Bad Theater Behavior

[JayElle]

Well at least it wasn't as bad as Lucas Steele (Anatole) said when they were performing off-Broadway. He said one patron vomited into her purse.  Talk about a scene stealer.

[10086Sundays]

dramamama611 said: "I was just waiting for him to talk again...but he didn't."

I think that's the worst part of being around people like that for me.  I spend the whole show waiting them for to misbehave again, planning what to say to them.  I'll also be worrying that they'll do it during one of my favorite moments, if it's a show I've seen before. I wish I was better at letting things go. (This board is actually good for practicing that.)

[Itonlytakesajourney]

I have lip-synced at the theatre before, but it has been very brief and I'm usually caught up in the excitement/emotion of the performance. But if you are exaggerated like that girl at Comet, then you're definitely a problem. 

[LxGstv]

Not really sure if this deserves its own thread, so I figured that I'd post this here as it would be the most appropriate I think...

I wasn't at this performance, but I came across this on YouTube...

https://youtu.be/MdGxbKRsSnY

I'm shocked that someone was able to record the entire show without getting called out... the person even zooms in and out several times...

[Phantom4ever]

Recording entire shows like that is so common now. People always say to me "I loved Hamilton! The original cast was better than the replacements though."  And I say something about how I didn't know they were able to see both casts, or I didn't know that they were able to get to New York City, etc. And they always say "Oh I just watched them on youtube!"  I teach high school and all of my musical theater nerds have seen every Broadway show that they are interested in seeing on youtube. And if you read the comments, everybody is very thankful because they say they have no way to ever see these shows in person so illegal recordings are vital for them. My cousin has three elementary school-age kids who are obsessed with Hamilton and they watched the OBC on youtube so many times that when they finally saw it live in Chicago they were so disappointed that it was different actors from youtube. This is the world we live in now. 

And as for the video just posted, I LOVED Great Comet.  And I was not expecting to at all. I thought I would be bored to tears but instead I was enchanted by it. However, if I would have watched that bootleg video, I would have thought no way this is not the show for me. That video does not capture the experience in the theater at all. 

By the way, I just saw 8 Broadway shows:

Great Comet--perfect audience

Play That Goes Wrong--perfect audience

Phantom--perfect audience (even the dreaded day campers)

Indecent--perfect audience

1984--perfect audience (even the high school group, although they did not but it was in muffled yet excited whispers and I could tell that they had just read the book so it was kind of cute)

Prince of Broadway--the people behind me narrated the show for each other

Bandstand--perfect audience. Only thing was the elderly man next to me could not fit his knees into the rows without being in terrible pain. I tried to get him to switch seats with me since I was on the aisle and he could stretch out, but he wanted to stand in the back instead.

Chicago--perfect audience

[disneybroadwayfan22]

When I saw Cabaret last night at the Kennedy Center, the couple in front of me wouldn't stop canoodling each other during the whole show and during Maybe This Time, the guy tried to take a picture of Leigh Ann, but I stopped him. And shortly before that, a person behind us took a picture with his/her flash camera 

[irishgator1]

disneybroadwayfan22 said: "When I saw Cabaret last night at the Kennedy Center, the couple in front of me wouldn't stop canoodling each other during the whole show and during Maybe This Time, the guy tried to take a picture of Leigh Ann, but I stopped him. And shortly before that, a person behind us took a picture with his/her flash camera "

I was at that show too in the balcony ("Hello, poor people!". The couple across the aisle from us kept eating their mixed nuts VERY loudly and drinking from the ice-filled cup.  They kept passing the items between each other and would put the cup down, only to pick it up 10 seconds later. The nuts (the food, not the couple) were in a plastic container that apparently required loud exertions to open. I think they were drunk, given the way they were eating/drinking/talking/falling up the stairs. 

Btw, balcony seating was very tough for my husband's legs. 

[schubox]

LxGstv said: "Not really sure if this deserves its own thread, so I figured that I'd post this here as it would be the most appropriate I think...

I wasn't at this performance, but I came across this on YouTube...

https://youtu.be/MdGxbKRsSnY

I'm shocked that someone was able to record the entire show without getting called out... the person even zooms in and out several times...

 

"

Broadway bootlegs are a thing. Pretty much every show you can think of has a bootleg just like the one you posted. The GC one you linked isn't very good though. The location they shot from leaves a lot to be desired 

[schubox]

disneybroadwayfan22 said: "When I saw Cabaret last night at the Kennedy Center, the couple in front of me wouldn't stop canoodling each other during the whole show and during Maybe This Time, the guy tried to take a picture of Leigh Ann, but I stopped him. And shortly before that, a person behind us took a picture with his/her flash camera 

 

"

I love people that use their flashes from 50 feet back from the stage at shows or concerts. How do these people not understand how flashes work?

[haterobics]

At Hamilton on Saturday, there was a young boy, maybe 8 or 9, wearing a Young, Scrappy, and Hungry T-shirt two rows in front of us, and we were even wondering if he going to get much out of this performance?! But then in act two, when (spoiler alert) Burr shoots Hamilton, this kid loses it, and starts wailing like he just lost a loved one. He was inconsolable, and his father or whomever was next to him had to put his arm around him, while the kid buried his head into their shoulder and continue sobbing. After the show, we all decided he really was following everything and invested.

But, he is not the bad theater behavior. After he is wailing, which was admittedly loud and a bit distracting, the lady in front of me tapped someone else in their party on the shoulder and said, "You should get him out of here, he's annoying everyone..."

A bit of an outlier in this thread, but figured it was worth sharing.

[bennyb86]

This really upset me, I was at Great Comet on Saturday and loved every moment of it and stood up to give a standing ovation and the man behind me after about 10 seconds poked me and said "we can't see, do you mind sitting down?  They didn't do that good of a job"  I was literally stunned and didn't know what to say or do so I sat down but stool up again a bit later.  I know we have a standing ovation crisis in theaters but really, isn't it up to each to decide to stand or not?

[coreman009]

Singing along or even lip-syncing. Lip-syncing can be distracting and draw attention away from the stage, but singing is just completely abhorrent. This isn't a concert. I saw Waitress with Sara Bareilles and the girl behind me started singing multiple times. No thanks, I wanna hear the Grammy winning composer perform, not you. 

[10086Sundays]

Also, parents, please sit with your kid(s) between you so that they annoy you and not the people who did not pay to have to babysit them or deal with their bad behavior. 

[CorkySt.Clair]

Haterobics, that story about the kid is actually kind of sweet. So many posts on this thread are about people who couldn't care less about the stories or the art form. It's refreshing to hear of someone who was so overcome by what they were seeing :)

[GlindatheGood22]

bisous3 said: "Nicole 10 said: "Last night I went to see The Great Comet and there was a girl seated on stage who was mouthing along every single line of the show. For those of you unfamiliar, during Natasha & the Bolkonskys Princess Mary and Natasha grab stools and sit at a table with audience seated onstage. The girl was sitting next to Mary and she was leaning in close to Mary and was making relentless eye contact while mouthing the song along. She continued this throughout the whole song! I get that some fans are very passionate but when there is a literal spotlight on you and you are seated onstage right next to the performers, PLEASE don't do this! It's not only distracting to the audience, but also to the performers! This girl leaned in to every single performer passing her, trying to sing together with Anatole, Helene, Sonya, everyone! 

 

I think someone must have talked to her during intermission because she wouldn't even pick her head up to watch the show in the second act. She seemed very deflated. But man oh man, someone really did needed to talk to her!

 

"

I was there too!! At intermission I was coming back from the ladies room and over heard two gentlemen complaining to someone who worked at the theater. Before Act 2 started I saw another person go over and have a chat with her. There was another girl sitting to that girl's left that wasn't lip synching like the girl you're referring to, but reacting to every burp and fart like she was part of the cast with these animated facial expressions and hand gestures. It was almost annoying as the lip syncher but not quite. I particularly appreciated how as soon as each cast member saw what the lip syncher was doing they proceeded to completely ignore her. But what a complete and utter distraction she was! I was FURIOUS!

 

"

I witnessed lip syncher. It appeared she had dressed up as Helene - which is a weird trend I've noticed at the Comet and no other show. I was at one of the downstage tables and I first noticed her mouthing the lyrics during The Duel. I thought for sure I was the only one that was being driven crazy by her conspicuous participation, but then in Act 2 she stopped completely so I assume someone complained to an usher, who then spoke to her.

As the great Homer Simpson said, I hate the public so much.

 

[mailhandler777]

At Wicked in Philly on Sunday night. The 4 kids seated beside of me behaved very well. The older(at least 60-70yrs old) 4 people behind me talking,singing and kneeing the back of my chair. All the stares/looks in the world didn't stop them. 

[notalwaysontime]

I got one, Friday night seeing Hamilton in San Francisco, this girl and her friend (Is say mid to late 20s) came in full of a flurry of excitement, which I totally understand but during the entire first act she was dancing VIGOROUSLY in her seat. (she was one row ahead and three seats over from me and it was still distracting) and the guys in front of me had to ask her to stop because she was shaking the whole row of seats and people asked her to stop multiple times and she wouldn't, then at intermission she was gone the second the lights came on and came back as they were going down and people tried talking to her in those brief moments they had, to stop doing that, and I noticed she stumbled a little and wondered if she was drunk maybe, and then, two songs into Act 2, I was shocked she hadn't distracted me thus far and when I glanced over, I noticed she was ASLEEP. She slept through almost the entire act, woke up breifly at the beginning of The Election of 1800, and was babbling and mumbling incoherently, and her friend basically coaxed her back to sleep for the rest of the show at that point. 

Ive been torn between being amused, thinking karma, for being so rude, bit her, and that this was the most expensive nap (both in $$$ and experience) she'll ever take, and flat out anger, because there's definitely a lot more deserving people who would have definitely enjoyed those seats properly. 

on top of that, there was a woman behind me who, loudly, not even in a whisper, kept trying to offer commentary, and was shushed MULTIPLE times by her husband. and toward the end of act one, right in the middle of the quiet, sweet Dear Theodosia, this other guy behind me suddenly, and frantically had to get out of the theater for some reason and could not have been less graceful about it. He was in the middle of the row and basically plowed through the people next to him to get out (and he was last row of the orchestra, and the leg room in those last couple rows is non existst). he didn't even give them a chance to move for him and he was making a ton of noise. There was a group of girls in the sectipn to my right who kept screaming for certain actors too, I don't know if they knew someone or were just big fans but either way it crossed the supportive line into obnoxious  

i didn't want to get the matinee ticket I saw for that day because my drive home woulda been prime rush hour and headed the bad direction, but I forgot how bad date night type crowds can be. I think I would have preferred the traffic in favor of a friday matinee crowd instead of a friday evening one. It was crazy. l

[loveinnewyorkcity]

Had my first encounter with an obnoxious Apple Watch wearer in the middle of the orchestra at Miss Saigon last week...

Every five or so minutes, this girl's wrist would vibrate and light up. And it wasn't subtle. She must have had the watch on the highest brightness setting because, my God, I was blinded everytime. It didn't help that she had her arm on the armrest, with the watches' face facing in my direction. The sound of it vibrating got so distracting I actually put a finger in my ear on my right side to block it out. Twice during quieter moments in the performance she even whispered into the Watch to respond to a text. I was shocked an usher didn't approach her about it during act one since it was basically lighting up our whole row. At intermission, I moved to one of the many empty seats in the front mezz after speaking to a nearby usher about the situation. Thought it was interesting the usher instructed me to change seats instead of speaking to the person at fault for my bad experience.

 

[KathyNYC2]

Well actually you don't know if the usher spoke to the person or not, but from experience if you are rude enough to text during a show, there is a good chance you will continue to be rude and ignore the usher's wishes. So moving is not a bad idea regardless.  

iPhone watches are an usher's nightmare. Rules need to be updated to specifically include them by asking people to not only turn off your cell phones but your watches as well 

[bwayguypi]

My dad fell asleep during Harvey Fierstein's 2004 performance of Fiddler. It was my first broadway show. He was disinterested through the whole thing.

My mom was not pleased with him.

We didn't ask him along for Mamma Mia 3 years later.

[notalwaysontime]

Apple watches have a theater setting now even, i used to take mine off and put it in my bag during a show until the update. The theater setting basically mutes it completely, no notifications at all, and when you lift your wrist it won't light up, you have to purposefully tap the screen to see if you got any messages, so like there's no excuse anymore. 

[wonderboynj]

I had a dear friend who would moo at people who misbehaved.  Literally, moo as loudly as he could.

He and I went to see Rent for my 30th birthday far too many years ago and he did it to the old ladies seated next to us.  I was mortified, but it worked LOL

[Xman8]

Wanna talk about bad behavior? (In a Sophia Petrillo voice) Picture this! The Neil Simon. December of 2014. It was Sting's first night as a cast member of his show The Last Ship. This happened right next to me, it was a spat between two couples. So what happened was that the wife/girlfriend from the couple to my immediate right didn't silence her phone and it rang during the first 15 minutes. The couple to their right politely asked them the first time to silence the phone. Ignored. It rang again and the same couple asked again to silence the phone. Ignored. Now the woman had her phone in the hand ringing while she silences it. The other couple's patience grows thin and now threats to take it to theatre management were made. Oh snap, now the  guilty couple is trying to antagonize the polite and good samaritan couple and ( I kid you not) physical threats were made towards the good couple "I will kick your ass!" "Let's take this outside" rude much? I was like looking around for an usher, there he is! I signal him to come down and I point to the couples and didn't even say anything while the good couple tell him the problem. Usher regulates on them nasty folks and all is peaceful and well again. Oh and Sting killed it.

[shanphelia]

At Groundhog Day last week, the ladies room attendant was making announcements requesting that people not use their phones in the stalls, as there were a lot of people waiting.  I can't believe anyone would take up valuable intermission-restroom time (always a nightmare line!) checking their phone while on the toilet -- but I guess enough people do this that they need to make an announcement about it!!

[schubox]

notalwaysontime said: "Apple watches have a theater setting now even, i used to take mine off and put it in my bag during a show until the update. The theater setting basically mutes it completely, no notifications at all, and when you lift your wrist it won't light up, you have to purposefully tap the screen to see if you got any messages, so like there's no excuse anymore. 

 

"

Huh. Didn't know this. I always take mine off in the theater. I'll have to find the theater setting 

[bisous3]

shanphelia said: "At Groundhog Day last week, the ladies room attendant was making announcements requesting that people not use their phones in the stalls, as there were a lot of people waiting.  I can't believe anyone would take up valuable intermission-restroom time (always a nightmare line!) checking their phone while on the toilet -- but I guess enough people do this that they need to make an announcement about it!!

 

"

They did this at Comet as well. I get it but MAN were they rude about it! Yelling at the women in line for the bathroom like they were a bunch of high school kids to put their phones away.