do matinees have less energy? — Page 2

wow i was just about to say...
the only time I have ever noticed it was at Rent... it was a couple of years ago on a tour. I wouldn't say it was less energy as much as it was calculated marking. haha. seriously though the guy playing roger held back a lot. I had seen him before in an evening performance and he really sang out a lot more then, especially in the Goodbye Love fight with Mark. But it's the Rent tour... which was looking pretty tired then, let alone now. As far as on Broadway though, I have never noticed much difference.

I agree with the people who argue it has more to do with the audience than with the actors (though in some cases this is true). I've only seen the same show twice at night and matinee once, it was the Encores! FOLLIES but since the time I saw it at night was opening night I think that may have influenced the audience's energy. I remember that Thursday night the energy from the audience was so palpable (particularly during "Beautiful Girls"), jokes got a lot more laughs than at the matinee, many more numbers stopped the show, and many more lines or exits got laughs than at Saturday's afternoon performance. The actors though seemed to be giving them their all both times.

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Just my two cents, but I remember this past October I saw Wicked during a weekday evening performance and a weekend evening performance and I found the vocals to be noticeably better during the weekend evening than the weekday one. I just assumed the matinee served a "warm up" function which carried over into the evening. So at the very least, the matinee helps the evening show.

I've seen both evening and matinee shows and I don't find a difference for myself, personally. I think that the actors always (try to) do their best and it really depends on the audience. If the audience is "Oh, it's 'only' a matinee" it distracts me from the performance. I also find that there tend to be more young children at matinees than at evening performances, that also takes away from the whole experience a tiny bit.

The last matinée of a musical I went to was this past January. It was freezing cold outside, and it was a Wednesday matinée of THE COLOR PURPLE. The audience was half empty, half dead. And for that show, that's saying a lot, because those audiences tend to go wild with laughter and cheering left and right. The performers were tired. It was obvious. They weren't giving their all. I couldn't blame them. The audience members were talking to each other, moving around, cell phones going off.

I've since decided to only go to evening performances of shows, unless I'm offered a comp to a matinée.

Something else I've noticed about matinées is that the audiences tend to consist mostly of tourists and senior citizens, who, as a whole, generally are oblivious to theatre etiquette and/or do not recognize the fact that there are other people around them.

It's very frustrating, and not worth spending a pretty penny on especially if you have the opportunity to attend a weekday evening performance, which tend to be filled with New Yorkers who are respectful to their fellow audience members and the performers on stage.

The "energy," in such cases, between the audience members and the performers, is one of respect that radiates throughout the theatre, and as a whole makes for a much more enriching experience for all present.

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Because of time constraints with the train back to where I live, I tend to see matinee shows. Only on a few occasions have I seen an evening show, usually if I was with someone because I feel safer if I'm with someone else.

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