standing ovations

hey a quick question about standing ovations. I performed in my high schools production today and our director mentioned that it is polite, if half the audience is standing during a curtain call to stand. ive never heard that before, and i was wondering if there was truth to that?

as an audience member

But don't feel you have to, just because everyone else is standing. This thing where an actor just has to turn up to get a Standing O is getting out of hand.

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I've never heard such a thing. I wouldn't want a "polite" standing 'o' any way. If the audience doesn't feel a production is worthy, they shouldn't feel they HAVE to stand at all.

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Yes.....if you are MOVED to stand in appreciation of any kind, that's why you should stand...not just because 1/2 the audience choses to.

A standing ovation unto itself IS a message.

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Sitting doesn't have to be "defiant". It can simply mean that the show didn't move you that much. I remained seated last night in the front row of a show that I felt didn't deserve a standing ovation. I wasn't being "defiant"; I was exercising my right to my own opinion.

I think "grabbing crap" during a standing ovation sends much more of a message than applauding while sitting.

To be defiant requires intent. I do not sit there and say "I am going to defy the masses". I DO st there and determine if the show has moved me enough to stand. If it has, I will. If it has not, I am not going to be a lemming.

Call me defiant if you wish, but at least I have integrity.

I generally do stand along with an audience, but I sat in the front row of Memphis and when nearly everyone around me was standing, I did not because I didn't feel moved to do so. I was not being defiant, I simply didn't feel the show deserved a standing ovation and so I did not give it one.

I'm with dramamama and trombonist on this one. I don't feel obligated in any way, especially when it was a show I did not enjoy in the least (like Memphis).

I stood up at In The Heights about a month ago, front row front mezz dead center...and no one else did. I felt a little silly.

"open disregard". "a daring or bold resistance to authority or to ANY OPPOSING FORCE."

I think doing the opposite of what everyone else feels compelled to do could qualify inside that definition. ESPECIALLY if you look around, see that the crowd is standing, and make a bold decision NOT to join their movement (or force).

Now listen, I am with you... not looking to start a message board war because again I think we are talking semantics. I chose the word "defiant." I guess it was a loaded word because you guys pulled it out of what I wrote and seemed to take issue with the word specifically. I don't think of defiance as a bad thing. I also think it can be an innocuous act. I just think your decision not to stand (in the face of others standing) to be conscious- aware that you are doing something in opposition to the feeling of the crowd around you. THAT is defiance. Defiance of the crowd.

Now I am not saying that blindly following the crowd is a good thing. Quite the contrary. I dig people who go against the grain just as much as the next guy. I just think you could end this debate if you just admitted that you are in fact ARE going against that grain and defying the force of the crowd around you. Not a bad thing! In fact, in some ways I admire it.

As for my decision to stand in that situation, it just happens to be one place where I personally feel no need to go against the mob mentality. It doesn't matter that much to me whether I am true to my heart regarding my like or dislike of a show in this instance. I demonstrate a lack of conformity elsewhere in my life.

We've all been to shows where just the opposite happens ... the majority of people remain seated and maybe 10 audience members give a standing ovation. Are they being defiant for not following the masses?

I'm with the others on this one ... I only stand when I personally am moved. I don't follow the masses, in anything. Never have, never will. I follow my instincts and emotions, and going to the theatre is always a personal experience for me on many levels .. its not like watching a tv show. So I stand when compelled and remain seated, even if I'm the only one in the entire theatre, if I haven't seen something special.

at oleanna no one got up! which the show deserved because it sucked