I think he OP is letting somebody off easy here. The theatre (that he paid good money for these tickets) and the ushers who work there.
I worked as a theatre usher during college, and part of our training was:
"Your job is to make sure our patrons have a pleasant evening. There are 2 parts to that job:
Greeting them, seating them, and giving them a program. This takes up the half-hour before the show starts.
Seeing that nothing disturbs them during the show (including other patrons). This is takes up the remaining 2 hours of the evening, and is most of your job."
We were given specific, detailed instructions and examples of how to deal with many different kinds of disturbances: hummers, singers, gum-chewers, pretzel-chompers, toe-tappers, talkers, touchers, kissers, coughers, gropers, dopers, snorers, whistlers, wankers, etc., etc. And it was made very clear that it was our job to put a stop to this!
All this when we weren’t even paid any actual cash for this job. And the tickets were way cheaper than a Broadway play. Certainly you have a right to expect just as much ‘service’ in a theatre there. I hope you complained to the box office about how their ushers were not doing their job.
Almost the only plays I’ve seen are community theater, which around here is pretty good, and quite varied. Most of the audiences are well-behaved, so I haven’t had the troubles that some of you have had. I will admit to almost getting snippy with a fellow audience member several years ago, though, when she went across the street to McDonald’s during intermission and came back with a large pop that she proceeded to drink during the whole second act. Lucky for her she was quiet with it. I was just flabbergasted that she didn’t know better than to bring food into the theater. Especially since she was…
the theater critic for the local paper.
And yes, the review was stupid, too. If I hadn’t been sitting next to her I would have wondered if she had seen the same play.
From what I understand, any actor hopes to be hated when playing a bad guy. (Either gender) The point is, if someone hates you because of the character you portrayed, you have been that character. and therefore a great actor. Actor= being someone in the story, not yourself. I hated Sally Fields in “Mrs. Doubtfire”. But didn’t hate her, and I wasn’t in a live audience of the performance. If the movie was a play, I’d be calling for her head at the end.
Re: the obscured sight from late-comers. On Sunday, a group of 5 arrived 10 minutes into “The Passion” and mingled near the front, obscuring he subtitles. But that’s another thread.
Hugh Jackman tells an anecdote about when he was playing Gaston. The cast members were signing autographs after a show, and some little girl was going down the line, but when she got to him, said, “Ew, you’re Gaston! I don’t want YOUR signature!” Echoing duffer, one of the other cast members told him, “If you don’t get that reaction, you didn’t play him right.”
Great choice of shows, Ava! I saw Gypsy when it first came out, and almost cried during the overture because it was so perfect. (No union minimum orchestra while Laurents has anything to say about it!) I’d love to see Fiddler as well, but haven’t made it there yet.
While Doug Sills was still performing in Pimpernel, someone’s cell phone went off during the show. He stopped his line, looked at the person, and asked, “Well aren’t you going to answer it?”
I really like the cell phone announcement they make in Hairspray, something attune to “This show takes place in 1962, when there were no cell phnes, so join us in journeying back…” They make the same announcement after intermission, as many people forget!
Too late. You’ve already made the generalization. But that’s neither here nor there, and really has no significance to this particular thread.
As a native New Yorker, no one has more respect for the Broadway stage than I do. Most people that live in NYC DO have a great respect for the theater…I think what people forget is that anything produced by Disney is LOADED with kids and it is almost impossible to hear ANYTHING. Those are shows geared to families and children, and you should know what you’re getting yourself into when you’re purchasing a ticket for ANY Disney production–hence, MAJOR distractions, noise levels, and shushing going on. I remember when they wouldn’t LET you in a theatre if you weren’t in proper attire–what do I see?? Ripped, dirty jeans, baseball caps, and outfits that look suspiciously like pajamas. And THOSE are the folks that usually are the biggest problem. The matinee shows seem to attract those who have NO clue how to conduct themselves in a theatre. Not to say that the evening shows dont have their smatterings of asshats, but it seems the matinee’s REALLY pack them in.
I saw “Wicked” last month, and had ZERO problem. I think it also depends on the show that you buy tickets for. Again, if you’re going to a Disneyworld extension, be prepared for LOTS of distraction.
But Broadway being equated to “run of the mill movies?” Hardly. Just the price of tickets alone settles THAT argument.
You also neglect to note that the audiences for plays, particularly the popular hits, are not New Yorkers but out-of-town tourists. The behavior you deplore comes from across American and around the world.
New York City residents comprised 18% of ticket buyers; NYC suburbanites comprised 27%; domestic visitors, 49%; and international visitors, 6%.
Approximately 64% of the Broadway audience was female. The male/female ratio has remained relatively consistent over the years.
The average Broadway theatregoer was 43 years old, just slightly younger than last year.
Over the last few years, the Broadway audience has been approximately 80% Caucasian, despite diversity outreach programs. However, 32% of theatregoers under 18 years old were non-Caucasian, compared to only 10% of those over 50.
Despite the struggling economy, the last two seasons have attracted a large number of very affluent theatregoers. The average household income reported was $107,400, compared to $93,000 reported two years ago. http://www.livebroadway.com/audience.html
I went to see the Lord of the Rings Trilogy in December. In the pre-movie comments, one of the theater employees said, “Please set all cell phones and other such devices to silent or buzz. We are not responsible for the actions of other patrons if you don’t.” Everybody laughed and cheered, but it worked. Over 10 hours of movie watching, and not a single ring or beep.
So did I, GorillaGirl, and while I believe there were a couple of muffled phone rings during Fellowship, after that the theater’s announcer guy said something about it, and there was not a peep during the last two movies. Not a PEEP. I don’t think anybody even sneezed.
This means I may never be able to see a movie in a theater again, because it was the quietest (except when appropriate) most respectful audience I’ve ever NOT heard. When I took my brother to see it the day after he graduated from AF basic and hadn’t been out in the Real World for a couple of months, there were teenage girls next to us who kept giggling and asking each other the STUPIDEST questions now and again. It wasn’t really loud, but they wouldn’t STOP.
I think we all got spoiled watching movies at home.
I agree with you on that - I would never go to the Lion King or B&TB and expect outstanding behavior. However, this was “Gypsy” and “Fiddler on the Roof”. One stars one of the most revered performers in musical theatre ever, and one is a serious, beautiful, religiously-slanted show. I think BOTH of these shows and the performers in them deserved WAY more respect than they got. And there is NO excuse.
As far as the Disney shows, those are the perfect opportunity for parents to introduce their children to theatre and introduce them to proper theatre behavior. Unfortunately, we consider it par for the course for those shows to be noisy, so the kids are growing up to think that this behavior is okay - and now it’s beginning to spill over into OTHER shows. I don’t think this kind of behavior should be acceptable in ANY kind of show, but the majority of theatregoers apparently disagree with me.
I remember winning tickets with a friend once to RENT - the $20 tickets for the first two rows. This is a huge deal and it’s awesome to get - you get to see the show totally up close. Apparently, some people knew to get those tickets, but they had no idea what the show was ABOUT. We’re sitting in the front row, basically rocking to the show (yes, I love and adore RENT - I’m usually a Broadway purist, but this is one of the most fun shows I’ve ever seen), and we get to a scene where Maureen and Joanne kiss. The two girls next to us looked at each other and one very loudly said “Ewwww!!! I didn’t know there were lesbians in this show!” And when you’re in the front row, that’s audible enough for the performers to hear - I’m truly surprised that it didn’t throw off their timing. I gave her an incredibly dirty look and I think she got the hint - she was quiet for the rest of the show. A friend works backstage in wardrobe and she said they always seem to get people who don’t bother to check into the content of the show.
And we’re looking into Wicked when my bridesmaids take me to NYC for my bachelorette party in May - mainly because my maid of honor and I are both absolutely in LOVE with Norbert Leo Butz - and the fact that Kristin Chenowith, Idina Menzel and Joel Grey are in it doesn’t hurt either:). How was the show?
Unfortunately this sort of thing has been going on for some time. I attended a concert given by Itzhak Perlman many years ago and could not believe the noise level. At one point there was so much of a din that he just sat and waited it out instead of going on with the performance. I was so embarassed to even be in that audience at that moment.
The incident regarding the booing of Gaston reminded me of a lecture I attended over twenty years ago. It was given by Vincent Price as part of an Arts series in the town where I grew up. He was speaking of his life acting the part of the villain. It seems that early on in his career he was in a stage play performing the part of the bad guy. When the play was over and the actors came out to the applause of the audience he was most vigorously booed instead. He said that at that moment he knew he was a great success.
My complete and utter apologies. I didn’t mean to insult New Yorkers–I know I was treading a bit close to the line. Understand I’ve only seen the Tucson side of live theatre, which is an extremely small side compared to New York. That plus some of the worst customers I’ve ever had took great delight in trying to lord it over me that they’re from New York led to some speculation, which was of course totally in error. Thank you for the statistics, lurkernomore. Rude theatre-goers are rude theatre-goers, no matter where they’re from.
Again, my apologies, and I’ll back out of this thread.
I think my favorite incident was during the intermission of Les Mis, which was something like 15 minutes. The program (and the screen, I believe) said, basically, “15 minute intermission, we’re not fucking around, be there or be square, no exceptions.” The lobby of the theater was PACKED with people chatting, laughing, buying drinks. I heard three or four say, “Aww, they don’t mean that, they have to let us back in.”
That plus some of the worst customers I’ve ever had took great delight in trying to lord it over me that they’re from New York led to some speculation, which was of course totally in error. Thank you for the statistics, lurkernomore. Rude theatre-goers are rude theatre-goers, no matter where they’re from.