Joined: 12/31/69
What was the last Broadway production which you just could not bare one more minute and left at intermission?
Urinetown was my last.
Your for a better Broadway
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/18/03
has there been shows that I have wanted to walk out of? Yes.
Have I done it? No.
Why? As a perfromer, I find it very distasteful and rude to the cast who are up there working there butts off in a crap show trying to give me an enjoyable time.
What show? A regional theatre's tour of The Wizard of Oz.
I have never walked out of a theatrical show because even if I don't like the performance or material, I still have respect for the actors. It's not like walking out on a movie where the actors don't really matter or take notice (even if it's one person leaving during intermission).
There have been shows I didn't enjoy, but I would never walk out (I just wouldn't reccomend the show or see it again myself).
LOL wow! I didn't read the post before mine because it wasn't there when I started my reply, How funny that they are so similar in meaning.
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/31/69
I can appreciate the performers on stage, and certainly respect the fact that they're up there. Still if one is not enjoying the show at all and, and this is an important point, one has paid one's own hard earned dollars for the ticket, I believe that as hard as the performers are performing one is certainly entitled to leave at intermission. Walking out while the show is on is rude. Not returning at intermission is not. I sat through an entire performance of Rockabye Hamlet, one of maybe 25 people in the audience...so I know about sitting through a show....lol
Yours for a better Broadway!
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/18/03
I know, TheatreBaby.
besides, leaving during is just a waste of money...... more so than staying to see a so-so production. Either way, they get your cah.
I can understand where you're coming from. It is less rude to leave during intermission than during the actual performance, and to each their own I guess. I just always have hope that if I didn't like the first act, there might be something in the second act that I will enjoy.
I've actually never had the urge to walk out on a show. A friend's father and his wife walked out of Cabaret during intermission, though. I was actually upset with them for doing it -- I thought that it was incredibly rude of them. Not just to the actors, but to us as well. They left us there. :)
~D
I have only walked out on one show and that was "Noises Off."
I found it irritating and most of the people sitting near us also felt the same way. I felt like I could not take one minute longer in that audience.
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/31/69
I walked out of High School productions of Into the Woods and Little Show of Horrors. The princes didn't know their lyrics, the choreography put me to sleep, and they attempted to copy the revival which was done poorly. Little Shop. The mics were off, the sets were cardboard, and once again, poor choreopgrahy and stage blocking.
Don't do Sondheim unless you know the terms Originality and Research
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/18/03
It was HIGH SCHOOL. You got a high school show. LOL. Doesn't it suck when a school tries to duplicate the Broadway physical production?? You can not do it.
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/31/69
I believe that at any age group, a show can look professional. Hell, I know a group of 6 year olds that put on Little Red Riding Hood better than the ITW show I saw. You want to know the choreography? Are you sitting because you'll lose your balance of laughter?
Into the Woods (two steps back)
Into the Woods (two steps forward)
Into the Woods and Out of the Woods etc. (Stand in place and sing)
But the highlight of the evening was when Cinderellas Prince and the Bakers Wife rolled (yes rolled) out onto the stage in lip/leg/crotch lock.
And of course, Rapunzel was a guy in drag! Priceless
Updated On: 6/26/03 at 02:07 AM
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/18/03
OK, I take it back. That sounds horrible!
Rapunzel??? A guy??? How does that work?!
Stand-by Joined: 6/13/03
.... was The Civil War ... Frank Wildhorn's show.
But I didn't.
Even though I was in the balcony.
Ya know why?
Because I was there, I had committed the time to the show and the ticket, and because I would not be able to honestly SAY the show was terrible unless I'd seen it all.
There are shows with better second acts. There are actions in scripts which happen at the end which redeem what you've seen, or explain what you've seen. There are characters who don't appear until the second act. You would miss all that (and you can't guarantee that you'll hate what you haven't seen) if you leave early. Plus, often with musicals the best numbers can be the penultimate numbers ... I want to hear the music (always scouting for audition numbers!)
That said, I was hard pressed to APPLAUD after The Civil War.
So.... would I go to another Frank Wildhorn show? Well, I hated Jekyll and Hyde, but I LOVED Scarlet Pimpernel. SO ... I might.
Stand-by Joined: 6/13/03
.... was The Civil War ... Frank Wildhorn's show.
But I didn't.
Even though I was in the balcony.
Ya know why?
Because I was there, I had committed the time to the show and the ticket, and because I would not be able to honestly SAY the show was terrible unless I'd seen it all.
There are shows with better second acts. There are actions in scripts which happen at the end which redeem what you've seen, or explain what you've seen. There are characters who don't appear until the second act. You would miss all that (and you can't guarantee that you'll hate what you haven't seen) if you leave early. Plus, often with musicals the best numbers can be the penultimate numbers ... I want to hear the music (always scouting for audition numbers!)
That said, I was hard pressed to APPLAUD after The Civil War.
So.... would I go to another Frank Wildhorn show? Well, I hated Jekyll and Hyde, but I LOVED Scarlet Pimpernel. SO ... I might.
Stand-by Joined: 6/13/03
CHU CHEM. Completely sucked. I couldn't believe I was seeing that piece of junk on a Broadway stage. I didn't walk out, though. As bad as it was, it's still a thrill to be seeing a Broadway show.
PHANTOM OF THE OPERA. Three songs repeated over and over again for three hours. Wanted to walk out, but I HAD to see what the hub-ub of the chandelier was for. Thank God for the design elements of that show -- they are it's only saving grace.
THE CHAIRS. Did anyone else see this? Bizarre, and a little painful.
I purposely buy tickets to local (Chicago / Steppenwolf ) shows that she's involved in, so I can leave in a "HRUMMMP!"
It started when in some nonsense of hers, she portrayed DARWIN as a handicapped woman!
Since then I have dedicated myself to leaving her shows in mid-sentence!
As an actor I couldn't possibly care less if people stay or go. I don't even think an actor should notice, really, assuming they're into the moment and not watching the audience.
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/18/03
Yes, I have been in shows where people have left and while I never noticed it while onstage, had it mentioned to me by house staff. If they stay or go, it's their choice, but I still find it to be rude unless they are leaving due to a true emegancy.
The only show I ever left was a high school production of Camelot.
the same goes for me and phantom of the opera i was so bored i almost fell asleep but so many people had said the chandelier part was amazing so i had to stay to see what happened with it. and for all that it was nothing. it came slowly down didn't even look like it was crashing.
I never walked out on movie or show in my life. I pay too much money for plays to walk out on them. Although, I have to say, Urinetown was the least favorite of anything I have seen. I just kept waiting to see if it would redeeem itself. Also, I always think the actors are so talented and put so much effort in their performance, I would never do that.
>has there been shows that I have wanted to walk out of? Yes.
>Have I done it? No.
>Why? As a perfromer, I find it very distasteful and rude to the >cast who are up there working there butts off in a crap show >trying to give me an enjoyable time.
If you left during the intermission, they might not notice. Our local theatre group had a group walk out during intermission. (I didn't think we were [that] bad!) But we were in a barely 100+ seat theatre, so we could notice.
>the same goes for me and phantom of the opera i was so bored i >almost fell asleep but so many people had said the chandelier >part was amazing so i had to stay to see what happened with it. >and for all that it was nothing. it came slowly down didn't >even look like it was crashing.
Unless you saw a bad production, I can't understand this.
I've seen "Phantom," watching the Phantom play mind games with the rest of the cast until the last minute when his entire plan gets unravelled and his heart is broken on stage. (Hey! psychopaths need love too!)
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