When I started going to the theatre... — Page 5

my first musical experience was a Hollywood production of THE FANTASTICKS in 1967...all my musical theatre geek pals and i saw it while preparing for our very own musical presentation of hits of Broadway shows...i sang SIXTEEN GOING ON SEVENTEEN...:)...my first actual Broadway musical was the touring production of I DO! I DO! which came to the DOROTHY CHANDLER PAVILION in 1968...i took my mother to see MARY MARTIN and ROBERT PRESTON...i knew that score inside and out from the OBC recording i had played on and on...the audience was very polite and respectful of the stars of the show i remember and i was personally overwhelmed at see the MUSIC MAN and PETER PAN live and in person...it wouldn't be till 1970 when i moved to NYC and saw my first real on Broadway show COMPANY that i learned to love going to see Broadway productions...one thing i remember back then i was ALWAYS more enthusiastic than most of the audiences i sat with...the theatre was so alive for me...and with all the shows i saw last November it still is...while sitting in the audience for SOMETHING ROTTEN...the man sitting next to me commented at intermission that was a good audience...:) that made my trip!

"It is incomprehensible to me that anyone cares what anyone else in the audience is wearing. Someone in shorts can just as easily be as engaged, polite, and silent as someone in a suit jacket. "



Nobody said someone wearing shorts was behaving badly. I just thought it was nice back then when people dressed up to go to a Broadway show because it was something special.

KJisgroovy said: "It is incomprehensible to me that anyone cares what anyone else in the audience is wearing. Someone in shorts can just as easily be as engaged, polite, and silent as someone in a suit jacket.

The absolutely worst audience members I've encountered have also been, without fail, the most well dressed members of the audience.



"

I can understand nostalgia for the idea of theatre being more of an "event" that you dressed for, but I absolutely agree that the best-dressed people are often the rudest. The people who are there as a social occasion, paying full price, with very low stakes in the experience, are often very obnoxious.


Similarly, even though young people get scolded about phones because they are more tech-savvy, it's almost always a senior's phone that goes off.

While I personally wouldn't go to a Broadway show in a t-shirt, I find it hard to ding audiences for not dressing up when culture, as a whole, has largely moved past the concept of dressing up for the vast majority of occasions.

I also don't think Broadway audiences are exactly awash with inappropriately dressed people. I would say the majority of audience members are dressed business casual, with outliers that are less dressed and outliers that are more dressed.

This notion of getting dressed up because the theatre is a special event is revealing for a couple reasons. First, it is a symptom of the egocentrism that permeates the people posting-the one and only thing that makes going to the theatre special is what the performers do on stage. It's not about you people. Second, it suggests the opinions of people who don't go to the theatre much. I go over a hundred times a year, in a slow year. My constitution cannot handle being special that often. The truth is, a requirement of getting dressed up for the theatre is about dwelling in the past-the same thing all of the nostalgia freaks on here do anyway. One final thought: I see school buses with kids all dressed up for the theatre, looking (at least in the case of the boys) totally miserable in the ties, shirts and slacks they otherwise don't wear except to Aunt Sadie's funeral. So (once again, just like with these antiquated shows we make them sit through), the message is theatre=beig miserable. Is there any wonder they don't go on to embrace it?

HogansHero said: "PT,

...and a t-shirt than a fur, one of those helmet head hairdo's and way too much perfume.

"



LOL - that is being nostalgic -- even if I wore Prada, that would be museum-like in style. Dressing up these days is simply looking nice - not necessarily as if I had been invited to Wintour's Met Costume Ball.



It could be how one wants to look when having dinner ( nothing showy but simply presentable) - nothing wrong with that. I also would not expect others to dress like I might - we all accept or respect that people are more individualistic these days.



No need to look down on those who present a different view. I would engage someone next to me in a conversation at intermission about what we have seen earlier, regardless of how my co-theatre enthusiast is dressed, because for some moments we may have enjoyed our time together.



Cheers!

PT-How bout if we leave it like this: I'll take a pic of the next such busload I see and will post it. I'll be gone until next week so you have a few days to send memos to every school group with reservations

Re the bathing suit example, it is not analogous because it is something only a crazy person would do. We are not talking about crazy people; we are talking about people for whom jeans (even ripped jeans and even if they are the $850 Saint Laurent ones) and a tshirt are normal and a button down shirt and dockers are not.

I respect what you do, and I don't think this is about what kids wear but what adults wear. There are some here who would like everyone to dress as if it were the 1950s even though it is not. People who want to dress up like that can go to fancy dress parties or clubs that cater to octagenarian wasps.

HogansHero said: "This notion of getting dressed up because the theatre is a special event is revealing for a couple reasons. First, it is a symptom of the egocentrism that permeates the people posting-the one and only thing that makes going to the theatre special is what the performers do on stage. It's not about you people. Second, it suggests the opinions of people who don't go to the theatre much. I go over a hundred times a year, in a slow year. My constitution cannot handle being special that often. The truth is, a requirement of getting dressed up for the theatre is about dwelling in the past-the same thing all of the nostalgia freaks on here do anyway. One final thought: I see school buses with kids all dressed up for the theatre, looking (at least in the case of the boys) totally miserable in the ties, shirts and slacks they otherwise don't wear except to Aunt Sadie's funeral. So (once again, just like with these antiquated shows we make them sit through), the message is theatre=beig miserable. Is there any wonder they don't go on to embrace it?"



Yes, things have changed. And I am sure for a lot of those school kids getting off of the busses it is a special event to them. As one of your so called "nostalgia freaks" until about six years ago I dressed for the theater. I do less today because there are times I go to the theater straight from work and I have fallen into dressing down. When I can, I do though and if I am going to a pre-show event I at least wear shoes and a nice shirt but usually wear cazual dresz pants too. It isn't a nostalgia thing, it is just what we did and part of how I was raised. It was about looking presentable and even letting the performers who looked out over the audience know that this s a special evening. So basically, in my case, you are commenting on how my mother raised me!

I know actors who look out over audiences and can't believe some people dress the way they do. I have watched filmed shows where they show the audience and some people look like all they need is a beer and a bowl of popcorn to complete their look. If we want to dress up I see no problem with it. Even as much as I go to the theater, every time I go it is special and I feel a rush of excitement. Dressing for the theatre can sometimes enhance that. And bottom line, a lot of people enjoy dressing up when going out. Be it to the theatre or a club. So we are not freaks. We just choose to do and enjoy it.

Updated On: 5/13/16 at 01:05 AM

HogansHero said: "@uncageg-I'm not at all suggesting that you should not dress as you want. That's actually my point-that people should dress how THEY want, whether that is dressing up or dressing down. My issue is with folks who want to judge how others dress, I bet your mother didn't raise you to judge others, now did she? Regarding what the actors see, I've gone to the theatre with a lot of them when they are not working, and most of them do not dress up when they go to the theatre so I doubt they have a double standard."



No, I don't judge others but I felt as if you were judging others. And we evidentally don't know the same actors.

Hogans, that may be what you meant but it didn't come across that way.

Updated On: 5/13/16 at 10:49 AM

"I meant I confuse the two titles. They are both failed shows from before I was old enough to travel to New York."



Yes. And the titles are so alike, too. I can see how one could similarly confuse Pousse-Café with Kean, Pickwick with Hayride, etc.



As to the question of the way people dress, slovenliness is slovenly, whether it be at the theatre, at the supermarket, or in the street. There may be no escaping it, but there is certainly no reason to exult over it.

This was once an interesting thread until it became a stupid debate about how people dress. Some people sure know how to deflate a balloon quickly.