Worst Broadway Audience Ever?- Page 5

[mc1227]

Posted: 12/10/07 at 11:33pm

I will say that a couple of weeks ago when I attended YF, an usher went off on someone who had brought food in. It was right before the curtain went up, thankfully. The usher really flipped out and I had never seen that before. Maybe the theatres need to toughen up a bit on these policies. I think when a person's cell phone goes off during a performance, they should be escorted out at intermission (providing it happens in the first act). If it happens in the second act, they should be shot!!!

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 12/10/07 at 11:52pm

I confess that I was once a late comer! I was late to The Magic Flute because we couldn't find parking. And because I was sick and couldn't unwrap my cough drops before the opera started, I had to do it during the opera. I still feel terribly about it.

I definitely can't compare with some of these stories, but...

When I saw the RENT tour, these RENT heads in the front row were singing along, standing up and dancing. In general, the audience was so loud, it was hard to hear the lyrics and whatnot. It's great that they're enthusiastic, but this isn't a concert...

When I saw All Shook Up, everyone was singing along. So annoying.

But the one that takes the cake for my experience is when I saw Othello with my school. The people from my school behaved fantastically. But there were people from other schools who were just terrible. In Act VI when Desdemona was in her nightgown, they catcalled, hooted, and hollered. You know, right before Othello's heartwrenching monologue and her murder.

[LifeofTheParty2]

Posted: 12/11/07 at 12:29am

Spork, don't feel bad. Being late happens. It's how you behave once you get there that is usually where people get heinous. And cough drops happen. I'd usually rather have a person open cough drops than cough and/or clear their throat uncontrollably through the whole show.

[Radioactiveduck]

Posted: 12/11/07 at 3:23am

I've been really lucky with my audiences, but there are still a few stories.

When I saw the Lion King tour in Orange County, CA, someone very close to us FARTED about 5 times during the show. And they were the NASTIEST, rotten-egg smelling farts I've ever smelled in my entire life. It was horrible.

Wicked audiences infuriate me like no other. I've sat in the VIP section of Wicked twice, once as a Christmas present several years ago, and once as a birthday present more recently. At one performance I was surrounded by families and their YOUNG children (no one older than 9 or 10). Honestly...you do not take your kids to the theatre and sit in the $125 seats, especially in the case of one man, who's daughter, who couldn't have been more than 5 spent the whole show in his lap, looking through the program.

[DidYouReallyHearMe]

Posted: 12/11/07 at 6:10am

In Orlando, at the Orlando Shakespeare Theatre, they were premiering a 3 person Crime and Punishment. Unbelievable production, very intimate in your face intensity. The theatre holds about 118 people and during the 2nd act's MOST INTENSE scene where Raskolnikov confronts the prostitute Sonia about the murder he had committed, a man snored SO loud during the climax of the confession monologue (quiet snores were emitted throughout the scene before), the actor playing Raskolnikov had it and he screamed at the top of his lungs "WILL SOMEBODY PLEASE WAKE THAT MAN UP!" and I clutched my boyfriend's hand and squeezed it so tight, scariest moment of my theatre experience life.

Sure enough, the man woke up, and was made a fool off in front of everyone. Needless to say, the show was the best it had ever been. The ending was more impactful (that's not even a word, but i'm saying it anyway) since the actor had so much anger pent up inside him.

[dancingthrulife04]

Posted: 12/11/07 at 8:51am

Spork - I don't imagine you were that obnoxious when you showed up late, so don't feel bad.

[keen on kean]

Posted: 12/11/07 at 9:10am

I recently attended a performance of NORMA at the Metropolitan Opera House. Next to me in the orchestra section were Grandma and Grandpa and seated in the row in front of them were Mom and Boy, age 8 or 9. Grandma and Grandpa felt free to talk during non-singing moments (who cares about the music, right?) and were shushed repeatedly. Mom and Boy cuddled, blocking my view of about half of the stage, and Boy ate a hamburger and fries during the intermission. Comments made to them by various patrons were ignored because they didn't speak English! How convenient.

[Kicks8567]

Posted: 12/11/07 at 11:13am

At Spring Awakening on Friday, I was seated in the front row center section and the person next to my friend and I was clearly drunk and made comments throughout the whole show. In addition, he had a drink in each hand and once he finished one, he dumped the other one into that cup and started spilling the drink and shaking the cup of ice noisily. If this were not enough, he takes out a bag of M&M's and starts chomping on them one by one. It was clearly distracting to the cast, as they were giving him dirty looks. Also, at Spring Awakening on Sunday night, there were people in the 2nd and 3rd row, who took rocking out to new level (not in a good way). Seriously, they were so obnoxious and were literally shaking the whole row and mouthing along to every song. It was quite obnoxious and got the attention of various cast members.

[nothatgirl]

Posted: 12/11/07 at 12:14pm

Off broadway show of The Lion King in Jacksonville, Florida. There were several children in the seats right around ours, but this was to be expected. There was a little boy about 6 years old seated behind me. After the lights dimmed and the show started he began asking his mommy questions. At first she tried to quiet him, and then began answering his questions at normal voice level. When she did whisper, he couldn't hear her and proceeded to ask "WHAT??" after every explanation. Several times during the first act my friends and I gave her "looks" to try to help her understand she was being rude. It only got worse from there on. The boy complained loudly that he couldn't see over my head and his mother tapped me on the shoulder and asked if I could please slouch in my seat so he could see! I gave her a wordless look in response. At intermission she took him to the restroom, when they returned I asked her if they could please be quiet for the rest of the show. She replied she was doing the best she could. About 10 min into the second act the little boy started up again. My whole row turned to look at them. The mother promptly got up and left the theater, noisy child in tow.

From the shows I have seen in NYC I have yet to have a really "bad" theater experience. At Wicked the ushers are like the gestapo- but that's there jobs!

[uncageg]

Posted: 12/11/07 at 1:45pm

I was at August:Osage County on Dec. 6th. I was sitting in row M right orchestra 3rd seat in. Not two seconds after the lights went down people around me starting talking. The man behind me started checking his blackberry (I could see the reflection in my glasses) For the 1st 15 minutes of the show you could hear people shushing other people all over the place. It was so bad a few of us missed what was being said in the 1st 5 to 10 minutes of the show. I missed some of the TS Elliott stuff. And then the cell phones started. And there was at least one or two rings duriing each of the 3 acts. The two worst were one during the middle of Act 2 where some woman's phone went off twice and her ringtown was the song "Redneck Woman". (I kid you not!) She got up and left the auditorium to take the call. And the worst was the phone that went off right near me during the closing moments of the show. People were audibly ticked off by this. It was awful. Not to mention catching those blue screens out of the corner of my eye from people having to check their blackberries. I have never experienced an audience this bad. I spoke to the ushers twice and they were really upset and very apologetic. They said they were running around trying to find the ringing phones. I think they got to the "Redneck Woman" person. There is a moment in the show when a character's cell phone goes off and the audience at first thought it was another phone going off in the theater. It was meant to get a laugh, and did by a lot of us, but I think may have gotten a bigger one had we not had to deal with so many phones going off. People would have realized it was actually part of the show. I know a lot of people in my section were really upset.

[LimelightMike]

Posted: 12/11/07 at 2:04pm

Where to begin...

Well, when I saw PHANTOM... this past April, there were this family of four (I think they were French, they had strong enough accents), and they were jabbering on and on and on and on during the dialogue. I wanted to scream, but alas, I have manners. Another time, I went to see JOURNEY'S END (June 5th) I sat front row of the mezz. and there was this couple (in their 30's, I'd imagine), who was like, "Why did we get ticket to this crap?" "This is horrendous, let's leave." and they would laugh at the most heart-wrenching moments in the show. Then, another experience I had was when I went to see FRANKENSTEIN this past month - front row, and this guy sitting next to my sister was FINE throughout Act I, just slight whispers and the like, but once Intermission hit, he was giving away the ending (now, it had been a long while since I had read the original novel, and my sister had the ending spoiled right then and there!), and the BEST was during "Coming of the Dawn", the guy and his mother (!!!) were playing with this ANNOYING plastic bag with candy or whatever in it and Hunter Foster kept shooting them this look of disgust. I wanted to smack a b*tch, so, so, SOOOOO badly. Horrendous audience behavior.

[Ed_Mottershead]

Posted: 12/11/07 at 2:21pm

When I saw Mauritius this year, some older people starting making a big fuss about God-knows-what. They were sitting pretty far up and were hollering at each other about something at the beginning of the 2nd Act. Bobby Canavale stopped talking and gave them a deadly glare, but they still didn't shut up. When I saw him at the stage door, he asked "What the h___ was that all about?"

[uncageg]

Posted: 12/11/07 at 2:25pm

At the Homecoming this past Satuday afternoon, right after they made the announcement about the cany wrappers and the ligghts went down. This guy across the aisle one row up popped open a bag of something and we could hear him chewing. He acted like he was in his living room. I saw the lady next to him check her Blackberry during the 1st act. At intermission, the lady moved over to the empty seat in front of me. She asked if I minded. I told her no, as long as she kept the blackberry in her bag. She apologized and said she was actually checking it during the 1st act to make sure it was off. And the guy just munched his way rith through the 1st half of the 2nd act until we all caught his eye and stared him down. Someone shushed him and he stopped.

Even at Fuerzabruta, there was this girl by me who was constantly checking her blackberry and when we had to move around, she would just stand there until she was pushed. The guy with her was having a blast and kept getting separated from her because her face was plastered to the screen of that thing. She missed half the show which is amazing since it is a very interactive show.

Updated On: 12/11/07 at 02:25 PM

[GlindatheGood22]

Posted: 12/11/07 at 3:58pm

At Mary Poppins a few weeks ago, the guy sitting next to my aunt TAKES OFF HIS SHOES and puts his feet up on the seat infront of him, where someone was sitting. So that poor person had to watch the entire show with some guy's feet on either side of their head.

Also, at Spring Awakening back in October, there was this lady and her ten year-old daughter down in the front row. As soon as I saw them I thought, "Oh, this is gonna be good." As I had suspected, they left at the end of My Junk. But they didn't just crouch down and quietly go up the aisle. No. The mother takes the daugther by the hand and drags her up the aisle, saying loudly, "I can't believe I took you to see this crap." What an idiot.

[BADDCOMPLEX]

Posted: 12/11/07 at 4:05pm

This thread is great.

I never had a problem with any of the shows in NY that I can remember.

In Houston some guy talked to his friends almost the whole time during act 1 of Wicked.

When I was in Dallas for a job interview August-2007, I saw Sweet Charity on a Thursday and 95% of the people there looked like they came from a trailer park. Just dressed in jeans and shorts and pretty much any crap they could put on. I was really embarrassed for them. The Music Hall in Dallas is also a dump.

[Insider2]

Posted: 12/11/07 at 6:56pm

Little Mermaid - 12/5/07 was like the audience for Dora the Explorer or Barney Live or something. Screeching children all over the place. Very unfortunate.

[gvendo2005]

Posted: 12/11/07 at 8:35pm

Back in the day, when he was still alive, I used to wish Broadway theaters would hire Sam Kinison to do the announcements at the beginning. Come out on stage, scream his head off at the audience, and basically scare them ****less into the world of theater etiquette.

We miss you, Sam (RIP).

[rokyerhartout]

Posted: 12/11/07 at 9:01pm

Oh Gosh. The first time I saw A Chorus Line, there was this lady OOZING over the seat next to my friend. Not only was she, well... huge and practically sqashing the person next to me, but she decided that during Paul's heart-wrenching monologue was the perfect time to open and start eating her bag of M&Ms. She ate like 3 handfulls of M&Ms and put them away... then 5 minutes later she pulled them out again and ate more. Twas rediculous.

[SpellingBeeFan4Ever]

Posted: 12/11/07 at 9:33pm

At chitty chitty bang bang, a kid kicked me seat.

At the producers movie, a group of teenagers shouted out "THE NERD SWORE!" referring to Leo's "certified public asshole" speech.

[Clayford27]

Posted: 12/11/07 at 9:52pm

I saw The Homecoming last week and this lady right behind me kept blowing her nose REALLY loudly. And then an older couple in front of me were eating candy throughout the first act. It was obnoxious.

[TotallyEffed]

Posted: 12/12/07 at 2:00am

I saw the Les Mis revival in previews. I was sitting in about the fourth row, center. Celia began to sing On My Own, I began to cry, yadda yadda. But then ushers started running back and forth distractingly up and down the aisle. It turns out someone in my row was annoyed that the woman behind them was opening her licorice too loudly. The woman turned around and threw her Playbill right at the woman's face and then they started arguing loudly and their husbands got involved. Yeesh. So annoying.

[AKDPerformer]

Posted: 12/12/07 at 2:03am

I worked at the New Am and the audiences were atrocious.

I don't know how many times I had to run down the aisles repeatedly to stop people from taking pictures.

[HumATune]

Posted: 12/12/07 at 3:09am

A fight broke out in the rear orchestra when I saw the Color Purple in San Francisco. Jeannette and LaToya didn't miss a beat.

[Anakela]

Posted: 12/12/07 at 11:57pm

Cyrano tonight, there are actors onstage, there's a scene going on, Kevin Kline is speaking, all of a sudden someone in the audience yells out "LOUDER PLEASE!!" at him. Like, where I seriously paused for a second and was all "huh?" thinking it was some (weird) part of the show, until Kline looked around and ad libbed something about "there are ghosts in this old theatre" then composed himself and carried on.

And then after the curtain call, before the BC/EFA speech (the nose went for $900 tonight) Kline started with "you were a great audience tonight- well, all except one." snerk.


Actually Cyrano tonight, between the late arrivals, the early leavers, the LOUDER PLEASE, the people who managed to pull the trifecta of arriving late, not shutting the hell up, *and* checking their Crackberries during the show, Cyrano was possibly the worst audience I have been in in a while now.

[stockmanjr]

Posted: 12/13/07 at 3:00am

At the legally blonde mtv taping someone threw at playbill at me during the middle of act II because they were mad that they were in a partial view seat.
Seeing curtains last week my dad decided it would be fun to try to grab the playbill out of the ushers hand as he was walking past her!
At Drowsy a few month's ago right at the start of act I the tourist on the aisle decides to get up and get another beer!