Why are audiences so poorly behaved these days? — Page 7

I went with my school choir and band to see Phantom of the Ipera, and it was an amazing show with a cast that portrayed the characters amazing.

During the first act I look to my left at the boys sitting next to me and they are sleeping. Now that's fine because he isn't disturbing me or anything.

Intermission starts and they go to the bathroom or get concessions or something.

When act 2 starts they watch half of Madcerade(the act 2 opening) Then takes out their phones and starts playing games. I was trying to watch the show but their phones were so distracting.

For the choir concert we sang Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again and girls were singing with her. The actor who played Cristines voice was so pretty, but I couldn't hear because people around me were singing.

As a theatre kid who loves seeing and being in productions this made me mad.

Just because we are really far from the stage and on 3rd balcony it doesn't give you the right to not follow theatre etiquette.

Auggie27 said: "I've seen some of the best behaved audiences in the last 18 months or so, and can't quite find the common denominator that might tease out these productions they were attending, other than a certain intellectual profile in the content of the productions, but not exclusively:John Proctor, Liberation, Oedipus, and - wait for it -Bat Boy, oddly enough (but I've found the City Center audiences consistently well-behaved). I was also with an out-of-town guest in a rowdy tourist house for Moulin Rouge, but the audience wasn't so much poorly-behaved as ill-informed about protocols.

I have complained bitterly over the years about the misuse of devices - at the LCTKing and I on Easter Sunday, the audience simply refused to put away phones, the palpable sense of entitlement overrode any announced restrictions. And I always come back to that: a percentage of people feel the high prices and the "event" status of performances entitle them to seek real time souvenirs.

As armchair sociologist, I'll just opine thatsome corrupted morein the culture has anointed these phones we covet with supremacy over foundational etiquette. I've heard people explain why a phone left on and face down in a lap - checked every 10-minutes, that flash of light ever annoying - is perfectly acceptable because dire news is expected. Everyone has a "good" reason, from "my geriatric father is traveling alone by plane" to "I'm awaiting biopsy results." When you remind these privileged folks that connections can be made at intermission, they haughtily insist that won't do. I think of Carrie Fisher's famous line, "instant gratification isn't fast enough." To me, it sums up this egregious dependence on alerts arriving in our dark laps"

Excellent post and I will make a couple of comments. First, people should try and understand it is better to actually enjoy the moment instead of worrying about recording the moment. If you are really worried about your elderly father traveling alone, maybe you should not be at a Broadway show and be with him. If medical results are that important maybe you should have waited for another time to see a show.

There are plenty of entertainment events that you can take pictures and record them. Sporting events don't care about you taking pictures as long as you are not bringing in a professional camera with big lens. Most concerts don't care about this either, there is a reason there is all those youtube clips of concerts. If a concert is in a pretty small venue than an artist may have a no camera policy. My point is there are times you can record things so if a Broadway show tells you not to do it, buck it up and obey the rules.

witchoftheeast2 said: "This articleabout getting involved at the theaterdoes not help at all. It seems to encourage audience participation and no where does it mention also behaving when not in a theater that would encourage it.

Is audience behavior just up to individuals now and if you're not yelling or calling back at actors, you're a "dead" audience and not enjoying it appropriately? I'm tired."

Jumping over from the Dog Day Afternoon preview thread where I was questioning if there are audience plants to get the Attica chant going --- it got me thinking that yes, perhaps, productions that call for and encourage audience participation may be muddling the waters and ultimately doing a disservice to other shows and productions where these call outs would be looked down upon.

99pandas said: "witchoftheeast2 said: "This articleabout getting involved at the theaterdoes not help at all. It seems to encourage audience participation and no where does it mention also behaving when not in a theater that would encourage it.

Is audience behavior just up to individuals now and if you're not yelling or calling back at actors, you're a "dead" audience and not enjoying it appropriately? I'm tired."

Jumping over from the Dog Day Afternoon preview thread where I was questioning if there are audience plants to get theAttica chant going --- it got me thinking that yes, perhaps, productions that call for and encourage audience participation may be muddling the waters and ultimately doing a disservice to other shows and productions where these call outs would be looked down upon."

It's certainly not helpful in any way. They need to be more strict about enforcing decorum- to a certain extent, it may be difficult at Rocky Horror to tell people to control themselves. But other productions are not Rocky and people need to know that. They need an insert in the playbill, an announcement over the god mic before the show, a notice before you buy tickets about how to behave at the theater

That is very weird to hear because the night I went in previews, the ushers and their flashlights were stationed like snipers in the boxes ready to pounce. (I was in a box next to one)

Horrible! Did you have any of those people who flip through the Playbill every five minutes during the show?

Totally realize sneezing/coughing fits are generally out of the audience members' control. It was just my 13th reason in this specific scenario LOL.

And yep, TotallyEffed. Tons of rifling through Playbills too.

The other night at a show, I arrive to my seat to find a woman sitting in it. No big deal, folks make mistakes all the time. When the usher moved her to the next seat, her correct seat, I smiled a friendly hello and then this woman gave me daggers with her eyes. Okay fine, she wasn't friendly. Then, in then maybe 20 min she whips out her phone and starts filming it. I was SO annoyed that one she would do that (especially when there was an announcement made at the start of the show - and it's just so rude). When she whipped out her phone again, in the second row, I was like is this woman just nuts or rude or what? There was a blackout for a scene change and I said loudly "you might want to put that phone away or they'll kick you out". At the end of the play, she once again whipped out her phone. My impulse was to grab the phone from her but obviously can't do that so I was secretly hoping an usher or cast member might say something.

What would you do in this case?

carlisle14 said: "Unclear if it was accidental or a focused step in noise reduction from the crowd, but they moved away from noisy bags of popcorn to the quieter thin cardboard boxes. Likewise, they added soft pretzels to the offerings, which is much more quiet than the bags of chips that seems to be constantly crackling at the start of Act 2 at most shows. It still amazes me that the audience can't hold off from housing 3,000 calories over the course of a 120 min show, but it is what it is ... and the theaters love selling those 25 cent pretzels for $9.99 plus tip.

I might pay extra for a NO DISTRACTIONS seating zone.... food, drink, talking, phones, and small kids are banned from an area where an usher is there to really zone in on defense. I'd pay a few bucks more to NOT have to hear Uncle Stewie chomping on handfuls of popcorn like a horse chowing on the farmer's hay."

Theaters wanting to get every possible dollar started this by allowing food/drinks in the theater years ago. They turned seeing a Broadway show into a day/night at the movies. The only answer to stopping all the nonsense with cell phones ringing and people filming show is Yondr pouches. I have no idea if it is feasible for every Broadway show to start using them. I like your "No Distraction" zone and would even pay extra for it if it was really enforced.

The other night at the St. James I was so annoyed by the mass of people in front of the bar. They all block incoming traffic trying to get to their seat or visit a restroom. I remembered the hall towards the back of that lobby and made my way there for an easier go but got stuck in another crowd because the theater placed their merch stands there.

I am all for making money but when it’s at the expense of safety I must object. Whomever is in charge of logistics at the St. James should be ashamed of themselves as they laugh all the way to the bank. I feel completely disrespected as a paying audience member that just wants to arrive safely, visit the restroom and enjoy a show without getting stuck in a mob.

VernonGersch said: "The other night at a show, I arrive to my seat to find a woman sitting in it. No big deal, folks make mistakes all the time. When the usher moved her to the next seat, her correct seat, I smiled a friendly hello and then this woman gave me daggers with her eyes. Okay fine, she wasn't friendly. Then, in then maybe 20 min she whips out her phone and starts filming it. I was SO annoyed that one she would do that (especially when there was an announcement made at the start of the show - and it's just so rude). When she whipped out her phone again, in the second row, I was like is this woman just nuts or rude or what? There was a blackout for a scene change and I said loudly "you might want to put that phone away or they'll kick you out". At the end of the play, she once again whipped out her phone. My impulse was to grab the phone from her but obviously can't do that so I was secretly hoping an usher or cast member might say something.

What would you do in this case? "

Something tells me that she was hoping you wouldn’t show up so she would have a more optimal viewpoint for her filming.

As for how to address it, usually I’ll tell an usher at intermission and, depending on the show, they will also alert the security team - this I have seen at CHESS, THE FEAR OF 13, and a few other shows recently.

If it gets to the point of security intervention, usually the patrons end up kicked out (ESPECIALLY CHESS)

One time a woman and her daughter I presume were talking all through a show, they must have thought they were in their living room. I asked the usher at intermission for a manager, the manager came and I told them about the situation. I was moved to another seat. I never said a word to the offenders, the usher did say something to them as I was leaving.

During another show the other day, I saw a large man be given his own chair close to me to sit in, (they brought it out for him) presumably because he couldn't fit into his normal seat. The house will try and resolve any situation reasonably.

Updated On: 5/2/26 at 09:14 PM