Bad Theater Behavior

[Auggie27]

"Sunday in the Park..." yesterday (Easter matinee), a man had his iPad on at the top of the second act. Another man kept texting until the usher came down (he ignored me). Then he finally went to the top of the balcony.  Compared to other experiences (an Apple phone at "King and I" exactly one year ago), minor perhaps. But imagine the mindset that says "I have a right to have my iPad on in the theater."  For the record, 95% of the electronic device offenders are people my age (over 50).  When this habit is laid at the feet of millennials, it's unfair.  Boomers should know better, and be ashamed. Very. 

[LJD123]

Took my daughter (15) to see Rent tour in Boston last Friday.  Front row center mezz, been waiting for almost a year to see this!!!  Seats next to us remained open until last minute when another mother/daughter (35?) came and sat down.  Immediately the 35ish woman said something like "Always the best for me mom, front row center, I'm such a spoiled b@tch, aren't I?" very loudly.  As the performance started, she began to sing along, and it became very annoying and distracting.  After the third time, I leaned past my daughter, who was unfortunately seated next to her, and asked her to please stop.  She looked at me in a "Who do you think you are?" manner and proceeded to sing louder.  Meanwhile, she is seated next to my 15 year old!  I leaned over again, and said "Please stop, it's enough".  She then said to her mother something loudly about me being an old b@tch and having no right to tell her what to do.  Luckily, I think after the next time she began singing he mother must have told her to quiet down, because it subsided after that.  At intermission they immediately got up and I wanted to switch seats with my daughter so she would not have to deal with sitting next to her.  She declined, saying she didn't want the woman to antagonize ME, because she was so hostile. When they came back THEY had switched seats, or I would have insisted my daughter move away.  THANKFULLY, it did not ruin our evening, and my daughter and I loved the show.  Another example of my favorite quote "Other people ruin everything".  Ugh.....

[godlessondheimite]

At Hello Dolly I was next to a woman who kept humming the songs. She hummed the overture and an usher came over to tell her to stop, but then she resumed singing/humming throughout the show. Her daughter, a teenager, told her to stop at one point, but why listen to your daughter, right? It amazed me that this seasoned theatre-goer didn't know not to sing or hum along, no matter how catchy the songs are or how familiar they are with the music. That's amazing! Leave the show to the people who were cast and go join a community theatre.

[Phantom4ever]

Well I just finished a 3 day, 5 show binge. Hamilton, Come from Away, Hello Dolly, Phantom, and Sunday in the Park with George. 

I did not see any cellphones near me. Nobody was letting ice slosh around in his/her cup. No crinkling of candy bags (ok maybe just a bit of that lol), NO TALKING, no singing along. It was like everybody had just gotten a good talking-to from this board before they sat down. The ushers were great too. While nobody in my vicinity was acting up, the ushers had their hands full at Hello Dolly and Sunday in the Park with picture-takers. What a workout!  The Hudson theater has no center aisle, and all kinds of people were taking pictures of the curtain call, and the ushers were flashing their lights on them to no avail. Some of them even attempted to climb over 15-20 people to get to the center of the long row where the picture-takers were. In each case, by the time the usher stopped falling over old ladies, etc, and got to the offender, the offender had already put the phone away and gave the usher a quizzical look. The oddest part was the usher would say something to the picture-taker, the picture taker would nod in agreement, and the usher would turn and do his best to not fall on top of the some old ladies on the way out of the row. I was in the mezz and I had a perfect view of it.  Unfortunately I did miss the bows because the ushers' performances were so entertaining. That said, I still love me some aggressive ushers. I think it was clear to the average person in each audience that the ushers weren't going to put up with nonsense. 

[Addison D.]

Small (130 seat) community theater.  The show is 'Betrayal'.  Two women--in the FRONT ROW--are filming the show on their phones and posting the clips to FB or Instagram or something.  WTF????

[Marianne2]

I forget if I've read about this here, but some people in my row were dangling their feet over the seat in front of them at Amélie yesterday. This was in the mezzanine.  Since when is this appropriate behavior?  I mean, the ones who did have someone sitting in front of them had to stop, but some didn't. 

[@z5]

Not gonna lie...I've probably put my feet over a seat in the mezz....only if no one was sitting in it though. 

[South Florida]

Had a tickle in my throat a few nights ago and coughed into my arm three times during the first act.  Each time the guy in the row in front of me turned half way around as to show his displeasure.  I admit that by the third turn around I wanted to punch him.

[SweetLips]

@z5 said: "Not gonna lie...I've probably put my feet over a seat in the mezz....only if no one was sitting in it though. 

 

I had better not been sitting in the seat next to your feet as they would still not be attached to your legs !

 

[icecreambenjamin]

I saw Miss Saigon a couple of weeks ago and people were loudly talking up in the (half empty) balcony through the first ten minutes of the show.  After that a group of people began to loudly eat a full meal behind us and throughout the show, people felt the need to constantly come and go as if they hadn't spent a pretty penny on a ticket.  The night was concluded with a cellphone ringing during Maybe.  At first I thought the harp player was having a stroke. It was awful.

On the other hand, the closing night of Sunday had the best audience I had ever seen, as was expected with THE Sondheim in attendance.  They were enthusiastic, but respectful of the piece and knew right where to clap and laugh.  It was wonderful to see one of my favorite shows with an audience of fans.

[Javi]

I forgot to add this, but at Sunday in the Park with George on April 22 Saturday matinee, during intermission, most people went out to the restrooms or to buy drinks. Anyway, while people were away, this man in the row in front of me, took his shoes off and put his feet up on the chair in front of him for the whole intermission to try and dry his socks that were wet from the rain. An usher stood maybe six feet away and did not tell the guy to put his feet down. It was disgusting. 

[Chicken_Flavor]

I don't know if this necessarily pertains, but I saw a Groundhog Day playbill in a trash bag outside my house! It just breaks my little heart to see that. ;(

[Nycat63]

At School of Rock last summer a very wealthy looking father-daughter duo sat in front of my daughter and me in the front row mezz.  Daughter (maybe 13 or 14) put her phone away as soon as the announcement was made.  Daddy had not one but two phones on the entire time.  One for checking work emails and the other - no joke - for online gambling.  The lights from his phones were driving us crazy.  Another audience member asked him to turn them off and he just gave him a nasty look.  An usher eventually tried and failed as well.  They weren't there for Act 2 but when we were walking out we noticed they had moved to the orchestra.  Then we went to stage door and saw that they were going backstage - just making it that much more distasteful.  

My greatest pet peeve though is still the crinkling with the candy.  I just don't get it.  It's the biggest cliche yet it happens literally every time I'm at a show, like clockwork, generally 5 minutes into the show.  Every. Single. Time.  

 

 

[ArtMan]

It always seems to take that person five minutes or more to get that little piece of candy out of the wrapper.  It drives me crazy too.

[ArtMan]

double post

[Nycat63]

ArtMan said: "It always seems to take that person five minutes or more to get that little piece of candy out of the wrapper.  It drives me crazy too.

 

"Right?!?? I think they are actually trying to do it quietly but instead they just do it slowly!!  How about just opening it BEFORE the show starts if you must?  While I would never have a phone on myself I almost understand the phones more than I understand the candy thing.  

 

[10086Sundays]

Nycat63 said: "ArtMan said: "It always seems to take that person five minutes or more to get that little piece of candy out of the wrapper.  It drives me crazy too.

 

"Right?!?? I think they are actually trying to do it quietly but instead they just do it slowly!!  How about just opening it BEFORE the show starts if you must?  While I would never have a phone on myself I almost understand the phones more than I understand the candy thing. "

People around me always seem to wait until the emotional, quiet moments of the show to open their candy/rattle the ice in their cups.  So aggravating.

The first time I saw Groundhog Day, the couple next to me were both checking their phones and Apple watches throughout the first act.  The women even took a picture at one point.  When the guy wasn't on his phone he was asleep.  I asked them to stop, to no avail.

At intermission they had a nice discussion about how unhappy they both were in the relationship.  They moved over one seat for act 2 which helped, but the women took 2 selfies just as the lights when down for the entr'acte.  So crazy.  

Also at that show, there was a 7 year old boy, with his parents, in front of me.  It is very much not a kids show, so not only was he asking questions(if you know one of Andy's first lyrics, you know what I mean), but he got bored and restless.  He was actually less distracting than the people next to me though.

[VintageSnarker]

I get unwrapping hard candies but unfortunately there doesn't seem to be much you can do when the theaters sell bagged candies. I will never forget the man who munched peanut m&m's next to me at Doctor Zhivago. Thankfully I was able to go again and have a much better experience.

I was at a concert with an older crowd. Now, I'm very sympathetic to all the health issues that arise as bodies age. But it seemed like there was a chorus of pills falling out of purses. It was very odd. At one point it sounded like someone's entire bag had spilled onto the floor... and they proceeded to pick up their things. It was just a concert and the songs weren't terribly emotional so I found it more amusing than anything else. This is definitely a new one. 

[LxGstv]

Saw 1984 tonight, the guy next to me was wearing flip flops. I'm not sure if that's falls on rude behavior, but it's not really good behavior either... I mean, I don't dress amazingly nice for the theater, but I feel that at the very least you should have closed shoes.

[Robbie2]

LxGstv said: "Saw 1984 tonight, the guy next to me was wearing flip flops. I'm not sure if that's falls on rude behavior, but it's not really good behavior either... I mean, I don't dress amazingly nice for the theater, but I feel that at the very least you should have closed shoes.

 

"what about the ladies wearing open shoes this time of year...right? Doesn't make a difference dude!

 

[LxGstv]

Robbie2 said: "LxGstv said: "Saw 1984 tonight, the guy next to me was wearing flip flops. I'm not sure if that's falls on rude behavior, but it's not really good behavior either... I mean, I don't dress amazingly nice for the theater, but I feel that at the very least you should have closed shoes.

 

"what about the ladies wearing open shoes this time of year...right? Doesn't make a difference dude!

 

 

"

I should have said person instead of guy, I don't think that flip flops are appropriate for the theater regardless of gender or how the weather is. That's just me though. I suppose a last minute situation can happen. Had guests staying with me that ended up going to theater in gym clothes, they said they felt bad, but it was better than not seeing the show...

[PatrickDC]

Re crinkling wrappers, I have a chronic sore throat. I take Chloreseptic lozenges. They come in a blister pack, half plastic, half aluminum that make a crinkling sound with the absolute lightest touch or movement. So, for the theater, I pop several into a no-noise ziplock snack baggie. I rest the baggie on my thigh and wait until applause and when I know a big crescendo of music is coming. I've gotten very good at sneaking a lozenge and popping it into my mouth and with zero crinkling noise. 

[dramamama611]

Chicken_Flavor said: "I don't know if this necessarily pertains, but I saw a Groundhog Day playbill in a trash bag outside my house! It just breaks my little heart to see that. ;(

 

"

Lord, I hope you're joking.  I throw out every single one of them after I read it.  I have saved them since I was about 20. 

[tomwsjr]

I was at the matinee of Present Laughter yesterday and in the very front row a husband and wife took iPhone photos throughout the entire second act.  I was sitting three rows behind them, it was very distracting, I kept hoping Kevin Kline would notice and call them out on it. 

[djoko84]

If you see people taking pictures during a performance and it's bothering you tell an usher. Having said that, during the song "Hello, Dolly!" people were taking video and pictures which I didn't notice, but there was an usher who ran down the aisles making so much noise to try and stop these people that it was so distracting. I get it that they have a job to do, but they don't have to go trudging up and down the aisles during the performance.

[Public User]

Serial coughers.  Sometimes it seems as if they are intentionally injecting themselves into the proceedings.