stage door culture

[lightguy06222]

Posted: 5/24/08 at 5:21pm

Has anyone else found that "stage-dooring" has become a culture these days??? In the last couple years, the amount of people waiting at the stage door for a show(or a star, more specifically) has inflated tremendously.

Does this bother anyone else?? I used to enjoy meeting the actors after a show, and congratulating them on their performance, snapping a few pictures, and getting their John Hancock. Now-a-days, there are hundreds of people waiting to meet David Hyde Pearce and such, and I just hate that its this new culture.

I liked when it was just real theatre fans, and theatre people and such, not hundreds of teen girls waiting to meet the hunk thats starring in spring awakening.

[heathurrr]

Posted: 5/24/08 at 5:27pm

I do think that some people who stage door are unruly and ridiculous... However when I stage door I do it to let the performers know how much I've appriciated the performance.
Yes, I think that there are those who are there for the star power, but, there are also your "real theatre fans" there as well.

[lightguy06222]

Posted: 5/24/08 at 5:29pm

yes, there are, but do you think that it has gotten out of hand? Of course there are theatre people there, but stage dooring has become the cool thing to do, and has gotten annoying(to me)

[My Oh My]

Posted: 5/24/08 at 5:31pm

I used to stage-door a lot back in the day. Now I don't even bother due to the hysterical crowds of fangirls.

[Drunk Chita Rivera]

Posted: 5/24/08 at 5:39pm

I hate the teen girls who stage door, they just want their autograph and a picture, I like the signature and picture but I really just like talking to them nd meeting them as a "human!"

[heathurrr]

Posted: 5/24/08 at 5:40pm

Oh, I definitely think it can get out of hand yes.
And my sore foot will attest to that - I had a gaggle of pre-teen kids stomp all over me after The Little Mermaid as The kid who played Flounder came out. They were completely out of hand.

[Gobstopper]

Posted: 5/24/08 at 6:08pm

"I liked when it was just real theatre fans, and theatre people and such.."

Wow. In one line you managed to completely invalidate your entire opinion. Way to come off as elitist.

[sanda]

Posted: 5/24/08 at 6:14pm

so it's ok for you to stage door but not for other people? If you don't like the crowd, don't stage door then.

[LePetiteFromage]

Posted: 5/24/08 at 6:16pm

Updated On: 5/5/09 at 06:16 PM

[SirNotAppearing]

Posted: 5/24/08 at 6:35pm

Pure snobbishness. You don't need to "prove yourself" as a "true theater fan" to stagedoor. Some people just aren't as cultured and worldly as you are.

[VonTussleGirl]

Posted: 5/24/08 at 6:46pm

As a teenage girl who wholeheartedly enjoys stagedooring but has no interest in the Spring Awakening hunk-of-the-month, I find this thread the slightest bit off-putting...

[lightguy06222]

Posted: 5/24/08 at 7:36pm

sorry guys- i dont mean to say that im better than anyone else or anything like that, I just mean that I hate how in the past couple years stage-dooring has become a culture among tourists and fangirls.

Someome mentioned Little Mermaid, and I think its a fantastic example. I went with a couple friends to the Little Mermaid stage door last week, who really wanted to meet Sherie Rene-Scott because she has always looked up to her and such, and there were HUNDREDS of small children who were screaming for the little boy who played flounder. It was rediculous how rude these children were to the other people who were there, wanting to meet their idols and such.

It just seems like the concept of "Stage-dooring" a show has exploded in the last few years.

[Chevstriss]

Posted: 5/24/08 at 7:39pm

if you think it's bad now, you shoulda seen the stage door for Queen back in the 70s. and AC/DC was crazy in the 80s.

yeah, I was there.

good times.

[BroadwayBelle2]

Posted: 5/24/08 at 7:55pm

The only thing that annoys me is when people just cut right in front of you, after you've been waiting for so long.

[My Oh My]

Posted: 5/24/08 at 7:59pm

"sorry guys- i dont mean to say that im better than anyone else or anything like that, I just mean that I hate how in the past couple years stage-dooring has become a culture among tourists and fangirls."

Same here. Maybe I should say I dislike annoying fangirls, lol.

[shh282]

Posted: 5/24/08 at 8:03pm

you cannot use TLM as a quintessential example of stage door, that is a disney show and that is the only show that I have seen dozens of children, that is not fair to say other shows are like a Disney one- and to say it is an annoying culture for children to meet Sierra or Sean- who are probably their idols because they are young and love the show enough to stage door.

[Eris0303]

Posted: 5/24/08 at 8:19pm

I've never encountered a problem at the stage door. But then again I've never stage doored at the shows that would cause the most "hub-bub".

What I find ridiculous is the amount of people who can't spell ridiculous.

[into_the_woods2]

Posted: 5/24/08 at 8:25pm

I am a teenage girl who loves to stage door because I love meeting the actors I so admire and look up to. I think maybe we are too quick to judge the "non-theatre fans" simply for being loud teenage girls, but if they liked the show enough to visit the stage door, i think that there is something authentic about it. sure, some are there to see the SA hunks, but i think we would be surprised to know how many of them just want to meet the people who helped make the show so enjoyable.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 5/24/08 at 8:31pm

It became a problem when people started using "stagedooring" as an actual word.

[Chevstriss]

Posted: 5/24/08 at 8:35pm

back in my day, it meant wealthy men who would send diamond bracelets backstage after the show. If you kept the bracelet, you belonged to him for as long as he wanted. If you returned the bracelet, you were a "good girl".

please don't show up at the stagedoor with out a diamond bracelet, preferably in a light blue box.

[KrissySim]

Posted: 5/24/08 at 9:14pm

My dear! Were you around in the nineteenth century ? !

[Chevstriss]

Posted: 5/24/08 at 9:22pm

that was still the practice in 1951, my dear.

[KrissySim]

Posted: 5/24/08 at 9:26pm

Interesting.

There's always something to learn about the theatre world.

[SirNotAppearing]

Posted: 5/24/08 at 9:48pm

Yes...how dare these snotnosed brats think they can want to see their favorite actors at the stagedoor! How rude of them to push and yell a little bit? I mean, how old do they think they are...nine?

Oh wait...

I can understand being pissed about grown adults being rude at the stagedoor, but kids? Really?

The fact of the matter is, Broadway is becoming more mainstream and so are its stars. So there's a few more fans at the stagedoor who haven't been around the block (Shubert Alley, that is) as much as you. BFD.

[vjbeau]

Posted: 5/25/08 at 1:46am

It's all about middle aged men getting autographs to sell on ebay!