It’s about two-thirds of the way through Tuesday night’s performance of the Britten War Requiem in the Sydney Opera House. We’re just building up to the *Libera Me * and the climax of the work. And what happens? A group of about 15 audience members get up and leave, causing fairly major distraction to the performers and the rest of the audience.
We found out later why they were going because the usher at their door spread it around the green room after the performance. Apparently they were tourists from the QM2 and they wanted to get out in time to see the fireworks being let off over the harbour in honour of the presence of the QM2 and QE2 in Sydney.
Philistines! Bloody rude I call it. Lots of money no doubt, but no class.
I’ll assume you are kidding, but in case you are not, if fireworks were more appealing, then they should not have gone to the Opera House at all. They are not being Pitted for going to the fireworks display, they are being Pitted for disturbing a performance.
Maybe so, but they shouldn’t have gone in the first place. If someone absolutely must leave a theater in the middle of a performance, it’s no big deal. But leaving en masse is a nasty breach of etiquette. Hell, getting up and leaving during the action of a hockey game is discouraged.
Buncha jerks.
Aw, the concert was SO depressing and they were just there to see the building anyway. If you don’t want rubes coming in and out at all times you shouldn’t be performing in the biggest tourist trap in the country.
Where else would you have such a great view?!
Jeez, I’d like to hear the War Requiem in the Sydney Opera House, but that view from that vantage point must’ve been stunning. Say, isn’t Libera Me about a half hour long? You were just getting into it? :eek:
I certainly wouldn’t have gotten up, though. It’s just not worth it. It’s the sort of blue-blood infraction that gives Americans a bad name internationally.
Bolding mine. It wasn’t about “fireworks vs. opera” per se; it was all about them. They were on the QM2, and to them, the fireworks were all about them.
Not philistines, necessarily, just a bunch of egomaniac tourists looking forward to the validation of their tourism experience by the humbly grateful burghers of Sydney. :rolleyes:
Is it that unusual for large cruise ships to stopover at Sydney, that the city feels a need to celebrate their arrival? [jubilant natives paddling out to greet the Big White Floating Birds…]
I’d love to see and hear anything in the Sydney Opera House. I doubt if I’ll ever get there, but if I do I will have tickets for anything that is playing.
Well, look on the bright side. If it was more important to them to see fireworks than to be in the Opera House, then they may have already been a distraction to those around them. Once they exited, the true music lovers were left behind. I’d be pitting the cretins for taking available seats from those who truly wanted to attend.
Definitely no contest. I’d take the opera. I can buy fireworks* and set them off in my own yard if I want. I’ve never seen an opera.
Regardless, if they wanted to see the fireworks more, they should have skipped the opera entirely.
*OK, I could do this in NH, not sure about MO fireworks laws. At any rate, fireworks aren’t exactly a rare event.
Who’s the librettist? What’s the story line? Who are the major characters? Is there a love story involved? Does it have a happy ending, or is it one of those things where the tenor ends up crying about his dead soprano girlfriend while the baritone bad guy escapes all consequences?
Man, fucking QE2. I was trying to get to a party my friend was throwing the same weekend that boat showed up in San Francisco. I live about twenty minutes outside of the city. It took me an hour to get across the Golden Gate Bridge. My friend lives in the Presidio, which is directly adjacent to the bridge: you take the very first exit after crossing the bridge, loop around underneath it to get to the otherside, drive through a parking lot, and you’re there. It’s maybe two hundred yards, max.
It took me an hour and forty five minutes to get from the far side of the bridge to the entrance to the Presidio. At which point I gave up and went home. Two hours and forty five minutes for what should have been a trip of less than half and hour. And I didn’t even make it to my destination! And why was there so much traffic? Because a bunch of people wanted to see a fucking boat. You live on the ocean, people! Boats are not a big deal!
The really annoying thing was that this was on Superbowl Sunday. I hate professional football, but I figured for once I was going to get something out of it, because everyone would be at home watching the game, so there’d be no traffic. Ha!
Yep. The more I travel, the more tempted I am to declare myself Canadian when asked where I am from. No matter where I’ve been, it has always been the case that the one person acting assholeish is always from the USA.
Because it was impolite not to. Because the social contract requires it. Because it is rude to put their enjoyment above the enjoyment of the other audience members.
Did you get the part of the OP where he stated that they went to the performance knowing they would leave early en masse?
They must’ve thought it was like the movies. You can come and an go as you please. Get up to get popcorn, go back to your seat. Get up to go to the bathroom, go back to your seat. Get up to make a phone call, go back to your seat. What’s the problem? :rolleyes:
I was volunteer ushering a ways back and we had an audience that had little experience with live performance. One of the reasons I was asked to volunteer is because they have had problems with this particular group in the past, and they wanted “athletic” guys, who could double as security. People would dart out to make cell phone calls and then were mystified when they were not allowed back in to disrupt the performance a second time. (That would mostly be groups of teenaged girls who would leave six at a time).
“What do you mean I can’t go back in until intermission? I have a ticket!” (The back of the ticket spells out the rules about late-comers and people who leave the auditorium.)
They also had a bad habit of talking back to the performers. “That’s telling him!”
The problem was that this particular group (well, the younger ones) were not accustomed to the social expectations of “live theater performance”. It was as if their “audience training” had come from movie theaters, talk shows, and night club performances where they could come and go as well as interect with the performers onstage. It was just a gap in their knowledge of social rules for structured live performance and the level of decorum that is expected.
When I was a kid they would take us on school trips to live performances. We were told explicitly how we were to behave and the social expectations we were to meet. (No talking, no getting up until intermission). I’m not sure where this breakdown is occuring now. I am noticing that a LOT of North American audiences no longer know how to behave in live performance venues though. Is there a lot less exposure for younger folks to live theater/opera/ballet these days?
ETA: When we had school trips to the ballet, my buddies and I were bored to tears, but we still behaved ourselves.
Yep. The more I travel, the more tempted I am to declare myself Canadian when asked where I am from. No matter where I’ve been, it has always been the case that the one person acting assholeish is always from the USA.