Why do kicklines provoke a Pavlovian applause response in audiences...? — Page 2

It's that magic combination of music, visuals, and good old-fashioned tradition. If you see a group of people just kicking in unison on the sidewalk, you're not likely to have a response other than thinking they look like fools. But turn it into a long production number with flashy costumes and sets and lighting in a song that builds and builds and builds to a climax specifically written and staged to thrill, you can have them kick, or simply walk downstage (like in Curtains) and the atmosphere and setup will get applause. As long as it's choreographed (and usually in unison), it's the combination of elements that provokes the audience. It's really no different than the downstage-center-long-note-belt-raise-arms move that generates applause in 11 o'clock numbers. It's the most traditional and effective visual cue an audience can get. I'm as much a sucker for it as anyone else.

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I'm not a sucker for it. It P's me O.

Because I'm jaded and can't enjoy myself, as has been mentioned.

I'm weird about all spontaneous mid-show applause.

When a well-delivered monologue or an especially well-timed joke or an especially resonant line gets applause, it strikes me more as the audience applauding themselves for appreciating it.

There was some line in OTHER DESERT CITIES -- which I cannot remember -- that was sort of an easy potshot at the right wing, and of course the audience burst into laughter and applause. Now, I'm a lefty liberal, but I thought to myself, "Ugh, that's exactly the kind of crap people deserve to get crap for." It's gross and self-congratulatory. Finding it funny, sure, but to applaud spontaneously? It feels more like, "OHHH, that was SO good, and *I* AGREE! Watch HOW MUCH I AGREE AND GET IT!"

And obviously way off topic from kicklines and an entirely different kind of response, but not altogether unrelated.

Sometimes I wish we were more like the Japanese, who (I hear) reserve most of their enthusiasm for the show's end. (As long as they don't stand up.)

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I can deal with kickline applause (although in general I agree it's usually not genuinely felt; more like an obligation) but you what I can't take?

Applause for:

A)The set. Yes, Norma's mansion is amazing, but must we really clap for it?

B)Entrance applause. Just because they're a big star doesn't mean that being in the same theater as them is cause for adulation. I mean, shouldn't we wait and see if we are duly impressed first?

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I don't disbelieve you, Matt. And no doubt for a lot of people it comes from an honest place. And I recognize it's my problem and not everyone else's. Who am I to question people's personal responses? As I've gotten older, I've become more of a purist, and I want the piece to flow, uinterrupted, to the end, and there's where I'll show my appreciation. Applause always takes me right of a show and reminds me acutely that I'm sitting in an audience. I love feeling immersed, especially in an engrossing play or movie, and spontaenous applause messes with my experience, so I resent it a little. For me, it's akin to people talking during movies. It makes me crazy... maybe not quite to the same degree, but it propels the same impulse in me.

And, Taz, for that reason, I completely agree with both of your points. I never, ever give entrance applause.

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This also goes for modulations at the end of a song. It's nothing to the musicians and singers, but it always gets a big reaction.

Okay, reavealing my geekiness!
I do like to show appreciation through applause for great work which includes making me feel enough that i'm compelled to show it...but if I'm not feeling it, it is SO annoying to have a performance be interupted by inserted applause. I know people who dont clap after a number because it stops the flow of the show...and dont get them started on entrance applause!

Example: that kickline/straw hat number in Will Rogers Follies, which I hated (the show and the number). Any third grade class could pull that crap off if they practiced enough...but it got huge applause.

Okay...geekiness: When I was in high school marching band, we did a kickline after a modulation of "Ready to Take A Chance Again" and it choked me up every time. It was a visceral reaction because after rehearsing, it all became second nature and was not difficult...but always got huge reactions.

and we won states.

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Entrance applause. Just because they're a big star doesn't mean that being in the same theater as them is cause for adulation. I mean, shouldn't we wait and see if we are duly impressed first?

Yes, but aren't they a star because people are impressed with them based on past performances, thereby inviting the applause upon their entrance?

I think it's perfectly fine if an audience wants to show its appreciation to a performer, be it in his/her entry, exit, or during a good line or musical number. How else is an entertainer to know if what they've just said or done has landed?

This reminds me of the commentary from SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE. Stephen Sondheim said that Bernadette Peters would get so frustrated because she wouldn't get a good laugh from the audience after she sang the line, "I mean he kneads me - I mean like dough, George" from the "Everybody Loves Louis" number. It seems like the performers do enjoy getting audience feedback. Anyway, isn't that part of the whole theater experience?

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No, please don't stop the exit applause. I like to see the look of gratitude on the actors faces when they exit.

I see your point, themysteriousgrowl. I didn't think about laughter and applause as being involuntary and voluntary.

Though I agree that applause may not be essential to the feedback loop, I do think it's a nice gesture. To me, it seems like there would be many awkward silent moments without it.

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It makes me sad- truly sad- that people get worried that someone else is enjoying the experience more than they should.

Agreed. That sounds awful. I hope it's not happening somewhere!

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I still remember the exit applause after Adriane Lenox's one scene in "Doubt."

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"If everybody does a basic time-step at once, that will often get applause as well.

It's just an impressive step. It doesn't have to be complicated."

Exactly, b12b. I believe Busby Berkeley said words to the effect that one girl doing a time step is nice, but one hundred girls doing a time step together will invariably stop the show. I think it's because a large group of people doing anything in synchronicity requires planning, awareness and practice. This is why marching bands and drill teams also get big hands.

To me, the real question isn't why this is so, but why posters here are so bothered by it?

Is your world so full of rainbows and lollipops that an extra round of applause is a burden?