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

[cathyhyatt]

Posted: 6/13/05 at 7:23pm

I could never see myself leaving during intermission at a broadway show. I don't think you could see something on broadway that was so bad you couldn't sit through the rest of it. I mean you can always get something out of a broadway show even if it is really bad. I stayed through Little Women and I didn't like the first Act at all but I had to give it a chance. There were some good things about it...some of the actors were really good. On broadway there has to be the slightest thing about it that's good at least...it is professional and they are professional actors.

I could understand if someone left during a high school production at intermission. I have done that once. The production was terrible...believe it or not I was in agonizing pain. hahah. If you search there's a longggg thread about it..."worst high school production ever" and that's exactly what it was. I just think they are lucky that they made $15 off my ticket and that I didn't leave in the middle of the first Act.

Also if people paid for their ticket they have the choice of whether or not to leave. But they should at least wait till intermission or a black out or something...

[i*heart*fame]

Posted: 6/13/05 at 7:25pm

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.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 6/13/05 at 7:27pm

I have seen over 800 shows and have walked out at intermission of 4 or 5. I generally, even if I hate a first act, will return after intermission (and almost always regret it -- shows with terrible first acts almost always have even worse second acts). But the ones I left at intermission never to return were all excruciatingly painful experiences which made me want to flee the theatre, usually sometimes within the first 20 minutes or so, but I gritted it out until the curtain. In each case, the acting and/or the material and/or the staging was so incompetent and amateurish that it was an insult to the artform and to me as an audience member. I paid for my ticket with the expectation of being entertained, not be insulted, so I left, unapologetically (and I've never been the only one who did so -- each time I was followed by dozens of others).

Those who say they've never walked out at intermission have obviously never sat through some of the crap that I've seen in the last couple of decades. Stay if you must, but if a show has no business charging money and presenting itself to the public, don't criticize anyone who finally says "enough's enough" and refuses to return for more punishment in Act II.

[PB ENT.]

Posted: 6/13/05 at 7:40pm

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.

[buffyactsing]

Posted: 6/13/05 at 7:58pm

I've never walked out on a Broadway show, but I have at several college productions. I would never if I was going to see it because a good friend was in it, but I have due to a combination of bad writing (we do mostly original work, it's a student run program) and bad acting. I can tolerate one, but when it's both, I have to leave.

[minimel8817]

Posted: 6/13/05 at 8:00pm

I agree, it's very rude to the performers

[cathywellerstein]

Posted: 6/13/05 at 8:07pm

but if the performers aren't good, it means that they're not doing their job. thus, making acceptable to be angry that you didn't get what you paid for, and leave.

[TonyInATL]

Posted: 6/13/05 at 8:13pm

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

[Ruth Sherwood]

Posted: 6/13/05 at 8:22pm

I think it would be less rude to leave at intermission than to stay through if you really disliked the show. I think it is just as rude to sit throught the second act with a miserable expression, as it is to leave. I've seen a lot of shows (lost track) and the only time I was tempted to leave at intermission was at "Wicked".

Updated On: 6/13/05 at 08:22 PM

[wildcat]

Posted: 6/13/05 at 8:25pm

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.

[MaxonBdwy]

Posted: 6/13/05 at 8:32pm

I don't think leaving at intermission is not rude at all. I mean, appreciation does not always mean "being polite." You have to be descerning and if you are not happy with it, leave. Yet, do it in a respectful manner, which is intermission, so that you don't bother actors. Don't leave during the show. That is such a turn off for the fellow audience. That's it.

[Joshua488]

Posted: 6/13/05 at 9:36pm

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!

[CGoldstein]

Posted: 6/13/05 at 9:45pm

It's just insulting to the performers if audience members leave the show during intermission. For me personally, as much as I may dislike a show, I don't think I could ever leave during intermission and miss the other half of the show because I'm the kind of person that needs to see the whole thing, no matter how bad it may be, because after all, I enjoy seeing theatre, and I would want the full effect of the performace. Even if its terrible, having the full experience of the show is important to me.

Posted: 6/13/05 at 9:47pm

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.

[MusicMan]

Posted: 6/13/05 at 9:53pm

If you buy an item or product and it's not right, you return it for a refund or exchange it. Since that's not practical (or permissible) with a show, you have every right to leave whenever you damn well please (although it would be most courteous to leave during a break in the proceedings).

[Princeton78]

Posted: 6/13/05 at 10:01pm

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.

[broadwaynut20]

Posted: 6/13/05 at 10:06pm

I just saw a little night music for pittsburgh clo. I hated the show and the music and if send in the clowns was in the first act i could have left. However, the cast sang their hearts out. I stayed around just to applaud the great talents like Dee Hoty and Stephen Bogardus. Parade is the only show I have walked out of.

[morosco]

Posted: 6/13/05 at 10:27pm

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.

Posted: 6/13/05 at 10:29pm

broadwaynut20 you hated the music but not the performers? Had you seen the show before? had you heard any recordings? I'm not sure I understand your post.

[South Fl Marc]

Posted: 6/13/05 at 10:33pm

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.

[broadwaynut20]

Posted: 6/13/05 at 10:37pm

I have the original cast and I did not like it. I'm sorry hate is a strong word because I did like 2 or 3 of the songs. However, overall I do not like the score. I saw the show because I have season tickets to pittsburgh clo. Even though I do not like the music I loved the performers and they did a fantastic job with the score.

[LilMiZBroADwaY23]

Posted: 6/13/05 at 10:39pm

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.

[melissa errico fan]

Posted: 6/13/05 at 10:42pm

It IS NOT rude to leave at intermission. We we left SWEET CHARITY at intermission, my wife and I didn't run through the lobby yelling, "What a piece of s*it this show is! We're getting the f*ck out of here." We just went out for a smoke and didn't come back. I paid my money and I chose to leave. Case closed.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 6/13/05 at 10:59pm

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................

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

[Ellie3]

Posted: 6/13/05 at 11:04pm

When I saw Dame Edna in February, one of the audience members she called up was a ten year old girl. Her parents obviously didn't take kindly to Edna's gentle ribbing, and left in a huff at intermission. In Act II, Edna kept making references to the girl and waving at her parents...she didn't even realize they were gone!

And no, I don't think it's insulting to leave.
Updated On: 6/13/05 at 11:04 PM