Why is leaving a show at intermission insulting? — Page 2

actually robbiej, I left at intermission during cats.

albeit because i was 6 years old, i had the flu, and threw up during intermission, i did make it to the bathroom.

however, about 5 years later, my grandma got me the video, and i wasnt so sure whether illness was the real reason I left.

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Agree Margo, you are paying for what you expect to be a quality product. If you are insulted, offended or very dissappointed, it's your money and your decision to "discreetly" leave at an appropiate time in the production. People take items back for a refund on products/services they are unhappy with all the time. Be thankful people don't ask for half back refunds at intermission!!

Of course when covering a show it is considered unacceptable, unless in the case of an emergency situation.

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I agree, it's very rude to the performers

Leaving during the performance is rude to all involved, performers and audience. I personally don't see an issue with leaving during intermission if you really, truly, sincerely are not enjoying the show; if it's just painful for you. I've never walked out on a show during intermission, but wanted to in the worst way when I saw "The Color Purple" at the Alliance here in Atlanta. I stood at the top of the aisle before the start of the second act debating whether I really wanted to suffer through more of it. I decided to torture myself, and wished I'd left when I had the chance; I didn't like the second act any more than the first. At the end, as those around me were giving it the obligatory Atlanta standing O, I sat in my seat wondering if we'd seen the same show. The only one I thought deserved a standing O was LaChanze.

"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!"

Hmmm...are you sure she thought it was the end? I wanted to do the same thing when I saw Wicked.

Updated On: 6/13/05 at 08:13 PM

I left at interval during Sandy Dennis's atrocious performance in SAME TIME, NEXT YEAR, and the Broadway productions of DEATHTRAP and CAN-CAN when the stars were out and the understudies were unsatisfactory. I had seen all three shows elsewhere so I knew how they turned out.
I can assure you that actors have more on their minds than to be insulted by a few empty seats after interval. (I say a few: coming back to a half empty theatre would be cause for alarm).It's when they see people walking out during the show that they get distracted.

I think leaving during intermission is perfectly acceptable.

It does irk me, however, when people are hypocritical about it. For instance, a certain CEO/Artistic Director of a certain theater that I've worked at made it known that he hated when people left shows at intermission; it was one of his pet peeves. However, he has a policy that if you dislike the show at his theater, you can leave at intermission at get a full refund. And one time, he came to see a performance at another theater in town and he left at intermission because he didn't like it. Don't complain if you're going to do it yourself!

I have left many times at intermission. I'm not paying my money to satisfy someone's ego, I'm buying a product. If I don't like that product, I'm not going to keep sitting through it. I have respect for the situation enough that I wait until intermission, but then my choices are mine to make. If you order food, but then don't like it, do you eat the whole thing so as not to offend the chef or wait-staff?

If when I leave I leave a sign that says, "Someone was sitting here but left because you sucked!" - THEN you can call me rude. Other than that, the only rudeness here is the judgement of other people's choices that don't concern you.

I haven't read the replys to this thread, just the initial post. Here is what I think...

Broadway shows are charging the insane price of $100 per ticket. Yes, there are cheaper seats. Yes there are discounts. Yes, some get in free, though I don't know how. Bottom line is, I'm taking my time and spending my money. I had better be blown out of my seat. If the show has been so bad as to warrant my thinking about leaving at intermission, then it's not worth giving it a chance in the second act. I'm not getting any younger. If the point is that the second act is great, then rewrite the first act, drop the first act, or charge 1/2 price for the ticket. If I'm paying 100 dollars, then I had better be impressed. I'm not saying that there won't be shows I don't like. It's bound to happen, but on a recent trip to NY, I saw "Mamma Mia" purely because I had enjoyed it on tour and I am a big fan of Carolee Carmello. Ms. Carmello was dogging it to say the least. I know what kind of pipes she has, and she wasn't using them. In addition, the cast looked bored, well, those that were there due to the fact that there seemed to be more understudies than listed players.
In closing, I agree with you Chita, and I'd take it one step further. I'd try to get my money back.

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The shows that I have left at intermission should only thank me for doing so. If I were to have stayed for the second act I'm not sure I could behave myself.

If you pay your money , you have a right to leave during intermission. It is not insulting to the actors - but it could be response to what kind of job they are doing. It's also silly to say that anyone who leaves a show at intermission has no right to give their opinion of that show.

It's your own choice... I mean, you paid the money. But some people don't really care if it's an insult to the actors.

I only had thoughts of leaving during JCS the tour, (the modernized one). You couldn't understand a word they were saying, the talent was marginal, plus they just butchered the thing. I stayed for the second half (even though my family REALLY didn't want to) and it just dissapointed me. They whole hooker outfits and the whole using the cross for pole dancing. But I stayed, an hour of my life that I would like back though.

I'm missing the logic of how not returning after intermission is an insult to anyone.

What if you're sick? What if you checked your messages at intermission and there's an emergency? Are you somehow duty-bound to return to your seat nevertheless for the rest of the show, so as not to "insult" the actors? Or if not, even if you had a good excuse, are you supposed to send a letter to the cast the next day explaining why your seat was empty for Act II? After all, an empty seat's an empty seat -- they don't know why you weren't there for the second act (whether it was because you had a "good" excuse for leaving, or a "bad" one). You honestly think actors in the middle of a performance actually worry about or even give a second's thought to such things?

You somehow assume that the cast will notice one particular empty seat in 1500 seat theatre that was occupied in Act I and empty in Act II and, if they do, that they will automatically feel so insulted and upset that it affects their performances and ruins their night and so wounds them to the core of their beings to such an extent that you should apologize for having gaul for leaving -- sickness, emergency or not? That an empty seat will make them feel "insulted?"

Um..... OK................

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Updated On: 6/13/05 at 10:59 PM