Why is leaving a show at intermission insulting?- Page 4

[midtowngym]

Posted: 6/14/05 at 11:22am

That feeling you get when, within the first ten minutes you realize the show is horrible and it's going to be a painful hour until intermission (Good Vibrations somehow comes to mind.)
Then intermission arrives and you push through the theater doors exclaiming "i'm free! i'm free!" Much like Michael Jackson leaving the courthouse yesterday.
But what do you do when you're held hostage by a show without an intermission?

Updated On: 6/14/05 at 11:22 AM

[Rose_MacShane]

Posted: 6/14/05 at 12:54pm

I have to be honest: I have done this, but only once. My friend and I left "Big River" at intermission because we simply weren't enjoying it. We weren't obnoxious about it; we talked about it and it was clear that neither of us liked it, and I said, "Would you be crushed if we left?" He said, rather quickly, "Would you?" and I said, "No." So we quietly got up and left.

[Tom1071]

Posted: 6/14/05 at 1:01pm

I think it's rude to leave during the curtain call. I hate people who do that. I think it tells the performers that the last two hours of their sweat and effort meant nothing.

A lot of Tony voters leave shows at intermission. Some of them consider it a pain in their ass to have to see every show in a season even though they are seeing it for free.
Updated On: 6/14/05 at 01:01 PM

[Rose_MacShane]

Posted: 6/14/05 at 1:07pm

True. There's nothing I hate more than people who pour out during curtain call. It's not a movie, people, the actors can see and hear you as you rudely walk by without so much as a little applause!

[mikewood]

Posted: 6/14/05 at 1:56pm

As an actor, it is disheartening to look out and see empty chairs in any event. To look out and see empty chairs where audience members once sat is heartbreaking. Is it my performance? Is it the show? Why are they leaving.....!??

Leaving at imtermission doesn't break any rules. It is not even bad etiquette, such as, say getting up and leaving during a show but it does play to an actor's natural insecurities.

But there are reasons an audience member may leave that have nothing to with the performance....family emergency, etc...

Last year, I had an hour and half or so to kill....I was in New York and needed to be in Richmond Virginia that night so I caught the first half of Patrick Stewart in The Caretaker. I didn't time to see the whole show, but I wanted to Stewart at least briefly. (and as for the first part of my post, I don't think Patrick Stewart gives a rat's posterior if I stay for his whole show, provided I sit down, shut up, turn my cell phone off and stay awake!)

[mikewood]

Posted: 6/14/05 at 2:00pm

mea culpa:

I have actually snaked out into the lobby during BCEFA time after curtain call but during the speech to ensure adding to my signed Broadway poster collection.

I'm running out of wall space now though....

[gymman]

Posted: 6/14/05 at 2:05pm

I forced myself to stay through "Aspects of Love" "Cats" and "Bedroom Farce" my 3 worst Broadway experiences. I do not think it is rude to leave at intermission, but surely it is rude to avoid curtin calls.

[PB ENT.]

Posted: 6/14/05 at 2:26pm

I think we're all beating this one to death. LOL!

We've pretty much accepted that it's a "personal/private choice" to "discreetly" leave a show at intermission.

BUT...If you decide to stay to the end, I see no reason to feel that you must stay for a final curtain call. You've already clapped at the end of the show. So if you need to go ...you need to go. Sure, it's a nice extra tribute for applause, but certaintly not an obligation.

Some people just like to beat the crowds (why do you think half the people stand in a mock Ovation. To get out of the theater!). It can take an extra 15 min.(without the BCEFA bucket speech on Bd'w) to clear the lobby. Not knocking the BCEFA or the bucket. I've hit all the buckets too!

But people have parking/driving/transp. issues, after show plans, whatever. You came, you stayed, you clapped...thank you and goodnight, if that's your choice.

Cheers!

Updated On: 6/14/05 at 02:26 PM

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 6/14/05 at 3:52pm

I only read the first few posts and HAD to say something.

I spent the money going in.
If I don't like what I see, I leave.
Intermission is the best time to do this.

It's NOT rude to the performers when you leave at intermission. It would be rude to sit there with your arms crossed throughout the entire second act.

No one is going backstage and telling the actors, "You suck, I'm leaving." THAT would be rude.

It's not rude to leave at intermission, it's rude to do it during the show in a manner that is disruptive.

I hate to say this, but all of you "touchy-feely" folks are never going to have a lasting career in show-biz if your feeling are hurt because someone walked out on a performance.

You can't ALWAYS be EVERYONE'S cup of tea.

[MusicMan]

Posted: 6/14/05 at 3:53pm

Theater-and-opera-going in Europe is a much different experience than here in NYC. I have yet to see a standing ovation on the continent (and these were productions of merit) unless it is an artistic trumph of such magnitude that no other approbation would suffice. However, NO ONE leaves the opera house until every last person has gotten their due, no matter how many curtain calls or how long the opera, unlike some of the patrons at the Metropolitan Opera who are already halfway up the aisle before the last note has finished resonating from the orchestra pit.
It is clear that Europeans savor their experiences, whether it be dining, love-making or attending the theater.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 6/14/05 at 4:00pm

"I have yet to see a standing ovation on the continent (and these were productions of merit)"

I have seen standing ovations in the theatre in Germany, England, Scotland, Argentina and Spain.

[Dirty Rotten Scoundrel]

Posted: 6/14/05 at 4:01pm

i think that its an insult just because of common courtesy and respect for the performers and shows, theyve worked their asses off and teh least you can do is wait till the show is over, no matter how bad. but i dunno..

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 6/14/05 at 4:02pm

"common courtesy" doesn't work at an audition, and it's doesn't work here.


Thank you, NEXT

[Tom1071]

Posted: 6/14/05 at 4:08pm

Traditionally, a curtain call is an actor's "Thank you" to the audience. It has nothing to do with receiving applause or praise. That's why they bow. Bowing is the international sign for humility.

[Magical_Ms._Mistoffeles_72]

Posted: 6/14/05 at 6:51pm

It's just bad theatre edicate, think about it. If you were in a show that you worked really hard on for a long time. Would you really really want to come out for Act 2 and find half your audience. I wouldnt

[vbplayer]

Posted: 6/14/05 at 6:55pm

Not sure what your profession is, mine is not theatre anymore, but consider yourself conducting a meeting for work.......then you take a break......you come back and half of the people are gone. How would you feel?

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 6/14/05 at 6:57pm

Apparently you didn't work hard enough on it, if half your audience leaves at intermission.

Proper etiquette is to suffer through the First Act even if you hate it ten minutes in, because it would be rude to leave before that and disturb other patrons and possibly the actors. Etiquette does NOT mean suffering through BOTH acts of a bad show, sitting there looking miserable and bored (if I were an actor, I'd prefer an empty seat to audience members giving me nasty looks).

Updated On: 6/14/05 at 06:57 PM

[gymman]

Posted: 6/14/05 at 6:58pm

yeah, Margo! Never again, I swear (hope I never see anything again that makes me want to leave...)

[vbplayer]

Posted: 6/14/05 at 7:16pm

It is rude no matter which way you look at it. Unfortunately, unless you are in the situation of being dumped half way through (theatre related or not), I can't express the feeling from experience.

Posted: 6/14/05 at 7:37pm

"consider yourself conducting a meeting for work.......then you take a break......you come back and half of the people are gone."

I don't get this analogy at all. When I'm an audience member, I'm not an emplyee that's getting paid, I'm a consumer that has paid for a product. I can't for the life of me understand why some think it inappropriate to decide you don't want the rest of a product that is unsatisfactory to you. No one has indicated that they're demanding a refund - and everyone has made it clear that they wait until intermission so as not to disturb the actors or the aother audience members.

[Nina]

Posted: 6/14/05 at 7:43pm

Speaking from the other side, from up on the stage, when someone leaves discreetly during an intermission, it isn't noticed. Believe it or not, when you are on the stage, you are not focusing one every memebr of the audience and taking ahead count. The idea that it insults the actors is inaccurate. We don't notice, unless of course, a mass exodus takes place at once.

Posted: 6/14/05 at 7:49pm

Ive only left a show at intermission once and it had nothing to do with the show because it was actually one of my favorites, I was just in pain and couldnt sit there anymore.

I think the only way the actors could tell would be if you were in the first few rows...

Posted: 6/14/05 at 8:02pm

I left at intermission of WE WILL ROCK YOU in London and never looked back.

I WISH I could have left during BROOKLYN, but that cursed intermission-free mess pained me until the end. Of course, the onstage clock on the wall, taunting me with it's painfully slow passage of the actual time, didn't help.

[vbplayer]

Posted: 6/14/05 at 8:22pm

DGrant, please don't look into my statement so deeply. It's just a statement, an analogy. Wasn't meant to stir up any bad feelings, it's just an example to bring attention to the actors on stage and how they would feel. No need to delve into the depths of the meaning. It was meant simple, why not keep it that way.

Posted: 6/14/05 at 8:35pm

vb - I really wasn't delving, I was just responding to what you posted. That seems to be what's going on here - a discussion of the topic at hand. I didn't go any deeper than to respond to the thoughts you presented.