Why I walked out of Gypsy today — Page 3

Updated On: 5/5/09 at 03:37 AM

Updated On: 5/5/09 at 03:46 AM

It is a shame to hear that your theatre experience was ruined by such inconsiderate people. As a house manager and usher, I see behaviour like this frequently, and it is becoming more commonplace as shows struggle to appeal to a broader audience. In your situation, it is a shame to hear that ushers probably didn't handle the situation as well as they could have. They really should have been onto it the minute the group started moving. Any movement in the auditorium is distracting, and should be avoided at all costs. Because it was not dealt with by the ushers, and the house manager himself was not present, it seems he was left with no choice but to offer you some new seats, as he didn't witness the incident.
Hopefully the House Manager had a stern word with his ushers, and they will be more observant in the future.

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Wow- thanks for all the support and reality checks alike. Here are a few additional thoughts:

1) I realized last night that I did say something.. to the first woman who made me get up--during SOME PEOPLE.. I said, "Are you kidding.. you are such a (cut myself off)..you are ruining the show".. because not only did she knock my purse over but at the time my Ipod was on my lap so that went flying and I had to let her in and go get my Ipod. Hence the IPod reference. Her response- "No, I'm not kidding." And she WAS a F___ing C_nt. She had on a hideous outfit, helmet hair, was mid-50s and was totally rude. And might I say I love how these middle aged, post-menopausal women think that Patti is their friend and is there just for them. And we all bash Wicked fangirls. I will take a "squeeing" 11 year old over these yentas any day. And I thought the Grobanites with their Josh purses and Josh tattoos at Chess were bad..

2)By the time her five friends decided to join her in her behavior one by freaking one ... I was tired. They were all larger women and if things got to fisticuffs I could have outrun them, but I am not very big. Remember I was by myself, and I kind of wanted to be incognito. They all made me get up, they all knocked me over. I could have moved, but I liked my seat and I never thought it would keep happening. They exhausted me. And as someone so duly noted-- I go to shows to relax, they are cathartic for me.

3) I knew they were tourists because we were spending 30 lovely pre-show minutes together while they yammered away about how excited they were to see Patti and their trip to the big apple. Note--IPOD reference.

4) The house manager was lovely. He wasn't surprised by what I told him and was probably just shocked that I didn't take the seat. He also has some work to do managing the balcony.

5) My biggest issue is that the entire row to my right was empty. A sane person would have plotted the easiest and least disruptive route and just gone in through the empty seats completely bypassing me. BUT no-- these lazy c_nts saw no problem making me get up.

6) For those who wanted to see some scandalous reason as to why I walked out relating to the content.. I will add this. One of the reasons I probably didn't care so much about leaving is because..gasp.. the show (or the twenty or so minutes I saw) feels a bit dated. The one thing I thought about Patti is that she makes the role seem so effortless...possibly meaning that the part is not much of an effort for her. Now I didn't see the build of emotion throughout the show or "Rose's turn", but it just seemed like Mama Rose was so easy to play for her. It WAS her. I didn't really feel as if the actor was "reaching" that hard.

I love Gypsy, I used to have the TV special with Bette Midler as a kid on VHS and freaking wore the tape down. But you could have put Bette or Patti in there and it would just feel like the same old show. I know this is a biopic.. but come on, how believable is it to always see a plump, aggressive Mama Rose capture Herbie's heart. I think I would like someone to take a little liberty with the staging/casting and make it circa 1995 Mama Rose a hot belting beautiful vixen stage mama with a blond bob ..where you'd actually believe that a guy wouldn't mind being saddled with her and her two precocious babes.

7) I think I will go back. I am sad that I didn't see Laura B.. and I can't let those wenches win.

/end novel

etoile, I meet rudeness, and unabashed rudeness at that any way I like. You can be politically correct with your cries of misogyny, and I (and others) will deal with insufferably rude people however we choose. I WAS nice to begin with. Very nice and calm and respectful. When told to shut up - gloves off, I'm afraid, because she would have kept her cell on for heaven knows how long. I'm sure you would have handled it with great dignity though - small penis indeed.

picky arn't we?

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"BK, do you think you displayed civility? You met rudeness with vulgar crudeness and somehow you rationalized that you behaved properly."

Thank you.

bk, I can understand being irritated by rude patrons, and I agree that it's incredibly frustrating. But the way you handled it was just as rude as the persons behavior. If any stranger in a theatre called me something like that, I would slap them across the face, rude behavior or not. Someone else's rude behavior is not an excuse for you to act like a jackass.

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As someone who doesn't live in NYC, I just want to thank the people in this thread who pointed out that it is not just tourists who lack theatre ettiquette, and also that not all tourists do lack it.

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you totally overracted- take a chill pill dude.

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"Someone else's rude behavior is not an excuse for you to act like a jackass."

If they're being rude to ME all's fair in love and war, I'm afraid. You think people should just get away with stuff like that? I'm too old to put up with it anymore - I just cut to the chase and end it. I understand that some of you are dainty and delicate flowers who cannot deal with anything that isn't pretty, but if I ask someone nicely to shut their glaringly-bright Blackberry off and they tell me to shut up, sorry, they will incur my full wrath every single time. If that offends you or your sensibilities, just move along.

bk, here's a thought: get an usher to TAKE AWAY the Blackberry instead of being absurdly and uneededly rude by calling them a f****** c***. You don't have to be a dainty flower to get offended by being called that.

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There were several empty seats nearby. The obvious solution would have been just to move over and enjoy the show from another vantage point. She didn't have to break into tears on the way home. Geeze!

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