his prime in addition to great musical composers.If you wanted to call a theater box office directly you picked up the phone and dialed the number

 

You could also visit a few box offices and pick up tickets for 2 or 3 shows for the price of one regular show now. The tickets were pre printed and in little cubicles on the wall.We had professional ticket brokers who could get you tickets for a hit show without waiting days on line. You had something called overtures. You also had critics reviewing shows in their seat and rushing back to their office to file them.

 

I think we are roughly the same age and I don't know what era you are referring to.  When Hello Dolly opened, the top ticket price was $9.60, which was in place for a long time.  For matinees, it was $5.50 top.  Fiddler came along and upped the top prices to $9.90 and $6.60.  I think it was On a Clear Day which broke the $9.90 ceiling, raising to $11.90 and, I think, $7.50.  These are all the top prices.  As late as 1975, A Chorus Line opened with a top price of $15.00.  I think it was ACL which began charging the same price for matinees as evening performances, but I could be wrong there.  At those prices -- and leaving out premium seats -- you could by 10 - 12 tickets for the same price as today.  In those days, the front mezzanine charged LESS that the orchestra and there was no charging the same prices for half the rear mezzanine, as some shows have done.  The price inflation has been absurd and is saved only by the availability of reduced price tickets if you know about them and can get them.  I am pretty sure that neither Wicked nor Lion King have yet to offer reduced price tix, but I don't get to TKTS very much, since I live in Florida, and only get to NYC a few times a year.  (And I didn't even cover the cheapest price tickets.  When Purlie opened in 1971, every seat in the rear mezzanine was $3.00, I think for all performances, although it may not have included Friday and Saturday night, which might have been $5.00.  I saw Hello, Dolly multiple times for $3.00, over the course of its entire run.

I also don't remember standing in long lines to get into the theatre.  I remember just walking in...whoever created these lines is either a control freak or sadist.

i also remember the 'smell' of the original Helen Hayes theatre...you just knew you were in a special place.  I loved that theatre..it was like a jewel box, although I wondered if anyone actually ever sat in those box seats.

i remember most shows charging preview prices as a matter of course.  It allowed me to splurge and see Drat The Cat from the 3rd or 4th row of the orchestra for $5.00, a 49% discount off the $9.90 post opening performances.

i remember the first standing ovation I ever saw, Angela Lansbury in Mame.  It was several  years before I saw another one, Katherine Hepburn in Coco and then Christopher Plummer in Cyrano.  The first drama to receive one...the legendary production of A Moon for the Misbegotten.  I saw I Do!  I Do! three times and Mary Martin and Robert Preston did not receive one, EVEN ON OPENING NIGHT, when I was able to buy a rear mezz seat for $4.00.  Fiddler never got a SO with Zero Mostel, Cabaret never got one, James Earl Jones did not get one for The Great White Hope, etc., nor did Zoe Caldwell as Jean Brodie or Barbara Harris in The Apple Tree or Gwen Verdon in Sweet Charity or Ethel Merman in Annie Get Your Gun.  Nowadays, if you want to see the curtain call for any piece of mediocrity, you have to be prepared to stand because some idiot in the third row stands.  I can't remember the last time a show didn't get one, which is sad...they have become meaningless.  It was exciting, not annoying.  But, we did applaud until our hands hurt when we loved something, and that meant something.  

I miss the Mark Hellinger, the most beautiful theatre on Broadway in those days, and hate the Minskoff.  I don't dislike the Gershwin, as long as I am in the first 15 rows...I refuse to sit in the mezz...I feel like I am in another state when I am upstairs there.  Luckily, I haven't been in many years, partially because of the length of Wicked's run.  

I agree with Dollypop...I miss David Merrick.  It was fun reading what he was up to.  It was also amazing the number of hits he had in some seasons, all prominently advertised in the Sunday Times in full page ads.  

I miss the Gaiety Deli on 47th Street.  I can't even guess how many times I ate there in the 70s and 80s, rushing from work with enough time to get a quick pastrami sandwich and a dozen pickles.



 

 

Updated On: 5/8/16 at 01:57 PM

[hork]

Posted: 5/8/16 at 3:33pm

wonderfulwizard11 said: "hork said: "A man would never go into a ladies room if there were women in it. Why is the reverse okay? Ladies, just stay out of the men's room. There are few places I can go to avoid loud women chatting and giggling. Don't take this one away from me."

Yeah, how dare those women need to use the restroom? Can't they save all their gossip and talking for the kitchen? 

 

Oh, Jesus. They're perfectly entitled to use their restroom. Just don't use mine. If the line at intermission is that long, plan ahead. Go before the show starts and don't drink a lot of fluids. If you can't hold it for an hour, that's not my problem. They don't have intermissions at movies and everyone seems fine with it.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 5/8/16 at 6:56pm

To Jare

 

What I was saying that you could visit a few box office and get tickets because prices were not over the top as they are today. This was the 1960's & 70's and part of the 80's.

[morosco]

Posted: 5/8/16 at 7:15pm

I remember in the eighties when standing room wasn't part of any lottery or rush and you could buy them for about $15 or $20 bucks.  I preferred standing room because of the space and I didn't mind standing.

[wonderfulwizard11]

Posted: 5/8/16 at 8:00pm

"Oh, Jesus. They're perfectly entitled to use their restroom. Just don't use mine. If the line at intermission is that long, plan ahead. Go before the show starts and don't drink a lot of fluids. If you can't hold it for an hour, that's not my problem. They don't have intermissions at movies and everyone seems fine with it."

I don't really understand why anyone gives a damn about who's in the bathroom with you. I don't know about you, but all I need to bathroom for is its intended purpose, so if there are women who need to use the men's room during intermission so they don't come in late, who cares? It certainly doesn't bother me. I'd much rather that than people coming in late during the second act and being a distraction. 

[After Eight]

Posted: 5/8/16 at 8:51pm

"I'm also wondering if anyone keeps all their ticket stubs and playbills from decades ago?"

 

I do. Also souvenir booklets, ads, clippings, pictures, flyers, twofers... They're a pleasure to look through, but I must confess, they leave me rueful. To go from there to here... But let's not get into that!

 

The ticket stubs themselves are interesting. Tickets were often printed in beautiful saturated hues, like royal blue, fuchsia, tangerine, pistachio, lemon yellow, burgundy, etc. Quite attractive. The stub would bear the date of the show, and the theatre's name, but not the title of the play itself. You would have to rely on memory to know what show you saw in the Morosco in April, 1962. It you saw a matinee, a bold S or W was printed on the left hand side of the stub. An exception were opening night ticket stubs. For these, you had a rectangle on the left side saying Opening Night. To the right was the title of the show. No date on these. When you picked up your opening night tickets, there would be a little card in the envelope telling you that the opening night curtain for _______ at the _____ Theatre on ________ would rise at _______ sharp.

 

If you were lucky, you might get a stub with attractive combinations with respect to print/ticket color. Red print on a white or yellow ticket made a pleasing pairing, and I have a particularly lovely red print on periwinkle blue ticket stub that I hold among my favorites.

Another stroke of good fortune could occur if the person who ripped the stub from the ticket left enough room for you to see one or two final letters of the show's title which ran across the face of the ticket. I have a few of those.

There was a wise and wonderful song in the musical Ben Franklin in Paris entitled "Look for Small Pleasures." The theatre offered them in profusion way back when. Small pleasures, to be sure, but ever so potent and amazingly long lasting.

 

Updated On: 5/8/16 at 08:51 PM

[Fantod]

Posted: 5/8/16 at 9:03pm

That's really interesting. Thanks for taking the time to share that, After Eight

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 5/8/16 at 9:12pm

Regret  I missed Ben. Enjoy the score but as I recall "Look For Small Pleasures" may actually have been  written by Jerry Herman..