Reading my friend’s blog, I was interested in his description of a concert. Then he said that he wanted to know why people gave standing ovations if it wasn’t the best performance ever.
Is there any sort of history behind these things?
I first noticed it when I was in high school plays and musicals and the audiences would stand no matter what, I suppose to coddle their little babies’ tender feelings. It really annoyed me. I generally credit the universal standing ovation these days to the fact that everybody is an idiot. As for myself, I’ll sit if I don’t think a standing ovation is warranted even if everyone else stands up. Then again, I’m an asshole.
That was why he felt forced to participate. Peer pressure could play into it.
Sometimes, a standing O is to honor the performer himself, rather than the performance. We are saying, “You are a hero, and we are honored to have you drop by.” If the star is off his form that night, he knows it, so we’re not fooling him.
One example: I saw B.B. King in 2003 and, frankly, B. is fading. His singing didn’t have the old fire, and he hardly touched his guitar Lucille at all. He’d play a phrase or two, and he’d set her aside. Still, we gave the great man a standing O. He has given us so much pleasure over the years, and we wanted to thank him.
The standing ovation has been cheapened to the point of being meaningless through the past few decades. I don’t think I’ve EVER been to a performance in the last 10 years that hasn’t garnered a standing o. I mean, we’re talking high school drama productions, college choral productions, community theater, regional orchestra, etc. Freakin’ everybody gets a standing ovation anymore.
Those of us who are approaching codger age remember back when the standing ovation was a most unusual event. I simply don’t remember ever participating in one as a youth.
Something changed over the years, and now a standing ovation is seemingly the minimum necessary acknowledgment of a performance. I have no idea what people would think to do for something truly exceptional. Probably they have no idea either.
Took the words right out of my mouth.
:smack: [sup]Except I’m already an old codger.[/sup]
Sometimes, I get the impression it’s a race to see who can leap to their feet first. Add to that, the cries of “Brava!!” :rolleyes:
I used to go to plays a lot when I was a teen, and standing ovations were rare and well-deserved. Not any more. After all, it’s all about self-esteem, isn’t it. Sure, it wasn’t the best performance we ever saw, but they tried, didn’t they, and that’s all that matters, right?
Sheesh.
Yeah, I’m an old grouch.
I was in London in the early 90’s ('91 or '92) and I went to see a production of Les Miserables. I wasn’t overly impressed with it and apparently neither was most of the audience, since the applause was only lukewarm and nobody stood. Then this stupid woman in the front row stood up and started clapping really loud with her hands way over her head. Then she turned around and faced the audience and started gesturing for everyone to stand up. A few people around her did. This silly lady continued to clap and wave her hands and dance around until she got half the damn theater to stand. I still shake my head every time I think about it.
I’m another who sits unless the performance was truly stellar. Our culture has become one of excess, regardless of the impact of the moment. Everyone who manages to rouse himself out of a complete torpor is a ‘hero’, every event is ‘awesome’, and if you can fog a mirror, you’re a ‘patriot’. This is all opinion, of course, and probably not appropriate for the thread.
In some cases, it may just be the intermediate step between watching a meh show and then getting the hell out of there. Like, that show sucked so much that I don’t want to waste any of my time acknowledging the performers, and instead I’ll just clap politely while I assemble my coat and other items and leave.
My girlfriend and I went to a musical review last fall, and there was a standing ovation after every damn song (we’re talking 25+ songs here.) They were all led, of course, by the director of the event, who was in the crowd :rolleyes:.
What I don’t get is the super-long standing ovations. I often here of 10 and 15 minute standing ovations at Cannes and Sundance. I recently found out that Robert Kennedy got a 20 minute standing ovation at the 1964 DNC. Who stands there and claps for 20 minutes?!
Ah, thanks. I’ll link my friend to this thread. 
Several years ago, one of the theater critics for the Philadelphia Inquirer said the same thing.
WAG
For centuries everybody went to plays and concerts. Now that we have television and radio, most people attend fewer events. This means that going to the theater is something special in and of itself. So standing ovations are given as part of the going-to-the-theater experience rather than being a reward for a good performance.
This thread reminds me of a Miss Manners column about applauding at weddings right after the vows have been said. She was of the opinion that it shouldn’t be done because the couple aren’t putting on a performance for which they should be graded by the audience via applause. But I guess its becoming more common.
Do you guys think the two are related? A trend towards crowd spectating or something?
Ten years from now it will be even worse, where the standard reaction will be stunned silence from the audience, until one person starts to clap slowly until everyone else joins in.
I don’t think they’re related. Clapping and shouting at a wedding is not reward for a performance, but celebration. The noise is a show of joy. This is clearer when everybody is shouting “Mazel tov!”
There was a documentary out recently about Broadway. Called, IIRC, Broadway: The Golden Age. It was mostly a bunch of interviews with Broadway-related people. Sondheim was interviewed, and he said something to the effect of, “People want to stand because they desperately want to feel that they’re part of something great. Even if it’s not great, they want to believe that it is.”
I think the question was asked of Miss Manners in relation to the kind of weddings where people didn’t ever applaud before, but are doing so now. I’ve never been to a Jewish wedding, but I’ve read how exciting they are, so they probably aren’t what was being referenced.
Jeez, we went to a ballet last week, and worse than the undeserved standing ovations was the way the dancers take their applause. They come back out after twinkle-toeing off as the piece ends, stand on-stage in a row, and different groups come forward for everyone to clap at them. All the girls come forward, crowd goes wild (or whatever), girls reverse, guys come forward, crowd goes wild, guys retreat, star dancer comes forward, crowd goes wild, star retreats, girls come forward again, crowd goes wild, girls retreat, guys, crowd, retreat, someone, crowd, retreat, then everyone again, crowd, retreat. Seriously, it’s like we’re all out there in the audience jerking-off their egos…
Whoa, sorry for the rant and hyjack.