Why is leaving a show at intermission insulting?

Posted: 6/13/05 at 6:50pm

There have been several posts where people have agreed on the fact that leaving a show during intermission is bad manners. Why. And why should it matter if you got a free ticket or you paid for it. If you don't like the piece(performances), shouldn't you be able to leave? I don't get it.

[gavrochegirl]

Posted: 6/13/05 at 6:52pm

Well, some people just think the show has ended. But others think it's bad that they waste their $100 and leave.

[jasobres]

Posted: 6/13/05 at 6:53pm

Isn't that kind of obvious? It's insulting towards the people who worked on it for 9 billion days and nights! Plus it says that you disliked the show.

[CurtainUp]

Posted: 6/13/05 at 6:53pm

It's simply rude. If I were in a show and only have the audience was still their, I would be offended that they did not even take the time to TRY and enjoy the second act. Pplus, sometimes the second act pulls together an entire show, thus when you leave before it, you miss it.

[nmartin]

Posted: 6/13/05 at 6:54pm

I don't see anything wrong with leaving a show at intermission. I've done it twice. Once because of illness and once because I was appalled.
Updated On: 6/13/05 at 06:54 PM

[BroadwayGirl107]

Posted: 6/13/05 at 6:54pm

and perhaps the second act could make a turn and change for the better? You might find SOMETHING you enjoy...maybe? I know it would take a HELL of a lot for me to leave during intermission. I couldn't imagine doing it. I'd always wonder what I might've missed...even if the first half sucked. Couldn't it get better?

Edit: And illness is a different story.
Updated On: 6/13/05 at 06:54 PM

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 6/13/05 at 6:54pm

The few We have walked out on we waited until intermission & left as if going to the can. We than exit. I think it bad form to walk out during the show

[hyperchet]

Posted: 6/13/05 at 6:56pm

I have done numerous shows(almost 20 now) and at all of them I HATE it when people leave before curtain call is up! SO imagine how I feel when they leave at intermission. I went balistic a few days ago when my faamily all stood up and left before the Curtain call for Producers was up! I was like HEY RUDE! Hahah

Leaving at intermission is kind of insulting. My mom started walking out of the end of the theatre at the end of "Defying Gravity" in Wicked. She thought it was the end! Haha!

Posted: 6/13/05 at 6:57pm

But of course it says you disliked the show. that's my point.

MrRoxy , how many of you are there? Updated On: 6/13/05 at 06:57 PM

[cathywellerstein]

Posted: 6/13/05 at 6:57pm

i agree, i think it's insulting to the actors. but if you spent $100 you should be able do to what you want to do with it. it's your choice.

wouldn't be annoying if people who didn't want to be there stayed? it would probably bother other audience members.

i don't really see how any broadway show could be THAT BAD that you'd have to leave at intermission. but if someone really thinks that the show is so bad, i don't think i'd want them sitting next to me anyway. i could probably feel their negative energy and it would end up ruining the show for me too.

[MTRBOI24]

Posted: 6/13/05 at 6:59pm

I think it is rude, however I have walked out once. During Naked Boys Singing. It was all bacheloretty parties and my friend and I. We went outside to pretend to talk on our phones and gradually walked away from the theatre, lol. C'mon I was gay and didnt even like it. Oh well. I do think its rude. I just did a show and someone was in the front row and left. RUDE

[lamentingenvelope]

Posted: 6/13/05 at 7:00pm

I think it's better to leave during intermission than to leave during the show. I would never leave at intermission simply because I didn't enjoy the first act (because you never know what can come in the second) but some people think differently, I guess, and decide they would rather waste their money than their evening.

[nmartin]

Posted: 6/13/05 at 7:00pm

Broadwaygirl, you're right. I probably wouldn't have left at intermission unless a friend of mine who was with me hadn't brought it up first. He's not as big a Broadway fan as I am. Thanks for noting that illness is another matter. Is it ever!!

[BroadwayGirl107]

Posted: 6/13/05 at 7:02pm

Oh yes, and..At some amatuer production of an unheard of show where none of the performers look as if they even want to be there, I can't blame ya.

But I find hard to believe that one could find a Broadway show SO torturous that he cannot sit through maybe another hour or so of it, or how one could think there's not even the slightest possibility that the second act could be better than the first, and he may end up finding something to enjoy.

Of course, if an actors finds out that one left at intermission, then it's kind of rude, but I don't see that happening anyway. To be honest, I just wouldn't feel right doing it. It'd have to be like plain old torture for me to leave.

Updated On: 6/13/05 at 07:02 PM

[bdwybelle]

Posted: 6/13/05 at 7:04pm

I have never left at intermission, and I think that it is very rude. I got angry at one of my friends for leaving a production during intermission. Because she "didn't like it", and "couldn't sit there for another second", but really it was because the guy she liked was leaving. I was furious.
The only time I have thought about leaving was during Dracula, which was (in my opinion) really bad. I thought the actors and their voices were amazing, but the play was terrible. I didn't leave because the actors were putting so much into it, it's not their fault.

[Chevstriss]

Posted: 6/13/05 at 7:07pm

yes its insulting.

but if the show is shlocky and not even ready to present to the public, the insult is deserved.

[baddadnpa]

Posted: 6/13/05 at 7:08pm

Leaving a show at intermission is not insulting if you don't like the show. If the actors are that thin skinned that they are insulted at the sudden empty seats, they should be in another business. They better get used to the criticism. Leaving a show while the actors are still on the stage, that is bad form.

[robbiej]

Posted: 6/13/05 at 7:08pm

None of you tried to sit through CATS in its 16th year, did you?

[BroadwayGirl107]

Posted: 6/13/05 at 7:11pm

lol, No, robbiej. That I did not try. I didn't even want to try in the first place.

[Blair]

Posted: 6/13/05 at 7:11pm

Yes, leaving at intermission is very rude. The thing that really gets on my nerves is when people leave at intermission and then go and tell people that they hated the show. You didn't see the whole show, so you have no right to say that the show sucked. At least see the rest so you can legitimately say you hated it, because I know I won't take you seriously if you've only seen half of it.

I think that the only thing that could ever make me leave a show during intermission is if the subject matter deeply offends me. I would never leave because the acting was bad, or the play was poorly written.

Posted: 6/13/05 at 7:12pm

As a matter of fact, I left after "I Can Do THat" and happily lost my 40 dollars! (1987 or 198

edit: sorry. not Cats, A Chorus Line.


Updated On: 6/13/05 at 07:12 PM

[Greekmusicalfan]

Posted: 6/13/05 at 7:14pm

I have never walked out at intermission but I strongly disagree that it is rude. Excuse me ? Theater for most people is a form of entertainment and an expensive one to boot. The thetergoer is a customer of the theater ! You are saying that if he is NOT entertained and he thinks he wasted his money he should endure the thing till the end ??? Of course I don't endorse it and definetely things could get much better on the second half, but he has EVERY RIGHT to leave at intermission and I don't consider it rude at all ! It's like going to a restaurant and being served an awful dish ! Would you eat it all, because otherwise you would insult the chef and waiters ? Please ! :)
Updated On: 6/13/05 at 07:14 PM

[Liz_Bennet]

Posted: 6/13/05 at 7:18pm

Riedel has mentioned that he left Piazza at intermission. I'm not sure if it was the Chicago or New York incarnation, or if he has since sat through it. But it shows how good a journalist he his. Don't leave a show at intermission and then write about how much it sucks in a major newspaper, even a lousy major paper. THAT is rude.

[Greekmusicalfan]

Posted: 6/13/05 at 7:21pm

I am talking about regular theatergoers who pay their ticket. Yes, I agree that, for journalists it is unacceptable because it is their job !

[bdwybelle]

Posted: 6/13/05 at 7:21pm

I personally do not like Riedel, and I think to fairly write a review of something, you should see the entire thing.