# Why the standing ovations? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 7, 2014, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-standing-ovations/706566 "2014-12-07T12:12:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2014, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-standing-ovations/706566/21 "2014-12-08T01:18:23Z")
> [@DataX](#): > > While it isn’t the same thing as comedy - and I have never performed either - I have done public speaking - and I do a much better job when I feel like the audience is engaged. I think the same thing applies in theater. Absolutely. But by the time the ovation comes, that ship has sailed. If the audience hasn’t been laughing at the funny bits and sobbing at the sad bits and otherwise engaging in all those ephemeral, difficult to describe ways for the duration of the show - then standing while you provide a polite clap at the end doesn’t make up for it. That’s the kind of ovation I’ve found just utterly humiliating when I was a performer. I’ve never been in a show that we couldn’t tell onstage if it was “working” by the end of the first scene. Occasionally, you can come back from that and warm the audience up, but it’s rare. Usually the scene is set, as it were, and if a show isn’t doing it for you by intermission, it will not become your cup of tea in Act II. ---
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2014, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-standing-ovations/706566/22 "2014-12-08T01:31:19Z")
> [@Motorgirl](#): > > IMO that’s what applause is for. A standing ovation should be reserved for extraordinary performance. Maybe it should be. I do have sympathy for this idea. But it’s clearly the case that society has decided that the threshold for a SO has dropped. So be it. Fighting this is probably a losing battle at this point. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2014, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-standing-ovations/706566/23 "2014-12-08T14:37:34Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > Ovation inflation. It’s “everyone gets an ovation” day at the theater. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2014, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-standing-ovations/706566/24 "2014-12-08T14:57:00Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > When I stand to clap, it’s just because I’ve been sitting there in a probably-uncomfortable seat for an hour or two, and I need to get up and stretch, and the show is over now so I can do so, and I’m probably going to be leaving the venue shortly. I’m not sure how it became established that this is supposed to be a more emphatic form of applause. Seriously? Hoi moi. I don’t know how “it bacame established”, but that was certainly how it worked when I was younger, and you can probably tell by the other responses that I’m not alone in thinking that. I guess it has become so commonplace that some people think it’s just an excuse to stretch!! I don’t like ovation inflation. I usually stay seated unless it really was a great show. But it makes me feel a little rude. ---
**Author:** ![araminty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5e925/32.png) [@araminty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/araminty)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2014, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-standing-ovations/706566/25 "2014-12-08T16:39:33Z")
Sondheim himself has an opinion on this matter, if I may dare paraphrase, it was something about how people see so little live performance these days, and when they do, it’s really expensive. So they need somehow to reassure themselves that they’ve engaged with the performers, and the ovation is that chance to do so. They’re really applauding themselves. I must admit I have a thrill of dread at the end of a meh show and everyone around me starts to get to their feet. Don’t these people have a gauge? ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2014, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-standing-ovations/706566/26 "2014-12-08T17:21:00Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > Do people really pay $100 to see a ventriloquist? How bored are they? Who said that? Who? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2014, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-standing-ovations/706566/27 "2014-12-08T19:02:48Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Who said that? Who? 😕 I typed that while simultaneously drinking a glass of water. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2014, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-standing-ovations/706566/28 "2014-12-09T07:22:20Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Although I don’t think you’re wrong when you say that a small fraction starts standing and everybody else rises as peer pressure. However, when a small fraction of the audience rises to applaud, and that small fraction of the audience happens to be the King, then everybody else rises to applaud too. Although I’m not sure is _peer_ pressure would be the right description for this. > [@Wikipedia article: Messiah (Handel)](#): > > The custom of standing for the “Hallelujah” chorus originates from a belief that, at the London premiere, King George II did so, which would have obliged all to stand. There is no convincing evidence that the king was present, or that he attended any subsequent performance of Messiah; the first reference to the practice of standing appears in a letter dated 1756. > **[Messiah (Handel)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messiah_%28Handel%29)** > > Messiah (HWV 56)\[n 1\] is an English-language oratorio composed in 1741 by George Frideric Handel. The text was compiled from the King James Bible and the Coverdale Psalter\[n 2\] by Charles Jennens. It was first performed in Dublin on 13 April 1742 and received its London premiere a year later. After an initially modest public reception, the oratorio gained in popularity, eventually becoming one of the best-known and most frequently performed choral works in Western music. > Handel's reputation... ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2018, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-standing-ovations/706566/29 "2018-10-19T20:22:35Z")
Bumped. I’ve noticed this just in the past year or so. Standing ovations have become much more common and thus, I think, devalued. I give a standing O very rarely, for a really terrific performance. How long until performers will feel dissed or unappreciated if they _don’t_ get a standing O? ---
**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2018, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-standing-ovations/706566/30 "2018-10-19T20:34:26Z")
A standing O is de rigueur. What can we do to make an applause really stand out from it’s already bombastic form? Maybe at the end of the performance wave lit sparklers over one’s head while doing dog barks …_ **WOOT WOOT WOOT WOOT!** _ ---
**Author:** ![nelliebly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nelliebly/32/5422_2.png) [@nelliebly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nelliebly)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2018, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-standing-ovations/706566/31 "2018-10-19T20:47:14Z")
I’m going to sound ancient, I guess, but I remember when standing ovations were rare. An excellent performance would get sustained, enthusiastic applause; a superb performance would get even longer enthusiastic applause. A standing ovation was reserved for the once-in-a-lifetime flawless no-hitter of a performance of a superlative work. Now I guess if you’re fortunate enough to go to a once-in-a-lifetime flawless performance, you have no way to express that. ---
**Author:** ![BobBitchin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7ea924/32.png) [@BobBitchin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobBitchin)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2018, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-standing-ovations/706566/32 "2018-10-19T21:36:07Z")
Sounds to me like applause and tipping have a common thread.:eek:😃 ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2018, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-standing-ovations/706566/33 "2018-10-19T22:22:09Z")
> [@nelliebly](#): > > I’m going to sound ancient, I guess, but I remember when standing ovations were rare. An excellent performance would get sustained, enthusiastic applause; a superb performance would get even longer enthusiastic applause. A standing ovation was reserved for the once-in-a-lifetime flawless no-hitter of a performance of a superlative work. Now I guess if you’re fortunate enough to go to a once-in-a-lifetime flawless performance, you have no way to express that. “You ever been to a once-in-a-lifetime performance?” “Every week. At least judging by the number of standing Os!” ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2018, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-standing-ovations/706566/34 "2018-10-19T22:29:18Z")
I’ve been watching YouTube videos of classical music performed by some of the top orchestras (Vienna Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, etc) and noticed that at the end of a great performance of, for example, a Beethoven symphony, the audience remains seated. They applaud enthusiastically, of course, for a good long while. But there’s no standing ovation. Perhaps it’s the difference between Americans and Europeans? ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2018, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-standing-ovations/706566/35 "2018-10-19T23:05:38Z")
I went to a theater downtown with friends last Christmas. The play was okay, amusing, but not fabulous. At the end when everyone was applauding, two people stood up to try and get a standing ovation going. No one else joined them, and they sat down again quickly. More embarrassing for them or for the people on stage? ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2018, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-standing-ovations/706566/36 "2018-10-19T23:33:37Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Bumped. > > I’ve noticed this just in the past year or so. Standing ovations have become much more common and thus, I think, devalued. I give a standing O very rarely, for a really terrific performance. How long until performers will feel dissed or unappreciated if they _don’t_ get a standing O? Minus five years. At least. Just about every performance I go to - theater, dance, music - ends with a standing ovation, and this has been true for a long time. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2018, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-standing-ovations/706566/37 "2018-10-20T00:34:19Z")
Maybe audiences around here are a bit more reserved. A performance really has to be OMFG-amazing!!! for me to give it a standing O. I’m becoming quite curmudgeonly in my refusal to get up even when many (most?) around me have already done so. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2018, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-standing-ovations/706566/38 "2018-10-20T01:21:26Z")
**DonLogan** summed it up four years ago, when this thread first started, and I don’t think there’s much more to say about this, other than that it’s increasing. People do it because, by giving a standing ovation, they are claiming that they have the critical powers to recognize what a extraordinary performance it was. It’s self-validation for the audience. “The money I spent on this is justified, because I am a true connoisseur of the arts, and just to show how much I am, I will even stand up at the end.” ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2018, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-standing-ovations/706566/39 "2018-10-20T04:05:51Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Bumped. > > I’ve noticed this just in the past year or so. Standing ovations have become much more common and thus, I think, devalued. I remember one of my high school teachers complaining about this 25 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2018, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-standing-ovations/706566/40 "2018-10-20T16:43:42Z")
I have season tix to the Charlotte Symphony. It’s gotten to the point that there’s not only a standing ovation at the end of every concert, but also at the end of the guest solo piece as well, regardless of how well that is performed. I guess no one knows anymore that simply sitting and applauding a lengthy time is possible. And as a result, almost EVERY guest ends up performing an encore piece. I often refuse to stand when others are; since I sit right next to the current Chairperson of the Board for the Symphony, this often engenders wry commentary. 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-standing-ovations/706566.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-standing-ovations/706566.md?page=3)