When is it appropriate to start applauding for a song?

[Bwaydide92]

Posted: 1/25/15 at 11:17pm

I always get very annoyed when theatre audiences start applauding for a song before it's even finished. When I saw If/Then a few weeks ago, the audience started applauding during Always Starting Over and Idina still had a couple of bars left of the note.

I always wait until the song is completely finished. The actor has finished singing and the orchestra has finished playing. Do others on here also wait? Or do you start applauding while they're still singing?

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 1/25/15 at 11:21pm

I applaud when my heart decides to take control of my hands.

[Mr. Nowack]

Posted: 1/25/15 at 11:42pm

Often I've found that audiences start applauding whenever they know a song is about to be finished. Unless the ending comes out of nowhere.

I too am sometimes a bit annoyed by it but not too much to really impair my enjoyment.

[chewy5000]

Posted: 1/25/15 at 11:58pm

Sometimes I don't even applaud.

[Susanswerphone]

Posted: 1/26/15 at 12:13am

It is never appropriate to begin applauding while a performer is still performing, no matter whether it's singing, playing an instrument, or shooting pingpong balls from one's coochie.
Unless, of course, you're at American Idol or America's Got Talent--in which case not only is it inappropriate, but unwarranted.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 1/26/15 at 12:20am

When the music goes ba-dum-BUM.

[Fantod]

Posted: 1/26/15 at 12:25am

When you go to the symphony, you don't applaud until the composer puts his baton down and the performance is complete. Why would it be any different in a Broadway show?

[binau]

Posted: 1/26/15 at 12:27am

I always find it strange that people want to scream over the performances they are apparently enjoying. Would they rather hear themselves scream or the singer? Do not understand.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 1/26/15 at 12:27am

Because almost no one can see the conductor's baton at a Broadway show.

[Pootie2]

Posted: 1/26/15 at 12:35am

Does this happen at shows like Wicked too? I'm just wondering if it's the teen demographic who've been raised on "talent" TV shows (cheer whenever someone starts in-tune) and concerts (whenever). And they're probably the ones who've memorized the OBCR already, although that last "now" belt is pretty obviously the end, I think. Still, unfortunate for anyone else wanting to enjoy the show.

[adam.peterson44]

Posted: 1/26/15 at 1:27am

I always wait until the song is completely over and get frustrated trying to hear the performer(s) over clapping and screaming when those start before the song is over.

[haterobics]

Posted: 1/26/15 at 1:33am

"Because almost no one can see the conductor's baton at a Broadway show."

Sure, you can. You just have to sit in the front of the orchestra, turn around, and look at the monitors at across the front of the mezzanine for your cue.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 1/26/15 at 1:41am

I like to clap in the middle of songs so they know it's me.

[broadwaysfguy]

Posted: 1/26/15 at 2:42am

thank you for asking
i feel like theatre etiquette is dying a rapid death on broadway between candy wrappers, texting, vibrating, talking DURING the show, coming in late, and early clapping

After the end please...at these ticket prices most of us would really like to hear the performers....

[haterobics]

Posted: 1/26/15 at 2:43am

"i feel like theatre etiquette is dying a rapid death on broadway between candy wrappers, texting, vibrating, talking DURING the show, coming in late, and early clapping"

Early clapping still doesn't seem like it belongs on this list, as it is someone reacting to the show, just in a way that is different from how you might want to...

[eatlasagna]

Posted: 1/26/15 at 3:13am

do a lot of composers purposely create songs just so there's no applause? or is that something that is done with the suggestion of the director and their vision for the show?


i can't think of traditional book musicals where this happens but I know i've seen some where its happened but say for example in Miss Saigon... after Please and Sun and Moon Reprise I always feel like I want to clap but the music starts right away with the next scene/dialogue

[bluetuna]

Posted: 1/26/15 at 3:25am

I never understand this. If you're so moved and excited that you feel the need to applaud/cheer, shouldn't you instead actually want to hear the music and not your own noises?

[darreyl102]

Posted: 1/26/15 at 4:49am

Applauding as the song ends is becoming the new tradition it seems. I have yet to be at a show where at some point people did not applaud right before a song ends. For Example EVERY night i saw Hairspay (And I saw it more times then i can count) The audience always broke in to applause during the end of I Know Where I've Been, Especially in the hands of Darlene Love, who's High Note on Been always brought down the house and got an applause. It dosen't bother me, because i do it myself. However, it does bother me when people cheer and hoot during the song- clapping isn't a big problem, because you can still hear the performer.

[SweetLips]

Posted: 1/26/15 at 5:15am

How about at a concert and someone claps when they recognise the song--'Oh, I know this song' so I'll clap so the singer will know that I know that one. Is that permitted or should we have a clap[?] section in the Playbill ?

[PalJoey]

Posted: 1/26/15 at 7:55am

My bumper has this sticker:

I CLAP FOR KEY CHANGES

[blaxx]

Posted: 1/26/15 at 8:28am

Duh. When Idina starts singing and all the way through. It is also appropriate to yell how much you love her, the louder the better. She's into that.

[Auggie27]

Posted: 1/26/15 at 8:52am

Yes, the final wait-for-it moment in "Always Starting Over" tends to create a ripple of early if not necessarily premature applause. I thought it was probably expected in terms of melodic structure, orchestration and seeing it again two weeks ago (after nearly a year) performance. It didn't bother me. Something similar happened at the end of act one of "Side Show," when the final chorus of "Who Will Love me...?" included a fade in (hauntingly so) of the side show features, augmenting the heartrending entreaty of the Hiltons. The applause was perhaps intrusive but unavoidable.

I go back to "And I'm Telling You..." which I saw in previews. Holliday was getting stopped early and often before the show had even opened. These things aren't always in anyone's control, but talk to anyone who's been in a Broadway musical: better to have the applause than not. Always.

Updated On: 1/26/15 at 08:52 AM

[VeraCharles3]

Posted: 1/26/15 at 8:52am

PalJoey - Fantastic! I want one of those bumper stickers.

[Bwaydide92]

Posted: 1/26/15 at 9:49am

To clarify my example. The audience did not start clapping before Idina sang "now" they started clapping in the middle of the word. Every Broadway show I've ever been to, the audiences always clap during the last few bars of a song. They don't actually let the song finish.

Haterobics- I think early clapping does belong on a list of bad theatre etiquette. If the composer wanted you to start clapping there, then they wouldn't have written the notes that come after that. They would have just ended the song. And I find it disrespectful to the actor singing to drown out the end of their song. They have to work hard to get through the entirety of the song, even if you clap over them, they still have to have the breath support to get through what was written. They can't just give up because you want to start clapping.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 1/26/15 at 9:51am

Theater etiquette died awhile ago.